★ SPECIAL COLLECTORS’ EDITION ★

APRIL 2022
 The Writer THE OLDEST MAGAZINE
FOR LITERARY WORKERS
Founded in Boston, 1887

VOLUME 135 APRIL 2022 NUMBER 4

18 18
The long and short of
the short story
A look back at the form from its
origins to the present, plus tips
on where to find homes for your
stories in the future.
By KERRIE FLANAGAN

26
Finding a home for your words
Which literary magazine is the one
your piece needs?
By JOSH SIPPIE

28
The digital literary revolution
Audio fiction, cine poetry, and
multimedia narrative are just a few
of the tech innovations embraced
by online journals in a modern era.
Here’s how you can think beyond
the printed word in 2022.
By MELISSA HART
3 Prologue

32
4
5
Dear Reader
Bookish
“Short stories
The great em dash debate 5 Opportunities are some of the
Writers love it. Editors loathe it. 6 Insider
Learn why, plus how to use it 8 Literary Spotlight most clever,
correctly (but sparingly).
By TONI FITZGERALD 11 Broadening the experimental,
Bookshelves
Getting to know Black urgent, and
36 American literature.
BY YI SHUN LAI
fresh prose being
135 years of good writing
written today.”
COVER: PIRINA/SHUTTERSTOCK

Timeless craft tips from our ar- 42 Postscript

chives, featuring Margaret Atwood, Literary agents —WINDY LYNN HARRIS,
Walter Mosley, Isabel Allende, PG. 22
Ursula K. Le Guin, and more. 48 Gigi Will Know

WRITERMAG.COM 1
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GOTHAMWRITERS. COM
 Prologue “Always have an idea before you write; if you have an idea some
editor wants it. There may be an overproduction or articles, but
there will never be an overproduction of ideas.”
—C. M. H A MMON D, THE W R ITER, ISSU E 1

p. 4 Looking back on 135 years in print p. 5 New books & calls for submissions for writers
p.6 Write poetr y all month long with NaPoWriMo p.8 Meet the editors of Atticus Review

WRITERMAG.COM 3
Prologue » Dear Reader
Celebrating our 135th year
THE WRITER WAS FOUNDED IN APRIL
1887 by two newspapermen, William
H. Hills and Robert Luce, and the
magazine has routinely commemo-
rated this anniversary in five- and 10-
year increments ever since. It’s always
such a delight to see how the magazine
celebrated the special April anniver-
sary issue over the years, such as when
President Kennedy sent a congratula-
tory letter for The Writer’s 75th year in
print in 1962. (“You have performed a
real service, particularly to the young-
er and more hesitant writers,” Ken-
nedy wrote. “Each generation has its
blazing geniuses, but the advancement
and enrichment of our culture is made
equally by those whose talents devel-
op slowly, tentatively, and only with
encouragement.”)
In 1977, longtime “Off the Cuff ”
columnist Lesley Conger reflected both
on the magazine’s 90th year and the time-
lessness of its contributors’ vocation:
I look forward in hopes of
becoming myself a nonagenar-
ian, someday. (Why do I say
someday? – it will be, precisely,
March 25, 2012.) Had I some
other calling, however, I might
wonder if the achievement
would prove to be a curse or at
best a mixed blessing. But one
4 APRIL 2022
of the splendid things about
writing as a career is that it has
no compulsory retirement age.
No one can tell a writer when
to stop writing. No one can
put you on the shelf – except,
in that agreeable other sense of
the phrase, a librarian or a book
owner. No one can come to
you, insist that you leave your
typewriter, and force you to face
the horrors of bingo. Younger
writers moving up need not
depose you. As long as you can
hang on to your health and keep
your wits about you, you and
your talent can survive together,
down to the wire.
(Conger nearly became a nonage-
narian, too: She “passed away peaceful-
ly,” as her obituary notes, on Novem-
ber 26, 2010, just 16 months shy of her
90th birthday.)
The more I look through the ar-
chives, the more names like Conger’s
stand out to me, their familiar bylines
a print equivalent of seeing a friendly
face in a crowd. Conger’s articles often
make me laugh (“F is for free-lance. It
sounds marvelous, but what it means
is that you don’t get paid regularly,” she
quipped in 1977), as do Faith Bald-
win’s, which coupled her razor wit with
blisteringly blunt advice. (“If you are
now saying that I am discouraging you,
you’re right. I intend to discourage you.
Because only if you can overcome dis-
couragement will you become a writer,”
Baldwin wrote in 1952.) Later in the
century, Stephen King, Ursula K. Le
Guin, and Katherine Paterson frequent
our archives. The names become small,
comforting constants in the magazine’s
ever-changing contents, from the boom
in wartime material in the 1940s to the
siren song of television scriptwriting in
the late ’50s to the sudden surge of sci-fi
articles in the ’80s. Because, as another
“Off the Cuff ” columnist, Allen Mar-
ple, wrote for the 70th anniversary issue
in 1957: “A magazine is not really print
and paper – it is people.”
It’s a sentiment Luce and Hills knew
well in 1887, as they addressed readers
of their new “monthly magazine to in-
terest and help all literary workers” for
the very first time.
They admit their own faults with
candor: “Anybody who thinks that be-
cause The Writer aims to help writers
do better work and use better English
its editors claim infallibility makes a
solemn blunder. No one ever wrote En-
glish perfectly. Probably no one ever
will write English perfectly.”
And they commit to learning each
issue alongside their audience: “It is be-
lieved that everyone interested in liter-
ary matters can learn something from a
periodical like The Writer; and its edi-
tors intend to be students just as much
as anybody else. Its editors are simply
the conductors of it; they depend a
great deal on the help of other people
to make it as useful as it can be made.”
This remains profoundly true to this
day, which is why I’ll close the same way
Luce and Hills did 135 years ago: “If you
have an idea, then, regarding any kind of
literary work, send it in.” Submit your
story ideas, pitches, insights, and success
stories via TWeditorial@madavor.com.
We’d love to hear your thoughts for our
135th year and beyond.
Keep writing,
PIRINA/SHUTTERSTOCK
Nicki Porter
SENIOR EDITOR
» Bookish » Opportunities

Refuse to Be Done: How to Write and Upcoming calls

Rewrite a Novel in Three Drafts
BY MATT BELL
for submissions
Author and writing teacher Matt Bell offers a Claymore Award:
three-part plan to help aspiring novelists finish a Thriller/mystery/suspense
manuscript. First is the exploratory phase of dis- manuscripts
The Claymore Award, spon-
covery and drafting; the second involves structured sored by Killer Nashville,
outlining and rewriting; then, finally, is the “refuse rewards authors of “unpub-
to be done” stage of polishing and making final lished English-language
revisions. “Bell’s cheerleading is bolstered by plenty manuscripts containing
of interviews and examples…and writers intimi- elements of thriller, mystery,
dated by the process will find solace in the case he crime, or suspense” that are
makes that while good writing is not easy, putting not currently under contract.
These elements can also
one’s whole self into a novel is an ‘incredible joy,’” include manuscripts in the
writes Publishers Weekly. Out March 8. action, adventure, alternate
history, horror, sci-fi, specu-
lative, and Western genres.
Submit the first 50 pages
for a chance to win steeply
The Lonely Stories: 22 Celebrated Writers discounted admission to
on the Joys & Struggles of Being Alone the annual Killer Nashville
EDITED BY NATALIE EVE GARRETT conference and potential
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused many, es- publication. Enter by April 1.
killernashville.com/claymore
pecially those who live alone, to reckon with sol-
itude in new and radical ways. This new anthol- Clinch: Writing about
ogy, edited by Natalie Eve Garrett and published martial arts
by Catapult, asks a remarkable lineup of authors This new publication seeks
to share their perceptions on being alone along previously unpublished
with the joys or struggles solitude brings. The an- creative writing submis-
thology’s 22 contributors include Jesmyn Ward, sions (poems, short fic-
Jhumpa Lahiri, Maya Shanbhag Lang, Anthony tion, essays, etc.) about or
relating to martial arts for
Doerr, Lena Dunham, Jean Kwok, Maggie Ship- its inaugural issue. Submit
stead, and Lev Grossman. Out April 19. by April 1.
clinch.submittable.com/submit

Orison Prize: Poetry

and fiction
The Heart of American Poetry The editorial staff at Orison
BY EDWARD HIRSCH Books will award $1,500
Celebrated poet Edward Hirsch offers a close and and publication to a fiction-
personal reading of 40 American poems in his al manuscript over 30,000
latest book on verse, The Heart of American Poetry. words as well as to a poetry
manuscript between 50 and
“This is a personal book about American poetry, 100 pages. Fiction man-
but I hope it is more than a personal selection,” uscripts may be any form
writes Hirsch, explaining that he has “tried to be (novel, novella, short stories,
cognizant of the changing playbook in American flash fiction, etc.) or combi-
poetry, which is not fixed but fluctuating, ever in nation of forms as long as
flow, to pay attention to the wider consideration, the minimum word count is
the appreciable reach of our literature. This is a met. Submit by April 1.
orisonbooks.com/submissions
book of encounters and realizations.” Out April 19.

WRITERMAG.COM 5
Prologue » Insider
National Poetry Writing Month
Feeling stuck this month? Join this online event and write 30 poems
in 30 days with fellow participants from around the world.
By Melissa Hart
IN APRIL 2003, LAWYER AND POET
Maureen Thorson resolved to write
one poem every day for a month and
post them on her blog. Other poets
followed suit, so she shared links to
their blogs. A few years later, impressed
by how many people had adopted the
practice, she launched the website Na-
PoWriMo.net. It’s short for National
Poetry Writing Month, and it provides
a gathering place for those committed
to writing 30 poems in 30 days.
Inspired by National Novel Writing
Month (NaNoWriMo), the online event
6 APRIL 2022
attracts participants worldwide. “The
only assignment is to put something on
the page,” Thorson explains. “It doesn’t
need to be particularly good or exciting
or long or important. Just get it down.”
She’s quick to add that there’s no
prize, no quality control, and no pun-
ishment if you don’t write a poem ev-
ery day. “It’s simple,” she says. “If you
want to try to reinvigorate your writ-
ing practice, here’s one possible way for
you to do it.”
On April 16, 2021, Thorson offered
this prompt on her blog: “Today, I’d
like to challenge you to write a two-
part poem, in the form of an exchange
of letters.” The next day, she linked to a
blog titled Catching Lines, written by a
UK poet who responded to her prompt
with a prose poem. It begins:
Let’s take a census and audit
what happens when I think
of myself. Did you see, in that
line, how I halved myself like an
orange? You can plainly see the
problem. I mean, things were
simple with the peel on.
How it works
Thorson, who lives in Maine, is the au-
thor of the poetry collection Applies to
Oranges, as well as several chapbooks.
She runs NaPoWriMo each April as a
non-monetized venture; she simply en-
joys inspiring people to write poems.
Each day for a month, she crafts a short
supportive blog post including links to
live and recorded poetry readings and
creative websites such as the Historical
Dictionary of Science Fiction. She also
includes a writing prompt.
The prompts, often based on pub-
lished poems, introduce participants to
poets they’ve never read before. Some
of the prompts are formal (write a sijo,
a traditional Korean form), while oth-
ers are more avant-garde (write a poem
about what you see when you look
through a window). “There’s a bajillion
poems out there and different types of
forms and styles,” Thorson says. “My
hope is that NaPoWriMo is helpful for
people who want to dip their toes into
poetry in a non-scary, supportive way.”

