Backwards Trajectory publishes fiction and poetry to 200 words, visual art, and found objects. “We like to be taken somewhere in a short period of time, we like vulnerability, we like warts and all real.” Read the complete guidelines here.
SQF: Why did you start this magazine?
Adam Strong: I was struggling to publish my novel and wanted to instead focus on giving voice to those who hadn’t been published yet. Or people needing a space to show off their talents. I wanted to bring joy back to writing for me.
SQF: What are the top three things you look for in a submission and why?
AS: I look to be transported. 200 words isn't very long, so I'm looking for submergence as quickly as possible. Anything that successfully distracts me from the life I am currently living.
SQF: What most often turns you off to a submission?
AS: As my mentor Tom Spabauer once said, writing that reminds me I am reading. Too many prepositions, or adverbs (I've dropped a few in this interview, and that is lazy writing) writing that doesn't draw me in. The male gaze, or women as seen as sexual objects. Writing that relies on an assumed whiteness of the reader/narrator. Writing that underestimates the inner complexities of life.
SQF: What do you look for in the opening paragraph(s)/stanza(s) of a submission?
AS: How immediate is my trip to your world. If I'm thinking about a buy nothing trip on my way home from work, it doesn't work.
SQF: Many editors list erotica, or sex for sex sake, as hard sells. What are hard sells for your publication?
AS: Erotica doesn't have a place in Backwards Trajectory even if some of the pieces are very sexy. Hard sells include cruelty, ignorance masked as understanding, writing that treats the reader as ignorant. Writing that delights in violence for violence sake.
SQF: What one question on this topic do you wish I'd asked that I didn't? And how would you answer it?
AS: Something about what type of prose I find to be successful, its voicey writing, writing that is assured of who it is even if the writer is a novice. I often find novice work to be more enjoyable than that of veteran writers. Sometimes I will accept a piece that is fresh and saying something new even if some parts of the piece aren't as professional as a piece that doesn't have something fresh to say.
Thank you, Adam. We all appreciate your taking time from your busy schedule to participate in this project.
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