I recall reading the guidelines at Cadenza magazine, and they said that they were looking for writers who "push back the envelope".

My question is: what does this mean to you, and how do you do it?

Ani,

I have no idea, but it did make me laugh. Thanks.

Sounds like a media cliché to me. Why can't they just tell us in plain English?

Dawn,

When the send your stuff back to you, you should then return it straight to then with a fake Royal Mail sticker. "This letter could not be delivered as the recipient has pushed back the envelope through the door".

Ani,

It means (to me at least) surprising the reader in some way, either with language, form or content. Creative and original writing - something risky like leaping into the void to see if you can fly. Read Lyndsay's piece Every Little thing You Gots....

Nell.

Pushing back the envelope? Sounds like a resistance movement against suppressive stationery.

I hadn't seen the funny side of this, but now I can. Thanks guys! :-)

Nell, I think your explanation sounds highly likely.

What came to my mind was perhaps pushing the story back a bit in the sense of going that step further, questioning the characters, questioning what's happened, and taking it that bit further, and that bit further. Perhaps this came to mind because I don't really go far enough with my own writing - my problem seems to be too few words rather than too many!

Anyway, that's what I was thinking, but it's such a subjective term that it can be interpreted any number of ways.

Ani


<Added>

substitute "phrase" for "term"....

Has anyone asked Cadenza what they mean, for if this expression is so unclear to Members (who are not completely ignorant of terminology used in the publishing world) then it sounds like someone trying to be clever?
Lem

<Added>

...substitute Len for Lem.

<Added>

... sorry Ani, genuine mistake on my part.

Maybe there's a comma missing and it's just someone calling themselves 'the envelope' wanting writers to push back?

I think it's a group of editors who have been 'brainstorming' to think 'out of the box' and come up with an idea totally 'out of left field'.

Can't you tell I spent a lot of time in an American corporation?

Gina

Those expressions are al too familiar to one working for British Gas...

Lol. IB, you're a depressing bastard but I'll grant you a very funny one.

I thought the expression was 'pushing the envelope' to mean pushing the boundries of any certain thing/genre. So, to push it back? Hmmm. It could mean to forget about breaking new ground and just stick with what is known, trusted, totally rubbish, and sells like hot cakes? Or maybe they didn't understand the phrase correctly.

JB

Wax,

If that's an expression, then it sounds like I have reported it wrong. And it also sounds like you have answered the question!

Do I win the big fluffy teddy bear?

Lol. It's an American saying, but I think you were right. in the interview, I think they did say 'pushing back' as it stuck in my head.

JB

A friend sent me this:

Pushing the Envelope - this is an aviation term. It means pushing the aircraft to its limits, especially in the context of flight testing. Envelope has several secondary definitions referring to a collection of curves (mathematical and engineering jargon). So in the world of aeronautical engineering the envelope is the collection of curves that describe the maximum performance of an aircraft. To push the envelope is to take the aircraft to the edge of what it was designed to do and try and take it beyond.

Terry

Wonderful explanation, Terry.

Funnily enough, I had an appraisal at work yesterday and one comment I got from another member was ‘She’s not afraid to push the envelope.’ When I asked for an explanation I discovered that the phrase is a variation on ‘pushing out the comfort zone’.

If we’re doing things we’re familiar with, and know we’re reasonably good at, we’re in our comfort zone. If we push through the edge of the zone we are less comfortable but, after a while, we get used to being there and then we can push a little further.

I don’t think anyone on this site is afraid to push out the boundaries of their comfort zone. If we were, we wouldn’t be writers…

Dee
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