The prompts, she notes, give people
a starting point every day. “If they’re
holding their heads and wringing their
hands and saying, ‘My gosh, I have no
idea how to get going,’ they have some-
thing that helps,” she explains. Some-
times, she adds, the prompts work in an
inverse way. “You look at the prompt,
and you hate it, and the fact that you
don’t want to do it means you come up
with something else to write.”
On April 19, 2021, Thorson posted
this prompt: “Today, I’d like to chal-
lenge you to write a humorous rant.”
Meg Sump, creator of the Lucky Cat
Comics blog, responded to Thor-
son’s prompt with “The Trash Panda’s
Lament (A Raccoon Sonnet),” a play-
ful piece from the point of view of a
raccoon whose midnight supper in a
trash bin is thwarted by cucumber vines
growing across a chain-link fence. The
verse begins:
On midnight dews, my dinner
should commence.
Oh foul vine threading on thy
chain link fence.
I would climb thee to trash bin
reverie
But there hangest mine long
green enemy.
Poets who post their work online as
part of NaPoWriMo can submit their
website or social media page for inclu-
sion on Thorson’s online roster of par-
ticipants. “It’s fun to see how many dif-
ferent directions the same prompt can
lead people in,” she says. “Nobody re-
acts to the same prompt the same way.
There’s a lot of surprise there, and that
makes me happy.”
Many poets participate year after
year; they leave supportive comments
on each other’s blog posts and interact
with one another on Twitter and Face-
book as well. “In a world where social
media just makes people feel worse
WRITERMAG.COM
about themselves and other people, it’s
nice to have this little pocket of sun-
shine,” Thorson says.
What you’ll learn
Thorson believes a 30-day writing prac-
tice can change one’s perspective. “It
gets you out of the mindset of ‘Not
only do I have to write a poem – it has
to be deathless immortal verse,’” she ex-
plains. “I want people’s experience of a
first draft to feel like play.”
She appreciates the annual reminder
to avoid an obsession with perfection.
“I should not be going into the drafting
process telling myself before I’ve even
put my fingers on the keyboard that
whatever I’m going to come up with is
not going to be good enough,” she says,
adding that people need to make peace
with the fact that sometimes they’re go-
ing to write terrible poems.
“A lot of our poems written that
month never go past the first draft
stage,” she says. “You can’t get hung up
on drafts. You’re not going to run out
of poems in your brain. The project’s
emphasis is on having fun and getting
something down.”
How to participate
Interested in joining NaPoWriMo?
Simply visit Thorson’s website every
day in April for prompts and submit
your blog or social media page for
inclusion on the site if you’re so in-
clined. Unlike National Novel Writ-
ing Month, you won’t receive virtual
badges or winner certificates. “Howev-
er, anyone who participates is eligible
for the prize of having written 30 new
poems,” Thorson concludes. “And, of
course, there is an awesome feeling of
a job well done.”
Melissa Hart is the author, most recently,
of the novel Daisy Woodworm Changes
the World (Jolly Fish, 2022). Twitter/
Instagram: @WildMelissaHart.
» Opportunities
Desperate Literature:
Short fiction
The Desperate Literature
Prize for Short Fiction
awards fiction under 2,000
words. First prize includes
€1,500, a week’s residency
at the Civitella Ranieri Foun-
dation, and consultations
with a literary agent and
editor. All shortlisted fiction
will be published in a collec-
tion by Desperate Litera-
ture. Submit by April 15.
desperateliterature.com/prize
500-Word Contest: Flash
fiction/nonfiction
We heard your requests for
more flash contests loud
and clear: Our newest con-
test welcomes fiction and
nonfiction told in 500 words
or less with a grand prize
of $1,000. We can’t wait to
see what you come up with.
Submit by April 18.
writermag.com/contests
Creative Nonfiction: Long-
form nonfiction narratives
Send essays between
5,000 and 10,000 words
for consideration in Cre-
ative Nonfiction’s True Story
issues, which feature one
longform narrative each
month. Accepted essays
will receive $750 on publi-
cation as well as comp cop-
ies. Submit by April 30.
creativenonfiction.submittable.com
Force Majeure Flash
Contest: Short fiction,
nonfiction, & hybrid works
Storm Cellar seeks works
under 1,000 words for its
2022 Force Majeure Flash
Contest. All entries will be
considered for publication
in Storm Cellar. A copy of
the prize issue is included
with the entry fee. Submit
by April 30.
stormcellar.submittable.com
7
Prologue » Literary Spotlight
Atticus Review
The editors of this established journal look for quirky, raw,
‘non-academic work outside the academy.’
By Melissa Hart
THE WEBSITE FOR THE 10-YEAR-OLD
journal Atticus Review has a lot go-
ing on. You can read fiction, poetry,
and creative nonfiction by contribu-
tors from around the world. You can
subscribe to “The Weekly Atticus” for
short essays and letters penned by the
editors. You can read blog posts per-
taining to the journal, and you can click
on the “Mixed Media” link for hybrid
pieces ranging from short video essays
and poems to works that combine liter-
ature and visual art.
On the website, editors note that
they “like hybrid, unconventional work
that pushes boundaries, elevates and
edifies on an intellectual level, that in-
vestigates the inscrutable essence of
a thing, that avoids artifice to stand
firmly in its unique voice.” Spend some
time looking through the archives, and
you’ll see right away that contributors
feel free to experiment and to play with
both language and imagery.
Tone, editorial content
Recently, Christopher Linforth be-
came editor-in-chief at Atticus Review.
He notes that the journal has histori-
cally maintained a raw, quirky tone and
that staff have continually gravitated
toward showcasing marginalized voices
and experimental pieces. “We look for
non-academic work outside the acade-
my,” he says.
He and the other editors welcome
sonic compositions, audio soundscapes,
short films, and digital interactive liter-
ature as well as more traditional poetry
and prose. “Regardless of form, we like
well-crafted, well-written pieces which
8 APRIL 2022
encourage conversations about litera-
ture,” Linforth says.
The editors at Atticus Review enjoy
pieces that inspire readers to consid-
er old subjects in a new and different
manner. “And we definitely have an
affection for dark stories that can be
slightly surreal,” Linforth adds. One of
these is “Mercy,” flash fiction by Curtis
Smith (Nov. 2, 2021) that tells the sto- “Our aim at Atticus Review
ry of a boy assaulted by his classmates. is to provoke and encourage
His mother attempts to teach him how conversation through the
to hit back. Smith writes: publishing of art and
literature from under-
She pushes him, just hard represented artists and
writers.”
enough to rock him onto his
heels. She thinks of hyenas, Reading period:
their bared fangs. Thinks of Year-round.
fairy tales and goodnight kisses Genres:
and all the other currencies Fiction, creative nonfiction,
she’d prayed could shield his poetry, graphic art, mixed
media.
heart. She’s crying now, for him,
for the foolish things she once Length:
believed about mercy. Five poems; prose to 4,000
words.
“The fiction staff love flash fic- Submission format:
tion,” Linforth says. “Atticus Review is Submit via form on website.
known for the quality and breadth of Payment:
its flash fiction.” $10 per story or group of
Editors have recently introduced poems.
themed issues. In August 2022, con- Contact:
tributors examine different ways in Editor-in-Chief Christopher
which the internet has shaped and re- Linforth,
beginanyway@atticusreview.
invented literature. “Some pieces will
org, atticusreview.org.
examine meme culture, some will look
at internet-related novels, and some
will look at how we speak and how we
communicate in the digital age,” Lin-
forth explains.
The December 2022 issue will fo-
cus on the experience of language,
including works in translation, poetry,
computer languages, and sign language.
Contributors
Poets Jeffrey Bean and R.L. Maizes
have published in Atticus Review, as
have Tingyu Liu, Trivarna Hariharan,
and Josette Akresh-Gonzales. Edi-
tors published Rita Mae Reese’s vid-
eo poem “People Also Ask” (Dec. 4,
2021) inspired by questions that her
search engine suggested. Quirky in-
strumental music juxtaposes with ar-
chival family movies from the 1950s,
punctuated by questions including
“what is the average weight of a pan-
da?” and “what is the length of spa-
ghetti?” and, poignantly, near the end,
“where are you now?”
“It’s a very, very, very odd imagery
mix,” Linforth says of Reese’s mixed
media piece. “That kind of strangeness,
that rawness, that quirkiness is our cup
of tea.”
He also points to Gary Fincke’s flash
fiction piece titled “Milkman” (Dec. 7,
2021) as the sort of evocative piece he
loves to publish. “It’s about a man who’s
back from the Vietnam War and work-
ing on this dairy farm. It’s very emo-
tional, very affecting,” he says. “These
types of pieces are short and punchy
and powerful.”
He also appreciates Tom McAl-
lister’s flash nonfiction titled “2013”
(Oct. 24, 2019). In it, McAllister tells
a simple story about leaving a birth-
day party at his house to buy orange
juice, which inspires him to think
about his life choices and role among
family and friends. Near the end of
the piece, he writes:
Here’s the punchline of this
story, I always forget the
punchlines: nobody knew I
was gone. I had left my own
house, in my car, and driven a
half mile away, and everyone
WRITERMAG.COM
had continued as if I had been
there the whole time. It’s not
that I needed them to be wait-
ing at the door with balloons
and firecrackers. But of course
I wondered how long I would
have to be gone before some-
one noticed.
“Often, he writes about key mo-
ments in his life and how they’ve
changed him,” Linforth explains.
“What’s so interesting about these
pieces is the kind of detail we get
about his life.”
Advice for potential contributors
Editors at Atticus Review particular-
ly appreciate shorter pieces – for cre-
ative nonfiction, they gravitate toward
stories of 800 words or fewer. On the
website, they write, “We like seeing the
small set against the big picture...We
like lyrical. We like dark humor. We
like pieces that look inward and con-
front shame.”
For poetry submissions, they prefer
MFA
Seattle Pacific University’s low-residency MFA program is for
apprentice writers who want to pursue excellence in the craft of
writing and care about the relationship between faith and literature.
Merit scholarships available.
CORE FACULTY GENRES
Scott Cairns Poetry
Robert Clark Fiction
Jennifer Maier Creative nonfiction
David McGlynn
Gina Ochsner LEARN MORE
Mischa Willet
Lauren Winner
spu.edu/mfa
800-601-0603
lyrical narrative poems with a snapshot
sensibility. They’re not interested in
preachy, didactic poems. From the po-
etry submission guidelines, “They can
be shocking, serene, heartbreaking, ele-
gant, savage, narrative, surreal – or all of
the above.” Linforth and other editors
appreciate a brief cover letter, especially
if the writer has submitted an experi-
mental piece.
The review includes a “New Voices”
section on its website, featuring writ-
ers with fewer than five publications.
Five free-submission days a year allow
potential contributors to send work
without paying the $3 fee. “We real-
ly want to encourage unrepresented
writers, minority writers, and people
who have difficulty accessing literary
magazines,” Linforth says. “And we’re
so very happy to work with new and
emerging writers.”
Melissa Hart is the author, most recent-
ly, of Daisy Woodworm Changes the
World (Jolly Fish, 2022). Instagram/
Twitter: @WildMelissaHart
IN CREATIVE
WRITING
9
 1

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 Broadening the BLACK
AMERICAN
LITERATURE
Bookshelves
This month, we’re taking a look at
Black American literature.
By Yi Shun Lai
SPICYTRUFFEL/SHUTTERSTOCK

This month’s The Nightstand picks from Ashley M. Jones

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B → B Black American Literature

Getting to know Black

American literature

O ver the past five years, I’ve been making a concerted I want…the students in my class to come
to those books really open.”
effort to read more Black literature. And I’ve Miller also notes that discussion of
noticed that the work I was encouraged to read the more quotidian aspects of life are
in college, from writers like Zora Neale Hurston or Toni valuable in contemporary Black lit-
erature, too: “There’s also the novels
Morrison, or even the work that I read in my MFA program, that are about just sort of, like, getting
from Zadie Smith and Edwidge Danticat, bears little through the day. The attention is really
about being present.”
resemblance to the work I’m reading today (Victor LaValle’s Miller further notes that the discus-
The Changeling or Brit Bennett’s The Vanishing Half, Kiese sion around being present also raises
Laymon’s Heavy). questions around the Black experience
that aren’t talked about as much in the
To help me shed some light on the more traditional Black narratives, like
breadth of Black American literature, the many different types of Blackness
I turned to Monica L. Miller, a profes- that exist: “We push hard on the di-
sor of English and Africana Studies at versity of how we think about Black
Barnard College. Miller is a scholar of identity – not just Black American
African American culture, art, and liter- identity; it’s also about (this is an old-
ature, and her book, Slaves to Fashion: er term) American Africans. There’s an
Black Dandyism and the Styling of Black incredible amount of work that’s come
Diasporic Identity (Duke University out recently by Black writers of Afri-
Press, 2009), inspects the intersection can descent who grew up in the U.S.
of fashion and culture in Black identity. What are the books that are going to
“When we think about African be really pushing me to think about
American literature, we think of this Blacknesses? And what are the things
sort of Southern past that needs to be that are the experiences, kinds of nar-
sort of reckoned with in some way in ratives, even stylistic or formal strate-
order for the Black characters and that gies that some of these contemporary
particular narrative to have another writers are using, right, to really get at
life,” she told me. “But in more contem- those kinds of questions of the kind of
porary books I teach, [although] there’s multiplicity within? Within African
some element of this typical narrative, American or sort of Afro-diasporic
there’s so much more than that.” Mill- literature and identity?”
er says the more contemporary novels As part of the question of Blackness,
tackle how subjects like sexuality, gen- focuses exclusively on works that have Miller has noticed a lack of interest on
der, and class might fit into or evolve as been published in the last decade so that the part of some contemporary Black
a result of what she calls “more tradi- students can explore the work without writers to produce a likable narrator.
tional” narratives that center on Black being hampered by what she calls “deep She points to Raven Leilani’s debut nov-
American history. literary critical apparatus” surround- el, Luster, in which “the main character
Miller teaches a class at Barnard ing the work. “We can talk a little bit wasn’t super likable. Zadie Smith also
called “Black Literature Now” that about history and trends,” she says, “but [is] really into unlikable Black women.”

12 APRIL 2022
Miller prescribes this character trait to
these writers “testing the reader: Can
we can we stick with [the characters]?
What do we want, in some ways, out
of a book? Or what do we want from
Black women characters? I keep think-
ing about these sort of unlikable Black
women and/or women that we don’t
feel an emotional attachment to when
we’re reading. What does it mean to
have those kinds of characters?”
Furthermore, Miller posits that the
Black American contemporary writer
is pushing the reader to challenge our
expectations: “There’s a group of writ-
ers who are interested in wanting to
put forward a kind of nontypical nar-
rative. They’re not interested in ‘uplift.’
They’re not interested in respectabili-
ty. They’re not interested in overcom-
ing [the] tragedy or trauma narrative.
They’re interested in a couple of after-
maths of that, right? And I think those
books…don’t feel like the typical kinds
of African American narratives that are
family-based and history-based.”
I think about the books I’ve en-
countered by Black American writers
that seem to step firmly away from the
territory of the “typical” Black narra-
tive: Young adult works like Leah John-
son’s You Should See Me In a Crown
and Kwame Alexander’s Crossover se-
ries; fantasy/sci-fi books like Nnedi
Okorafor’s Akata Witch or the horror
writer LaValle’s Changeling or Lauren
Wilkinson’s American Spy. I wonder
out loud if these writers, some of whom
work in genre fiction, might be able to
not center the narrative of Black histo-
ry due to their working with the tropes
and conventions of their genres. “There
are certain conventions that are part of
that kind of writing that really do al-
low people to see the kind of historical
threads and cultural threads,” says Mill-
er. “But these threads do not dominate,
or, if they do dominate, they’re being
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really worked with…The history is real-
ly being used as a tool, not as a difficult
background to overcome.”
Miller also points out that in young
adult fiction, writers may still be re-
sponding to the Black Lives Matter
movement, even as young readers are
interested in reading about friendship.
“[The kids] are really concerned about
maintaining connections with each
other, cross-racial connections with
each other. They’re interested, in par-
ticular, in thinking about sexuality and
gender identity. Right. So they’re ask-
ing, ‘Where’s the rest of it?’”
Miller does note that she sees this
work coming, and she’s quick to point
out that writers like Jacqueline Wood-
son and Jason Reynolds have been writ-
ing this work for some time. “There’s
tons of [other] writers who have been
writing things other than racial tension
and inner cities and gentrification, but I
just don’t feel like they’ve had the same
kind of exposure,” she said.
I’m reminded of Nella Larsen’s
Passing, a novella about two Black
women, friends from childhood, who
can pass for being white. One of them
has stepped fully into a white life, mar-
rying a racist bigot who thinks she’s
white, and the other is living a life
equally influenced by Black culture
and society. Although the book was
published in 1929, it’s gaining new
life and acclaim as the source materi-
al for a Netflix movie. And, although
the book and its film adaptation are
clearly about racial tensions, Passing so
closely described my own occasional
and very contemporary desire to “pass
for white,” even if it is impossible, giv-
en my East Asian features and clear
heritage. Further, I tell Miller, I didn’t
feel like Larsen was even trying to, or
wanting to, tackle big issues of “being
Black.” I feel myself falling into the pit
of discussing the universal narrative
(aka: does every book have to convey a
relatable sentiment for every reader?),
but Miller rescues me.
“I think that really has to do with
audience,” she says. “When I think
of Hurston and Larsen and Morrison
[and] the kind of work that they were
doing, they were really writing for, I
think, other Black people. So some of
what they were doing right didn’t have
to be epic. It could be everyday, just a
smaller lens.” Miller reminds us that
Morrison said her work didn’t pro-
vide a “lobby” in which readers were
introduced to a place, a people, an
environment. Her characters and sto-
ries just were. “Some books and some
writers, depending, on the structure of
the narrative, on the story, on the style
of the writer, provide a lobby. Mean-
ing that you walk into the book, and
you’re told a certain amount about
the people, the situation, and the
place. And that’s how you get on the
train, right? [Morrison] was writing
for Black people. Black people don’t
need the lobby. And she said, I’m just
going to start where I’m starting. You
just have to come along. You have to
be open and willing, open to the ex-
perience, willing for it to be some-
times not understandable. And that’s
true even for – I’m just going to speak
for myself – that is also true for Black
people reading the book. I’m not from
a lot of the communities that [Morri-
son] wrote about. But she is not trying
to make it easy.
“It’s not meant to be easy. It’s Amer-
ican history. It’s African American his-
tory. It’s complex, nuanced lives.”
Yi Shun Lai is the author of Pin Ups,
a memoir. She teaches in the MFA pro-
grams at Bay Path and Southern New
Hampshire universities and is a found-
ing editor of Undomesticated Maga-
zine. Visit at undomesticatedmag.com.
13
B → B Black American Literature
Talk to the
Practitioner:
Rachel Howzell Hall
When I met mystery writer Rachel Howzell
Hall, I was also thrilled to be meeting the
woman who brought to the page Elouise
Norton, a Black woman detective who lives
in Los Angeles. Quite apart from the fact
that I really wanted to be friends with Nor-
ton, I was taken by Howzell Hall’s apparent
love for Los Angeles, a city I’d lived in for
most of my life but never really knew, and
her passion for spreading her knowledge of
writing craft. We sat down to talk about her
process, allyship in the business, and more.
14
The Writer: So, let’s talk about the Elouise Norton series.
How many books are we at now?
Rachel Howzell Hall: It ended up being four, and the last
one was published in 2018? But I’m not even writing series
anymore. [Ed. note: Howzell Hall has three standalone books
out as of this printing.] Series are hard. I got in hoping to be
like the Black Sue Grafton, but I realized if people didn’t
read your first two, they most likely would not read your
third or fourth because they all feel that they have to read
one and two.
I don’t know if I ever I will ever do another series just be-
cause of that, not necessarily fear, but I’ll call it fear, fear of it
not catching on and not doing big numbers.
TW: Let’s talk a little bit about that fear. I’d never encoun-
tered a character quite like Lou Norton. When you have
a character like this, do you not feel compelled to keep on
going with her in some way? Or does that fear that you re-
ferred to end up overwhelming everything?
APRIL 2022
 There are some readers still today who think just because the character
doesn’t look like them, then there’s nothing for them. Which is always
weird because you read vampire books and werewolf books and people
turning into gnomes, and you don’t feel a Black woman?
RHH: The fear ends up overwhelm-
ing everything. It’s a very real thing.
There are so many books out but not
as many places to shine because there
are so many books out. And, you know,
having to force this book on people
who aren’t interested in your character
anyway because it’s a woman of color…
there are some readers still today who
think just because the character doesn’t
look like them, then there’s nothing for
them. Which is always weird because
you read vampire books and werewolf
books and people turning into gnomes,
and you don’t feel a Black woman? It’s
slowly changing now, but we still don’t
get that kind of blind readership.
TW: OK, so in terms of allyship, with-
out loading the word too much, who
are your allies in this fight with fear?
RHH: I’ll share it in three ways. So with
my agent, allyship is one of signing
me on and loving the voice and loving
experience that may be outside of
yours or outside of the writers that
you typically represent. My agent is Jill
Marsal, and she publishes some of the
biggest names in women’s thriller sus-
pense in America. She’s well-regarded.
And when there are opportunities that
come up with agents or editors looking
for someone to write this or to pitch
that, she includes me. So she is an ally
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in that I’m always top of mind. I tend
to forget that she has other clients.
For publishing, being an ally means
buying your book, but also buying
your book at a price that’s not insult-
ing. Getting you the best editor and
the best publicity team and marketing
team around your story to tell it.
For readers, being an ally means
picking up the book, even if you may
not get to it right now. But picking
it up, buying it or getting it from the
library, talking about it with your
friends, leaving reviews, showing up
when there are either online or in-per-
son events. That’s being an ally.
Writers are, for the most part, in it
for the art because we have something
to say; because something scares or
angers us, and we have to write it. But
for anyone beyond that, it is a business,
and when money is involved, when
capital is involved, allyships are like
shifting gears on shifting sand. There is
a shaky foundation. So with that said,
I would say my tried-and-true allies
are my family because they know why
I write. They understand why I write.
They will support me as they have all
this time.
TW: When we first met, six years ago,
you told me you have your husband
read your – is it your fourth draft? Is
that still true?
RHH: Well, first I have to come up
with the idea, which is hard. I mean,
you always try and do better and more
interesting than the last book. And I
come up with ideas and bounce them
back and forth with my agent until
she says, OK, that one will work. So I
start thinking about the story, and I do
paper outlines, and I use index cards to
outline the story, and I create a whole
synopsis and treatment for it. Then I
share it with Jill. (And, of course, I’ve
shared it with my family, and they have
things to add.) And if Jill says it’s good,
I start on the first draft.
I do light researching. I get myself a
week to do some really, really light re-
search. I’m working on a Catalina Island
story right now. And I found out, with
the Census, there’d only been, like, three
Black people who lived full-time on
that island. So, as a mystery writer, it’s
like, well, why is that? And the reason
why, part of it, is back in the ’40s when
Wrigley was building up the island, they
wouldn’t let Black people on the ferries
to take them back and forth. When I
write, go back and start the draft, I have
some knowledge about weird race stuff
when it comes to Catalina.
I start writing first drafts on note-
pads. I like writing longhand, and
while I do have the outline, I allow
myself to stray from that and write
whatever makes sense at that time.
15
B → B Black American Literature
After I finish that first draft, that’s
when I go and do my heavy research.
Now, I know what the story actually is.
I identify all those places where there
are gaps in my knowledge.
Then, after that, I re-outline. Be-
cause now the story has shifted, and
that’s when I usually turn to the digital
novel writing programs. I use Plottr,
and I use Save the Cat. Plottr will do a
linear timeline, and I can move things
around, so I do that first. Then I use
Save the Cat. And then, I type every-
thing into [Microsoft] Word, and I do
hard edits.
After that second edit, I’m in sec-
ond-draft hell. That first draft is a mess,
and it’s awful. I don’t know if I hate the
first or the second draft most. I don’t
know which one’s worse. Probably the
second draft. Then I do, I think, two to
three more drafts after that. I like the
third draft because [by then] I know
the story. I’ve done the research. It’s
just now making the language sing.
First draft, I have a loose idea of
who my people were, how I know
them. Second draft, I’m still research-
ing them. I do the Myers-Briggs
personality things for my characters.
And I see what animal they’d be be-
cause that helps me get to hear them
better. So, third draft is actually doing
the art, the sculpting. I don’t have to
worry about the pacing. Now it’s just
trimming and shining and buffing and
all that. And probably by the seventh
draft, I send it off to Jill. OK, then she
has her own edits. And that’s about
two weeks’ worth of work. Then we
send it to the editor. So [then] that’s
nine months of work.
I read my fourth draft to [my
husband] David out loud. It’s good
enough for me to share it, but it’s bad
enough for me to go back and change
things and to look how he’s respond-
ing to some things. Also, since I do
16
like voice and music in my stories,
I get to hear it. And, if I’m rushing
through a part, that means there’s
something wrong. It’s like, Oh, why
am I rushing? Because it should all be
good. If I’m trying to get to the good
part, that’s a problem.
TW: Your first book, A Quiet Storm,
was a work of literary fiction. Can we
talk a little bit about the intersection
between your literary work and your
genre work?
RHH: After A Quiet Storm, I couldn’t
get another book deal. And that’s
because, like most African Americans,
I am a mutt in some ways. I got my
degree in American English and Amer-
ican literature. I read a lot. And that
reflects in my writing. And so there
were some editors back then who were
like, OK, you have this literary thing
here, but you also have this black hu-
mor thing. And it’s like, yeah, because I
like all those things. All my books tend
to have flashes of literary fiction, the
dark humor, the maudlin. It was such
a wonderful thing when Forge bought
the first Lou Norton book and when
Jill signed me up as one of her clients
because [it’s] like, you actually get my
gumbo of a voice.
I am a gumbo of a person. I’m an
avid reader, but I also play video games.
You know, I like watching highfalutin’
TV, but I also watch The Simpsons and
the Golden Girls over and over and over
again. I find brilliance in those things.
TW: Can you tell me a little bit about
what you’ve learned from writing the
Elouise Norton series and how your
writing has evolved since then?
RHH: And Now She’s Gone [one of
Howzell Hall’s stand-alone books] is
basically two stories: One is the P.I.
procedural part, and it’s also a smaller
story about Natalie Dixon, [a] woman
who escapes and disappears successful-
ly [from] this abusive relationship.
That second story…was the book I
couldn’t sell. So I put it away and start-
ed two more novels which didn’t sell.
In [the book that came before the
Lou Norton series,] No One Knows
You’re Here, I introduce Syeeda McKay,
Lou Norton’s best friend, the reporter,
and that was like, Oh, this is actually
what I want to write. So I’m, you know,
I’m writing and learning. I write all the
Norton books, and then I write They All
Fall Down, which is when it clicks on
how I get to tell that second story that
I didn’t sell that I loved. I know how to
write a procedural. So part of [And Now
She’s Gone] will be the procedural part,
and the P.I. is looking for this disap-
peared woman. [I]t took me [15 years].
I know how to do this now because
I’ve done all these other things. It felt
remarkable. I felt I could exhale be-
cause the story had stayed with me, and
it was so important to me. I tell young
writers now, [just] because it’s not
working now doesn’t mean it will never
work. You have to live through some
things. You have to write some things
good and bad. You just have to contin-
ue living all of the fullness of life.
APRIL 2022
 Nightstand Recommended reading from Ashley M. Jones

