Forum / Don't Send Me Anything!

• 
  MaryAnne Kolton

  Jun 19, 12:12am

  Recently received a Declined notice from a Lit Mag submission with some thoughts from the Associated Editor - "the Editor pretty much goes along with all my recommendations" - on what not to send him.
  Don't send him anything about your mother or father. Nothing about characters that have Cancer or Alzheimers or any terminal illnesses. Hates stories about animals and children. My Childhood type stories will be automatically rejected. Angst-filled marriage or relationship works, ditto. No tales about morphing into clouds, trees or flowers.
  He doesn't want to hear about where your ancestors came from. No children in rehab tales. No science fiction, no vampire works, and on, and on, and on.

  After reading his diatribe I thought to myself - no wonder so few of us ever get published. This person doesn't want to read stories about life.

  Your thoughts?

• 
  Linda Simoni-Wastila

  Jun 19, 02:18am

  Well. Please, tell me which mag this is because, ahem, these are the topics I write about.

  These could be construed to be topics women primarily write about (though quite a few dudes do as well -- think franzen, ahem).

  Okay. I'm an associate editor, too. I don't see many stories of the above, with the exception of the childhood angst. I see lots of young guys in bars stories. A lot of drugging stories a la James Frey. Very few women in the slush pile though, I am pleased, great representation in the final mag.

  I have a lot of other thoughts, too, but am too tired to thoroughly explicate (just back from Seattle and jet-lagging like crazy), but I do think there is a certain 'voice' that some pubs reach for, and I think the voice is a young, often male, MFA voice. Which is fine if you're all of the above. But hey, the great news is that there are so many wonderful venues that DO embrace different stories and ways of telling them that publication options are unlimited.

  I am still looking for top-tier journals which publish stories that interest me, a middle-aged woman with kids, a complicated job and a more complicated life. So far, The Bellevue Literary Review and The Sun are the print journals of choice. And on that note, off to read the latest. Peace...

• 
  MaryAnne Kolton

  Jun 19, 03:07am

  Linda, sleep well, dream big. Then I want to know your opinion of The Women Arts Quarterly and Bacopa - Writers Alliance of Gainsville.
  Mar

• 
  Susan Tepper

  Jun 19, 02:05pm

  I'll keep this short and sweet, because I could go on forever about this topic.
  Basically, MaryAnne, ignore it. I remember seeing that slip (or one very similar) ten-some years ago. It could've been printed that far back and simply is being used till they run out.
  Nobody knows what the hell they "want" until they read it and love it. That goes for agents and editors of all stripes. Myself included..
  Just write and send what you want to write. It will find its "writeful" place.

• 
  Berit Ellingsen

  Jun 21, 09:09pm

  My question when reading that no-list was: what stories are left? Running with bulls, no that contains animals. Fantasy? That sometimes involves trees, or children. ;)

  Fortunately, there seems to be lots of places that accept stories about life, family, children, animals, people etc.

• 
  MaryAnne Kolton

  Jun 23, 04:46am

  Berit, After I started this thread I could not resist the title or story opportunity. Hence the story Dont Sent Me Anything! about a fried egg sandwich - seemed to avoid all the above categories. . .

• 
  James Lloyd Davis

  Jun 23, 03:13pm

  Morphing into flowers?!?!! People write about things like that?

  You really have to love the wisdom of the sophomoric, wickedly sophisticated members of the bored and brilliant literati who screen submissions. Twenty years old and they've seen ... it ... all.

  Wait ... I used to be like that.

  But, still ... morphing into flowers? That would make a great short story, sort of like ... the anti-Kafka, where instead of waking up as a cockroach, guy wakes up as a strawberry-colored rhododenron in a clay pot.

  Who couldn't like something like that?

• 
  Brett Garcia Rose

  Jun 25, 01:14pm

  MaryAnne:

  I got a cancer rejection as well (for a story that started out in a bar) from the Barcelona Review, so I changed it to suicide, since it was a minor point anyway. 10 or 15 words turned it into a 'cancer story' for them. Cave under pressure? I suppose, but I still believe that exceptional writing can vanquish editors stigmas every time. On the other hand, they have to read everything so fast that many have their own 'rejection list' of reasons not to finish reading a particular story.

  I'm always happy to receive that kind of rejection, though. Far more useful than silence. But also I never think of editors as readers, as my target audience, which helps me a great deal. I appreciate when they like my work, ignore it when they don't, and take their criticism to heart whenever given. The good ones have read more stories than I ever will, and are able to see things that I can't, or won't.

• 
  MaryAnne Kolton

  Jun 25, 05:41pm

  Brett, you are very wise. And certainly one of the best writers I have ever tead. . .

  "The good ones have read more stories than I ever will, and are able to see things that I can't, or won't."

• 
  Matthew A. Hamilton

  Jun 25, 05:55pm

  Well put Brett. Similar with what happens with my poetry. I was recently rejected by Anderbo, but picked up by Atticus Review. I got a bonus with Atticus, too, because they have their own press, which hopefully will be useful to me in the future.

  Some really great editors/writers at Atticus, so I recommend checking them out. I think Atticus Books has a group link here at FN.

  -Matthew

• 
  Gill Hoffs

  Jun 29, 08:33am

  Well I really REALLY want to try and get something published by the slip-people now... what a challenge! Did you send them the fried-egg-sandwich piece? I loved it.

  Linda - excuse my ignorance but what's MFA mean? Not a term I've come across before but I'm still new to all this and very keen to learn.

  JLD - please write about the strawberry coloured rhododendron. I can see it now!

• 
  MaryAnne Kolton

  Jun 29, 08:16pm

  Gill, you should have no problem whatsoever getting published with your estimable talents.

• 
  Gill Hoffs

  Jun 29, 09:26pm

  Aw shucks, MAK *blushing*

• 
  Linda Simoni-Wastila

  Jun 30, 02:21am

  Don't get mad -- get even! I have a couple of slip-peep mags I keep trying and trying to get into... sigh...

  Gill: no ignorance just my love of acronyms. MFA -- Master of Fine Arts. And concur with MAK, just keep subbing. Peace...

• 
  Gill Hoffs

  Jun 30, 07:37am

  Ah, thanks Linda! Good luck all.

• 
  Jim V

  Jun 30, 07:48am

  MaryAnne, I should post that poem I published in 5 AM. You'd get a kick out of it. Maybe this weekend.

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