Into The Void Interview

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Covering by Rhys Lewis

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WriteWords talks to Phillip Eliott, editor in chief at literary magazine Into The Void

Tell us all about Into The Void- history, ethos, aims

Starting a literary magazine was an idea I had floating around the back of my head for about six months before I grabbed hold of it and made it happen. It was like a story idea in that way; I knew it was something I had to do. I was travelling around Australia at the time and only got back to Ireland at the beginning of February. I arrived home and knew two things: that it was time to start writing my novel, and that it was just about time to start the literary magazine. So, I spoke with like-minded people and right now we're prepared, excited and committed to launch a magazine that gets great writing out into the world.

What excites you about a piece of writing-

What excites me more than anything is writing that comes straight from the writer's soul, as all good writing should, I think. This doesn't have to mean that it's about the writer's life or is in any way connected to the writer's life; it means that the writer believes in it and puts every shred of herself into it. When the writer pours herself into her writing and works on every story as if it's her masterpiece, the reader feels it subconsciously. Like a kind of sixth sense. As Hemingway said, “There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed.” When I read writing like that, I get chills.

and what makes your heart sink?

Essentially the opposite. When I can tell a story was written carelessly in a rush, or when a story is littered with things that anyone who Googled 'good writing' and read a couple of articles would know to never include. It shows a lack of passion; a half-assedness. And when you write half-assed, your story will read half-assed. That's one of life's few certainties.

What should writers send you?

Writers, send us whatever fiction you have that you believe in regardless of genre or style or whatever, as long as it's under 4,000 words. We'll publish a ten word story if it's good! Don't be afraid to experiment and break rules, and don't be terrified of getting punctuation right. We want to read whatever you have as long as you believe in it. Similarly, don't be afraid to send anything that doesn't break rules and such either, or isn't anything new. All that matters is a good story. Poets, send anything at all, traditional or wildly experimental or minimal or extravagant — whatever! A maximum of 120 lines. And anyone with a great non-fiction essay on any topic whatsoever, send it over. There's a minimum of 1,000 words and a maximum of 2,000 words on those. Also, we're looking for submissions of cover art, which can be anything at all as long as it can be emailed to us as an image file.

A longer version of this interview is available to WriteWords Full and Community Members.
Click here to learn more about becoming a member.

Comments by other Members

williammorris at 13:22 on 29 October 2019 Report this post