Publishing Diaries: Peter Beynon

On his flash fiction “The Oasis” and “Sasha + Mario,” published in New World Writing Quarterly

Welcome to Publishing Diaries! In each diary, you’ll meet a writer who has had a piece published in a literary magazine in the last year or so. They’ll share insights about writing, revising, submitting, and ultimately getting the piece published. Interested in sharing your journey? Let me know by filling out this form.

👋 Meet Peter Beynon. He teaches English at a small independent school. His fiction has appeared in New World Writing, The Los Angeles Review, FlashFlood Journal, and Sixfold. He lives in Albany, New York.

Peter has 5 publications and would rate his experience level with submitting as Intermediate.

This Q&A with Peter will focus on his flash fiction pieces “The Oasis” and “Sasha + Mario” (read them here), both published in New World Writing Quarterly in April 2026.

How did these two stories start for you?

With prompts! At first, prompts seem to promise, or threaten, to take the writer into foreign territory. That’s what I feel like when I begin. But the prompts simply open up alternative routes to the motifs and themes that preoccupy me. Same house, different door.

“The Oasis” began with a prompt from a member of a writing group I was in: “Write a story with a sex scene.” How puerile, I thought. But the finished story was really about loneliness and need.

“Sasha + Mario” sprang from a prompt as well, one for a contest run by Jaime Dill’s Full Mood Mag. Jaime provided 15 lists of three, four, or six random words. The challenge: in a 500-word story (or in up to three poems), use all of the words from one of the lists.

While I began with a six-word list, it was fun to see what additional words I could incorporate into a cohesive and focused narrative. My contest submission used 20 of the words; one of the winning entries used all 65.

When did you start the first draft of each?

“The Oasis”: way back in 2020

“Sasha + Mario”: October 2023

How long did you work on each story for?

Each draft came together in a couple of weeks; firm deadlines definitely helped.

I sent out an early version of each story right away. When the rejections came in, I’d either make some changes and send it out again or second-guess myself and let it nap on my hard drive.

But positive feedback, even encouraging form rejections, definitely kept the stories alive.

One of the first editors to reject “The Oasis” wrote:

“We weren’t able to accept all the work we loved, including yours. We did want to note though that it was a strong submission and hope it finds a good home.”

These kind words sustained me for weeks.

When the rejections for “The Oasis” began to pile up and the doubts crept in, I had writer and editor Alexander Sorondo read the story. For a very reasonable fee, he wrote many constructive, detailed comments, and did so in less than 24 hours. He can be reached through his Substack, big reader bad grades.

How many drafts of each story did you do?

Rachel McCarron’s answer in her Publishing Diary had me nodding in agreement:

“I tend not to count drafts because I work on a live document, continually editing.”

As part of that editing process, I read drafts aloud or have an app on my laptop read them while I do something mindless, like ironing a shirt for work.

Hearing my words helps me assess the quality of the prose and, to a lesser extent, the momentum of the plot.

What was your revision process like for these two stories?

The overall shape of each story changed:

“The Oasis” began as the opening of a longer narrative. When I workshopped just that first scene (in a class with Frederic Tuten at the Southampton Writers Conference in 2021), Frederic and my classmates encouraged me to send it out on its own.

“Sasha + Mario” began as a 500-word story, then, because the characters needed more breathing room, continued to grow. The final version: just under 1,000 words. And, early on in the process, what began as a falling-out-of-love story about a heterosexual couple became one about two men.

How did you know these stories were ready to submit?

When the prose was polished, when I felt each story had an arc—when it simply felt “done”—I sent it out.

How did you decide which publications to submit these stories to?

I did what I now habitually do: I started with journals that have published things I really love. There are a lot of them out there. Journals that sent me encouraging rejections were also at the top of the list.

Handsome design is always a plus. It’s a pleasure to page through an issue of The Greensboro Review or The Sewanee Review; the layout is uncluttered and clean. I also love the animated illustrations that accompany the stories in Split Lip.

A fantastic story in New World Writing (“Slides,” by Megan Peck Shub) was what prompted me to submit my work to them.

How many rejections did you get for each story before they were accepted?

“The Oasis”: 65 rejections (sigh)

“Sasha + Mario”: 56 rejections

What’s your dream journal to be published in?

I’ve subscribed to lots of different journals, like The Bennington Review, BOMB, The Greensboro Review, A Public Space, One Story, and Story. They all publish great stuff, and their editors have responded encouragingly to my work. (I quote two of their kind rejections above.) I would happily have a story of mine appear in any one of these places.

What are some journals you recommend other writers check out?

In addition to the dream journals I’ve listed above, I am a long-time subscriber to The Paris Review and The Sewanee Review. They are elegant and eclectic. Whenever The Paris Review pops up in my mailbox, I read the author interviews first; with The Sewanee Review, I start with the craft essay.

I’ve also read wonderful flash fiction in X-R-A-Y Lit, Split Lip, Electric Literature, New World Writing, and matchbook. I’ve assigned stories from all of these journals to my high school students.

And I recently renewed my New Yorker subscription; I wonder why I had ever stopped.

Recent stories from Camille Bordas, Tessa Hadley, Garth Greenwell, Teju Cole, Ben Okri, and Lauren Groff have inspired me, and have sometimes made their way into my classroom.

What advice do you have for other writers submitting their work?

1. Keep a file that includes not only the acceptance letters but also the encouraging rejections. When you have something new to send out, try the magazines that sent those higher-tier rejections first.
   
   If an editor says, “Please do try us with another story in the near future; there’s quite a bit to admire in your work and we would love the chance to read more of your writing,” believe them.
   
   

2. Stimulate the appetites that made you want to write in the first place. Read widely. Write often. Try different genres.
   
   Try prompts! As Kathy Fish wrote recently in her The Art of Flash Fiction Substack, “My mantra, as a writer and teacher, has always been, ‘Whatever gets you to the page.’”
   
   Here’s a prompt I plan to use one of these days:
   
   Choose three or four words from a crossword puzzle, from your guesses on a recent Wordle, or, for that matter, from a Shakespeare sonnet, the Geneva Convention, or an obituary in The New York Times. Then use those words to write a character sketch, a scene, or a story that has nothing to do with puzzles, poetry, humanitarian treatment in times of war, or whoever appeared that morning in the obituary pages.
   
   

3. Be an active member of the writing world; it’s a real lifeline.

   1. Join a writing group.

   2. Take a class.

   3. When you read something you love, send a note to the author. (Authors respond to these notes so often and with such gratitude that I fear readers don’t often reach out. But don’t we all write to be heard?)

---

You Could Be Next!

Thanks for reading the latest installment of Publishing Diaries! I’m currently looking for more writers who want to share their publishing journeys. If you’ve had a piece published in a literary journal within the last year or so, and it’s available online for people to read for free, please fill out this form and I’ll be in touch!