Ashley M. Jones has edited literary maga- The Bluest Eye, Toni Morrison.
zines, taught at universities, and been a Knight “This book has so many dynamic
Foundation Fellow. But wait! There’s more: characters…and it’s all Black peo-
ple. That’s a revolutionary thing,
she’s also the founder of the Magic City Po-
you know, for anybody, for a Black
etry Festival, which celebrates Birmingham, person, to see your people being
Alabama’s poetry scene, and been named Alabama’s youngest- portrayed. Authentically, but also
ever and first Black poet laureate. She is the author of the books dynamically – we’re not just there to
Magic City Gospel (Hub City Press 2017), be servants, we’re not just happy and
dark / / thing (Pleiades Press 2019), and singing, we’re not just being killed.
You know, we are full people, we
REPARATIONS NOW! (Hub City Press 2021)
have issues.” Jones also admires the
and teaches at the Alabama School of Fine book’s realism: “The white gaze is not
Arts and Converse University’s low-residen- necessarily in the book, but it’s not
cy MFA program. She’s also a witty, spar- ignored.” (The book’s protagonist,
kling conversationalist and one of the most Pecola, considers whiteness and “the
generous women I know. We asked her for bluest eye” to be paragons of beauty
and social acceptance.)
five must-read books by Black Americans.

A Raisin in the Sun, Lorraine Hansberry.

Feminism is for Everybody, bell hooks;
Sister, Outsider, Audre Lorde.
“I wanted to focus on books that
helped me to understand how I see
the world and how I express myself in
the world,” says Jones. (Sister, Outsid-
er is a collection of Lorde’s essays and
speeches; hooks’ work introduces a
theory of feminism rooted in experi-
ence.) These books, Jones says, encour-
aged her to “see myself as a feminist
who expresses all of my intersectional
identities as a Black person, a southern
person, a person who wants to have
a family, a person who was raised by
a stay-at-home mom, a person who is
proud of being from the South. You
know, a person who has faith, a person
who is liberal. All these things can ex-
ist within me at the same time because
Audre Lorde and bell hooks tell me
that they can.”
The Collected Poems of Lucille Clifton
1965-2010, Kevin Young and Michael S.
Glaser, eds.
“Poetry has a unique ability to speak
to people to get to the root of a
human in a way that other forms of
writing, at least for me, don’t,” says
Jones. “Whenever I’ve taught [Clif-
ton’s] work, everyone in the room, no
matter who they are, what race they
are, or what their political beliefs
are…is able to say, ‘Oh, well, I see my-
self here,’ or ‘This was so interesting,
I feel connected to it.’ And that’s just
not true with every poet. [A writer
like] Lorde is setting you on fire. Clif-
ton is standing you next to the fire
so you can feel how hot it is. Maybe
she’s holding your hand right next
to it, but then she’ll say, ‘OK, now
I’ll take it away.’ So you think about
what it feels like to be on that fire.
Neither approach, I think, is right
or wrong. It’s just when it comes to
trying to bring people in, maybe I’ll
start with just holding them next to
the flame. And I would love to end
with them standing in it and under-
standing that we’ve got to get out of
this fire.”
Jones first read this play in high
school, but she became truly enam-
ored with it after seeing the 1961
film starring Sidney Poitier. “This is
my favorite play in the world,” she
says. “It reveals just how deep white
supremacy can go, like what it can
actually do on a granular level to
someone’s existence. The way that
[Walter Lee, the play’s main charac-
ter] feels about himself goes back to
the way that his people are treated.
[There are] those who think that
‘Black people just need to pull harder
on the bootstraps’ – these imaginary
bootstraps that have never existed
for anyone, ever? Those who are like,
‘Well, you just got to do it and slav-
ery is over and you know, you’re just
wanting a handout.’ We understand
[when we read this play] that you
can pull up on every single bootstrap.
You can put on every boot ever made.
And if there’s still a boot like literally
on your neck, you can’t do anything
about that. It’s hard to move when
you’re just wedged in there.”

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 ILLUSTRATIONS BY HURCA/SHUTTERSTOCK

APRIL 2022
SHORT
THE

AND
LONG

18
 OF THE
SHORT
The short story is a
classic for a reason – and
editors say it isn’t going
anywhere any time soon.
Here’s a look back at the
form from its origins to

STORY
the present, plus tips and
fresh insight on where
to find homes for your
stories in the future.

By Kerrie Flanagan
WRITERMAG.COM 19
 he art of storytelling has been
around for centuries: Aesop’s
fables, Greek mythology. These
short stories were passed down
verbally through generations
until they were finally written down, and we
still enjoy versions of them today. Regardless
of what is happening in society or what
technology we have available, we will always
love stories. But there is something uniquely
satisfying about the short story: Unlike
longer forms, short fiction is a piece of work
that can be enjoyed in a single reading session.
But it’s rare to see short story collections
anywhere on bestseller lists, let alone in the
top position. Book clubs seem to gravitate
toward memoirs and novels or the rare essay
collection, and with the viral exception of
Kristen Roupenian’s “Cat Person,” short
stories rarely dominate literary conversations
on social media or in real life. With Netflix,
video games, and social media, do readers
even enjoy this short form anymore?
The short answer is yes. Which is good
for writers who love the form. But just how
vibrant and lucrative is the current market?
Let’s begin our long dive into the short form
by looking back to see how we got to where
we are today.
20 APRIL 2022
The origin of the form
Again, storytelling has been around for
centuries, but short stories as a print
form didn’t really come into their own
until the late 1800s. Novels had been
around for a couple centuries at this
point, but books could be expensive
for consumers. Magazines and journals,
however, were much more affordable.
The first U.S. magazines were launched
in the middle of the 19th century: Sci-
entific American (1845), which claims
to be the oldest continuously published
magazine in the U.S., and Harper’s
Magazine (1850), which continues to
publish short fiction today. Literary
journals like North American Review
and the Yale Review were also launched
in the 19th century, as was this very
magazine, which was founded in Bos-
ton in 1887 as a “monthly magazine for
literary workers” and frequently cov-
ered the short story market in its pages.
Rudyard Kipling, Washington Ir-
ving, Paul Laurence Dunbar, Katherine
Mansfield, Anton Chekhov, Agatha
Christie…all of these authors had pop-
ular stories published around the turn
of the last century, and they paved the
way for contemporary writers.
In an article in Prospect magazine
explaining the history of short stories,
award-winning author William Boyd
explains the short story grew in popu-
larity at the turn of the 20th century and
entered its “golden age.”
“The adjective is very apt: In the ear-
ly decades of the century you could be-
come rich writing short stories, partic-
ularly in America,” Boyd writes. “Mag-
azines proliferated, readers were eager,
circulation rose, fees went up and up.
In the 1920s, [F.] Scott Fitzgerald was
paid $4,000 by the Saturday Evening
Post for a single short story. You need
to multiply by at least 20 to arrive at
any idea of the value of the sum in to-
day’s terms.”
The turn of the century also saw
the birth of “pulp magazines,” named
for the cheap, wood pulp paper they
were printed on. The first one, Argosy,
grew a monthly circulation of 500,000
in just 10 years. More pulps came on
board. They published mostly genre
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fiction: science fiction, mystery, fan-
tasy, romance…and also were known
for their lurid and sensational subject
matter. They were seen as “low-brow”
writing by the literary community, but
they were popular because they could
be bought for a few cents and provided
great entertainment for readers. Writ-
ers were paid by the word, and a few
of these magazines’ many contributors
include Mary Roberts Rinehart, H.P.
Lovecraft, and Isaac Asimov.
While the ’20s and ’30s were a lucra-
tive time for pulp and other magazines,
World War II brought challenges, in-
cluding paper shortages and unrest in
the country. Then, in the 1950s, an-
other threat appeared: The television
became an affordable household appli-
ance. Couple that with the rise of inex-
pensive mass-market paperbacks, and
the glory days of the pulps ended at last.
In the mainstream
Glossy consumer magazines were also
popular for publishing fiction, especial-
ly women’s magazines like Good House-
keeping and Ladies’ Home Journal, but
men’s magazines published fiction as
well. In his memoir, On Writing, Ste-
phen King talks about writing short
stories for men’s magazines and how
it helped support his wife and kids:
“From a financial point of view, two
kids were probably two too many for
college grads working in a laundry and
the second shift at Dunkin’ Donuts.
The only edge we had came courtesy of
magazines like Dude, Cavalier, Adam,
and Swank. By 1972…fiction was on its
way out, but I was lucky enough to ride
the last wave. The stories I sold to the
men’s magazines between August of
1970, when I got my two-hundred-dol-
lar check for ‘Graveyard Shift,’ and the
winter of 1973-1974, were just enough
to create a rough sliding margin be-
tween us and the welfare office.”
No form’s glory days can last forev-
er. During the 1990s, due to budget is-
sues and readers’ shifting attention else-
where, many magazines found it easier
to attract advertisers by featuring prod-
ucts instead of fiction.
But throughout all of these ups and
downs, literary journals continued pub-
lishing great short stories. They were,
and still are, the solid foundation for
this genre, no matter if they publish in
print or online. Boyd writes that even
though it may have become harder than
ever to earn a larger paycheck for short
fiction in this country (let alone else-
where around the world), the American
short fiction market still exists: “For the
taste among readers for short fiction, in-
culcated over the last century and a half,
has never really gone away, despite the
vagaries of publishing economics.”
Short story collections
Along with magazines and journals
printing standalone stories, publish-
ers – from the Big Four to the smaller
presses – also consistently release short
story collections. Interestingly, 2017
saw a surge in the sales of these titles,
with NPD BookScan reporting that
50% more short story collections were
sold than in the previous year, due in
part to the popularity of Tom Hanks
and Jojo Moyes’ collections that year.
Some hoped this statistic meant there
was a growing popularity and a renais-
sance of the short story form.
But author Chris Powers argued in
2018 in The Guardian that this idea of a
“short story renaissance” has been float-
ed by publications quite frequently in
recent years – and if that’s the case, a re-
surgence can’t be claimed given the fre-
quency of its perceived rebirth. “Plod-
ding through these random explosions
of joy, the short story continues to exist
with or without the glare of widespread
attention. Each year, good collections
are published; some are noticed, some
are not. Most don’t sell many copies (a
debut collection from one of the major
publishing houses might have a print
run of 3,000, with little expectation of
a reprint). When a collection is fortu-
nate enough to be reviewed, it will very
often be a discussion not just about the
book but also the form generally.” Pow-
ers argues that during any year, you can
find terrific story collections that were
published; sometimes even more than
in 2017, sometimes less, but enough to
suggest a healthy genre either way.
21
New era
All of this leads us to where we are to-
day. Short stories are still thriving, al-
though they are not as lucrative as they
once were in the golden days of the
form. There are still plenty of places to
publish and plenty of reasons to write
in this market. As Windy Lynn Harris,
short story writer and author of Writ-
ing & Selling Short Stories & Personal
Essays, says, “In the time from 2006,
when I started writing and publishing
short stories, to now, I haven’t seen any
change whatsoever. It’s always been this
secret underground. For the past 15
years, it has been this wonderful show-
case of writers where people are trying
new things, and writers get noticed by
literary agents. It’s a way to show what
you can do and also try something new.”
Established in 1956, The Colorado
Review continues to thrive as a short fic-
tion market. Steven Schwartz, the jour-
nal’s fiction editor and a creative writ-
ing professor at Colorado State Univer-
sity, says short stories are here to stay.
“If our submission queue at Colorado
Review is any indication, more writers
than ever are submitting, writing, and
presumably reading stories. We may
never return to the golden age of short
stories when writers like F. Scott Fitz-
gerald made a living at the practice, but
the readership thrives in classrooms,
with literary journals, and amongst
devotees who prefer the form in our
hurried times. And although our print
readership at CR has remained stable,
our online readership has swelled with
the work we feature, reaching many
readers in the U.S. and internationally.”
The Vestal Review, the longest-run-
ning magazine dedicated to flash fic-
tion, launched in March of 2000. Da-
vid Galef, the current editor, has been
with the magazine for a year and a half
and during this time has seen the num-
ber of followers for The Vestal Review
increase. He defines flash fiction as sto-
ries that are “compressed but dramatic,
short but packed with life” – and they
seem to suit web audiences. He has no-
ticed that short stories have held steady
while the popularity of flash stories has
zoomed upward. “They’re everywhere,
22
in anthologies and magazines and
classrooms and contests. Even The New
Yorker started publishing a flash fiction
section a few years ago,” Galef notes.
Why write short stories?
Even if short stories are not as lucrative
as they once were, there are still good
reasons to write and publish in this
genre. Harris believes it’s still a worth-
while place to improve your craft and
to find your voice. “It’s about earning
your chops and getting better. With
short stories, you are taking all the [cru-
cial] storytelling moments like begin-
nings, middles, ends, and epiphanies
and zooming in and zooming out over
and over again.”
“In the time
from 2006, when
I started writing
and publishing
short stories,
to now, I haven’t
seen any change
whatsoever.
It’s always been
this secret
underground.”
Short stories allow you to take risks
and try new styles and techniques with-
out committing to a full-length novel.
For example, Harris notes that if you
want to play around with omniscient,
which is not nearly as easy as third per-
son but can be really compelling, you
can play around with that in a short sto-
ry. “If it works, do another short story
that way. Then, when you understand
what you need to know about it, you
can step into your next novel idea with
it, and you understand what you are get-
ting into – and how it can serve you, so
you won’t get lost along the way.”
Look at your writing goals. Think
about what you are trying to accomplish
with short stories. Do you just want them
published? Do you want something cool
on your writer resume? Do you want to
experiment with different styles? Do you
want to impress literary agents? Do you
want to make some money from your
stories? These are all good goals to have,
but you have to be savvy and realistic
about how you go about achieving them.
If you want to make money from
your short stories, only submit to pay-
ing markets. If you want to experiment
with your writing, seek out publica-
tions open to unique styles. To build
literary credentials, seek out prestigious
literary publications. There are plenty
of short story markets to submit your
work to, and it’s easy to get lost in the
literary woods, so find the path that
best fits your goals and stick to those.
Where to publish
Harris says there are plenty of places
looking for well-written stories, espe-
cially ones around 3,500 words, which
she calls the sweet spot for having the
most market opportunities. She esti-
mates there are thousands of available
markets. “You’ll find short stories in
literary magazines. Genre magazines.
Children’s magazines and commer-
cial magazines. I mention the cave-
at well-written stories because even
though there are many outlets for short
stories, the competition to earn a space
on the page of a journal is quite stiff.
For any writing project, you must cre-
ate, revise, and polish your work until
it meets the standards of the market
to which you’re submitting, and in the
world of short stories, that standard is
skyscraper tall. Short stories are some of
the most clever, experimental, urgent,
and fresh prose being written today.”
Schwartz agrees. “Places abound to
publish, and more spring up every day,
wanting work ranging from flash fiction
to longer stories. You may not be able
to make a living or even pay your rent
publishing short stories, but there are
innumerable publications, print and on-
line, that want to honor a writer’s work
with handsome production values and
APRIL 2022
 Other unique markets
TECHNOLOGY HAS EXPANDED TO ADD SOME NEW AND
INTERESTING SHORT STORY MARKETS.

