Six Questions for Leah Browning, Editor, Apple Valley Review

From the website:

"The Apple Valley Review is an online literary journal. It is published twice annually, once in spring and once in fall.  Each issue features a collection of poetry, short fiction, and essays." Find the current issue, previous issues, subscription information, and complete submission guidelines here.


SQF: Why did you start this magazine?

LB: I’ve been reading literary journals and magazine fiction for as long as I can remember.  When I was about twelve, a teacher recruited a group of kids to start a literary journal for our school.  That was my first formal editing experience.  Although we were quite young at the time, she took it seriously; and we did, too.

Everything about the process of putting that journal together intrigued me; and from that point forward, the idea of one day launching my own journal was always in the back of my mind. I think I was just trying to ensure that I’d never run out of reading material.


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

LB:

1. An engaging story with enough detail that I can visualize it.   
2. Language that is beautiful but not so ornate that it becomes distracting.
3. A complete arc: a story that starts out strong, keeps its momentum, and finishes in a satisfying way.  It’s difficult to start a story, and even more difficult to keep it going.

 

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

LB: Oh, goodness.  Well, a story should float, if that makes sense.  I guess what I want, as a reader, is the suspension of disbelief.  So here are a few things that pull me right out of a poem or story:    

1. A lack of authenticity, either in the voice or in the details.
2. Writing that very clearly doesn’t fit with the submission guidelines in some way.  
3. Loss of engagement with the story, the scene, and/or the character(s).    

But deciding whether a piece is “good” or not is so subjective.  I have tried to be very candid about my biases in the submission guidelines; and like anyone, I have my own preferences.  If I send a story back, it doesn’t mean that it’s not good—just that I’m not the right person to champion it.


SQF: What is it about the characters in a story that makes them pop off the page and grab hold of you?

LB: This is a great question, but it’s so difficult to answer.  I’m trying to think about stories I’ve published in the past and what their characters have in common.

It’s helpful if I like the characters, or at least don’t actively dislike them. It’s hard to care about what happens to someone, especially a fictional person, if you don’t like him or her.

The content of a story is really important, though, too.  I can be very sympathetic to a certain character; but if all he does is sit on a couch staring into space for 12 pages, the story will probably still not be accepted.

(I say probably because now I feel certain that someone will send me an amazing story featuring a man who sits on a couch for 12 pages.)


SQF: Will you publish a story an author posted on a personal blog?

LB: The short answer is no.  Although work included in a personal blog isn’t considered “published” in a traditional sense, it is still widely available online and seems, in essence, self-published.  That said, I have in the past published at least two poems that had previously appeared on a blog (but had since been removed). 
 

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

LB: What is the best part of being an editor?

Every once in a while, there is a moment when I’m reading through manuscripts and I find a piece that just completely transports me. I love the experience of finding something that I want to shove into someone else’s hands and say, “Read this.”

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

NEXT POST: 6/21--Six Questions for Lisa Swerling & Ralph Lazar, Editors, Smories.com

Six Questions for Brian Carr, Fiction Editor, Dark Sky Magazine

Dark Sky Magazine publishes fiction to 3000 words and poetry by emerging and established writers. The editors "are most excited by stories that incorporate narrative elements, yet challenge form and function."

(ceased publication)


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

BC: I’m a true fan of voice, and before all else I consider the energy of the prose. Is the story being told in an interesting way? If the language seems limpid, I won’t make it past the first couple of paragraphs. After that I look for the weaknesses in the story. Is the dialogue forced? Are the metaphors weathered? Is the story line weak? But to say that I look for three things in particular is probably untrue. I have friends of every personality, I like stories of all aesthetics. My main attention is on craft and delivery. Did the writer work the story through, or is it just something that tumbled out of their ash tray? If I find that the writer has an honest aesthetic, then I’m highly likely to take the piece. If I find that the writer has clumsily come into 1,000 words (or however long the story is), then I don’t take it. So . . .


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

BC: I won’t take stories about writers or writing. I won’t take a story that starts in a bed. I usually won’t take a story where the title is the last line. If the dialogue is bad I won’t take a story. Honestly, walk around and see how people speak and then look at your dialogue and shoot yourself. I usually won’t take a story if the first line is a periodic sentence. In fact, I hate periodic sentences. Seriously, though, periodic sentences appear way too much in writing. Stuff like:

Walking out of the burning building, Lillian realized that her life would never be the same.

A sentence like that would never be said in real life; but, for some reason, people litter their stories with them. Here’s a challenge, spend the whole day at a grocery store and see how many people use periodic sentences in conversation.

I’m not particularly ridiculous about realism, but I don’t like antiquated language either. Henry James liked periodic sentences. Henry James was an asshole. 


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

BC: It is not the job of a short story writer to translate bad TV into fiction. I see this so often that I can smell this approach in the cover letter. YOU ARE NOT PITCHING ME A SCRIPT. I DO NOT LIVE IN HOLLYWOOD.


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

BC: Only if I almost accepted the story.  Or if I truly, truly, truly, truly hated the story.


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?

BC: I got a rejection from Peter Cole at Keyhole magazine one time when I was drunk and I typed:

Dear Peter,

I have become an asshole. Go and fuck yourself.

into the message window of a response e-mail, but I didn’t hit send. I knew I was just drunk, and that only pieces of shit did stuff like that.

Three weeks later, miraculously, Peter Cole accepted the very story he had rejected; and the story was included in Keyhole 8.

So, my advice to anyone would be, don’t send pissy e-mails back to editors because you might be screwing yourselves. I highly doubt that my story would have been un-rejected if I had pressed send on the nasty-gram.

I guess you could send back nice comments or questions, but I’d actually discourage against that too, because it makes you seem amateur. If you have a personal relationship with the editor, then I suppose it’s okay, but for the most part I’d advise against it. Stay strong. Stay steady. Avoid mixing e-mail with whiskey.


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

BC: Do you care where people have published before?

Yes, and no. I don’t want to know about every publication that everyone has ever had. Five publication names tops, and don’t tell me what other people have said about your writing in the cover letter, and don’t tell me about your ethnicity or sexual identity in your cover letter, and don’t tell me that you’re in jail in your cover letter, and don’t try to make me feel sorry for you in your cover letter, and read at least three stories the publication has put out before submitting to the magazine.

Thanks. This was fun.

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

NEXT POST: 6/18--Six Questions for Leah Browning, Editor, Apple Valley Review