They say you’ll know when it’s time. December 31 marked the end of my 15th year of providing editor interviews on Six Questions For. . . (https://sixquestionsfor.blogspot.com). It’s been a grand run, but it’s time for me to move on.
Thanks to all who participated in this effort, especially those who used what they learned here to write publishable stories. That's what made all the work meaningful.
FYI: The archives will remain online as long as Google allows.
Raw Lit publishes flash fiction and non-fiction to 500 words, short fiction and non-fiction to 2,000 words, poetry (up to two pages per poem), visual art and hybrids. “We want writing that helps to process emotions.” Read the complete guidelines here.
SQF: Why did you start this magazine?
Delphine Gauthier-Georgakopoulos: I’ve always been interested in people's motivations; why we react a certain way to some situations but not others, how emotions or past traumas affect our everyday life, how to break patterns ingrained in us since childhood... I created Raw Lit to offer a safe place for those hard to write/hard to place personal pieces that analyse and dissect the human condition. I believe that sharing and reading that kind of work can bring healing to the writer and understanding to the reader.
SQF: What are the top three things you look for in a submission and why?
DGG:
1. Authenticity. I’m always attracted to pieces that are candid, ring true as a story and a voice whether or not I can relate to it.
2. Imagery. I’m drawn to writing that offers sensory details and imagery. Show me nature, food, the colours & noises of the city… I love to touch, taste, smell, see and hear it through the character.
3. Work that stays with me. I’m looking for a story—with a beginning, a middle, and an end—that flows. If there is a rhythm to it or a melody of sorts, if I come back to it after a few days and it has stayed with me all this time, then it’s likely to get published.
SQF: What most often turns you off to a submission?
DGG:
1. Writing that is so lyrical, so filled with clever metaphors and pretty words, I forget what it’s about.
2. Prose filled with filters. They can create such a distance between the reader and the story. I want to care deeply about the character.
3. Sometimes all the ingredients appear to be there, but something is missing, the voice lacks honesty or passion. Again, it comes down to authenticity.
SQF: What do you look for in the opening paragraph(s)/stanza(s) of a submission?
DGG: I love to be intrigued, surprised. It could be anything from an unexpected character or setting, a repetition or rhythm, a voice, but the opening needs to give the tone of the piece and make me want to read on.
SQF: Many editors list erotica, or sex for sex sake, as hard sells. What are hard sells for your publication?
DGG: While we welcome all topics, anything that could be considered as inciting harm (including self-harm), violence, racism, sexism, extremism in any form will be rejected. Raw Lit is about healing.
SQF: What one question on this topic do you wish I'd asked that I didn't? And how would you answer it?
DGG: What would you like to see more of?
A raw submission told with humour would instantly get my attention, as would an unreliable narrator. I would also love to see more comics.
Thank you, Delphine. We all appreciate you taking time from your busy schedule to participate in this project.
Ark Review publishes environmental writing: fiction, memoir and personal essays to 1,200 words, poetry to thirty lines, and art. Read the complete guidelines here.
SQF: Why did you start this magazine?
MY: I felt the disconnect in our perception between the environment and us as humans. Climate change persists, and it is a problem far closer to home than stranded polar bears; it is a migration and diaspora problem, a disease control problem, a global economic problem, a national security problem, a problem about resource wars, land wars, sovereignty, heat-deaths, cold-snap deaths, storm-deaths, flood-deaths, food. Environmental disasters are human disasters.
I also felt the disconnect between modern literature and young writers/readers. Most journals of creative writing are exclusively from adult authors, or from authors with previous publications, while others are exclusively for teens. This is understandable as newer writers (and newer humans) tend to have less experience in their craft and need more guidance in producing quality work. However, without an intention to bring in a diverse set of authors, issues of creative writing become monolithic. We at Ark Review try to share not just international but intergenerational volumes of creative writing, united for this common cause.
So, with the youth nonprofit Everything Starts Small, we started Ark Review.
SQF: What are the top three things you look for in a submission and why?