→ PODCASTS SHORT STORY PODCASTS

With the rise in popularity of audiobooks in the last few
years, it is no surprise there is a rise in short story pod-
ǃ The Other Stories:
casts. One of those is The Other Stories, a weekly podcast
theotherstories.net
featuring the best in horror, sci-fi, and thriller fiction. The
podcast launched in 2016, and has since celebrated eight ǃ Selected Shorts: npr.org/
million downloads and a This is Horror Award for Best Fic- podcasts/381443486/
tion Podcast. pri-selected-shorts
Luke Kondor, one of the founders of The Other Stories, be-
lieves the timing of the podcast launch helped with its initial ǃ The Truth:
success. “We launched our podcast just as the horror fiction thetruthpodcast.com
podcast scene exploded, and so we very quickly rocketed
up the podcast charts, and within a few months, we were ǃ LeVar Burton Reads:
seeing several thousand downloads every day.” It consis- levarburtonpodcast.com
tently releases a new episode every Monday, which creates
ǃ LitReading: litreading.com/
loyal listeners who can count on new stories each week.
stories
Plus, Kondor says, “We’ve also incrementally improved our
production skills and have built up our team – which is more ǃ Ellery Queen Mystery
of a community – of audio wizards, illustrator extraordinaire, Magazine Podcast:
Photoshop tinkerers, super-powered voice artists, and writ- elleryqueenmysterymagazine.
ers of all shapes and sizes, both new and established.” com/the-crime-scene/podcasts
Podcasts like this one and others accept submissions
from writers. This is a solid way to expand your reach to ǃ Brick Moon Fiction:
new audiences. brickmoonentertainment.com

→ SHORT STORY DISPENSER

Short Edition is a French-based publisher, with an office in the U.S. as well, that has been around
since 2011 (short-edition.com). In 2016, it launched the Short Story Dispenser. Its goal was to
make literature accessible to all by providing free short stories for all ages. These machines connect
readers across countries and cultures by publishing contemporary short stories, free of charge, at
the push of a button. Readers can choose a story by reading time (one minute, three minutes, five
minutes), audience, and language. Each story is printed on recyclable paper through thermal printing,
so there is no ink cartridge.
There are more than 350 Short Story Dispensers on five continents. The 110 in the U.S. can be
found in public libraries, universities, schools, airports, train stations, and hospitals. The stories are
curated through the literary review Short Circuit. Each week, the editorial team reads through hun-
dreds of submissions to choose the very best for publication, which are then sent to the Dispensers.
Over the past decade, more than 5 million stories have been distributed, and thousands of writers
have been paid for their work.

WRITERMAG.COM 23

WHERE TO FIND
MARKETS
Duotrope ($5/month):
duotrope.com
New Pages: newpages.com
Submittable:
submittable.com
The Nonconformist:
nonconformist-mag.com/
the-big-big-list-of-literary-
magazines-and-journals
whatever remuneration – contributor
copies or payment – they can afford.”
While there are many markets
where you can submit your work, they
are not known for their speed in re-
sponding and publishing. Patience
is key, especially with bigger markets
like The Paris Review or The Sun. You
can spend months querying, and then
when you get a “yes,” it may take a year
or more before it is actually published.
Harris says the fastest thing to hit the
market usually is flash fiction. Writers
can often sell it and have it published in
a month or two.
Many literary magazines have gone
completely online or launched as a dig-
ital-only publication; The Vestal Review
is one of them. For over 20 years, it has
published flash fiction (and it is a pay-
ing market). Galef says the publication
has remained strong for two decades
because the previous editorial regime
showed acumen in everything from
choosing excellent work to showcasing
it in print and online. “They paid for
fine writing, and they slowly gathered
24
WHERE TO READ
SHORT STORIES
ONLINE
Flash Fiction Online:
flashfictiononline.com
Fictionaut: fictionaut.com
365 Tomorrows (Science
Fiction and Speculative
Fiction): 365tomorrows.com
Daily Science Fiction:
dailysciencefiction.com
Morning Short:
morningshort.com
East of the Webs Short
Stories: eastoftheweb.com/
short-stories
a following. The authors who’ve pub-
lished with us, and the awards the work
has won, make for an impressive list.
We no longer have a print edition, and
we use but try not to abuse social me-
dia, but we do have a magazine with
a reputation worth promoting. We’re
eclectic, which is to say, I don’t think
there’s a typical Vestal Review brand of
fiction, and I think that also helps.”
Finding markets
Researching the right market for your
stories can be time-consuming, but
it’s a necessary part of the process. The
more work you do upfront, the more
likely you are to find a home for your
piece. Sending it out to a bunch of pub-
lications that aren’t a good fit is only
going to result in more rejections, and
no one wants that.
There are resources and websites
available that can help make the process
of finding the right market a bit easi-
er. One popular website is Duotrope,
where you can find up-to-date listings,
and it will track your submissions.
There is a small monthly fee ($5), but
it definitely saves time. Submittable is
another submission site, and that one
is free.
Author and short story writer Alice
Kaltman says it’s important to read the
different journals, magazines, and liter-
ary reviews to see if your style fits with
what they typically publish. “There are
many publications I love to read, but
I know they’d never go for my quirks.
Another good thing to do is see where
writers you admire publish, those with
whom you feel a certain literary kin-
ship. Who knows? Maybe you deserve
a place at their table, too!”
By taking the time to research mar-
kets, reading the stories in those publi-
cations, and only submitting to those
that are the best fit, your chances of get-
ting an acceptance will increase.
Keep track of your submissions
through a platform like Duotrope or
Submittable or create your own Excel
spreadsheet. Record your rejections
and submissions. If something gets
rejected, try not to take it personally.
Instead, find a new market and send it
out again.
AS WE’ VE SEEN, THE SHORT STORY
world has grown and evolved over the
years. Sometimes it’s been in the spot-
light, other times it’s been more under-
ground, but it has never gone away. In
the modern era, Harris says, “It’s just
never really been for mass market. And
that’s OK. It’s an experimental, excit-
ing place to be where there’s a whole
lot of love.”
Join in this excitement by making the
time to read and write short stories.
Kerrie Flanagan is an author, writing
consultant, and freelance writer from
Colorado with over 20 years’ experience
in the industry. She is the author of
WD Guide to Magazine Article Writ-
ing. She moonlights in the sci-fi/fantasy
realm with a co-author under the pen
name C.G. Harris (cgharris.net).
Sign up for her newsletter at bit.ly/
KerrieFlanaganNews. Web:
KerrieFlanagan.com
APRIL 2022
 GE T
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OUR CRITIQUE
SERVICE!*

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 ccording to Duotrope, there
are over 5000 literary maga-
zines out there. And it seems
like every day, a new literary
magazine pokes its head into the Twit-
tersphere and thus creates another po-
tential home for that precious poem
you’ve been working on.
How do you even begin to consid-
er where to send your submissions? It’s
true what everyone says – publishing
is so subjective. As an editor of one of
those countless literary zines and an
associate editor at another, I can’t even
begin to fathom how many times I’ve
said “no” to a piece simply because it
didn’t fit with the aesthetic of the mag-
azine and not because it wasn’t good.
Thus, the task then becomes evalu-
ating every single magazine out there,
reading what they publish, and then as-
certaining from that mammoth under-
taking what outlets best fit your piece...
Just kidding.
Because that’s impossible: If you
had to do that, there’d be no time left
to write, plus, by the time you finished,
half of the zines would have shuttered
Which literary magazine is and been replaced by another couple
thousand you need to evaluate.
the one your piece needs? Luckily, there are shortcuts. Not fast
tracks, mind you, but shortcuts: Things
By Josh Sippie you can do to really understand what a
literary magazine is all about and how
it jives with your writing. Three steps,
give or take a handful of substeps. Let’s
do this.

STEP 1: Know your writing

Don’t roll your eyes. I know, this seems
like one of those “OK, but what’s re-
ally the first step” things. But I’m seri-
ous. How can you begin to market your
own writing and judge its fit at a liter-
ary magazine if you don’t even know
what it is you write?
Are you seeing themes running
through your pieces? Do you write
about environmentalism or unrequited
love or the dark side of home garden-
VECTORIUM/SHUTTERSTOCK

ing? Is the voice consistently sarcastic

or stern or morbid? Do your charac-
ters face most of their obstacles inter-
nally? Do they all come from broken

26 APRIL 2022
families? Do they go on interplanetary
adventures with a robot sidekick who
has a penchant for wisecracks?
Understand your writing. Analyze
your writing. Know it. Know your
brands. Know your tendencies. Know
your strengths and weaknesses. If you’re
writing a short fiction about Skeletor’s
side hustle as a freelance graphic de-
signer, probably don’t send that to the
traditional literary market Plough-
shares, even if you know it’s the greatest
masterpiece you could ever conceive of.
The brands just don’t match.
Writing the tale of a tortured college
student who sits in his room the en-
tire story and debates which major to
choose to achieve his goals in life bet-
ter? Probably don’t send that to Apex, a
magazine focused on sci-fi, horror, and
fantasy. Unless you plan on having him
abducted by aliens, and then we can
talk. (Maybe.)
Make a list of all the themes, trends,
and other common aspects you see a lot
in the work you write.
STEP 2: Know the market
Now that you know what you’re writ-
ing, we can start looking at ways to de-
cide where to send it. You know the old
saying, “write what you’d want to read;”
well, that’s pretty true. What you’re
writing won’t be the only of its kind. I
mean, of course it is: You’re a unique and
wonderful creator who stands alone.
But what you’re writing has similar piec-
es out there. Even if the similarity is that
it’s just so oddball and off the wall that it
doesn’t really seem like it’d fit anywhere.
Guess what? There are literary zines
for that.
But in order to read similarly to what
you write, you have to find those zines,
and if you aren’t reading them already,
it’s time to get to it. There are many pop-
ular resources that offer insights into lit-
erary journals, such as NewPages, Sub-
mittable, DuoTrope, and this very mag-
azine. All of these offer resources and
insights into literary journals.
There are other sources, though.
One of those is Jim Harrington’s Six
Questions For… blog, where “editors
WRITERMAG.COM
and publishers discuss writing flash fic-
tion, short stories, poetry, and novels.”
It’s a fantastic resource and well worth
poking around. You get to hear from
actual editors about what they’re actu-
ally looking for.
But while you’re there –  or while
you’re reading The Writer’s own “Lit-
erary Spotlight” column – maybe lis-
ten to a bit more than just the basic
parameters. Listen to the way the edi-
tors answer. Are they funny? Serious?
Specific? Open-ended? You should be
evaluating editors and the work they
publish in the same way you evaluate
your own writing. Because when you
start matching up adjectives – “Hey,
this editor uses sarcasm, just like this
sarcastic piece I wrote about my cat
earning a Ph.D.” – you start finding po-
tential homes for your writing.
Speaking of getting to know a liter-
ary magazine, Twitter can give you ex-
actly what you need. And it’s even better
if you don’t know where to start. Twitter
is where to start. Search for magazines,
#callforsubmissions, or writers you like
and begin reading stuff. You don’t have
to read a lot, or all of it, or even that
much; just read enough to find simi-
lar writers and editors who share some
qualities of your own work, see where
they publish, and go follow those mag-
azines. And those magazines are likely
going to be following other magazines
like them, writers they’ve published,
and writers they like. So you can go
poke around on those profiles, too.
And hey, before you even poke
around on their profile or website, you
can pay attention to how they act on
social media. Are they cracking jokes
and posting irreverent memes like
Daily Drunk, or are they sharing in-
spiration and encouraging conversa-
tion like F(r)iction? Maybe they’re su-
per conversational and supportive like
trampset, or maybe they’re always pro-
moting their writers like Split Lip. You
can learn a lot about a magazine by the
way they handle themselves on social
media. If you find their social content
resonates with you, it’s probably not a
bad place to add to your submit list.
While you’re poking around, check
out who these magazines’ editors are.
That information is readily available on
websites or zine Twitter profiles, and
you can repeat the whole process with
their editors’ profiles, too.
Behold, the power of social media.
STEP 3: Know the guidelines
Another one of those “OK, that’s not
really a step” steps. But let me, as an ed-
itor, tell you that it is 100% a necessary
step. The quickest way to get a rejec-
tion? Send something that a magazine
isn’t looking for or ignore its submis-
sion guidelines.
Do they read blind? Don’t put your
name on it.
Are they fiction and nonfiction?
Don’t send poetry.
Do they have a max word count of
1,000 words? Better hold off on that
6,000-word essay.
Every editor wants every submission
they get to be the one they accept. But
you take that option away when you
don’t give an editor something they can
accept. Do yourself a favor and prepare
yourself for submissions by sending
something that, at the very least, fits
inside of the oblong rhomboid of their
publishing aesthetic. The more reasons
you give them to reject you, the more
likely they will.
All of the guidelines are found on
the magazine websites, and they’re all
easy enough to follow. If not, they will
almost all, across the board, offer a con-
tact email for questions.
All in all, what these steps boil down
to is know what you’re doing. Other
people are doing it, so it can be done.
Just know what you’re doing before you
step out into that great big (welcoming)
universe that is the publishing world.
Josh Sippie is the Director of Confer-
ences and Contests at Gotham Writers
Workshop in New York City, where he
also teaches. His work has appeared in
The Guardian, McSweeney’s Internet
Tendency, Hobart, and more.
Twitter: @sippenator101;
more at joshsippie.com.
27
 THE

D I G I T A L

L I T E R A R Y

REVOLUTION
Audio fiction, cine poetry, and multimedia narrative are
just a few of the tech innovations embraced by online
journals in a modern era. Here’s how you can think
beyond the printed word in 2022.

