Last January, I asked Debi to help me with a little project that I began after having four wisdom teeth removed at the tender age of 34. I wanted to write a book on how to write flash fiction to support my popular class Flash Writing: How to Write Stories Less Than 1,000 Words Long. My first step was to ask permission to use some of my favorite stories from flashquake from the past couple years. To select my favorites, I read dozens and dozens of stories and selected only a few of them. Even though these stories were selected by an editorial committee, a lot of them I didn't like. They didn't make sense to me. I couldn't relate to the character. They didn't illustrate a key point that I wanted to make in Flash Writing.
That didn't mean the stories I selected were the best stories ever written. Nor did it mean that the stories that I didn't select weren't good. They just weren't good for me.
In September, Flash Writing was going through the final stages of publication, and I was asked to be a guest editor for flashquake, and although I do a lot of critiques for my students and clients, I've never been an editor for a publication before. flashquake got over 300 submissions during the 61 day submission period, and according to Debi, this was a low number of submissions. And these are just the stories that made it through Debi's pre-screening process. I don't know how many stories she eliminated before-hand but from what I've heard from other editors, most publications have submission guidelines that many writers don't bother to read and have their stories eliminated immediately, not a word ever read by an editor.
flashquake has well-defined submission guidelines. Writers who sent their stories as an e-mail attachment had them deleted without even being opened. If the word count on your story was 1,123, well, that was 123 words too long according to the guidelines. The first rule of publication that all writers must obey is: Follow the instructions you are given. Exactly. Your work is not brilliant enough to warrant an exception to these rules.
In addition, as an editor with this number of submissions, you don't spend a lot of time with each submission. The story gets one good read through to make an impression. It doesn't get a second chance. The writer has to hook the reader in, engage him/her for the quick ride, and create an ending that is interesting and satisfying. If you fail to do all of these things, if you make one little mistake that shatters the illusion, your story will not get published.
I eliminated stories because of a mis-typed word. I eliminated others because of a word used incorrectly. Some of these stories were well written, but had one element out of place, or an awkwardly worded sentence that made me stumble out of the suspended disbelief that all stories require. Many were great stories that had endings that fell flat.
But as much as I hate to admit it, a lot of the stories that I voted "yes" on were those that I just liked. No magic formula. No specific quality that all of them had. There were a lot of stories that the other editors liked that I didn't, and vice versa.
A lot of times publication comes down to the personal preference of the editor who reads your story. Bottom line: You have to write a perfect story, and even then there is no guarantee that you will be published. Just ask J.K. Rowling.
Beginning with the next issue of flashquake, I'm writing a regular column about how to improve your flash writing. I'll give you guidelines on how to increase your chances of getting your flash fiction and non-fiction published. I hope you'll check it out in the Spring issue.
Also, be sure to check out my new website www.flashwriting.com, which should be completed by the end of the year with flash writing resources, articles, markets, and links of interest to short-short story writers. And if you are still looking for a special holiday gift for the flash fiction writer in your life, buy a copy of Flash Writing out on my website or from Amazon.com on the Recommended page. Have a great holiday and see you in the spring!