What I Look for in a Short Story
As a fiction editor, I’m looking for stories with a cohesive and captivating plot. I want to clearly understand what’s happening in the story and be hooked by the beginning of the second paragraph. If I’m not invested in the characters or intrigued by their world and setting within the first page, I will typically lose interest. That doesn’t mean the writer has to write a fast-paced, action-packed story that shoves a ton of information at the reader in as few sentences as possible; slower-paced and low-stakes stories can still grab a reader’s attention in more subtle ways, whether by taking the time to describe something unusual within a typical setting or viewing a universal experience through a different perspective. I would look into Kate Chopin, Franz Kafka, and Anton Chekhov for examples of “slower-paced” stories: taking the time to set up the story’s setting and characters without forcing the readers to absorb a bunch of information.
Cohesive plots also don’t need to lay everything out in plain sight for the reader. The writer can keep some things hidden away until the end of their story or leave things up to interpretation. Ambiguity can be a great addition to a story by making readers ponder and think about the story and its characters long after they’ve finished reading. However, the writer has to make sure they are deliberate with their usage of ambiguity. If the writer ends up misusing it and leaving the reader confused or lost, they will lose their interest.
While the short story genre prefers to focus on characterization, I am not overly concerned about how well-rounded the characters are. In my experience, complex characters don’t hold much value if the story’s plot and setting can’t support them. No one wants to read four pages about a single character’s description without delving into the story’s setting and plot as well. We want to publish stories under 7,500 words, so take the time to flesh it out and keep the readers invested.
I look forward to reading your submission!
