WEDNESDAY: Writing Craft Week — What CommuterLit Looks for in a Submission

Because of an unforeseen scheduling mix-up (and because it’s a short week after the Easter Holiday), we won’t be posting any stories or poems this week. Instead, we thought we’d take this time to revisit some of editor Nancy Kay Clark’s most popular Notes to Contributors.

THE POST today is adapted from an internal document given to CommuterLit’s volunteer submission readers. It is essentially our submission selection criteria.

The good news is that CommuterLit has a lot of spots to fill (four spots per week from September until June, minus holidays and, well, anomalies like this week). The General Submissions portal stays open all year long, and every week we read the oldest submissions first.

Generally, we want a mix of voices, writers, styles, genres, types of writing, length each week.

Formatting rules:

1. Must fit the word count. Prose (whether it’s memoir or fiction) 4,000 word max.; poetry (poem or thematic set of poems) 1,000 words max;
2. Must mostly be formatted as instructed in the Submission Guidelines, i.e. please use standard Canadian spelling. Refer to the Canadian Oxford Dictionary. Pet peeve: Non-Canadian-based submitters who don’t bother to change their submissions to Canadian Spelling. It’s not a deal breaker, but it is very annoying;  
3. Relatively clean copy — an occasional typo is okay, but we want to know that you have at least proofread it.

Deal breakers:

1. Gratuitous violence, sex, or swearing — or a plot that is only meant to shock:
2. Sensationalizing or glamourizing violence, abuse, racism, homophobia, misogyny;
3. Too cheesy or cutesy;
4. Mean-spirited swipes at named politicians, celebrities, political parties, etc.;
5. Clichés, same-old characters and plot lines;
6. Info dumps, or too much exposition;
7. Polemics;
8. Overwritten stories and poems — there is such a thing as being too clever.

Wish list:

1. Something new — surprise us;
2. An authentic voice and the feel of lived experience;
3. An interesting premise, situation or setting;
4. Intelligence behind the writing — insight(s) we haven’t read elsewhere;
5. Clear and engaging writing, that flows organically and does not have too many plot holes;
6. Elegant writing, phrasing, or word choice;
7. Good character development and world building;
8. For fiction and flash fiction: must have some semblance of a plot — a beginning, a middle and a satisfying ending. Must be a complete story;
9. For non-fiction: must be a narrative (creative non-fiction), not an essay or blog post.
10. For poetry: specificity and intentional word choice, engaging all the five senses, anchored to a viewpoint or a place or a time. Delicious sounding when spoken out loud;
11. Prose poem/Word picture/Mood piece — only if absolutely wonderful and it blows our minds!
12. MOST IMPORTANT: Something that moves us to laughter, anger, sadness, delight, irritation or joy — that touches us emotionally;
13. We know it’s a winning submission when we remember it the day or week after we’ve read it, and we think about it for days afterwards.

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