By Melissa Hart
NADYA C/SHUTTERSTOCK

28 APRIL 2022
 When I first began writing the “Literary Spotlight”
column almost two decades ago, most literary journals
were print publications showcasing traditional poetry
and prose along with visual art. Flash forward to
2022, where the sky’s the limit for digital magazines
accessible to readers around the world.

Editors actively seek out cine poems
and video prose. They publish full-cast
audio versions of short stories. They de-
vote entire webpages to a single story
and a single writer so that readers can
peruse the creative piece along with vi-
sual art and video and original music
compositions, and then watch inter-
views with the writer for insights into
the storytelling process.
This is a thrilling time to be a writer.
The word “experimental” in a journal’s
submission guidelines means so much
more than it once did, thanks to tech-
nological innovations available online.
I’ve watched in awe as writers format
their short memoir as Google Maps,
publish travelogues accompanied by
video documentaries, and narrate per-
sonal essays over video footage of inti-
mate moments with their families.
Below, I’ll highlight some of the most
interesting innovations I’ve discovered,
with the hope that you’ll feel free to play
with form and content in your literary
magazine submissions as well.
Audio poetry and prose
Editors at Conjunctions, the literary jour-
nal of Bard College, have long published
multimedia pieces that combine digital
text with audio, allowing fans to read
and/or listen to poetry and prose. In
Two Songs (issue #75), House on Mango
Street author Sandra Cisneros introduc-
es her brother, Henry Cisneros, who set
her poem “Squink” to music and sings
it on an audio recording while playing
guitar. The presentation feels intimate,
perhaps even more intimate than mere-
ly reading Cisneros’ poetry on the page.
Likewise, there’s the audio presenta-
tion titled “Five Songs” by late Haitian
singer and former Port-au-Prince may-
or Manno Charlemagne. Conjunctions
editors supplement the digital text and
the translator’s afterword, with related
notes by Haitian author Gage Averill
and a recording of Charlemagne per-
forming his song Layamòt, first pub-
lished in English in issue #27.
Interested in listening to more audio
prose and poetry? The editors of The
Drum: A Literary Magazine for Your
Ears publish audio recordings of poet-
ry, short fiction and novel excerpts, es-
says, and interviews. The literary jour-
nal Please See Me includes both text
and author-read audio versions of its
health-related poetry, fiction, and cre-
ative nonfiction; the editors also pub-
lish podcasts and short films.
The Drabblecast is an online specu-
lative fiction magazine and podcast
described by editor Norm Sherman as
“strange stories for strange listeners.”
Most often, the editor showcases short
science fiction, fantasy, and horror nar-
ratives – pieces like Michael Piel’s sto-
ry “Watch Anya Blume,” read by Ibba
Armancas, about a woman who loathes
nature until she drinks creek water, and
her skin begins to break out in mush-
rooms and yellow flowers.
It’s prefaced by a drabble, or 100-
word story, titled along with Sherman’s
reminder to frequent the “Forums” sec-
tion of the website to read, write, and
comment on the drabbles posted there.
This online community building strikes
me as one of the most advantageous
and exciting aspects of digital pub-
lishing –  readers can comment online
about the pieces they’ve read and seen
and heard and compare notes and even
chat with the writer for insights about
the story and the writing process.
DIGITAL PUBLICATION HAS ALSO
allowed journals to become much more
accessible to a variety of readers. Tarik
Dobbs is the editor of Poetry Online,
a weekly poetry journal with poems
appearing alongside audio, captioned
video, and screenreader-accessible im-
ages. In “Two Erasures” by Lisa Huf-
faker, for example, we get an audio file
of the poet reading her erasure poems,
accompanied by images of the original
text (Fascinating Womanhood by Helen
Andelin) with most of the sentences
crossed out and lines pointing to single
circled words to show the poems that
Huffaker has created. There’s also a de-
tailed image description for those with
visual impairments.
“The digital expansion of prose and
poetry has created a wider perception of
what these genres can be. Part of writ-
ing’s digital expansion is a great oppor-
tunity to focus on accessibility,” Dobbs
says. “I’m always thinking about font
choice and size, page contrast, spacing,

WRITERMAG.COM 29
image descriptions, audio, captions, alt-
text, underlined hyperlinks, and so on.
The digital venue allows for so much
more access to be embedded into the
work; [Poetry Online] was a chance for
me to standardize and forefront that
accessibility in a publication.”
Video poetry and prose
The editors at Blackbird have showcased
video prose for years. They published
John Bresland’s four-minute video essay
“Les Cruel Shoes” (spring 2005), filmed
while jogging through the streets of Par-
is and accompanied by the author’s brief
text introduction to the piece. Bresland
writes of his video, “[It] shows one way
to locate a sense of belonging, a sense of
home, amid the most popular tourist
destination on Earth.”
Gregory Donovan, professor of En-
glish at Virginia Commonwealth Uni-
versity, founded Blackbird. He points
out that digital publishing has benefit-
ted literary and visual artists and their
work. “When we first began the all-on-
line Blackbird journal…there were those
who were skeptical or resistant, think-
ing that digital would be the enemy of
print,” he notes. “But the effect was the
opposite, bringing in new and broader
audiences, expanding the kinds of work
available, and increasing the diversity of
the creators being published. When we
began accompanying our publishing of
literary works – not only poetry, fiction,
and nonfiction but also plays and innova-
tive forms such as the video essay – along
with features about the visual arts, we at-
tracted a large and international reader-
ship, especially when we made headlines
by presenting an unpublished early work
by Sylvia Plath in a multimedia format.”
Steven Church, editor-in-chief of
The Normal School, agrees that digital
publication offers certain storytelling
freedoms. The magazine, in print for a
decade and now fully digital, featured
Sonya Bilocerkowycz’s and Chris Ste-
vens’ cine poem “Amerikan Swamp”
( Jan. 6, 2021), which combines Bilo-
cerkowycz’s poetry with urban and nat-
ural landscapes shot on 8 mm film and
accompanied by Stevens’ musical com-
position on bass.
30
“Though the transition away from
print was difficult, being able to pub-
lish these kinds of pieces has been one
of the best outcomes of that process,”
Church notes. “We simply couldn’t do
things like this in print, and it abso-
lutely fits the aesthetic of the magazine.
We’ve always been focused on publish-
ing pieces that don’t easily fit elsewhere,
and we’re proud of that legacy.”
Author Kristen Radtke, video editor
of TriQuarterly, has an introduction to
video essays on that magazine’s web-
site ( Jan. 24, 2017) and offers two ex-
amples for those interested in learning
more about the form.
“Without a digital
platform, we
would miss out
on a powerful
opportunity to
amplify what we
pay journalists,
and it would be
impossible to build
so many meaningful
relationships
between our
storytellers and
our audience.”
One is Allain Daigle’s “Rendering,”
with prose appearing against abstract
video imagery one word at a time, un-
derscored by haunting music. The oth-
er is “Of the Hearts” by Taney Kurth,
which begins with graphic footage of
a heart surgery juxtaposed with a min-
ister’s audio sermon about the impor-
tance of purifying one’s heart. The next
scene shows the author’s young daugh-
ter crying as he describes her birth de-
fect – a hole between two chambers of
her heart – and subsequent footage of
his family and their church illustrates
his meditations on faith, the lack there-
of, and his role as a father.
“Do you believe in God?” one of his
children asks him in a startling closeup,
and Kurth replies quietly, “I don’t know.”
It’s a captivating and heart-wrenching
piece, all the more poignant because we’re
treated to intimate footage of a family
deeply affected by both joy and fear.
Full-immersion travel writing
When writers Sivani Babu and Sabine
K. Bergmann launched their digital
travel magazine Hidden Compass, they
recognized the power of technology
to give readers a full, rich experience
of both place and writer. Consider
poet and Harlem Renaissance scholar
Cherene Sherrard’s piece “The Weight
of Paradise” (Autumn 2021) about tak-
ing a surf lesson in Hawaii…and about
race, risk, and entitlement. It features
original art and ends with links to addi-
tional reading about Black surfers.
Click on the link that reads “Meet
Cherene Sherrard,” and you’ll see the
writer’s bio, links to publications in
other online magazines, and photos
of her. You’ll also get to watch a short
video in which she explains the inspira-
tion behind her Hidden Compass story
and the risks she took as a Black woman
learning to surf. In addition, you’ll see
a link that allows you to contribute to
Sherrard; writers earn a flat fee per sto-
ry, and Babu and Bergmann mount a
weeks-long crowdfunding campaign to
compensate each contributor further.
“We wouldn’t be who we are at Hid-
den Compass if we weren’t digital,” says
Bergmann. “This format allows us to
showcase not just incredible stories but
every storyteller we publish through vid-
eos, profiles, and fundraising campaigns.
Without a digital platform, we would
miss out on a powerful opportunity to
amplify what we pay journalists, and it
would be impossible to build so many
meaningful relationships between our
storytellers and our audience.”
Other forms of multimedia
When Dinty W. Moore told the story
of meeting famed author George Plimp-
ton as an undergraduate writing major,
he did so in the form of a Google Map
for The Normal School (Volume Two,
Issue Two). Titled “Mr. Plimpton’s Re-
venge: A Google Maps Essay, in Which
APRIL 2022
George Plimpton Delivers My Belated
and Well-Deserved Comeuppance,” the
piece reads like creative nonfiction, albe-
it in bits and pieces, relying on readers to
click various links for the full story.
In Fall 2021, editors at Blackbird
published Ashley Kistler’s “Hope Wall
RVA, 2020-21)” – an extensive photo
essay documenting the creation of, and
the inspiration for, a temporary public
art project titled “Hope Wall” on Rich-
mond, Virginia’s Monument Avenue.
The digital format allows for a slide
show of 35 images showing posters cre-
ated by national and international de-
signers representing 20 countries and
responding to both the pandemic and
the Black Lives Matter movement.
Abstract Magazine published Brad-
ley Spencer Morgan’s multimedia piece
“Connecting Bob Dylan’s Murder Most
Foul, JFK, and COVID-19” (Aug. 12,
2020). Morgan, who describes himself
an “avid fan and amateur historian of
WRITE
YOUR
FUTURE
- Nationally Published Faculty
- Enders Island Summer Residency
- Over 80 Books Published
by Alumni & Students
Fairfield.edu/MFA
WRITERMAG.COM
Bob Dylan,” combines a personal es-
say about listening in the midst of the
pandemic to Dylan’s song Murder Most
Foul – a 17-minute song inspired by the
assassination of President John F. Ken-
nedy – with the official audio record-
ing from YouTube, plus CBS footage of
John F. Kennedy’s inaugural address and
newscaster Walter Cronkite’s televised
announcement of the president’s death.
Intrigued? Here’s how to submit
More and more, editors at literary mag-
azines are looking for multimedia piec-
es. However, each requests submissions
in particular formats. Always check the
website’s contributor’s guidelines page
for detailed information about how to
send audio, video, and image files.
Editors at Poetry Online write: “Vi-
sual poems and cine poetry/video art
may be submitted in additional imag-
ing formats, including .png, .jpg, mp4,
.m4v & .mov.” Editors at TriQuarterly
MFA
CREATIVE
WRITING
request a video file and a link to the vid-
eo, hosted privately on YouTube or Vi-
meo or another platform. Some editors
prefer video files uploaded to Dropbox
or Google Drive. Narrative Magazine
wants poetry in MP3 format, files no
larger than 50 MB, and films/docu-
mentaries in .mp4 or .mov format, no
larger than 50 MB.
You may experience a bit of a learn-
ing curve as you navigate the different
file formats and submission guidelines,
but I believe the result – a stunning
multimedia piece that readers can enjoy
in a variety of ways – is worth it. Prose
and poetry in text form are superb. En-
hanced by audio, video, and visual art,
they’re sublime.
Contributing editor Melissa Hart is
the author, most recently, of Daisy
Woodworm Changes the World (Jolly
Fish, 2022). Instagram/Twitter:
@WildMelissaHart
31
 THE
GREAT
EM DASH
DEBATE
Writers love it. Editors loathe it.
Learn why, plus how to use it
correctly (but sparingly).
By Toni Fitzgerald

32 APRIL 2022
 was a senior in
college when I
I realized I was an
editor at heart,
not a writer. Fresh
off a summer in-
ternship at a daily
newspaper, I entered the fall semester
filled with big ideas about changing the
world and smaller ideas about strength-
ening the copy at my college paper.
That first week back, I handed (liter-
ally handed – we still used paper in the
late ’90s) a story I’d edited to a younger
writer, who glanced at my markup and
shook his head. “You took out four of
my em dashes,” he said with a wound-
ed tone. I smiled. “I did. You have too
many of them,” I said. I had edited writ-
ers three times his age all summer. I felt
confident.
Until… “How many is too many?”
he asked. I paused. I didn’t have an exact
number. I just knew what I saw on the
page looked wrong. “There isn’t a specif-
ic guideline for that,” I replied. “It’s more
of a feel.” “Well, the em dashes feel right
to me,” he said, dropping the copy on my
desk and stalking away.
I grabbed it and looked over the
column again. The em dashes made
the otherwise well-written story chop-
py. They broke up the rhythm of his
voice. Though I couldn’t articulate
why, I knew I was right about remov-
ing them. We published the story
without those four em dashes, and I
figured that was that.
WRITERMAG.COM
Until … the next week, the young
writer turned in his column. He re-
mained in the room, waiting for me to
edit it. When I did, I frowned. Then I
counted. Twenty-two em dashes, with
almost as many dashes as periods in
the short piece. I locked eyes with him
across the room, and he smiled angel-
ically. That’s when I knew I had cho-
sen sides in the great em dash debate.
I grabbed my red pen and got to work.
The em dash: Friend or foe?
When it comes to grammatic disputes,
only one thing (the Oxford comma)
sparks more passion and contention
than the em dash. With few exceptions,
writers adore the dash. They exalt in its
versatility, its linguistic ambidexteri-
ty. It can take the place of parentheses,
commas, semicolons, or colons. Writers
can use it to connect separate thoughts,
set off a clause, or signal an abrupt
about-face in subject – all of which en-
hance storytelling and vary sentence
structure to achieve the comfortable
cadence writers seek.
Where you land in the debate may
depend on whether you’re a writer or
an editor. Both sides have valid points.
Love:
It’s shiny
Many writers fall hard and fast for the
em dash. “I had a ridiculous romance
with the em dash, in that when I dis-
covered them, I went bonkers,” admits
m/n
What about the
en dash?
You may have noticed that
there are no em dashes
in this story. There are, in-
stead, en dashes.
The en dash is essen-
tially the same as the em
dash. They serve identical
grammatical purposes. The
only differences between
them are length, prefer-
ence, and numerical usage.
• Length: The en dash is
roughly as long as the
letter n, while the em
dash is as long as the m.
• Preference: Some peo-
ple prefer the shorter
dash (including those
people in charge of the
Chicago Manual of Style
and, ahem, The Writer),
while others like the
appearance of the em
dash (AP Style employs
it exclusively).
• Numerical usage: The
en dash is also some-
times used without
spaces between num-
bers, i.e., it has been
1–2 minutes since I
learned the length of an
en dash.
33
Kendare Blake, author most recently
of In Every Generation, a novel set in
the Buffy the Vampire Slayer universe.
“It was all very Oprah: YOU get an
em dash! And YOU get an em dash! A
million em dashes! Em dashes until the
end of time!”
Shauna Robinson, who recently
published her debut novel, Must Love
Books, became similarly enamored.
“The em dash is so much more versa-
tile and forgiving” than other forms of
punctuation, she says. “It can connect
anything and everything – not just in-
dependent clauses. I love using an em
dash in place of a comma when I really
want to emphasize a particular line. I
also love using two em dashes to book-
end a thought or phrase in the middle
of a sentence. Sometimes parentheses
can seem like they’re hiding something,
but if I use em dashes – particularly for
something I want to highlight – it calls
more attention to the words. Em dash-
es demand attention!”
Loathe:
It’s ostentatious
Attention is, of course, one of editors’
objections to the punctuation. One
em dash effectively emphasizes a point.
More than one feels like being slapped
in the face by the world’s skinniest syn-
tax marker. Em dashes are obvious, the
stenographic equivalent of shouting.
As Robinson so astutely points out,
they demand attention, and some-
times that’s the last thing you need in
a manuscript.
Editors want the plot points, not the
punctuation marks, to draw the atten-
tion. Punctuation should enhance sto-
rytelling power without becoming a fo-
cus. Grammatical alternatives can often
convey the same sentiment with greater
nuance. Robinson has been there. “A
copy editor did have to replace some of
my em dashes with commas (which is
totally fair – I love em dashes so much
that I do use them often, and I wouldn’t
want to overuse them). I try to make an
effort to decide if I really need an em
34
dash, or if a comma would suffice. It’s
not special if it’s overused,” she says.
Love:
It’s friendly
Writers also choose em dashes because
they seem gentler than semicolons and
colons. Those closely related punctua-
tion marks can feel abrupt, even harsh.
Em dashes feel chummier, the difference
between a soft pause and a hard stop.
Some writers even view dashes as a way
to fight elitism. In A Man Without a
Punctuation
should
enhance
storytelling
power
without
becoming
a focus.
Country, Kurt Vonnegut famously wrote
that semicolons represent “absolutely
nothing. All they do is show you’ve been
to college.” While Vonnegut was joking
(he later uses a semicolon in his essay),
many writers agree with him. As Jon
Winokur, author of Advice to Writers,
once tweeted, “Why do I avoid, as much
as possible, using the semicolon? Let me
be plain: the semicolon is ugly, ugly as a
tick on a dog’s belly.”
Loathe:
It’s disruptive
Editors make writing easy to read and
understand. We do that by trimming
words and setting off clauses and re-
structuring sentences. Often, em dashes
make writing hard to understand. Too
many em dashes result in Frankensen-
tences with multiple personalities sau-
saged into each clause. If you have that
many thoughts to squeeze in, why not
break it up? More digestible sentences
go down easier.
Love:
It’s Emily Dickinson’s
favorite
Writers are nothing if not students of
history, and Blake and Robinson are
in good company in their affection for
the em dash. Perhaps the best-known
devotee is Emily Dickinson, whose
poetry turned dashes into an art form.
She used long, short, double dashes,
each one becoming as much an optical
element of the poem as a literary one.
She balanced and then unbalanced
lines with the punctuation, turning
the em dash into an emotion. Today,
there’s even a website, The Dickinson
Dash Project (dickinsondashproject.
weebly.com), devoted to Dickinson’s
em-thusiasm.
Loathe:
It’s distracting
I stand by what I told that young writer
decades ago about the aesthetic down-
side of dashes. When you see a page,
your eye moves to anything that stands
out, that looks different. You might skim
through a bunch of colons or semico-
lons, but your eyes stick on the dashes.
They look so distinct from anything else
on the page. When too many of them
appear, they become a diversion. Why so
many? Do they symbolize something? Is
the author trying to make a point about
dashes? Or did the writer just lack a dis-
ciplined editor? Too many dashes ob-
scure the meat of your writing.
Love:
It’s conversational
Writers say em dashes sound more like
the way people speak. Do you talk in
semicolons? I know I don’t; but I write
APRIL 2022
 Six tips for using the em dash effectively (but not effusively)
We grabbed six sentences from this story to illustrate
how to use em dashes properly and when to use something else.

