Weekly out-of-character thread

Let’s see…

  • Poems that are more than two pages: everything will hinge on that first and last stanza because it can be a sign of self-indulgence and lackluster editing. We don’t publish many long poems so it needs to be fest and earn every page it’ll take up.

  • Poems that demonstrate the poet has zero familiarity with our publication and hasn’t even taken a few minutes to read the free samples posted on our front page… unless they’re incredible (which is rare beyond rare) then it feels like it was just tossed out like buckshot to anyone who’ll publish it and hasn’t earned time or attention.

No, I’m not an agent. I’m on an editorial board. That’s as much detail as I’ll give online. And if I sound bitter, this is just one thing I do and it’s really just tedious. Any apparent anger is because it’s sort of fun tossing this “out there” so I’ve chosen a tone. I’ll ignore any criticism of this extemporaneous poem “because internet.” Skip to the end for the positive stuff if so inclined.

I’m feeling verbose so I’ll go full tilt TMI But first:

  • everything below will sound like I spend hours on a given piece. Believe me when I say that much of this is now all-but-autonomic process that happens almost as fast as I can read a line.

  • a word about “the best way to be a better writer is to be a better reader.” I can’t underscore how true this is for a few simple reasons that make r/writing an invitation to my insanity. The more you read decent to great published work the more attuned you are how to self-edit the most painful and elementary mistakes that no single “beta reader” could sufficiently diagnose in a constructive manner that will be well received by a stranger who more often than not is seeking affirmation and support. Not constructive criticism.

The hardest part on this end isn’t the really bad stuff. It’s the stuff where, if you were running a workshop or teaching (which I’ve done) you know that with one or two more drafts (not proofreading) are probably publishable. But we don’t publish a class. Sending annotations is a recipe for disaster (I know one publication that did so until a few years ago). It becomes ongoing correspondence and, in essence, free editing from professionals with full plates. Sometimes that’s actual editing, sometimes it’s stacks of essays your paid to evaluate for paying students whose grades depend on your attention.

Oddly, enough, the good stuff takes time as well. Those demand multiple readings to unpack. Not because they’re obscure or hard to grasp, but because those are ones where I will read for content, for syntax, for line breaks, stanza construction, form (or lack thereof). If it’s something like a sestina then it’s a form I’ve never memorized so I’d have to refer to a template to verify the form adheres. If it’s experimental then I need to get on its wavelength. If it’s something I don’t personally like but it’s clearly quality then I need to “get over myself” and address my biases. Either way, I’ll pass that along to second eyes. Those are just a few angles.

I’ve had countless bad submissions cross my desk and fewer pearls than I fingers I have on one hand. There’s a fair bit in between where I recommend we send an encouraging letter either to revise, submit other work more suited to our publication than what they sent (because the quality was there), or suggestions where their submission may be the right target.

Whether those letters go out or not is someone else’s task and once I make my notes in Submittable I redirect it to that person and remove it from my queue.

The worst take seconds to review. You know within a few lines whether it’s trope-heavy, purely surface diary entry, or worth reading further. Even with a dire submission I will always sample every poem. I don’t have the time to read things that scream, “no.” But sometimes people will submit their best piece last in their file. That’s a HUGE mistake because it’s easy to just dismiss a whole packet at the first sign it’s unpublishable.

/r/writingcirclejerk Thread Parent