Strangers By The Numbers

Strangers On A Train On A Train was officially published in April of 2023, but as of this writing has yet to arrive in print form at my worldwide secret headquarters. The issue has been posted to my story wall -- and when copies arrive I've got a space set aside on my modest trophy shelf, because publication in Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine counts as a bucket list achievement.

I've had good luck with sister publication Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, but AHMM eluded me, rejecting three stories before taking Strangers. Three rejections might not seem like much, but I've found AHMM's notoriously-long rejection cycle to be the truth -- those rejections took over 1200 days between them. I met AHMM editor Linda Landrigan at the Must Read Magazines awards reception in New York a couple months ago, and she was apologetic about response times. I told her she needn't apologize for anything -- her method is her method, and the results speak for themselves. That same night I sat between Linda and Dave Zeltserman when Dave won the short story Edgar for a story published in Linda's magazine. Sending a story to AHMM can feel like throwing a boomerang at Pluto, but if you don't want to wait, then don't get in line.

My wait was well-rewarded when AHMM took Strangers ... and if Alfred Hitchcock's wasn't interested in a story called Strangers On A Train On A Train, I'm not sure where I could have taken it. I try to beware of writing into narrow markets, but the short crime fiction market is starting to look like that improbable trash compactor on the Death Star. Every market is narrowing, these days.

But as it happens, AHMM wasn't the first place I put this story in -- it Quixotically was written for an even narrower market, an anthology call for train-themed stories, which was cancelled well before publication, and as near as I can tell, the publisher never notified writers of what happened.

With the rug pulled out from beneath me, waiting 419 days for acceptance was easy time. That's only a little longer than the maximum California sentence for petty theft, disturbing the peace, public intoxication, or indecent exposure, and while those things are notable accomplishments, they don't compare to the imperishable glory of print publication in one of the most venerable magazines in the crime/mystery field!

Despite the title, Strangers On A Train On A Train has only a little bit to do with the Alfred Hitchcock movie, or the Patricia Highsmith novel on which it is based. My story is a tale of the wrong person at the right time -- how a woman on the run from her past faces her fears and turns the tables on the corrupt cop who blackmails her. It is a brisk tale of personal growth and revenge, featuring characters from two of my previous stories -- Cassy from the recently-published A Finger For Frodo (a tale which served a much longer jail sentence than this one, taking just over 1000 days to find a home), and Ayden from No One Will Believe You. Finding that those characters belonged in this story was one of the delights of its creation, and having known personalities I could call up out of central casting sped the writing process.

Speaking of which, how about some numbers?

Strangers On A Train On A Train took a bit less than eighteen hours over as many sittings to complete. Work began on 7/25/24, and was completed about a month later -- notable because we also managed a cross-town move that same month.

Some notes:

7/25

Put an hour into Strangers On A Train On A Train, and it’s a good hook, but I shouldn’t do much more without understanding the twist and especially the landing.

7/28

Knowing this is Cass from Frodo gave me places to go with this story. Felt like I’d cast the role with someone I knew, someone that I had more than a surface understanding of. Interesting, because I didn’t think I knew the character that well.

7/29

An indifferent hour but an hour just the same. And I’m thinking about the story overnight and between sessions, jumping online to enter notes, so maybe this is just the way this story goes. Kind of making it up as I go and that makes me uneasy, but does permit for surprises.

8/10

1K words and I don’t know if I’ll keep any of them, but good to be moving forward again.

8/13

Mostly revisions, still don’t know where this is going and hard to build a rhythm. Writing myself into corners and then trying to get out of them.

8/15

I won’t call it a writer’s block.

8/16

OK, it’s a block.

8/19

Inspired for another scene, but like all the rest, I don’t know where it’s left me. But at least the fog lifted long enough for 500 words.

8/20

Avoided writing most of the day, started late. Wrote most of the ending but it is wandering all over the place.

8/21

Complete and end-to-end but rough as hell.

8/22

Broke its back. Let it sit overnight, then tweak and send to Rita.

(My familiar pattern -- lost in despair, then it is done).

12/18

Randomly watched the movie again last night — one of those things where you turn it on for a minute and get sucked in — so I read the story again, too. Went into it insecure, thinking where the hell did I get off trying to have a story “in conversation” with Hitchcock and Highsmith? But I liked the story. It was less a conversation that a framing device and a box of easter eggs.

On its own time and at its own pace, the train eventually hauled those easter eggs into the station, and I can't imagine this story being in any other place. It's one of those crooked paths that only connect when you look back on it.

Thanks for reading! And if this kind of data + the writer eating his own liver appeals to you, check out the other blogs in this series!