Currently I am reading through submissions for my newest anthology, “Strange Critters: Unusual Creatures of Appalachia.” A few of the submissions have been bad, some have been rather good, and some have been fantastic.
No matter where you’re submitting your stories, here are 10 things that will help you get your story out of the slush pile and into print.
10. Follow the Guidelines – Guidelines are important tools crafted by publishers and editors to insure that submissions have a unity in their theme, length, and content. Not following the guidelines is like telling the editor you know what’s better for the anthology than they do. Using odd formats and fonts only shows that you can’t be trusted follow simple instructions.
9. Be Careful when Submitting Trunk Stories – Sometimes you have a story – that with a few adjustments might be the perfect submission. Be careful that you are not sending out a story just because you have one, rather only send out something that really fits the required guidelines. Your story might be great, but if it doesn’t match the guidelines, you’re wasting your time and the editor’s.
8. Watch Your Mistakes – Proofread your story. A certain amount of mistakes is understandable, but don’t have so many that an editor stops reading your story and focuses on looking for errors.
7. Do Your Research – Don’t know the diet of east Florida pelicans? Use the internet! There is no reason not to have a passing knowledge for your writing subjects. Watch some documentaries, read some articles, or listen to some lectures. The little details you find during research will give your stories authenticity and credibility.
6. Write Outside the Box – Do something different. Imagine what kinds of stories the editor is receiving and find a way to break away from the normal submission mold. Consider using a different time period, tone, or characters from the standard submissions. The more that you can stand apart, the better off you’ll be.
5. Setting – Your setting should be another character in your story. Every place has a history and a uniqueness all its own. Find, or craft settings that spark the imagination and lure readers into waiting more.
4. Rewrite – Give your story the attention it deserves. Polish it and perfect it, until it gleams. Don’t settle with a first draft, take the time to make your story as good as it can possibly be.
3. Craft Connectedness – Resolve your story in a way that relates to the characters and their goals. Great stories come back on themselves like a serpent eating it’s own tale.
2. Have Characters – Characters have to have real lives, flaws and desires. Make your characters should be more than a name and an occupation. Give them backgrounds, personalities, and troubles… and they’ll supply you with plenty of story.
1. Build on Drama – Everyone of us has real problems: money, sickness, shame, fear. Give your characters real drama as part of the story. A vampire chasing someone through the woods is boring, but a vampire chasing someone searching for baby formula during a hurricane is much more interesting. Pile on real human drama and you’ll have a much more readable story.
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Keira's Place 
I especially like your advice on developing believable characters with flaws and desires, and the need to hike tension in a creative way that’s not boring or a cliche.
Some great tips here Frank. I’m keeping this post for future reference. I really liked the one about making your submission stand out. An editor must get hundreds of submissions and I’m sure it’s difficult when you’re sifting through that many applications. Finding a way to be different makes a lot of sense. Thanks!
Lots of good tips, Frank. I particularly like #6, Write outside the box. Learned to do that as a kid. Won several contests by being different. Also #5. In my stories, setting is an important character.
Hope you find some good pieces for your anthology.
Great tips, Frank. I liked the one about doing your research because for two short stories I just submitted I had to do just that. Not a lot of research but enough so my characters sounded believable in what they were doing.
Great guidelines/advice. I plan to keep it for future reference also. Love the analogy of a serpent eating its own tail. And, to give the character troubles reminded me of the advice to interview my characters I received at a conference, my character told me of troubles I didn’t know he had or knew about and gave me more fodder for conflict. Thanks for the tips obviously born of your expertise.
It is amazing how much you learn from the other side of the publication process. Wonderful advice.
Wishing you well on the anthology Frank. Having guidelines from one who is dealing with the submission process is priceless. Thank you for a useful and well written post.
Having just returned from a writer’s conference, Frank’s guidelines are spot-on (though I’ve never heard the term “trunk stories”, so that’s a new one for me!). My head is swimming from all the conference information and my body is exhausted from all the driving, but I’m SO THANKFUL I could attend this conference, and then to see and read Frank’s post, well, it’s all hit home. Thanks, Frank!
It is spot on and I liked the Vampire chasing the person through the woods to get formula in a hurricane, yes I could see how could work that in. LOL Thanks for the reminders and I’ve never heard of “trunk stories” either, but I have some. Do you think I could maybe change a sentence or two, well…never mind. Cher’ley
thank you. All great ideas, Frank, but I particularly love nos 1 and 3. Trunk stories was a new one for me too!