1 2 3 4 5 6

When using an Try offsetting a Use em dashes Add em dashes Try an em dash Break up sen-
em dash in place phrase with com- to avoid a series instead of com- to make writing tences to avoid
of parentheses, mas instead. If of commas. mas or parenthe- sound more con- adding excess
use two dash- it works, use the Example: Writ- ses to empha- versational and em dashes.
es to offset the commas. They’re ers can use it to size an important less formal as an Example: Where
clause. less intrusive. connect separate fact. alternative to a you land in the
Example: Re- Example: I went thoughts, set Example: That colon. debate may de-
member in sea- through the man- off a clause, or first week back, I Example: Bound- pend on whether
son one of Ted uscript to revise signal an abrupt handed (literally aries and bal- you’re a writer or
Lasso – tell me it and realized, about-face in handed – we still ance – that’s a an editor. Both
you watch Ted ‘Holy crap, that subject – all of used paper in the symbiosis any sides have valid
Lasso – when Ted em dash doesn’t which enhance late ’90s) a story editor can get points.
says the word belong there.’ storytelling and I’d edited to a behind.
“plan” so many vary sentence younger writer.
times, it loses all structure to
meaning? achieve the com-
fortable cadence
writers seek.

with them. Indeed, dashes can signify
a stuttered word or uncertain speech
pattern that conveys emotion in a way
semicolons cannot.
Loathe:
It’s overused
Remember in season one of Ted Lasso –
tell me you watch Ted Lasso – when Ted
says the word “plan” so many times, it
loses all meaning? This is called seman-
tic satiation, and the concept applies
to overused em dashes, too. When you
see so many, they become meaningless.
Even dash-addicts can admit the prob-
lem with oversaturation.
Finding that tipping point is the chal-
lenge. It differs for every work. “There
are, by my count, 18 em dashes in the
first chapter of my novel Must Love
Books,” Robinson says. “As I said, I love
an em dash. Which is to say: I would ab-
solutely include more than one em dash
on a page. I evidently have (and now I’m
wondering if this interview is some sort
of intervention). It looks like my limit on
the number of em dashes per page is five,
so maybe no more than five. It’s good to
show restraint. Not that I would know.”
Love:
It’s duct tape
Sometimes writers embrace the dash
because they aren’t sure what else to do.
As Peter V. Brett, author of the Demon
Cycle series, so nicely summed it up in a
2019 tweet: “The Em Dash is the duct
tape of grammar. When in punctuation
doubt – slap one in and go.” To get to
that next phrase, that next plot point,
occasionally, you need to fill the space
and move on.
Loathe:
It’s used wrong
Perhaps editors’ biggest beef with em
dashes is that they’re often employed
incorrectly. Refer to our sidebar for tips
on how to use them the right way, and
maybe, just maybe, you can slip a few
more past an editor.
Can we achieve dash detente?
Ultimately, the best approach to em
dashes is the one we’re often urged to
take with dessert: Indulge selectively
and enjoy it. But don’t overdo it. That is
where Blake landed after self-editing her
book. “I went through the manuscript to
revise it and realized, ‘Holy crap, that em
dash doesn’t belong there, and that one
should just be a comma and that one...
wasn’t even used correctly,’” she says. “But
now the em dash and I have settled into
a calm and satisfying long-term relation-
ship. And I still love them. When neces-
sary.” Boundaries and balance – that’s a
symbiosis any editor can get behind.
Toni Fitzgerald is the copy editor for
The Writer and generally way less judgy
about others’ grammar than the begin-
ning of this story would indicate. She is
also a freelance book editor. Contact her
through her website: tonifitz76.com.

WRITERMAG.COM 35
 135 YEARS OF
good
writing

TIMELESS CRAFT TIPS FROM OUR ARCHIVES,

FEATURING MARGARET ATWOOD, WALTER MOSLEY,
ISABEL ALLENDE, URSULA K. LE GUIN, AND MORE.

36 APRIL 2022

“We do not choose our subjects,
they choose themselves…They creep
so insidiously, these creatures of
the imagination, before I am aware,
and they fasten themselves upon
the hidden places of the mind, and
feed there, and take root, and once
they are securely lodged, I cannot
banish them. They must develop
and become little men and women
and tell their story, and once their
story is told, they can return to the
dust from whence they came and be
remembered no more. And what is
the dust from whence they sprang? I
cannot say. Nor can any writer unless
his tales are true ones and not
things of the imagination.”
—DAPHNE DU MAURIER, 1938
On
memory
“I suppose that
psychologically,
using painful
memories fictionally
is a way of
getting over them.
Personally, I think
it’s a good way of
getting even. And
pragmatically, it’s a
nifty way of getting
published.”
—LOIS LOWRY, 1987
WRITERMAG.COM
On inspiration
“I try to keep in mind “The fundamental truth about writing is that
the delicate relationship you must have something to say before you
between what is unique, worry about your method of saying it.”
perhaps even eccentric, —ADELA ROGERS ST. JOHNS, 1953
and what is universal. Only
in this relationship is there “Do not write about Something. Write about
a true subject, worthy of Everything. Also: Never try to write about
long hours of work.” Everyone. Always write about Someone.”
—JOYCE CAROL OATES, 1973 —CYNTHIA OZICK, 1967
“Inspiration is like an electric
shock – jolting and unexpected,
sometimes surprising in
its source.”
—SUE GRAFTON, 1977
On writing fiction versus nonfiction
“I find writing fiction to be very “Truth is too
pleasurable. It’s generative and strange for fiction.
creative, and I enjoy it even when I’m The adventures of
writing about sad things. And I don’t
human experience
find it hard; I’m usually able to write
happily and quickly and well. But that’s are almost invariably
not true with nonfiction. I find writing too amazing, too
nonfiction difficult; it feels like pulling shocking, too horrible,
teeth. It’s technically and logistically too apparently
challenging and emotionally draining, exaggerated to be
and the whole time you have one hand
transcribed exactly as
behind your back.”
they meet us. In sharp
—CARMEN MARIA MACHADO, 2020
black type on any
printed page but that
“Fiction is like listening to
someone’s heartbeat through
of a newspaper, they
a stethoscope. Memoir is like would appear absurd,
open-heart surgery and holding the wildest stretch of
someone’s heart in your hands.” imagination.”
—MAYA SHANBHAG LANG, 2020 —RITA WEIMAN, 1947
37
 On self-doubt
& failure
“Sometimes people have general failures of
faith in which they think: What good is writing?
Why am I doing it? Why aren’t I a real estate
salesperson or working on an assembly line?
You know, they have those kinds of feelings.
But, of course, language is the oldest and most
human thing about us. And, of course, writers
are working in language.”
—MARGARET ATWOOD, 2012
“Writing is the act of failing
at something all the time. Do
it with a sense of humor, and
it ain’t no big deal. Life is just
about falling on stage and
getting up, and that’s what
writing is all about, too.”
—JAMES MCBRIDE, 2013
On writing for television
“Don’t tell a story because you’re sustaining a
franchise. Don’t tell a story because they’ve given you
hours to make a TV show, and you want to have an
audience…The greater questions, which I think a lot of
writers in television don’t ask themselves, are: Why are
we telling this story? What does the story mean? When
you can answer the big questions, then you are ready to
write. The idea is paramount.”
—DAVID SIMON, 2012
“This is an industry that is one of the toughest in the
world to break into. Be ready for the long game, be ready
to run a marathon, train every day, write every day and
be ready at a moment’s notice to do your best work. Be
ready. Be ready for the long haul.”
—VEENA SUD, 2014
38
On showing up
“The most important and hardest thing for any
writer to learn is the discipline of sitting down
and writing even when you have to spend three
days writing bad stuff before the fourth day,
when you write something better. If you’ve been
away from what you’ve been working on for
even a day and a half, you have to put in those
three days of bad writing to get to the fourth,
or you lose the thread, you lose the rhythm.
When you are a young writer, those three days
are so unpleasant that you tend to think, ‘I’ll go
away until the mood strikes me.’ Well, you’re out
of the mood because you’re not sitting there,
because you haven’t had that period of trying
to push through till the fourth day when the
rhythm comes.”
—JOAN DIDION, 1999
“The one constant that
produces ‘success’ is putting
in the time. That is constant…
You have to get in the habit of
showing up. It’s a muscle you
have to develop.”
—SUZAN-LORI PARKS, 2015
“What I have learned in time, in 32 years of
writing, is that it’s a lot of work, and if I just
show up, and I work and work, there is a
moment, a magical moment, at some point,
when it gives. And then you don’t need the
effort anymore. It’s like dancing. When you’re
dancing and counting the steps, you’re not
dancing. When your body just goes — then
you’re dancing, and then there’s a rhythm,
there’s a velocity, there’s a feeling, there’s a joy
that you cannot describe. And it happens in
spite of me. I think that’s the moment in writing
when the book starts to happen. From that
point on, it’s all joy. At the beginning, it’s work.”
—ISABEL ALLENDE, 2014
APRIL 2022
 On having faith in your readers
“Never underestimate the reader’s imagination. It is more powerful than all your fine writing.”
—DAVID LAVENDER, 1942

On research On the writing life

“I think all writers have
to do reporting. It is not “Whether or not this is a ‘hopeful time’ for the beginning
something that takes writer – what does it matter? I began in the most un-
great technique. It takes hopeful time possible: the Depression, with magazines
a relentless willingness folding on every hand. If you want to enough, you will find
to act like a vagrant and the way to learn and grow, the way to become a good
[hang] out. And be there enough writer so that you are the one who will be wanted
when things actually occur. by whatever markets there are.”
You simply cannot imagine —PHYLLIS A. WHITNEY, 1977
life the way it happens
without getting out.”
—TOM WOLFE, 2011 “I always advise beginning
writers to get jobs. Freelance
writing is extremely
On poetry precarious, and it is nice to
“We know only when we come to the end of the
eat three times a day and to
poem – after perhaps 30 revisions – what it is sleep under a roof.”
really about.” —FAITH BALDWIN, 1940
—MAY SARTON, 1962

“The best advice I ever “Perhaps the most

“Read vertically and widely to discover what got about writing is: Don’t persistent and the
is possible in a poem. One must read across start until you can’t not worst superstition
all kinds of intersections of identity and start. There’s a difference
styles; meaning, do not just read the poets between when something
among young men
who sound like you and share your particular is kind of living in your and women of literary
demographic or political beliefs, but read head as a good idea talent in the smaller
dangerously and adventurously.” and when something is towns and cities is
—MAJOR JACKSON, 2016 gnawing at your gut.” that their chances of
—SARAH TREEM, 2014 recognition would be
“I think we should approach poetry more better if they lived in
like music or art. Instead, it’s shrouded
“Writers write not because
New York. It is a fallacy
in mystery. Like anything new that you they know things but which has resulted in
try, you start and fail and then improve. because they want to find the extinction of many
You have to keep practicing.” things out.” literary talents.”
—RICHARD BLANCO, 2020 —JULIA ALVAREZ, 2016 —BURTON RASCOE, 1939

WRITERMAG.COM 39
 On learning to write
“There’s no formula for how to write a
book, and everyone works differently,
so you have to figure out what works
for you…Don’t let others dictate what
you can and can’t do in a story. Some
people will try to put you down, but
that’s their problem. Do what you can
to be the best writer.”
—ALEXANDRA DIAZ, 2021
On pacing
“Narrative is a drug, and you have
to decide how much of it you
want to pump into your reader’s
blood. Do you want to have it drip
out very stingily, like an IV? Or
do you want to spray it in your
reader’s face like a fire hose?”
—ANTHONY DOERR, 2014

On sci-fi and fantasy
“Science fiction stories
are successful only if the
protagonist – no matter what
he/she/it looks like – behaves
like a human being.”
—BEN BOVA, 1977
“The best
science fiction
springs from a
wild imagination
wisely leashed.”
—JACK WOMACK, 1989
“[Science fiction] starts with an
act of the mind, a step from is
to if, a reach of the imagination
into the non-existent. But it is
not a leap into the impossible
or the absurd. Indeed, SF
dreads absurdity and loves
logic almost as much as Mr.
Spock does.”
—URSULA K. LE GUIN, 1981
GENRE TIPS
On thrillers & mystery
“There simply must be a
corpse in a detective novel,
and the deader the corpse,
the better. No lesser crime
than murder will suffice.”
—S. S. VAN DINE, 1939
“Think of your story as a test
pilot would think of a new
plane while it is still on the
ground. Check everything,
double-check everything
before you take to the sky.”
—Q. PATRICK, 1942
“A suspense
writer must be
at the same
time an artist
and a criminal.”
—PATRICIA HIGHSMITH, 1964
On historical fiction
“For the sake of the story, it
may seem necessary to make
some actual figure out of the
past behave in other ways than
the facts about him would
indicate, to deny the nobility of
some humble spirit, to show as
a man of integrity some famous
person who was actually mean
and small. Never is such a
variation wise or honest; it will
betray the writer far more surely
than it does even the artlessly
credulous reader.”
—CORNELIA MEIGS, 1938
“Immerse yourself in the
period – paying close attention
to speech patterns, vocabulary,
and current events. Read
everything you can on your
subject. (You won’t use
everything you find, but you
can always plug what’s left
over into another project.)”
—BEVERLY JENKINS, 2015

40 APRIL 2022
 On the publishing industry On writing for
“A year and a half ago, I became acutely aware of the fact that
every publishing party I would go to, every publisher I went to in
younger readers
New York, there were no people of color. I’m not saying no Black “To write creatively for children one
people, I’m saying no Dominicans, no Puerto Ricans, Southeast has, as best one can, to recall the
Asians, no Mexicans, no Native Americans. There were only white emotions of childhood, see things
people in publishing…And, it was just so exclusive, I just couldn’t through the eyes and mind of the
stand it. So I called up the president of City College, Yolanda child, and filter the essence of
Moses, and I said ‘Listen, you need to start a publishing institute. childhood through the maturity of
There are a lot of people of color. There are a lot of people in adult perception.”
publishing who are interested. We could come up and teach. We —ELEANOR ESTES, 1953
could get internships. We could make a real difference in America.’
She agreed, and that institute now exists.”
—WALTER MOSLEY, 1999 “It is well to remember that by
[Note: The publishing program Mosley founded at CCNY, the Publishing
the time you write a book for the
Certificate Program, still exists today and remains committed to “the issue of market and that manuscript has
diversity in the book publishing industry and its impact on cultural production gone through the long process of
and our national and global markets.” ] selling itself to an editor and being
published, the market may have gone
somewhere else and left your book
“The most important element in the whole behind. But a beautifully written
complicated, exasperating, funny, enjoyable, book, a well-crafted story, a work
and rewarding relationship between a writer of honest human feeling and deep
and the person who looks out for his creative passion, like the stories of Conrad
Aiken, E. B. White, and Maurice
and business interests in the outside world Sendak, will never go out of style.”
is respect and faith and the knowledge that —KATHERINE PATERSON, 1993
your agent is on your side.”
—SHIRLEY FISHER, 1957
“Being Gen Z in the circuit of YA
publishing also feels like a matter of
“Learning to say no is a new, important lesson for me. Anything relatability. My target audience isn’t
writers can do to help their own books get out into the world can some foreign concept to me – I belong
be useful. With that said, though, it’s all too easy to burn out either to it. So I market myself with a bit of
by doing too many events and promotions or by spending too much a tongue-in-cheek attitude, as if I’m
time and energy fretting over how many events you do or don’t do. just your friend from school because
At a certain point, you have to accept that you can’t do everything that’s what I feel like sometimes, and
and that you’re not going to have every opportunity and remember it’s the way I like connecting with my
what really matters: the work you do.” audience the most.”
—CELESTE NG, 2016 —CHLOE GONG, 2020

On empathy
“How, without love and the intuition that comes from love, can a human being place himself in the
situation of another human being? He must imagine, and imagination takes humility, love, and great
courage. How can you create a character without love and the struggle that goes with love?”
—CARSON MCCULLERS, 1972

WRITERMAG.COM 41
Postscript LITERARY
AGENTS

Before you can approach an editor or publishing house, it’s a good

idea to seek agent representation. The following agents are a small
sampling of what the industry has to offer. Find more listings at
writermag.com.

