Six Questions for Christopher Rhatigan, Editor, All Due Respect

All Due Respect is a quarterly, digital and hard copy magazine that publishes crime fiction of 3000 words and up. 

(Ceased publication)


SQF: All Due Respect recently changed format from an online publication to a digital/hard copy magazine. In addition, authors are paid a professional rate. What was the thinking that went into these changes.

Chris Rhatigan: Our anthology, which everyone in the world should read (or at least buy, so that we can get rich), did quite well, so we decided to expand our modest operation. With the following we've established, we thought we'd be justified in leaving the blog format behind. And paying writers is something that I've always wanted to do. Lastly, our staff has tripled from just me to editor Mike Monson and publisher CJ Edwards, with Full Dark City Press--so now we have the capacity to eat the world. (Or something.)


SQF: What do you look for in a story? Another way to ask this is, What is it about a story that gives the author an edge over the competition?

CR: Write about crime from a criminal's perspective. That's still at the core of what we do. Spend a lot of time working over your prose. There's a misguided notion that language is less important in genre fiction. I think that's what makes golden-era noir and detective fiction (Chandler, Cain, Highsmith) so good is that the writing is superior. Sure, the plots work, but if you read a paragraph from any of those writers it's immediately noticeable how capable they are with language. Also, make sure to have a wealth of atmosphere (preferably of the grimy, bar floor variety) and a lot of attitude. And, oh yeah, format the thing according to our guidelines.


SQF: What's likely to turn your off to a submission? 

CR: Someone who clearly hasn't read the magazine and sends us a standard police procedural. Unless your name is Lawrence Block, you shouldn't be writing about a hit man. Serial killer stories have also been done enough. Also, proofread the damn thing until your eyes hurt.


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. 

CR: Character is more important than plot. Every plot has been done. It's those doing the doing (uh, characters) who make it interesting. Although, actually, I think style is more important than either. Style can take a lackluster plot and an average main character and make them unique.


SQF: What magazines, hard copy or online, do you read most often?

CR: Shotgun Honey, Beat to a Pulp, Needle, Thuglit, Crime Factory, Pulp Modern.


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

CR: What else are you changing at All Due Respect?

We'll be including a featured author section each issue. This spot will be reserved for an elite, established crime fiction author. This author will contribute a short story and an interview. We may include other items, such as a review of the author's latest book, or a retrospective on the author's career, or a piece by the author about a crime fiction legend. Our hope is that bringing in these featured writers will expand our readership beyond the usual and highlight the best short fiction in the genre.

We'll also be including reviews, editors' choices for new and classic books, and other non-fiction.

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

NEXT POST: 11/19--Six Questions for Alexandre Mandarino, Editor, Hyperpulp

Six Questions for Chris Rhatigan, Editor, All Due Respect

All Due Respect publishes crime fiction. That means fiction about crime. Not solving crime. Not bemoaning crime. Fiction about people who are criminals and maybe a little bit about why they are criminals, so long as you don't go Dr. Phil on it. 

(Ceased publication)


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

CR:

1. Polished writing. The piece should flow from beginning to end. Read it out loud before sending it. Also, I'm more likely to accept things that sound like crime fiction. 
2. A solid plot. A beginning, a middle, an end. At the end, the tension should either be resolved or suspended in an interesting way.
3. Cracking dialog. I like good dialog writers. That's one of the reasons I read crime fiction. 

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

CR:

1. The story is not something we do. If you've written a police procedural, a whodunit, a serial killer story, something with a cat or whatever, I probably won't accept it unless you're doing something really original. In other words -- read a few of the stories at All Due Respect first before sending your work.
2. Not enough action. If you have 1000 words of people talking at a table or standing around, I'm probably not going to take it. The vast majority of stories we publish have a good amount of action. There doesn't have to be shit blowing up on every page, but the characters should take actions that have results.
3. The tone isn't right. We do noir and hardboiled fiction, which has a specific feel.

SQF: What common mistakes do you encounter that turn you off to a story?

CR: As a reader, I should have a good understanding of what the central conflict of the story is by the end of the first page. This is part of a larger problem that I frequently see -- work that isn't ready for show time yet. Cut out a lot of the back story, limit exposition as much as possible, make sure every line sounds good -- self-edit your work until you can't stand it before you send it out.


SQF: Do you provide comments when you reject a story?

CR: Yes. All Due Respect has a quick turnaround time and you will receive personal comments about your story as long as you don't blatantly ignore the guidelines.


SQF: I read a comment by one editor who said she keeps a blacklist of authors who respond to a rejection in a less than professional manner. I'm sure you know what I mean. What do you want authors to know about the stories you reject and how authors should respond? Along this same idea, do you mind if authors reply with polite questions about the comments they receive?

CR: Often, the stories I reject will probably get accepted somewhere else, as they should be. All a rejection means is that I didn't care for that particular story or thought it didn't fit in with All Due Respect. Sometimes I encourage writers to submit again -- and if I say that, I mean it.

I'm usually pretty clear with my comments, but if writers have questions about what I said they can contact me. I won't bite!


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

CR: What do you like about being an editor?

I like sending out acceptances. I'm a writer, so I know how good it feels to have your work validated. When possible, I like helping writers make their work better.

I feel strongly about the role of zines in the online crime fiction community, which is a (perhaps surprisingly...) warm and welcoming group of writers and readers. I look forward to making a contribution by running this excellent zine that Founding Editor Alec Cizak established.

