I Need Clarification About a Request

[BarryDavidson]

There is a request for "paranormal articles". It states that it'll take paranormal, UFO, Knights Templar, etc. That sounds a lot like it's asking for fiction because of the way it's worded. If I'm wrong, I'm wrong, but can fiction be requested given that it's not accepted any other time?

[Celeste Stewart]

Here's the request info:

We need full rights content on the subject of anything paranormal.We realise that is a broad area and looking for specific content on ghost stories,ufos,and knights yemplar

I interpret that to mean that at least the part about ghost stories could be fictional. As far as UFOs and Knights Templar, I'd probably stick to a non-fiction angle on those. For example, an interview with someone who claims to have been abducted rather than a fictional story of an abduction.

Actually, you could do ghost stories from a non-fiction perspective as well. For instance, the Hotel del Coronado in San Diego is rumored to have several resident ghosts. An article about those hauntings could be fun to write. Old Town San Diego also has tons of ghost stories -- Just using SD as an example because it's close to home and I know about these off the top of my head. Since there's also a request for SD articles, it might not be a bad strategy to write about these haunted houses/hotels. If the paranormal customer doesn't want them, the SD customer might. Thinking out loud . Feel free to take these ideas as I don't plan on writing about them.

If you have your heart set on writing a fictional account, ask the requester if he's considering fiction. If so, go for it but make sure to include a note in the short summary that the fictional article is by request and that the customer has confirmed that he's looking for fictional accounts. CC's usually pretty good about making exceptions to the guidelines when a customer requests it. I'd also word the short summary itself so that it's obvious to other customers that the article is fictional just in case it doesn't sell to the original requester.

[BarryDavidson]

Thank you Celeste. I'd just gotten home from work, and got a bit over-excited by seeing what I wanted to see. I will have to pass a note to the requester.