Literally Stories are a sort of collective. Five avid reader/writers who came together to create a short story website where other like-minded souls could read good quality stories and hopefully see their own work published.
This space is for readers and writers alike who would like to comment on Literally Stories.
What is it that you like about the site? Our vision? What don’t you like or would like to see added, changed or simply got rid off?
We do want to hear from you and if we think you have a genuinely great idea we will steal it.
If you have any specific queries regarding submissions email us at literallystories2014@gmail.com
literally stories 
I understand that daily postings of stories are meant to give a window to as many writer as possible, which is, in itself, a wonderful idea.
I hold back because my time simply doesn’t stretch to daily postings. My comments would be few, random and therefore seemingly unfair in relation to the rest of this community. I admit this problem of conscience is totally of my own making. Don’t know how others deal with this.
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One of the things that we wanted to do was, as you say, give each story its moment in the sun. We accept that not everyone will have the opportunity or desire to read a story each day and that not everyone will be moved to comment and I do understand and admire your desire to be fair to all of our authors. The fact that you have visited the site and read some of the stories is wonderful. We are grateful that you have taken the time to comment now and to give us your thoughts. Please, just come when you can and when you want to and we hope that you enjoy each and every visit. We do give each of the authors who submit to us the choice of whether or not to have a comment facility on their stories and though I am sure that those who chose to include the comment field are delighted with the feedback that they receive I think that for them and I know that for us the best thing is that people are visiting the site and supporting what we are trying to do. Again thank you for taking the time to visit and to give us your thoughts.
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Thanks, Diane. Will of course pop in.
Could you take out the first comment?
I had been asked to sign into google and lost the comment in the process, so I tried to replicate the first..
Now there’re two.
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I’ve zapped your first comment and thanks again for your time.
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Hello Diane,
Do you think there is room for the illiterate novices like what I am? Or will it take up too much of your valuable time. I am looking in from way outside now.
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Hi there
Why not give it a go we will be kind.
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I think it is probably too posh for me. Thank you for your previous support.
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It’s great how the background color to the text makes for a more pleasurable experience.
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Yes
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Can i raise an issue about the central banner covering the main pictures, it spoils the view. could the banner be moved to the top as one continuous line allowing more of the picture to be seen. Just a thought. James.
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The banner is unfortunately integral to the Theme, James. There is nothing we can do to change the theme (Hemingway Rewritten) – we could attempt to transfer the site onto a different theme that did not have a central banner. However, this is fraught with dangers and could create a real headache with other areas of the site. Thank you for your feedback. Sorry we can’t remedy this.
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However, the central banner is giving us a bit of fun. Have you noticed that as you scroll down the page the banner fades? This has enabled us to “hide” things underneath it. I strongly urge you to have a look at “Crouching Feline, Hidden Lobster” with this in mind. Scroll slowly away from the heading. We are trying to think about this little issue when formatting the images and to crop or set up images so that not only will they not be too badly affected but, as in the Crouching Feline story, they will actually be a positive.
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Well I never, I’ve just worked out how to view the whole image that is covered by the banner.
Place the mouse icon on the picture, right click, then click on ” view background image”. This opens a new page and lets you see the whole picture as well as being able to magnify it.
Great pictures,
James.
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Ah Yes of course – never thought of that – good thinking Batman (said Batman)
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Hi Ossie – thank you for your thoughts. We are not quite sure what you meant by “What is required is a single voice from the website. No matter what.” The five founders of the site are from different backgrounds, walks of life, parts of the UK (and Sweden, too) and range in age from quite young to the not-so-young, each of us with very different tastes in literature – which of course leads to some interesting and often lively debate about the various submissions that land in our inbox. We publish the best of what we receive (currently about 1 in every 4 stories) – all five editors commenting and often discussing at length the merits of each story, no matter what the genre and our individual tastes. We even have a section for Romance stories though sadly there’s nothing in there as yet – Diane came closest with Greek Oranges! Judging by your other comment we haven’t been publishing the kind of story you would like to read on LS so we hope in the coming weeks there will be some stories to suit your tastes – it all depends on what folk send us. With the exception of poetry and children’s stories we would publish almost anything that we felt was up to a standard we have set and intend to maintain.
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How does your acceptance/rejection ratio look currently, if you don’t mind me asking.
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Hi Michael,
Thanks so much for the interest!
The first full year (2015) we were running at a 39.7% acceptance.
To date, this year we are at 15.7%
Overall we are at 31.4%.
But we need to take into consideration that our projected figures for this year is around two and a half times the submissions from 2015.
Hope this answers your question.
