Writing Advice From A Slush Reader
Reading slush teaches you a lot about short fiction writing and, if you do it enough, you inevitably notice a pattern. Since I’m editing an anthology for Ghost Orchid Press (LES PETITES MORTS), and submissions for that open next month, I thought I would share some of what I’ve learned and put it into actionable advice any short fiction author can use.
First things first, the best way to gauge your writing and where you fall on this totem is by joining a writing group. Connect with other writers on Twitter, create or join an existing Discord channel, but whatever you have to do, do it. A writing group is critical. You need honest feedback because you cannot determine your own blind spots. The writers in your group should be serious about craft and dedicated to swapping feedback. Reading their work will also help frame how you examine your stories during the editing phase. You notice what other writers do well and not so well, and often that helps you reflect on whether those aspects of your stories are executed well or not.
The following writing advice falls under two columns: story element issues and short fiction craft issues. In the majority of stories I read, prose is not the issue. Often, the prose is good, even great, but it’s the story itself that isn’t working. Remember, editing isn’t simply perfecting a sentence, it’s rewriting and the first stage of that should be with a developmental focus.
Story Element Issues
If you fall into this category, I recommend studying the elements that make a story. This means studying external goals vs. internal needs, character arcs, exposition, structure, foreshadowing, and tone. The good news is all of these elements also apply to longer fiction, so whatever craft book you read can apply to much more than the short story you’re working on. Simply put, a short story is not a first chapter. It should feel complete on its own, with a plot and full characters who somehow change over the course of the story. I personally recommend THE ELEMENTS OF STORY by Robert McKee, but you can do research and figure out what will work best for you. Again, I have seen all of the following stories in well written variations. The prose 90% of the time is not the issue.
No Clear Concept or An Unrealized Plot
There are plenty of variations of this story. Sometimes this kind of story has lots of backstory and well establishes the characters, but lacks any forward momentum, clear goals, plot. Nothing seems to really happen. A character might go scene to scene and the things that do happen feel insignificant or totally random and have no real connection to the character except they happen to be there. In this kind of story, characters carry overlong conversations, run errands, and there’s no sense of tension, import, or urgency.
Werewolves, Aliens, Plot Twists, Oh My
Think of plot twists like evidence in court. In order to be permitted, the foundation has to be laid. There needs to be foreshadowing, hints of what’s to come. Often, however, inexperienced writers handle plot twists clumsily. They’re sudden, unearned, and often feel contrived. Usually, they also completely change the shape of the story. For example, on the second to last page we learn a character was a vampire/werewolf/alien/robot when, until the second to last page, it hadn’t been established that vampires/werewolves/aliens/robots existed in the story’s universe. The writer’s intent might be to shine a new light on the story so that upon re-read it takes a new meaning. Rarely does this work. Usually, it feels like a cheap trick.
First Page Is Not A Prologue
Okay, I’m not a prologue hater. I live for a well executed prologue. But short stories aren’t novels, nor are they chapters, and your first page shouldn’t read like a prologue. Short fiction is its own beast. When short stories open with elaborate info dumps of exposition (often establishing the world building, the magic system, the science, or even a character’s backstory) it usually signals one of two things: either the material might be too much to grapple with in a short format, or the author doesn’t yet have the skill necessary to thread exposition through the story in a more dynamic way.
Characters Are Stagnant
In my humble opinion, plot and story are two different things and successful fiction needs both. Your plot is the vehicle, but the journey the vehicle makes is the story and that journey is defined by the character driving the vehicle. In stories where the characters are stagnant, the issue isn’t that they aren’t doing enough, the issue is that they aren’t moving enough. The story doesn’t take us deep enough into the character’s being, we don’t explore their emotional wounds or discover the thing that makes them tick. There’s no internal change or emotional revelations. The character’s circumstances might have changed externally, but by the end of the story they are unchanged. Your story could have seen the world saved or destroyed, but if it doesn’t somehow change your characters, why does it matter?
Short Fiction Craft Issues
If this is you, study other short stories. Study award winning short stories. Buy the best of anthology in the genre you want to write in and read how other authors who do it well do it. Study the first paragraph and the first page. What does the author accomplish in those units? How do they accomplish that? How does the rest of the story fulfill the promises made in those units? How does it expand, go deeper than expected, and surprise?
Story Doesn’t Start in the Right Place
In these stories, the writer makes the reader wait until page three to understand vital things required to hook a reader: Who the character is, what they want or need, what their goal is, what the story’s hook is, what the dramatic question is (if there is a dramatic question at all), what the genre is. Many of these stories spend paragraphs setting the scene—and beautifully so. Again, the prose is not the problem. Personally, I continue reading at least until the end of page two if the prose is good, but a lot of slush readers don’t. A lot of them read the first two or three paragraphs before deciding whether they will continue reading. If a reader senses that you sat down, wrote your way until you discovered the story, then left your meandering on the page for the reader to comb through, you’ve lost them. Short stories need to be lean and compelling right away. Ideally, by the end of the first page, we should have an idea of who the character is, what the genre is, and what the hook is.
The Promise of the First Page Failed
The first page is a promise. In stories where the promise is failed, it’s most commonly because the story starts out about one thing and becomes about an entirely different thing by the end. For example, the story opens with someone mysteriously dead. In this case, the reader assumes the story will somehow reveal how that person died. In these kinds of stories, however, the plot takes hard left turns. For example, the protagonist becomes a vampire, but their becoming a vampire in no way reveals why the person from the first page died. Was the dead person drained by a vampire? Are they even dead or are they actually members of the undead as well? If the dead person doesn’t matter, why were they on the first page? Readers are left with too many questions and the story’s end doesn’t land with the necessary satisfaction or emotional impact.
Structural Issues
Often stories with structural issues appear as stories which start in medias res, then move backwards to show how the opening event perspired. The reason authors do this is because the opening event is interesting and tense, all of the things we want the first page to be. However, the rest of the story isn’t. These stories give us the highest octane moment, then ratchet the tension alllll the way down to zero. The problem is the reader isn’t willing to be bored for the next five to ten pages just to get back to the climax. A skilled author can make a character brushing their teeth or sitting around doing nothing tense, interesting, and meaningful enough to make it work as an opening scene.
No Opening Question
This is a technique that really great short fiction authors use all the time. These questions come in all forms. It could be a plot mystery, such as opening with a dead body or something as simple as having a sudden, unexpected meeting called at work. In the right author’s hands, both questions (who was this person/why are they dead/how did they die and why is this meeting being called suddenly) will be compelling and suspenseful enough to read on. It could also be a question related to a character’s backstory. Whatever it is, an interesting question is one of the best ways to get a reader to keep reading. I have a list of free, recommended reading below. If you read any, I highly suggest you pay attention to how questions are introduced and how the author answers them.
Recommended Reading
Mr. Death by Alix E. Harrow (fantasy)
Immersion Vortex by Jelena Dunato (science fiction)
Eating Bitterness by Hannah Yang (horror)
In Haskins by Carson Winter (horror)
Yǒngshí by Ai Jiang (horror)
The Long Way Up by Alix E. Harrow (fantasy, and okay I’m a big Harrow stan)
