The 3 Ds

I've recently heard 2 female competition judges discourage writers from entering stories about "The 3 Ds" - "Death" (especially of babies), "Dementia" and "Domestic violence" - there are many entries on those themes. Increasingly, the same advice applies when sending to magazines - when the success rates get into the 1% range, and editors need to quickly read 100s of submissions, stories need to stand out, and editors don't want too many stories on a single theme in a magazine.

I often try to write stories that are quiet. I've even tried to write about middle class families who have middle class problems. The characters are not so content that "happiness writes white" (i.e. that you don't see the white ink on the white paper) but nobody dies, goes mad, or gets hit. In fact, nothing much happens. If artists can do still lifes with apples, grapes and shadows, why can't I do a story about getting the kids off to school and taking a thoughtful walk back along a stream?

Not only do I leave out dramatic events, but I'm careful with the language. Any striking phrase/image that comes to mind when I'm writing prose tends to be diverted into the poem I'm currently writing (which becomes a rag-bag of fireworks at best).

Even if the resulting story is good, its effect will be cumulative, hidden in plain sight. Judges and editors don't always have the time to delve. So where do the carefully wrought mainstream stories go? In a book I suppose.

As a compromise I sometimes put eye-catching phrases in the first and final paragraphs, hoping to convince judges/editors that it's worth reading more. And I'm more careful about titles than I used to be.