MY: Firstly, an environmental focus. This is the first thing we look for in a submission. This doesn't necessarily translate into setting; the piece can take place anywhere, from in the middle of a city to all in your head. But the piece's theme must revolve around connecting with what the world was like before us, what the world will look like after us, or what the world looks like with us and within us, right now.
Secondly, uniqueness. When you establish a journal centered around a common theme, you tend to get a lot of submissions that communicate the same thing. Tell us something new about our relationship with the environment.
Finally, the piece should elicit a reaction. Reading it should provoke a physical response, lingering image, or emotional impulse. This is how we move our readers towards taking action, towards ecological justice.
SQF: What most often turns you off to a submission?
MY: A lack of that second aspect. The key to tackling a broad topic, like climate change, is not to zoom out but rather to zoom in. Avoid being vague or broad in favor of focusing on a single instant or a single story, because, with a few pages or a few lines, that's the only way to contribute to the larger story of all of us.
SQF: What do you look for in the opening paragraph(s)/stanza(s) of a submission?
MY: Beyond what I've already mentioned, I immediately look for a strong sense of craft. Tell us something new—yes—and tell it in a new way, one that demonstrates purpose and ferocity in every word. That's what makes us fall in love with pieces.
SQF: Many editors list erotica, or sex for sex's sake, as hard sells. What are hard sells for your publication?
MY: Sex for sex's sake and violence for violence's sake are two of them. Our targeted audience comes from a diverse age and political range, and these two elements have a tendency to alienate certain readers. However, sex and violence may be necessary themes in a piece, and thus are hard sells but still on the table if written with intention. We also acknowledge that when presenting a heterogeneous volume of work, not every piece is meant to appeal to every reader, and finding those pieces that connect with you is what makes this project so beautiful.
Other hard sells would include: doomism; metaphors without characters, or proper nouns; and disregard for current environmental science, though not to discount absurdism. To reiterate: it's all about intentionality.
SQF: What one question on this topic do you wish I'd asked that I didn't? And how would you answer it?
MY: What type of submissions do you wish you got more of?
Optimistic pieces. Not pieces that are ignorant, or even necessarily happy. But pieces that give us hope. That show that people are changing their minds about the environment. That they've stopped viewing it as something separate from us. Hope is our symbol, right? Our mission is to be the Ark: the words that carry us through the storm.
Thank you, Mason. We all appreciate your taking time from your busy schedule to participate in this project.
Johnny America is the name for both our sporadically published print ’zine and clockwork-regular website of fiction, humor, and other miscellany.
Our typical reader has a literary bent but enjoys the silly and absurd and isn’t too self-serious: we appeal to those who can appreciate both Ulysses and Mad Magazine. Read the complete guidelines here.
SQF: Why did you start this magazine?
JA: Johnny America started as a lark, springing from chats over AOL Instant Messenger as we sneaked internet access at our respective day-jobs at the turn of the millennium. The two of us were best of friends who'd moved to different cities, so we started J.A. first and foremost because we wanted to create a project where we could share stories with each other. We knew we’d invite a handful of friends in on the fun, but didn't expect we’d ever attract so many readers and writers not personally known to us.
SQF: What are the top three things you look for in a submission and why?
JA: The top thing we look for is a tonal fit. While it makes us a little uncomfortable to describe our general sensibility—because that feels pigeon-holing—it’s fair to say that J.A. has an irreverent, somewhat playful tone that frequently blends dry humor with whimsical sensibilities. We’re looking for stories that sit well next to each other on the page or Internet.
We’re also looking for stories that are fully realized. We’ll of course proofread for typos, because there are always typos, but it’s rare that we’ll accept a story that needs more than minor edits.
And of course, we look for submissions with cover letters complimenting our toned abdominal muscles.
SQF: What most often turns you off to a submission?
JA: Some of our big turn-offs include gratuitous violence or grotesqueness, trippy drug stories, and humorous submissions that were clearly written to fit an idiosyncratic tone of another publication—say the faux news of The Onion or a “list” that clearly aspired to McSweeney’s.
