Forum / Digging Through the Fat is looking for a few good stories

• 
  Gessy Alvarez

  Sep 29, 01:34am

  Submission Period at Digging Through the Fat is open. We love the efficient, precise, aggressive works of Ernest Hemingway, Lydia Davis, Anton Chekhov, Leo Tolstoy, Augusto Monterroso, Italo Calvino, Jorge Luis Borges, Mary Gaitskill, and so many others. We know there's more said with fewer words and we hope you prove us right. We like surprises, experiments, even failures. We relish in the avant-garde. We want to encourage an artist to take risks, put herself out there, and redefine narrative.

  http://diggingthroughthefat.com/
  https://diggingthroughthefat.submittable.com/submit

• 
  Sally Houtman

  Oct 02, 12:56am

  Okay, since no one else has said it...

  "We want to encourage an artist to take risks, put herself out there, and redefine narrative."

  The *herself* presumes you are seeking work only from *her*s, or that preference will be given to work by *her*s. Though I don't think this is the case, as some of the writers you mention are clearly not *her*s (most, in fact, are *him*s.)

  Whether male or female, this would immediately cause me not to submit, as it sounds exclusionary, whether this is the intent or not.

  Perhaps others have thought, but not said. So I said.

• 
  Sally Houtman

  Oct 02, 01:00am

  "as it sounds exclusionary"

  I should have clarified, it sounds *covertly* exclusionary.

• 
  Gessy Alvarez

  Oct 02, 03:41am

  Hmmm, I guess you can assume that if you like. I'm going to stick by my choice since the other alternatives are "he," which is equally "exclusionary," or "he/she," which I think is clumsy. And, by the way, other "he's" have submitted. You may be one of only a few making this short-sighted assumption.

• 
  Gessy Alvarez

  Oct 02, 03:57am

  Apologies for getting heated, but we are not exclusionary at Digging Through the Fat. Check out the website and are archives to get a taste.

• 
  Sally Houtman

  Oct 02, 06:00am

  "We want to encourage an artist to take risks, put herself out there, and redefine narrative."

  This:

  "We want to encourage artists to take risks, to put themselves out there..."

  Just a thought.

  Why create even the *possibility* that one of those shortsighted few might just have the brilliant piece you were looking for.

  But simply moved on silently, without letting you know they were even there.

  I know you, Gessy, and know you are *not* exclusionary. Which is why I thought, at the risk of angering you, it was worth bringing this to your attention.

  Give it some thought, eh?

• 
  Lucinda Kempe

  Oct 03, 12:31am

  Thanks, Gess. Will check it out. Avant Guardrail - I love you r name. :-)

• 
  Jane Flett

  Oct 04, 05:05pm

  Sounds great, thanks Gessy! And for what it's worth, when I see submission calls that don't automatically default to male pronouns, it makes me about 300% more likely to send them something.

• 
  Joani Reese

  Oct 05, 01:09am

  Gessy: People have used the masculine as a default for centuries, and no one took offense. Isn't it funny that we live in a country with a 51% female population and someone would take offense to a writer using the female and claim it's some sort of pejorative? You can't please everyone, so you've got to please yourself.

• 
  Carol Reid

  Oct 05, 01:37am

  It's fine with me if you choose to use the feminine form, Gessy. Defaulting to the feminine does make me smile.

• 
  Sam Rasnake

  Oct 05, 04:58am

  Always enjoy Digging Through the Fat, Gessay, and am looking forward to reading more.

• 
  Sam Rasnake

  Oct 05, 04:59am

  It would help if I could spell - Gessy. Sorry for the ytop.

• You must log in to reply to this thread.