Observations From a Spectrum Reader: Advice for Short Fiction Writers Looking to Submit
Spectrum Reader Solomon Rios gives his advice for fiction writers submitting to Spectrum.
To writers looking to produce and submit short fiction to Spectrum or other literary journals, the best advice I can give is this: write about something you love, and love the way you write about it. Pride and care always project through the page to readers on the other side, closing that daunting distance. Of the fiction we read as editors for last year’s issue we kept those that clearly shone with care put into them. If you have the option when writing for contests or for literary journals, I highly recommend exploring topics that are personal and exciting to you — the less heard of, often the better. All this is not to say you need to try harder to tell an editor how much you care or write something highly experimental — in fact, the opposite is true. Showing, not telling, is key to any good story. Writing about something that interests you as opposed to something you think will interest others is a way to ensure that new ideas and concepts emerge, and literary journals are usually looking for novel expressions.
In terms of mechanics and content, I cannot stress enough the importance of remembering the “short” in short fiction. Some stories need to be fifteen pages long, and that’s perfectly alright (I am someone who has a hard time writing under that), so rest assured that if your narrative truly calls for that kind of length, readers will have no issue with it. That said, if I have learned anything as an editor and writer, it is that all stories can be simmered down given enough time and work, and as a result become more effective. During the editing process, we saw a great deal of short fiction that had amazing ideas, interesting segments, or compelling narrative styles, but did not justify their length. Unfortunately, based on the amount of submissions we receive versus how many we can actually publish, we cannot engage with you as the author directly to do developmental editing. This is why rewrites are usually—no, always—essential. Start by seeking out words or scenes in your piece with redundancies and eliminate as many as you can. From there, look at structure, pacing, and character arcs and cut out any passages or pages where neither story, world, nor characters are being actively developed. Perhaps the best way to think about your job as a short fiction author is being in the role of a tour guide: your job is to keep your tour group on track, all together, with confusion down to a minimum and engagement with the tour and the major stops at a maximum. Another analogy useful in untraining the constant, goal-oriented voice that yells at you to reach a high word count is to look at short fiction as a ‘lowest points to win’ game, like golf or darts. You will start the editing process with pages of words, and line by line you will train your eraser (or your backspace button) to hit bullseye after bullseye until you have run out of energy and time. Just start by getting into the practice of hitting the board, cutting your drafts down a little, and work from there. I guess what I'm trying to say is that you as a short fiction writer need to be a dart-throwing, captivating tour guide steering a disparate audience through something they will not soon forget. It will take a lot of practice, but the rewards will read for themselves.
It is always worth your time to understand where and what you are submitting, once it is ready. Spectrum, for instance, is a journal that prizes individuality and insight as well as compassion, respect, inclusivity, and honesty. There is no right way to create compelling short fiction, but the reality is that if you plan to submit short fiction you should do your research as to where it might best find a home. Spectrum is edited primarily by undergraduate Writing & Literature (and adjacent humanities) majors largely at UC Santa Barbara’s College of Creative Studies, and you can bet that no matter the prompt or year you submit, your work will be read by a dedicated group of students interested in powerful prose that speaks to the heart and comes from a wide range of places. Beyond that we scour for invention, creation, and depiction of something that feels earned and deeply contemplated. Our journal is not a place to be afraid to think outside your box, especially in the realm of short fiction where anything is possible, from whole universes to the tiniest of moments. If there is a wrong way to go about submitting to this journal, other than hate speech, tiredly played out tropes, or lazy composition, it's probably just forgetting to take your name off the piece. Otherwise, I (and I think most of my peers would agree) implore you to be in love with (cognizance of the word count notwithstanding) whatever idea you desire to write about. No idea is too mundane or too grand, yet format and thought are everything in short fiction. Hit us with some bullseyes on the personal tour of your imagination, for, as in both darts and the tourism industry, it is always important to do your homework on who you are engaging with.
As a final note, I believe the greatest help to your creative process is to read as much short fiction as you can, even across genres not your own. Whether in high school, college, or another point in life, find published and unpublished authors and read their work. Give them feedback, or take notes, as analyzing stories outside your own head is better than any feedback you can be given. It makes you think like both writer and editor. Though it seems counterintuitive, I guarantee it will develop and develop and enrich your writer’s voice. To use the wildly overplayed analogy, if writing is an exercise, then reading is the accompanying diet. There, now that we are three analogies deep, it’s probably time to wrap this up before it gets out of hand. Bottom line: read things you enjoy, that excite and inspire you. If it is true that you are what you eat, then read all the writing you can, I guarantee it will give you more perspective into what editors are looking for in a great short story than anything I have said here.
Remember, in the end, if you are just submitting to a literary journal then you are doing the work. Keep at it, keep reading, editing, writing, and stray not into discouragement! Go into the process with an open mind and take praise and criticism seriously. Never lose the love.