Pogue One AAR

Some thoughts from your editors

We’ve reviewed all the submissions and sent out all the contracts. Now what? Not all publishing houses will send out rejection notices, nor are they obligated to. We try, but it isn’t as easy as one might think. Inevitably, there are misspelled email addresses (either on their end or ours) or the computer elves simply decide certain emails are undeliverable. Or the editor(s) have the flu and would rather die than type.

“Incorrect, we would rather kill than type.”

It is understandable that everyone wants to know why their story did not make the cut. Despite the fact the answer continues to be “No,” someone inevitably asks if there will be feedback given to the authors.

In an attempt to give our authors something to work with, we have reprinted our no-thank-you letter to everyone who submitted to Pogue One. At least one of these may apply to you.

Thanks for submitting to Pogue One! Unfortunately, we did not select your story for publication. While we cannot provide individual feedback, we can point out some general trends we noticed across the board.

Some stories were well done but didn’t quite hit the sweet spot our editors were seeking for this anthology. In these cases, there is no accounting for taste—or editorial preferences, for that matter.

Many submissions had a tendency to front-load a lot of backstory. If the reader must wade through three to five pages of history before the action even begins, we probably won’t select that story. Keep in mind it is okay for the reader not to know everything the author knows about that world. If it is essential information, find a way to weave it into other areas.

Short fiction requires the writer to maintain forward momentum. Losing that momentum bores the reader. Sometimes you must kill your darlings in order to keep the story moving forward. Ask yourself: is this scene/dialogue/backstory essential in moving the story along? If not, consider cutting it.

Events simply cannot continue to happen to the characters. The characters must take action. If the characters merely endure a series of events, that’s not really a story.

Pay attention to tense. Stories written in present tense tend to not read very well.

Passive voice is the devil. Begin your fight against the forces of evil by eliminating the word “was” from your submission. Are there times where “was” is acceptable? Of course, but most of the time, there are better verbs.

Again, we are very appreciative of your submission and want to encourage you to keep writing and keep submitting stories wherever you find an open call.

Keep writing, gang! And try new approaches to your storytelling. Study and consider the elements of story.

“Private Jones lamented he’d actually done dumber things in the Galactic Guard than get on line and police call a desert planet.”