Dust Off Those Story Ideas

Whether you write short stories, poems or feature articles, you probably have a few ideas that never quite made it into print (or pixels, if you write for the web). Below are some ideas on dusting them off and breathing new life into old ideas.

Change the point of view. Say you pitched an article on vegetarian teens, but none of the teen magazines you could find were interested. Try querying parenting magazines on a similar topic and include tips for parents whose kids want to try vegetarianism. This strategy could also apply to writing fiction: if your story isn't working, then try changing from the first to the third person (or vice versa).

Change the gender. Maybe your original idea was an article about long-distance relationships for a women's magazine. Of course, men's magazines also cover dating and relationships (albeit with a different tone) so that gives you a slew of other potential markets. You could even query them simultaneously with a slightly different slant since they would be non-competing markets.

Change the setting. So your profile about that new solar-powered restaurant (I'm making this up, not sure if that's even possible yet) didn't fly with your local newspaper. Consider pitching a longer feature to a national magazine about how small businesses across the country are using solar power. Or maybe target a restaurant trade magazine. Or an environmental magazine.

Your turn! How have you tweaked a query to land a sale? Any other strategies you would add?

Flickr photo courtesy of Here's Kate