In our submissions guidelines we provide a list of topics that generally don’t work for us as a guide to potential submitters. We’re so very grateful that strangers from across the Internet send us their stories to read, and we don’t want to waste anyone’s time when they could be targeting other venues where their story might click.
SQF: Do you provide comments when you reject a submission?
JA: Sometimes. If a submission is obviously a bulk submission with a tone so far off the mark that it’s clear the author doesn’t have even a passing familiarity with J.A., we’re likely to reply in kind with a “thank you, but this one’s not for us.”
Many times, particularly with humorous submissions, we’ll reply with something along the lines of “this one didn’t quite work for us,” which we recognize is a too vague to be a truly constructive comment but is true none-the-less. While it’s relatively easy to comment on basic structural problems in fiction, it’s surprisingly difficult to succinctly and thoughtfully comment on the humorous potential coiled in a phrase like “the cat had a bad case of impetigo.”
If the decision to pass was a particularly difficult one—meaning the two of us had extended discussion about a piece or had to stew on whether it was a good fit for us—we’ll say so, usually with specific comments, and encourage the author to share with us again in the future.
SQF: If Johnny America had a theme song, what would it be and why?
JA: If Johnny America had a theme song, it would probably be something a little askew, something upbeat but also off-beat—like 'Once in a Lifetime' by Talking Heads. That song’s mix of absurdity and introspection feels in line with the spirit of Johnny America. It's a celebration of the weirdness and charm in everyday life, which is what we aim to capture in our stories and illustrations.
SQF: What one question on this topic do you wish I'd asked that I didn't? And how would you answer it?
JA: Hmm. That’s a fun one with so many answers! How about... If Johnny America were a person, what would they be like?
To which we might reply: Johnny America would be that friend who shows up to the party in a thrift-store suit, armed with a pocket notebook full of observations and doodles. They’d crack jokes that make you laugh first and think later, and spend the night in a kitchen swapping weird, heartfelt stories. Johnny would be equal parts raconteur and confidant, with a dash of mischief—exactly the energy we aim to channel on the site.
Thank you, Emily and Jay. We all appreciate you taking time from your busy schedule to participate in this project.
Witcraft publishes fiction, non-fiction and poetry of 200-1,000 words. “We're looking for skillful writing that is brief, humorous and engaging, with the emphasis on wit, word play, absurdity and inspired nonsense. We offer monthly prizes of A$50, A$20 and $A10. Entry is free. Read the complete guidelines here.
SQF: Why did you start this magazine?
Doug Jacquier: I love humour, wit, absurdity, wry social commentary, and people’s funny moments in their lives. I love writers who know how to craft their submissions to reach the audience they crave.
I know there’s a market out there of people who want some daily relief from the gloom and doom that seems to pervade the news and the web. And I know writers who love to write humour.
In despair at being able to find a home for well-crafted humorous work, I decided (with a lot of encouragement from my wife, Sue) to be the change I wanted to see. Hence Witcraft.
SQF: What are the top three things you look for in a submission and why?
DJ: We look for stories and poems that share these common elements:
SQF: What most often turns you off to a submission?
DJ: There are some basic no-no’s that will automatically get you a rejection.
SQF: What do you look for in the opening paragraph(s)/stanza(s) of a submission?
DJ: Our specialty is brief humour pieces, so the opening is less important than in longer formats. We look for pieces that work as a whole.
SQF: If Witcraft had a theme song, what would it be and why?
DJ: Randy Neman’s ‘You’ve got a friend in me’, which sums up my feelings for humour writers around the world.
SQF: What one question on this topic do you wish I'd asked that I didn't? And how would you answer it?
DJ: Do you write articles on humour?
Yes, I do and you can find most of them on Witcraft’s Substack page.
I’ve also published a free list of 100+ other magazines that publish humour, as acknowledged by Chill Subs in this piece.
Thank you, Doug. We all appreciate your taking time from your busy schedule to participate in this project.
