Phosphorescence

Inspiration

Phosphorescence was originally written for Round Three of the 2010 SlingInk Scribbling Slam in response to a picture prompt that has been lost in the mists of time. It was submitted under the title The Joy Inside and it scored 87/100. The judge, Kirsty Stanley, commented "Wonderful idea - love it! - and brilliant imagery". She also suggested - correctly - that with magic realism you shouldn't be apologetic, treating what happens as being normal or at least familiar, so I should remove things like "this doesn't strike me as anything unusual".

Placings

After making the changes suggested by the judge, I started sending it out. Quite early on, it got shortlisted in the 2012 Bridport Prize, but failed to get anywhere in any other competitions.

Publications

After an inordinate number of failed submissions and a change of title, it was finally accepted by The Nottingham Review, five years after it was originally written.