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Creative Writing Submissions: Submission EtiquettePublishable creative writing submissions have good content. The story is original and should begin with such a good idea that readers feel they have never read anything like your story. The topic may be familiarlove, loneliness, lossbut the way you handle the story should be original. Your characters should be interesting, often memorable in their quirkiness, and their situation should be fresh and new. Read any of the stories published on this site, and they should surprise you in some way. Read "Death by Scrabble," "The Woman Under the Thames," or "Death Comes for Simon." These stories lack predictability. They feel fresh and a bit surprising. Publishable creative writing submissions are well crafted. From the beginning readers must know that the character needs or wants something. The stronger the goal, the better the story. Throughout the middle of the story, the character pursues this goal, and faces complications that prevent immediate gratification. These setbacks, however subtle, cause readers to unconsciously root for the character. This identification with the character's need makes the story interesting. The story ends when the character either succeeds or fails to get what he or she so badly wanted, again as a result of something readers could not have predicted. Publishable creative writing submissions are well edited. Ideally, the story has been tightened so that not a single word can be removed without hurting the meaning. When you finish a story, try cutting the story by one-half. That's right, remove 50% of the words. Challenge yourself to do this. If you don't like the result, you still have the original, but you will be surprised at how much you can shrink the work without harming it. Look for:
For more examples of what to remove, see: Creative Writing Tips What Will Hinder Publication If you want your creative writing submissions to see print, read the publisher's guidelines. Read the stories already published. You can learn a lot about an editor's preferences by reading what has already been published. Are the stories easy to read, or highly intellectual? Is humour acceptable? What type of humour? What length are the successful stories? What is the tone of the narrative intellectual, tongue-in-cheek, personal, confessional? You'll find patterns in the most eclectic mix, if you look for them. Do not make contact with a publisher after you submit. Publishers almost always make it clear when you will hear back from them about your creative writing submissions. Read the guidelines! Do not contact a publisher after you have been rejected. Publishers wish they had time to explain to every hopeful writer what would improve rejected work, but of course they can't. To contact the publisher and ask why your creative writing submissions were rejected is unprofessional and marks you as an amateur. It puts the publisher in an uncomfortable position, and makes you someone to avoid in the future. If you want to know if your work has problems, consult a writing mentor, a writer-in-residence, or a writing group. Do not complain to the publisher that your rejected creative writing submissions are better than the stories the publisher chose. This happens more often than most people imagine, and it makes you memorable in the wrong way. You will destroy any chance of working with the editor in the future, at this magazine or any other. Do not read too much into a rejection. Publishers choose stories according to their taste, which is not universal, and they reject stories for many, many reasons that have nothing to do with the quality of the writing. They may have overshot their budget for the month. They may have received such high quality submissions that yours took a backseat despite its publishable quality. The publisher may have a backlog of submissions or may have published a similar story not long ago. Review a rejected story with a fresh eye, improve it if you can, and send it out again, over and over, until it finds a home.
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Nominee 2008 IMPAC Dublin International Literary Award Praise for Madame Zee Precise and elegant, with a measured tone that beautifully balances the often bizarre subject matter. ~ Montreal Gazette
Winner 2001 Commonwealth Prize for best first book Canada/Carribbean region Praise for Burning Ground ... lyrical, sensual and erotic, written with a confidence often lacking in first books. ~ Toronto Star |
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