LILANAKANI/SHUTTERSTOCK; EKATERINA KAPRANOVA/SHUTTERSTOCK; ZHITKOV BORIS/SHUTTERSTOCK

THE MONTH AHEAD

April 1 April 3-9 April 23-24 April 28

Happy National Poetry Month!
What poem will you write today to
celebrate?
It’s National Library Week, and The Los Angeles Times Festival of It’s a big day for
this year’s theme is “Connect Books returns for an in-person mystery lovers:
with Your Library,” encouraging gathering featuring indoor and The 76th annual
“communities to join, visit, or outdoor events. Check events. Edgar Award
advocate for their local libraries.” latimes.com for the full lineup, winners will be
Learn more at ala.org. which will be announced on announced by
March 16. the Mystery
Writers of America.

42 APRIL 2022

Information in this section is provided to The Writer by the individual markets and events;
for more information, contact those entities directly.
F = Fiction N = Nonfiction P = Poetry C = Children’s Y = Young adult O = Other
F N C Y 3 Seas Literary Agency
Romance, women’s fiction, science
fiction/fantasy, YA and MG fiction, and
select nonfiction titles. No email queries
accepted. No attachments.
Contact: 3 Seas Literary Agency, P.O.
Box 444, Sun Prairie, WI 53590.
threeseaslit@aol.com
threeseasagency.com
F N The Aaron M. Priest Literary Agency
Seeks mainstream and literary fiction,
thrillers, and narrative nonfiction. Query
by email only. No attachments.
Contact: The Aaron M. Priest Literary
Agency, 200 W. 41st St., 21st Floor, New
York, NY 10036.
See website for specific agent email
addresses.
aaronpriest.com
C Y Andrea Brown Literary Agency
Children’s literature only. Seeks picture
books, easy readers, chapter books, MG,
YA, juvenile nonfiction, crossover fiction,
illustration, graphic novels. Email only.
Contact: Andrea Brown Literary Agency.
See website for agents’ email addresses.
andreabrownlit.com
F N Y Andy Ross Agency
Narrative nonfiction, current events/histo-
ry, journalism, science, literary/commer-
cial fiction, and YA fiction. Query by email.
Contact: Andy Ross Agency, 767 Santa
Ray Ave., Oakland, CA 94610.
andyrossagency@hotmail.com
andyrossagency.com
F N Y O Ayesha Pande Literary
Literary and popular fiction, including YA,
women’s, African-American, and interna-
tional fiction. Also seeks nonfiction and
graphic novels. Submit via website.
Contact: Ayesha Pande Literary, 128 W.
132 St., New York, NY 10027.
Email through website.
pandeliterary.com
C Y Barry Goldblatt Literary
Represents authors of picture books,
chapter books, middle-grade books, and
YA. Submit queries via website.
Contact: Barry Goldblatt Literary, C/O
Industrious, Brooklyn, 594 Dean St., 2nd
Floor, Brooklyn, NY 11238.
query@bgliterary.com
bgliterary.com
WRITERMAG.COM
Literary Agents
F N Baldi Agency
Fiction, reference, biography, technology,
business, history, travel, lifestyle, sci-
ence, cultural history, creative nonfiction,
and gay/lesbian fiction. Email or mail.
Contact: Baldi Agency, 233 W. 99th St.,
Suite 19C, New York, NY 10025.
info@baldibooks.com
baldibooks.com
F N C The Bent Agency
Commercial and literary fiction, memoir,
nonfiction, and children’s literature.
Contact: The Bent Agency, 529 W 42nd
St., Suite 3P, New York, NY 10036.
See website for agents’ email addresses.
thebentagency.com
F N Betsy Amster Literary Enterprises
Interested in literary, children’s, YA, up-
scale commercial and women’s fiction,
voice-driven mysteries, narrative or tra-
ditional nonfiction, and quirky gift books.
Submit queries by email only.
Contact: Betsy Amster Literary Enterpris-
es, 607 Foothill Blvd. #1061, La Canada
Flintridge, CA 91012.
b.amster.assistant@gmail.com
amsterlit.com
F N Beverley Slopen Literary Agency
Represents literary and commercial fic-
tion, history, narrative nonfiction, anthro-
pology, biography, and some true crime
and self-help.
Contact: Beverley Slopen Agency, 131
Bloor St. W., Suite 711, Toronto, ON M5S
1S3 Canada.
beverley@slopenagency.ca
slopenagency.com
F N Y B.J. Robbins Literary Agency
Literary/commercial fiction, YA, and
nonfiction, with a particular interest in
memoir, biography, history, pop culture,
sports, travel, African American, health.
Contact: B.J. Robbins Literary Agency.
robbinsliterary@gmail.com
bjrobbinsliterary.com
F N C Blue Ridge Literary Agency
Handles romances, cozy mysteries, MG,
picture books, graphic novels, true crime,
and other nonfiction. Email a synopsis
and the first three chapters.
Contact: Blue Ridge Literary Agency.
query@blueridgeagency.com
blueridgeagency.com
F N Y C BookEnds
Considers romance, YA, mystery, science
fiction and fantasy, picture books, MG,
women’s fiction, current affairs, refer-
ence, business, parenting, pop culture,
and general nonfiction.
Contact: BookEnds. See website for
agents’ email addresses.
bookendsliterary.com
F N The Book Group
Boutique agency representing fiction and
nonfiction. Submit query and 10 sample
pages by email (no attachments).
Contact: The Book Group.
submissions@thebookgroup.com
www.thebookgroup.com
F N C Y Bradford Literary Agency
Seeking fiction, including romance,
urban fantasy, women’s fiction, mys-
tery, thrillers, children’s, and YA. Also
accepts nonfiction, including biography/
memoir, and narrative humor. Email
queries only.
Contact: Bradford Literary Agency, 5694
Mission Center Rd. #347, San Diego, CA
92108.
hannah@bradfordlit.com
bradfordlit.com
F N Carol Mann Agency
Represents general fiction, biography,
and general nonfiction. Query by email.
Contact: Carol Mann Agency, 55 5th
Ave., New York, NY 10003.
submissions@carolmannagency.com
carolmannagency.com
F N Chalberg & Sussman
Seeks memoir, pop culture, lifestyle,
humor, narrative nonfiction, and literary
fiction. Submit queries by email only.
Contact: Chalberg & Sussman.
See website for agents’ email addresses.
chalbergsussman.com
F N The Cheney Agency
Represents fiction and nonfiction. Query
by email or by mail with a SASE.
Contact: Elyse Cheney Literary Associ-
ates, 39 West 14th St., Suite 403, New
York, NY 10011.
submissions@cheneyliterary.com
cheneyassoc.com
F N C Y Cooke McDermid
Represents literary, commercial, and
43
speculative fiction, narrative nonfiction,
health, wellness, and resource guides,
and MG and YA books. Email query only.
No attachments.
Contact: The Cooke Agency, 320 Front
Street W #1105, Toronto, ON M5V 3B6,
Canada.
admin@cookemcdermid.com
cookeagency.ca
F N Cornerstone Literary Agency
Seeks literary and commercial fiction (no
Westerns) and narrative nonfiction.
Contact: Cornerstone Literary, 4525
Wilshire Blvd., Suite 208, Los Angeles,
CA 90010.
info@cornerstoneliterary.com
cornerstoneliterary.com
F N C O Curtis Brown
Represents adults’ and children’s au-
thors of all genres, including illustrators.
Not accepting plays, screenplays, or
musicals.
Contact: Attn: Agent’s name, Curtis
Brown, Ltd., 228 East 45th St., 3rd floor,
New York, NY 10017.
See website for agents’ email addresses.
info@cbltd.com
curtisbrown.com
F N Y Darhansoff & Verrill Literary
Agents
Most interested in literary fiction, narra-
tive nonfiction, memoir, sophisticated
suspense, and both fiction and nonfiction
for younger readers. Submit via email.
Contact: Darhansoff & Verrill, 275 Fair
St., Suite 17D, Kingston NY, 12401.
submissions@dvagency.com
dvagency.com
F N Y David Black Agency
Represents fiction and nonfiction for
adults and young adults.
Contact: David Black Agency, 335
Adams St., Suite 2707, Brooklyn, NY
11201.
davidblackagency.com
F N Doe Coover Agency
Represents fiction and nonfiction. See
website for specific agents’ interests.
Query by email only.
Contact: The Doe Coover Agency, P.O.
Box 668, Winchester, MA 01890.
info@doecooveragency.com
doecooveragency.com
F N Don Congdon Associates
Represents authors of fiction and nonfic-
tion. Check website for individual agents’
interests. Query by email or regular mail.
Contact: Don Congdon Associates, 110
William St., Suite 2202, New York, NY
10038.
44
dca@doncongdon.com
doncongdon.com
F C Y Donald Maass Literary Agency
Seeks nonfiction and all genres of fiction:
sci-fi, fantasy, mystery, thriller, women’s,
literary, and MG/YA. Email only.
Contact: Donald Maass Literary Agency,
1000 Dean St., Suite 252, Brooklyn, NY
11238.
See website for agents’ email addresses.
maassagency.com
F N Y Doug Grad Literary Agency
Represents fiction and narrative nonfic-
tion, including memoir, thrillers, myster-
ies, historical fiction, romance, military,
and theater. Query via email before
submitting.
Contact: Doug Grad Literary Agency.
query@dgliterary.com
dgliterary.com
F N C Y Dunow, Carlson & Lerner
Literary and commercial fiction, narrative
nonfiction, children’s, and YA fiction. Que-
ry by email or by mail with a SASE.
Contact: Dunow, Carlson & Lerner Liter-
ary Agency, 27 W. 20th St., Suite 1107,
New York, NY 10011.
mail@dclagency.com
dclagency.com
F N Dystel, Goderich & Bourret
Represents authors of fiction and non-
fiction. See website for specific agents’
interests and email addresses.
Contact: Dystel, Goderich & Bourret LLC,
1 Union Square West, Suite 904, New
York, NY 10003.
See website for agents’ email addresses.
dystel.com
F N C Y Einstein Literary Management
Seeks literary and commercial fiction,
including upmarket women’s fiction,
crime, historical, MG, and YA. Nonfiction
interests include blog-to-book projects,
memoir, cookbooks, and narrative. Email
queries and first 10 pages only.
Contact: Einstein Literary Management.
submissions@einsteinliterary.com
einsteinliterary.com
F N Emilie Stewart Literary Agency
Specializes in literary and commercial fic-
tion and nonfiction. Query by email only.
Contact: Emilie Stewart Literary Agency.
info@emiliestewartagency.com
emiliestewartagency.com
F N Emma Sweeney Agency
General fiction, historical fiction, and nar-
rative nonfiction. Email queries only.
Contact: Emma Sweeney Agency, 245 E.
80th St., Suite 7E, New York, NY 10075.
queries@emmasweeneyagency.com
emmasweeneyagency.com
F N C O The Ethan Ellenberg Literary
Agency
Seeks commercial fiction and literary
fiction with a strong narrative. Also seeks
nonfiction in current affairs, history,
health, science, psychology, cookbooks,
new age, spirituality, pop culture, adven-
ture, true crime, biography, and memoir.
Contact: Ethan Ellenberg.
agent@ethanellenberg.com
ethanellenberg.com
F N C Fairbank Literary Representation
Represents international, general, and
literary fiction, memoir, lifestyle, pop
culture, humor, children’s, and creativity.
Query by email or mail.
Contact: Fairbank Literary Represen-
tation, 21 Lyman Street, Waltham, MA
02452.
queries@fairbankliterary.com
fairbankliterary.com
F N Y FinePrint Literary Management
Seeks fiction and nonfiction for adults
and young adults. Check website for
each agent’s information.
Contact: FinePrint Literary Management,
207 W. 106th St., Suite 1D, New York,
NY 10025.
submissions@fineprintlit.com
fineprintlit.com
C Y Flannery Literary
Fiction and nonfiction for children and
young adults, all genres. Email only.
Contact: Flannery Literary.
jennifer@flanneryliterary.com
flanneryliterary.com
F N Frances Goldin Literary Agency
Represents literary and commercial fic-
tion as well as nonfiction.
Contact: Frances Goldin Literary Agency,
214 W. 29th St., Suite 1006, New York,
NY 10001.
See website for agents’ email addresses.
goldinlit.com
F N Y The Friedrich Agency
Seeks literary and commercial fiction for
adults and YA, as well as narrative non-
fiction and memoir. Email only.
Contact: The Friedrich Agency.
See website for agents’ email addresses.
friedrichagency.com
F N Gelfman Schneider/ICM Partners
Narrative nonfiction, memoir, politics/
current affairs, popular science, and pop
culture as well as literary, commercial,
women’s, and historical fiction.
Contact: Gelfman Schneider Literary
APRIL 2022
Agents, 850 Seventh Ave., Suite 903,
New York, NY 10019.
See website for agents’ email addresses.
gelfmanschneider.com
F N Y The Gernert Company
Represents equal parts fiction (commer-
cial, YA, and literary) and nonfiction (bi-
ography, memoir, sports, history, current
events, science). Do not send queries
to individual agents. Submit via email or
regular mail.
Contact: The Gernert Company, 136 E.
57th St., New York, NY 10022.
info@thegernertco.com
thegernertco.com
C Y The Greenhouse Literary Agency
Specializes in children’s fiction for age
5 through MG and YA/crossover novels.
See website for agents’ interests. Query
via submission manager only.
Contact: The Greenhouse Literary
Agency.
info@greenhouseliterary.com
greenhouseliterary.com
F N C Y Harvey Klinger Literary Agency
Seeks mainstream adult fiction and
nonfiction, literary and commercial, and
some YA, MG, and children’s fiction. See
website for agents’ interests and email
addresses.
Contact: Harvey Klinger Literary Agency,
300 W. 55th St., #11V, New York, NY
10019.
queries@harveyklinger.com
harveyklinger.com
F N Y Helen Heller Agency
Represents fiction, nonfiction, and YA
fiction. Submit via email. See website for
agents’ interests and email addresses.
Contact: The Helen Heller Agency.
info@thehelenhelleragency.com
thehelenhelleragency.com
F N C Y HG Literary
Seeks fiction, nonfiction, and children’s/
YA literature. No romance, sci-fi, religious
fiction, or screenplays. Email only.
Contact: HG Literary.
See website for agents’ email addresses.
hsgagency.com
F N Hornfischer Literary Management
Specializes in serious and commercial
nonfiction and select fiction. Submit by
email or regular mail.
Contact: Hornfischer Literary
Management.
queries@hornfischerlit.com
hornfischerlit.com
F N ICM/Sagalyn
Seeks upmarket nonfiction, business
WRITERMAG.COM
books, mainstream fiction. Email only.
Contact: The Sagalyn Literary Agency.
query@sagalyn.com
sagalyn.com
F N Y InkWell Management
Seeks fiction, YA, and nonfiction. Current-
ly accepting all genres except screen-
plays. Query by email.
Contact: InkWell Management, 521 Fifth
Ave., Suite 2600, New York, NY 10175.
submissions@inkwellmanagement.com
inkwellmanagement.com
F N Y IGLA
Seeking commercial/literary fiction
and nonfiction, including mysteries,
romance, women’s fiction, thrillers,
suspense, and MG and YA fiction. No
picture books. See website for agents’
interests. Email only.
Contact: Irene Goodman Literary Agency,
27 West 24th St., Suite 804, New York,
NY 10010.
See website for agents’ email addresses.
irenegoodman.com
F N Y Jane Rotrosen Agency
Seeks commercial fiction: thrillers,
mystery, suspense, women’s fiction, ro-
mance, and YA. Also considers narrative
nonfiction. Submit via email or mail; no
attachments.
Contact: Jane Rotrosen Agency, Attn:
Submissions, 318 East 51st St., New
York, NY 10022.
info@janerotrosen.com
janerotrosen.com
F N C Y Jean V. Naggar Literary Agency
Represents fiction, nonfiction, and YA/
children’s books. Check website for
agents’ interests. Query via website.
Contact: Jean V. Naggar Literary Agency,
216 E. 75th St., Suite 1E, New York, NY
10021.
Email from website.
jvnla.com
F N C Y John Hawkins and Associates
Interested in fiction, nonfiction, contem-
porary journalism, history, biography, YA
and middle-grade fiction, science fiction,
and fantasy. Submit queries via email.
Contact: John Hawkins and Associates,
80 Maiden Ln., STE 1503, New York, NY
10038.
jha@jhalit.com
jhalit.com
F N C Y Judith Ehrlich Literary
Management
Fiction, narrative nonfiction, and chil-
dren’s. Email only. No attachments.
Contact: Judith Ehrlich Literary Manage-
ment, 146 Central Park West, 20E, New
Classifieds
READERS: Use caution when entering into any
legal contract with a literary service offering
agenting-type assistance or publishers who
charge for publication. If you have any con-
cerns regarding the advertiser’s commitment or
claims, please contact the advertiser directly.
ADVERTISERS: We do not accept ads from
agents or businesses that charge a reading or
marketing fee. For our private records, please
provide us with a street address and contact
telephone number. The Writer reserves the
right to reject or cancel any advertising which
at its discretion is deemed objectionable, mis-
leading, or not in the best interest of the reader.
SEND YOUR AD TO: The Writer, Sales Account
Manager, 35 Braintree Hill Office Park, Suite
101, Braintree, MA 02184 or call (617) 706-
9089. Email: teunice@madavor.com. Major
credit cards accepted.
CONFERENCES
CONTESTS
Call for entries: 2022 Nelligan Prize for Short Fiction.
$2,500 awarded to author of winning story, plus pub-
lication in Fall 2022 issue of Colorado Review. Dead-
line is March 14, 2022. $15 entry fee. Send SASE or
visit website for complete guidelines. Nelligan Prize,
Colorado Review, 9105 Campus Delivery, Colorado
State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523-9105.
https://nelliganprize.colostate.edu
FOUR CONTESTS, $6-246->)7%8
WinningWriters.com
Wergle Flomp Humor Poetry Contest (No fee!)
Tom Howard/John H. Reid Fiction & Essay Contest
ntest
Tom Howard/Margaret Reid Poetry Contest
North Street Book Prize (for self-published books)
ooks)
3YVGSRXIWXWEVIVIGSQQIRHIHF]6IIHW]
WRITING RESOURCES
It’s possible to learn to be funnier.
Visit www.ThinkingFunny.com humor-writing resources,
workshops, free contests. getinfo@thinkingfunny.com
CONTINUED →

