Six Questions for Kathy McEathron, Fiction Editor, Sleet Magazine

Sleet Magazine publishes fiction, flash fiction, poetry, interviews, and irregulars (cross-genre works). Read the complete guidelines here.

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

KM: It tells me something about the human condition, sentences are concise and move the story along, there is a balance and a beginning, middle and end. 

SQF: What are the top three reasons a submission is rejected, other than not fitting into your answers to the above question and why?

KM: The writer tells too much so that as readers we aren’t inspired to use our imaginations. 

Details are incorrect; if you mention specific things to a period of time or setting they must be correct so the story is authentic. 

We didn’t care about the characters.  We want a reason to like or dislike a character. 

SQF: Which of the following statements is true and why? Plot is more important than character. Character is more important than plot. Plot and character are equally important. 

KM: Character is more important than plot.  The right character can make us believe anything is possible.  Action or drama for its own sake isn’t interesting; it’s the love that gives us a reason to keep reading.

SQF: What advice can you offer new authors hoping to publish their first submission in Sleet Magazine?

KM: Read your story out loud; make sure each sentence, each word pushes the story forward.

SQF: Based on your experience as an editor, what have you learned about writing?

KM: I think writing is mostly difficult and solitary, through Sleet Magazine I learned there are thousands of other writers struggling with the same things that I am.  When I read a story, I know the author spent many hours thinking and writing and mostly, I feel honored to have the opportunity to read their work.

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

KM: How do you know that you made the right decision in selecting one story over another?

Sometimes I know right away that I want to publish a story.  There are others that we really agonize about.  We make mistakes; we can only publish a very small number of pieces that are sent to us.  We may reject a story that should win an award.  

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

NEXT POST: 3/29--Six Questions for Kate Brown, Fiction Editor, The View From Here

Six Questions for Todd Pederson, Poetry Editor, Sleet Magazine

Sleet Magazine publishes fiction, flash fiction, poetry, interviews, and irregulars (cross-genre works). Read the complete guidelines here.

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

TP:

• Proficiency—a demonstration of craftsmanship.  A poet who pays close attention to the imperatives that guide our art: meter, rhyme scheme, line and stanza breaks, imagery, simile, metaphor, etc.
• A moment of surprise—a line or image that is unexpected.  A published poem should contain at least one moment so lovely or unforeseen that the reader must pause and compose his or herself before they continue.
• Risk—a sense of poetic courage, or that the poet has challenged him or herself in order to make their voice unique.  There are a lot of poems that sound just like other poems; I prefer a writer who endeavors to make his or her work, or voice, entirely their own.

SQF: What are the top three reasons a submission is rejected, other than not fitting into your answers to the above question and why?

TP:

• Linear narrative—Poetry can be a story, but not necessarily one with a clean beginning or conclusion; a poem should be less concerned with time than a sense of timelessness.  I enjoy poems that don’t answer questions or leave breadcrumbs to follow down the page.  I’m not looking for a poet who walks me from point A to B; I want a poet who throws me to that place, or makes me fly.
• Lack of focus—Although I am not looking for clean narrative, I do enjoy poets whose work conveys direction.  I don’t need a solution or conclusion, but I do want a poet to point me somewhere.
• Grammar—If a poem has too many grammatical errors, it will be rejected.  One, or maybe two, errors are understandable, but a handful suggests a poet who didn’t proofread their work before submitting it to Sleet.  Sleet sees a lot of poems, most of which are grammatically correct—be one of those writers.

SQF: Which of the following statements is true and why? Plot is more important than character. Character is more important than plot. Plot and character are equally important. 

N/A.

SQF: What advice can you offer new authors hoping to publish their first submission in Sleet Magazine?

TP: Have enough courage to take one or two risks.  I’m interested in work that stands out from the milieu, or mishmash, of poems that all sound and look alike.  I am far more predisposed to consider a weaker poem that seems new and fresh than a competent poem that echoes a poem written by another applicant.

SQF: Based on your experience as an editor, what have you learned about writing?

TP: Be distinct.  Voice is the element that drives our art; voice is what a reader encounters ahead of image, rhyme scheme, etc.  I can attenuate my voice and art so that it joins into the poetic tapestry, or I can create work that engenders surprise and is noticed.

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

N/A

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

NEXT POST: 3/26--Six Questions for Kathy McEathron, Fiction Editor, Sleet Magazine

Six Questions for Susan Solomon, Editor, Sleet Magazine

Sleet Magazine publishes fiction, flash fiction, poetry, interviews, and irregulars (cross-genre works). Read the complete guidelines here.

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

SS: We look for heart and we look for craft, and this applies to all genres. We always hope for politeness, but that is an extra.

SQF: What are the top three reasons a submission is rejected, other than not fitting into your answers to the above question and why?

SS:

• We reject work that glorifies violence. 
• We always reject “mass marketing” type emails from people who are sending their work to every publication under the sun and pay no attention to something as simple as which genres we accept.
• We reject stories that are really not stories. 

SQF: Which of the following statements is true and why? Plot is more important than character. Character is more important than plot. Plot and character are equally important. 

SS: I do not think in those terms. One of my favorite short stories of all times, Charles Baxter's "The Old Fascist in Retirement" didn't even have a plot. But bad dialogue will absolutely kill a story. Dialogue must exist for a reason.

SQF: What advice can you offer new authors hoping to publish their first submission in Sleet Magazine?

SS: Just send us good work; it’s that simple. Don’t worry about explaining your work in a cover letter.

SQF: Based on your experience as an editor, what have you learned about writing? 

SS: People want to be heard, including me. And I’ve learned how drastically subjective this whole process is! Sometimes we fight it out amongst ourselves. It makes me realize that my work is just part of the big mix like everyone else’s and can be loved or hated or overlooked, or a million other verbs. And please, I want to shout it from the hills that no one should take rejections personally.

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

NEXT POST: 3/22--Six Questions for Todd Pederson, Poetry Editor, Sleet Magazine