An excerpt from 'Weird Tales', an old established strange short story magazine:


To Sum Up: "Most stories rejected by any fiction editor are rejected for 1 or more of these flaws: 1. Lack of a clear, consistent POV. 2. Too much exposition and too little narration, esp. at the beginning. 3. Failure to establish the characters' identity and setting, in both time and place, early in the story. 4. Characters so uninteresting, unpleasant, or unconvincing that the reader simply doesn't care whether or not those characters get eaten alive (or worse) on stage. Characters who don't even try to cope with their problems (your protagonists should protag!). 5. Plots that fail to resolve (tragically, happily, or otherwise) problems or conflicts, but just present them. Plots with neither problems nor conflicts. Plots based on ideas so old and tired that the ending is obvious halfway down page 6. Plots that cheat readers by holding back information for a 'surprise' ending."

Becca.

Hi Becca, thanks for that. I'll go through my stories and see how many of those apply. I like the name of the mag - bet you've been published in it, your stories would qualify.
Elspeth

Thanks, Becca. That’s very useful advice which can apply equally well to novels.

Must check out that mag.

Dee

Thanks for the useful tips, Becca. As Dee says they're definitely relevant to longer pieces of fiction.

Adele.

Thanks for your help Becca,

This is certainly something I'll come back to, again and again until I get it right!

XXXInniXXX

I thought I might keep it as a mantra on the wall by my computer. I've never submitted anything to Weird Tales Elspeth, I find them a bit conservative for my liking. They're American and big on the plot thing, I don't entirely agree that a good short story has to have a moving plot as such.
Becca.

Becca -

What do you mean by 'a moving plot'?

Ani

Ani, good question, what DO I mean? Um. An action plot, something occurs, the MC reacts, does something which leads to something else which causes another reaction etc. I think 'plot' in novel writing is more important than it is in short story. The 'action' part of a short story can be very minimal and not detract from its worth as a short story. 'The Fossil', (and I'm sure she'll forgive me, but right now I can't remember the writer's name, and can't leave this letter thingy here to check), is a story about a girl digging something up, that's where all the action is, yet like your story 'The Potato,' it's perfect as a short story.
Becca.

For me, life is a ‘moving plot’, something happens every second. People reacting to each other. That’s what makes it special.

Dawn,

Interesting points here. Have to admit I've rejected more than one script for each of those reasons...A lot of it seems to be focused on the basic or essential elements of storytelling. Even if you think it sounds too formulaic or commercial, I think you have to be able to master the form before you can try and subvert it or play around with it.

And Weird Tales is a great title...

Katie