Classifieds
EDITING/CRITIQUING
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See website for agents’ emails.
judithehrlichliterary.com
F N Y Julia Lord Literary Management
Represents general fiction, historical
fiction, YA fiction, mysteries, thrillers,
adventure, narrative nonfiction, refer-
ence, biography, history, lifestyle, sports,
humor, and science.
Contact: Julia Lord Literary Management.
query@julialordliterary.com
julialordliterary.com
F N The LA Literary Agency
Narrative nonfiction, history, memoirs,
sports, biographies, cookbooks, lifestyle,
health, psychology, science, parenting,
business, and fiction. For nonfiction,
email query letter and proposal. For fic-
tion, email query letter and manuscript.
Contact: Ann Cashman, The LA Literary
Agency.
ann@laliteraryagency.com
laliteraryagency.com
F N Y C The Laura Dail Literary Agency
Represents commercial and literary
fiction and nonfiction for adults, young
adults, and children. Submit queries
by Query Manager. Check website for
agents’ specific interests.
Contact: The Laura Dail Literary Agen-
cy, 121 West 27th St., Suite 1201, New
York, NY 10001.
ldlainc.com
F N Liza Dawson Associates
Represents authors of literary and com-
mercial fiction and nonfiction. See web-
site for agents’ interests and emails.
Contact: Liza Dawson Associates, 121
W. 27th St., Suite 1201, New York, NY
10001.
lwu@lizadawson.com
lizadawsonassociates.com
F N C Y Marsal Lyon Literary Agency
Seeks fiction (multicultural, mystery,
suspense, thriller, horror, women's, ro-
mance, fantasy); nonfiction, MG, and YA.
Contact: Marsal Lyon Literary Agency
LLC, PMB 121, 665 San Rodolfo Dr. 124,
Solana Beach, CA 92075.
See website for agents’ emails.
marsallyonliteraryagency.com
F N McCormick Literary
Literary/commercial fiction and nonfic-
tion, including memoir, history, narrative,
biography, cookbooks, humor, essays.
Contact: McCormick Literary, 150 West
28th St., Suite 903, New York, NY
10001.
queries@mccormicklit.com
mccormickwilliams.com
F N C Y Mendel Media Group
Seeking nonfiction, fiction (inspirational,
literary, multicultural, mystery/thriller,
and multicultural, Latin American, Middle
Eastern, African American, and women’s
fiction) and children’s (picture books,
chapter books, and YA). Email only.
Contact: Mendel Media Group LLC.
query@mendelmedia.com
mendelmedia.com
F N Movable Type Management
Represents authors of high-quality
commercial fiction and nonfiction with
archetypal themes, stories, and charac-
ters, especially if they have strong film/
TV potential.
Contact: Movable Type Management,
244 Madison Ave., Suite 334, New York,
NY 10016.
achromy@movabletm.com
mtmgmt.net
F Y Nelson Literary Agency
Seeks literary, commercial, crossover,
upmarket women’s fiction, romance,
thrillers, sci-fi, fantasy, and YA/MG fic-
tion. Email only. No attachments.
Contact: Nelson Literary Agency, 1732
Wazee St., Suite 207, Denver, CO
80202.
info@nelsonagency.com
nelsonagency.com
F N Y C Park & Fine Literary and Media
Fiction and nonfiction as well as MG and
YA. Check website for agents' specific
interests. Email only. No attachments.
Contact: The Park Literary Group, 55
Broadway, Suite 1601, New York, NY
10006.
info@parkfine.com
parkfine.com
F N C Philip G. Spitzer Literary Agency
Specializes in general fiction, mystery,
thriller and suspense, sports, poli-
tics, children’s, and African-American.
See website for agents’ interests and
emails.
Contact: Philip G. Spitzer Literary Agen-
cy, 50 Talmage Farm Ln., East Hampton,
NY 11937.
kim.lombardini@spitzeragency.com
spitzeragency.com
F N C Y P.S. Literary Agency
Fiction and nonfiction, including literary,
commercial, romance, women’s fiction,
LGBT, YA, MG, picture books, mystery,
thriller, sci-fi, memoir. Email only.
Contact: P.S. Literary Agency, 2010
Winston Park Dr., 2nd Floor, Oakville,
Ontario, L6H 5R7 Canada.
query@psliterary.com
psliterary.com
APRIL 2022
N Regina Ryan Books
Adult nonfiction. Query online only.
Contact: Regina Ryan Books.
queries@reginaryanbooks.com
reginaryanbooks.com
F N Y C Sandra Dijkstra Literary Agency
Seeks literary and commercial fiction and
nonfiction, including YA, MG, and pic-
ture books. Check website for individual
agents’ interests and emails.
Contact: Sandra Dijkstra Literary Agency.
queries@dijkstraagency.com
dijkstraagency.com
F N Y Sarah Jane Freymann Literary
Agency
Seeking nonfiction: self-help and spiri-
tual books, cookbooks, narrative nonfic-
tion, memoir, lifestyle, and multicultural
issues. Also seeks literary, commercial,
and YA fiction. Prefers email submissions
Contact: Sarah Jane Freymann Literary
Agency.
submissions@sarahjanefreymann.com
sarahjanefreymann.com
F N C Scovil Galen Ghosh Literary
Agency
Fiction and nonfiction for adults, YA, and
MG. Email queries preferred.
Contact: Scovil Galen Ghosh Literary
Agency, 276 Fifth Ave., Suite 708, New
York, NY 10001.
See website for agents’ email addresses.
sgglit.com
F N Y C Serendipity Literary Agency
Adult, children’s, and YA fiction and adult
nonfiction. Query from website.
Contact: Serendipity Literary Agency,
305 Gates Ave., Brooklyn, NY 11216.
info@serendipitylit.com
serendipitylit.com
C Y Sheldon Fogelman Agency
Represents authors and illustrators for
all genres of children’s and YA books.
Contact: Sheldon Fogelman Agency, 420
E. 72nd St., New York, NY 10021.
submissions@sheldonfogelmanagency.
com
sheldonfogelmanagency.com
Y C Stimola Literary Studio, Inc.
Represents preschool through YA fiction
and nonfiction, including picture books
and graphic novels. Submit via website.
Contact: Stimola Literary Studio.
info@stimolaliterarystudio.com
stimolaliterarystudio.com
F N The Talbot Fortune Agency
Seeking romance, women’s fiction,
thrillers, mysteries, literary fiction, and
narrative nonfiction. Query by email
WRITERMAG.COM
with first five pages of manuscript. No
attachments.
Contact: Talbot Fortune Agency.
queries@talbotfortuneagency.com
talbotfortuneagency.com
F N Tessler Literary Agency LLC
Boutique agency for adult nonfiction and
fiction (no genre fiction). Query online.
Contact: Tessler Literary Agency, 27
W. 20th St., Suite 1003, New York, NY
10011.
tessleragency.com
F N C Y Thompson Literary Agency
Seeks literary and commercial fiction,
plus children’s and YA, but nonfiction is
the primary focus. Email only.
Contact: Thompson Literary Agency, 48
Great Jones St. #5F New York, New York
10012.
info@thompsonliterary.com
thompsonliterary.com
F N C Y O Transatlantic Agency
Represents adult trade fiction and nonfic-
tion, children’s/YA literature, and graphic
novels. See website for agents’ emails.
Contact: Transatlantic Agency, 2 Bloor
St. East, Suite 3500, Toronto, Ontario,
Canada M4W 1A8.
transatlanticagency.com
F N C Y Triada US Literary Agency
Open to any strong nonfiction or fiction
(including thrillers, crime, fantasy, mys-
teries, YA, MG, and romance). Prefers
email. No attachments.
Contact: Triada US Literary Agency, Dr.
Uwe Stender, P.O. Box 561, Sewickley,
PA 15143.
uwe@triadaus.com
triadaus.com
F N Y Trident Media Group
Actively seeking new and established au-
thors in both fiction and nonfiction. See
website for agents’ interests and emails.
Contact: Trident Media Group, 355
Lexington Ave., 12th FL, New York, NY
10017.
info@tridentmediagroup.com
tridentmediagroup.com
F N Y C Veritas Literary Agency
Handles literary and commercial fiction,
YA, MG, picture books, and nonfiction.
Contact: Veritas Literary Agency, 601
Van Ness Ave., Opera Plaza Suite E, San
Francisco, CA 94102.
See website for agents’ email addresses.
veritasliterary.com
F N Y Vicky Bijur Literary Agency
Seeks upmarket, literary, and commer-
cial women’s fiction, YA, and nonfiction,
including unusual memoirs.
Contact: Vicky Bijur Literary Agency.
queries@vickybijuragency.com
vickybijuragency.com
F N C Y Victoria Sanders & Associates
Memoir, women’s fiction, thrillers, humor,
myster, high-concept fiction, children's,
self-help, and YA. Query with first three
chapters via email. No attachments.
Contact: Victoria Sanders & Associates,
440 Buck Rd., Stone Ridge, NY 12484.
queriesvsa@gmail.com
victoriasanders.com
F N Wales Literary Agency
Seeks fiction and narrative nonfiction,
story-driven narratives, new voices, and
progressive cultural and political points
of view. Submit queries by email only.
Contact: Wales Literary Agency.
waleslit@waleslit.com
waleslit.com
F N C Wendy Schmalz Agency
Children’s and adult fiction and nonfic-
tion. Email queries only.
Contact: Wendy Schmalz Agency.
wendy@schmalzagency.com
schmalzagency.com
C Y Wernick & Pratt Agency
Children’s books, picture books and nov-
elty books, MG, and YA. Email only.
Contact: Wernick & Pratt Agency.
submissions@wernickpratt.com
wernickpratt.com
F N William Clark Associates
Literary fiction, narrative nonfiction, and
translations. Submit queries using online
submission form. No screenplays.
Contact: William Clark Associates, 54
West 21st St., Suite 809, New York, NY
10010.
Email from website.
wmclark.com
F N C Y Writers House
Literary/commercial fiction, women’s fic-
tion, sci-fi/fantasy, narrative nonfiction,
history, memoir, biography, psychology,
science, parenting, cookbooks, how-to,
self-help, business, finance, YA, juvenile
nonfiction, and picture books.
Contact: Writers House, 120 Broadway,
22nd floor, New York, NY 10271.
See website for agents’ emails.
writershouse.com
F N YRG Partners
Accepting fiction and nonfiction queries.
Contact: YRG Partners, 33 West 17th
St., PH, New York, NY 10011.
info@yrgpartners.com
YRGPartners.com
47
Gigi
Will Know
Research well and be intentional
about where you’re deviating
from the real script and why.

Dear Gigi,
I heard about a true story that happened in the 1940s. I would like to
fictionalize the life of these particular women (who are all deceased)
but not sure how or if it is even legal to do so. I was so inspired,
however, and want to write it. It has been suggested that I set it in
a different world (off-planet, dystopian) and set it in a different time
period, but I don’t want to do that. Any advice? Can I write this story?
Or could I be sued?
—ONCE WRITTEN, POSSIBLY SUED

Dear Once, “fictionalizing” in general means that

Have a query about craft?
Need some clarification on
an aspect of the publishing
industry? Looking for career
There are a ton of books out there,
not to mention stories, movies, and
plays, that are written “inspired by the
life story of ” or “based on the true sto-
ry of.” You don’t need to fret, but you
do need a disclaimer along those lines.
Once you have that disclaimer in place,
you’re mostly good to go. I say “mostly”
because there are a number of specif-
ics that need to be considered. I’d also
consider, with the acknowledgments
section of your eventual book, being
very clear about what liberties you have
taken with the work.
The three primary issues are defama-
tion, right to privacy (which ordinari-
ly does not survive a person’s death),
and right to publicity (which is pri-
you’re making something up – that
you’re stating it to be untrue – so you
can look at these terms in light of your
intention with the work.
The other thing is, if these women
have descendants or living relations, it
would be appropriate and nice for you
to let them know that you’re undertak-
ing this project.
I mean, you wouldn’t want to stum-
ble into a Barnes & Noble and come
face-to-face with your mom’s life story,
would you? That’d be an awful lot like
being blind-sided.
Do your due diligence. Research
well and be intentional about where
you’re deviating from the real script
and why.
ILLUSTRATION BY YI SHUN LAI

advice? Email your queries
to tweditorial@madavor.com
with the subject line “Advice
Column.” We can’t wait to read
your questions!
marily a person’s right to profit from Also: I am a lot of things, but I am
their own likeness or name). A quick not a lawyer.
Google search will help you to under- Plot on—
stand these more but stating that you’re —Gigi

48 APRIL 2022
5 FiRst-Ever

0
500-WORD
CONTEST
Our first annual 500-Word Contest
opens for entries on March 15, 2022.
We welcome fiction or nonfiction
submissions in any genre as long
as they’re told in 500 words or less.

0
Make every word count!

GRAND PRIZE:
$1,000 and publication
in our magazine
DEADLINE:
April 18, 2022

ENTER NOW AT
writermag.com/
contests
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