Hugh
(A nod to Nik – The figures were all him!!!!!)
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I’m sorry to hear! Could you please elaborate in which way it’s not user friendly? And also which Internet Browser you are using at which resolution? It works fine for me, but I might be blinded by my own creation if you allow the expression. Thank you for getting this to our attention!
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Just want to find a place to say a big thank you for selecting me as one of the Story of the Week winners. I am thrilled. Also, I LOVE the pictures! June
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I have perused a great deal of the archives. I am, in turns, impressed, jealous, in love, and envious.
If I continue this way I’ll have to go to a place where the sunsets are lovely and the Thorazine is plentiful. But at least I will be sent there due to the high quality of the fiction I have read on this site. Bravo to all.
Irene Allison
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Thank you Irene – we continue to be amazed, too, at the quality and variety of writing that lands in our inbox. It is pleasure and honour to host so many talented writers – best wishes all at LS
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I think that we here at the mighty LS can do even more than just support one another. We can also be altruistic toward fellow writers who are down on their luck.
It’s little thought about, but I am going to establish a support group for pen names that, through no fault of their own, no longer produce new material because the person whom they had so faithfully shilled has gone and died on them.
Just think of it: a virtual room in which make believe chairs are arranged like Stonehenge, in which the likes of Mark Twain, George Eliot and the Boz (or was that Bos?) can kvetch freely about the ingratitude, and perhaps audition replacements. Just a thought. I’ll keep you posted on further developments.
Irene Allison
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I like the variety. Every story I have read is well written. Good stuff. Maybe I’ll give it a go!
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Please do – have a little look at the submission guidelines and then send us some of your work!
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Very nice site but I made the mistake of trying to read all the guidelines and I just gave up. I suspect if were a younger writer I would have read everything and followed them to the hilt.
Simply saying this because a hard edit and shorter guidelines might lead to even more contributions.
All the best with Literally Stories.
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thank you for the feedback. Much appreciated.
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Are there any plans for a 2016 Literally Stories anthology?
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Hi Christa,
At this moment in time, an anthology is not something that we are planning.
However, we may decide to do another at a later date.
Any news regarding the site would be posted on the weekly Saturday roundup.
Thanks so much for the comment.
Hugh
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Thanks for letting me know, Hugh!
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Hi there.
The Anthology was published in 2015 and so unfortunately that story was not a part of the site at the time. We had a very tricky job picking stories for the book and we struggled. It was of course a labour of love because all the proceeds go to charity.
It was very time consuming and so we have not done another one since. That is not to say that one we might. You never know.
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I am new to the site and like it very much. I was wondering, however, If we see a typo in a story, is there a way to contact a mod or editor to alert you? I wouldn’t think you would want us to use the submission email and I’d rather not include it in comments.
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Hello – Thank you for your comments and we are really happy that you are enjoying the site.
If you have any comments to make about the stories, which you don’t think you want to make publicly, please send them to our email address. We would be very grateful.
literallystories2014@gmail.com
Regards
Literally Stories.
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Pretty interesting site so far. This must take a lot of work to keep going. There must be dedicated people involved. The stories have been quite varied, and I notice they are mainly positive, although the characters struggle. I like the humorous stories also.
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Thank you for your feedback. We are glad that you are enjoying the site.
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Jesus Cristo! I never knew about this page. Too bad I’m fresh out of thoughts.
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I really like the use of a unique image at the top of each story that correlates with the content of the text. And Pixabay is an awesome choice — they have a huge variety of high-quality and free images regarding just about anything. 🙂
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thank you and Yes I agree it is quite rare that I go to Pixabay and come away empty handed.
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Tremendous variety
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Hi there,
A newcomer here and thinking of submitting some writing. I just have a question about the word count. Are you pretty strict about the 3000 word limit? I have one piece around the 3700 mark. Thanks for any feedback.
Nigel
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Hello Nigel. As in all things we are flexible. All we would say is that for a piece outside the guidelines to be approved it does need to capture us early and hold our attention all the way through. We would be the first to admit that great stories do tend to make you forget about the word count and that’s what we look for in longer work. I hope this helps.
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What I like about Literally Stories is that, after years of submitting to journals that take so long to reply you forget what you sent them in the first place, the editors here get back to you in a timely fashion. If the answer is no, you can move on.
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Thanks so much for your kind comment.
We try our best!
I won’t say that we are perfect and the odd one or two can be missed, but if they are, they are a genuine oversight.
We appreciate the work that all the writers put into their submissions and it would be disrespectful for us to be anything other than to be as professional as we can.
All the very best.
Hugh
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