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

NEXT POST: 1/12--Six Questions for John Kenyon, Editor, Grift Magazine

Six Questions for Alec Cizak, Editor, All Due Respect

"We are interested in crime fiction. That means fiction about crime. Not solving crime. Not bemoaning crime. Fiction about people who are criminals and maybe a little bit about why they are criminals, so long as you don't go Dr. Phil on it." 

(Ceased publication)


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

AC: The most important thing is the writing. Is it competent? Is it fresh? Is it filled with clichés? Does it move? Is it what I call ‘glacial prose,’ meaning, am I constantly looking at the page number, constantly trying to figure out how much longer the piece is? I don’t need to know too much about the plot in the first few paragraphs like some editors prefer, I just want my eyes to roll across the page with ease. Bad prose will always inhibit that. Some great examples of good prose can be observed in Garnett Elliot, David Cranmer, and Matthew Funk’s stories at All Due Respect.

Next is story. Is the story interesting? Is it original? In the case of All Due Respect, does it fit the nasty theme the journal has going? The story in All Due Respect that hit the nail right smack on the head (cliché! cliché!) was Mike Toomey’s. Raw, brutal nastiness. No apologies. No moralizing of any kind. Just hardcore crime fiction.

The last things I look at are the basics—Do you know how to spell? If not, do you know how to use your spell-checker? Do you know how to use a comma? How to properly break up paragraphs in a manner that makes sense? I’m not going to get too hung up on this sort of thing, but a sloppy presentation will tell me that you don’t take either my journal or your work (or both) seriously enough.


SQF: When reading a story, what clues tell you the story was written by a novice author?

AC: Within the story itself, if I see tons of clichés and hackneyed language, I know I’m reading the work of someone who is cutting his or her teeth, still learning, still finding his or her voice. Being a novice isn’t always a bad thing. I’m pretty sure I’ve published a couple of stories by ‘novices’ because I saw potential. The big thing to look out for is language that we’ve all read a thousand times before. And clichés. I can’t stress that enough. Go through your work and circle the phrases and idioms you know are common. Find new ways to say what it is you want to say.

Sometimes I will get an overused storyline. The one I see the most is the grifter who ends up getting grifted. I’m not a big fan of taking an old idea and putting what Hollywood calls “a twist” on it and then trying to pass it off as original. Contrary to what many people insist, there are original ideas. There are new stories to be told.


SQF: What other common mistakes do you encounter that turn you off to a story?

AC: Obvious preaching is a bad thing. There’s nothing wrong with trying to change the world, even in a little crime fiction piece. The key is to be subtle. All your profound points and philosophical ideas will be absorbed much more thoroughly if the reader isn’t slapped in the face with your opinion. The best advice I can give is this: Just tell the story. Whatever the story wants to say will happen without conscious prodding from the writer. I’ve become a true believer in the Raymond Carver school of writing—Give the reader just enough to compel him or her to explore, in his or her own mind, what’s not explicitly stated in the story.

Another thing that bothers me, personally—Repetition of words and the redundant use of certain phrases. When I see this, I know the writer hasn’t done enough revisions.

Finally, pay attention to the guidelines. I get a lot of stories that are way, way over the 5000 word limit. It may seem like nitpicking, but there’s a good reason I’ve made 5000 the cut-off. When I get a story that is 13,000 words, I know the writer has either not read the guidelines or is ignoring them or, worse, thinks I’m so stupid I won’t notice!


SQF: Do you provide comments when you reject a story?

AC: This is a great question. I usually do not provide comments, and I know I should. One of my goals with All Due Respect is to create a journal where the author is in charge of his or her work. When a story is accepted, I will make any suggestions I might have and then allow the writer to revise the story as he or she sees fit.

Commenting on rejections is a tricky area. I know first-hand how rough it is to have a story rejected. I’m not sure what kind of comments I would like to see in that situation. I once got a personalized rejection letter from a big time literary journal. The editor wrote, “Nice writing. Let me know when Holden Caulfield grows up.” That’s one editor I better not ever meet in person! I will give this matter more thought, however, and see if I can find a way to include comments with the rejection email that won’t upset the writer any more than he or she might already be.


SQF: What do you consider to be the primary responsibilities of an editor?

AC: Another great question. I believe an editor should read each submission thoroughly. I know there are editors who read about a paragraph and toss the manuscript because they don’t see the conflict or the protagonist and antagonist or whatever formulaic nonsense they think a short story is supposed to have in the first paragraph. The writer took a lot of time to write the story, the writer deserves his or her day in court. Read the whole damn story. No excuses. If it’s not good, it’s not good. Who knows what might be lurking three pages in? Maybe the first few paragraphs are just the author clearing his or her throat.

In order for an editor to be a good editor, I truly believe he or she should be a writer as well. He or she should have already experienced years of collecting rejection letters and seeing how some editors are supportive and others are just jerks.


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

AC: One issue that I’d like to discuss is the issue of payment. All Due Respect has a budget of zero dollars and zero cents. It is literally impossible to pay writers. I know old guys like Harlan Ellison get furious about this. I would like to see the pulp fiction genre make some sort of collective movement towards creating a print magazine that pays writers and gets the work out to a mass audience. I honestly think the best writing in this field is being published by independents who, like me, can’t afford to pay writers what they are worth. It is time to make short story writing a viable profession, just as it was in the first half of the 20th Century. It’s only going to happen if people make it happen. I’m open to any suggestions by other editors and writers on how to get this started.

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

NEXT POST: 3/14--Six Questions for Susan Hansell, Editor, Spot Literary Magazine