Six Questions for Tommy Dean, Editor-in-Chief, Fractured Lit

(First issue to be published on 6/2/2020)

“We’re looking for micro fiction (400 words or less) and flash fiction (401-1,000 words) that provide readers with emotional resonance and characters that we care about, who come to life through their actions and responses to the diverse world around them. We want the micro and flash fiction that you just had to write, that you couldn’t look away from, which gives us new ways of relating to the fractures of humanity.”  And make sure to check out the Fractured Lit Flash Fiction Prize contest guidelines. First prize pays $3,000 and publication. Read the complete guidelines here.

SQF: Why did you start this magazine?

Tommy Dean: The parent company of The Masters Review and CRAFT Literary, Discover New Art envisioned a new space dedicated to finding the freshest, most exciting flash from writers of all backgrounds and skill levels. As a team, we felt we could offer more space for writers of micro and flash fiction if we opened Fractured Lit. I’m honored to have the opportunity, along with my associate editor, K.B. Carle, and a fantastic reading team, to provide writers with a new paying venue for flash fiction that lingers long past the first reading.

SQF: What are the top three things you look for in a submission and why?

TD: 

• Micro and flash that creates an empathic and emotional connection between the character and the reader.
• Stories that matter to the writer. Stories that gain power from the writer’s or character’s sense of wonder about the world. A questioning of the status quo, a defamiliarization of the typical—Characters searching for meaning, but finding it in expected places.
• We’d love to see more work from a diverse range of writers!

SQF: What most often turns you off to a submission?

TD: 

• Inappropriate content: misogyny, hate speech, the glorification of violence, racism
• A lack of stakes for character and reader, which often leads to the feeling of reading an anecdote or vignette
• A reliance on exposition to tell the reader everything rather than the use of concrete specific details, metaphor, and character choices and actions to create a resonate story. 

SQF: What do you look for in the opening paragraph(s) of a submission?

TD: I love to see a sense of character, voice, time/place, a sense of conflict and mystery. Even micros need a sense of character, setting, and conflict. Even the weird, the surreal has to take place somewhere, have a driving force, and push toward resonance. Details that come directly from the sense of the point of view are more specific, more resonant, and carry the weight of telling a story in such a small space. 

SQF: What other services does Fractured Lit offer authors?

TD: Fractured Lit is always open to free general submissions for micro and flash fiction. We pay $50 per micro and $75 per flash upon acceptance.  We also offer submissions for our Community section which focuses on interviews, essays, and ephemeral on the roots and the future of the flash form and genre. We offer editorial feedback letters that include up to two pages of feedback on what we liked and didn't like about a flash of your choice from the submission, suggestions for revision, where it might be a good fit, and other comments about craft. We host 2-5 contests per calendar year. Submissions are open now for our first Flash Fiction Prize judged by Megan Giddings, author of Lakewood. 

SQF: What one question on this topic do you wish I'd asked that I didn't? And how would you answer it?

TD: Should readers continue to submit if they have received a few rejections from Fractured Lit? 

Yes! We want to build relationships with our submitters! We want to encourage and support your trust in our reading of your work in our queue. As writers ourselves, we understand that writing, while usually fulfilling, is not an easy pursuit, and the submission process is fraught with anxiety, and often the question of self-worth. You are more than the response to any given submission! It’s so exciting to be given the opportunity to work with writers to showcase their stories and to help them find readers for their work! Keep writing, keep submitting, because we're rooting for you!

Thank you, Tommy. We all appreciate your taking time from your busy schedule to participate in this project.