Category Archives: Writing Checklist

Ten Things That Cause Immediate Rejection

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If you are submitting short fiction, there are a handful of things that can move a story from the submission pile to the rejection pile almost immediately.

Here are ten that will lose an editor’s interest:

1. Use of AI

If a publication says it does not accept AI-generated fiction, take that requirement seriously.

It is much easier for editors to spot this than you might think. They have years of experience understanding how a story sounds that comes from an actual human. And there are also tools out there that can help identify AI. It is unlikely they will every mention AI in the rejection but, it is likely you will get secretly blacklisted.

I feel that there is an important distinction between using a tool to check grammar and spelling and asking an AI system to write the story for you. But every publication draws that line differently, so read the rules.

2. Incorrect Word Count

If the submission guidelines say stories must be between 1,000 and 5,000 words (like BITC) do not submit a 7,500-word story and hope the editor will love it enough to make an exception. Odds are it will be rejected immediately.

Going 50 words over may not seem like as big of a violation, but it tells us editor types a lot about the way you operate. You have either not read the word-count requirement or feel that it is a loose suggestion rather than a rule. We also wonder if you think it’s impossible to cut 50 words from the story, which tells us something too. For any story over 1,000 words getting rid of 50 should be rather easy.

3. The Wrong Type of Story for the Market

This one should be obvious, but it happens a lot.

If a publication wants lighthearted fantasy, your relentlessly cold-blooded serial-killer story is probably not going to find a home there.

Before submitting, spend a little time looking at what the publication actually publishes. Read several stories they have published (most publications recommend this). Read the submission guidelines.

4. Content That Crosses the Line

Every publication has different boundaries, but some material can quickly make an editor stop reading.

Racial slurs, gratuitous sexual content, misogyny, graphic violence involving minors, or cruelty included purely for shock value may be enough to end consideration. Once again, this can vary by publication.

Writers should also remember that editors are selecting material for an audience. Even if something can be justified as a crucial part of the story, it still may not fit the publication.

I should also mention that you can still cover a lot of disturbing or unpleasant scenes without describing them in detail. Oftentimes implication of a situation can actually be the stronger way to go.

[Warning: disturbing content ahead]

Seeing a child character we have grown to love get into a car with a stranger allows the reader’s mind to fill in the blanks in horrible ways. We don’t necessarily need to see what actually happens.

Sorry about that example, but if you were disturbed by it, it proves the point.

5. No Ending

One of the most frustrating submissions is a promising story that seems to reach the point where the real story is finally beginning, and then it just stops.

These are the worst for me because there is so much hope. I like the story; there is a good chance that, if it ends well, I will get to send out an acceptance email.* But if it instead just drops off, or wraps up in a totally unacceptable way, I am out.

To me it often feels like the authors have not put in the time to really think through what kind of exciting ending they can put on their story. I like the David Mamet approach of having the ending be something that is unexpected and inevitable. Another author (I can’t recall who at the moment) says your approach should be to come up with every possible ending, then pick the one that is the most unusual while still being plausible. This is often the best and most rewarding ending for the reader.

*Yes, despite what it seems, editors are probably more exited than you are when we get to accept a story.

6. Grammar, Spelling, and Punctuation

Editors understand that an occasional typo survives even careful proofreading.

But if the first page is filled with misspellings, missing punctuation, random capitalization, incorrect dialogue formatting, and sentences that have to be read three times to understand them, the story is already in trouble.

You want the editor to be thinking about your characters and what happens next instead of trying to decipher what you meant.

Proofread your work, then proofread it again, then put it aside for a month and proofread it a third time. If you don’t want to wait that long, give it to a friend who is good at that kind of thing, then brace yourself for the embarrassment of everything you missed.

7. Using Someone Else’s Intellectual Property

Be careful when borrowing characters, fictional worlds, distinctive settings, or other creative material belonging to someone else.

Writing a story about your own characters stopping at McDonald’s is one thing, but writing an adventure starring Harry Potter is entirely different.

Fan fiction has enormous communities built around it, but that does not mean a commercial publication can legally publish your unauthorized Spider-Man story or Star Wars sequel.

References to popular culture are common in fiction, but taking someone else’s characters or world and making them the foundation of your story is a no-no.

Create your own world. Create your own characters. They are probably way more interesting anyway.

8. Derogatory Use of Brand Names

Real brands can absolutely appear in fiction. Our characters can drive a Ford, eat at McDonald’s, wash clothes with Tide, or put Goodyear tires on a truck. These kinds of references can actually help establish place, time, and character.

The problem comes when a writer uses a real company as the target of accusations. There is a substantial difference between:

“The Goodyear tire blew out.”

and:

“Goodyear secretly knew these tires were defective and sold them anyway.”

If your plot requires an evil corporation knowingly selling lethal products, you should invent a brand. No editor wants to take the risk of publishing something that carries any defamation risk.

9. No Clear Conflict or Objective

You do not need an explosion on page one.

You do need a reason for me to keep reading.

A short story has very little room to wander around. You need to let the reader know who the protagonist is, what they want, and why they currently can’t have it.

A description of a farmhouse can be beautifully written, but if I am three pages into the story and the farmhouse is still just sitting there while nobody wants anything, nobody fears anything, and nobody needs anything, I am probably going to stop reading.

Always give the reader a reason to keep going.

10. Humor That Is Not Funny

I know that humor is the most subjective item on this list. What makes one reader laugh may leave another rolling their eyes.

There are certain types of humor that lose me very quickly and, I suspect other editors share this view. Flatulence jokes are high on that list for me. Yes, some people find them hilarious. I typically do not.

I also feel that comedy needs to do more than just be there because it is funny.

Good humor usually comes from character, timing, expectation, contradiction, embarrassment, misunderstanding, or an unexpected but perfectly logical reaction. But it’s more important that the action around that comedic event is actually necessary for the story. If you are putting in humor just for humor’s sake, that is often a mistake.

In short, if the entire joke is that somebody farted, you had better have one spectacularly original fart for me to get a kick out of it, and it had better be essential to the story.

The Common Thread

Most of these problems come back to this:

Respect the publication guidelines and respect the reader’s time.

Read the submission guidelines, submit the kind of story the publication actually wants, and proofread it a couple of times.

Give your protagonist something to want, something standing in the way, and an ending that makes the journey worthwhile.

After all of that, there is a good chance the editor will still reject it.

I think we all know that is just part of the writing game.

But at least you have a better chance of them reading all the way through the story because you didn’t give them an easy reason for rejection.

Take care,

-James

My Checklist for a Good Story

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Here are the checklist items I look for when editing my stories.

Is the need of the protagonist clear from the beginning?

The protagonist needs to have a goal. They need to want something. The quicker I can establish this, the better chance I have of the reader engaging.

Is the obstacle for the protagonist’s goal clear from the beginning?

This is the converse of the first item. There has to be an obstacle that stands in the way of the protagonist’s goal. A story where the main character is able to just breeze through the story and get what they want is not a rewarding story for the reader. Even kick-ass heroes need to have a weakness or flaw. Every Superman needs to have his Kryptonite.

Are the characters unique and memorable?

This is one I picked up from Stephen King when reading IT. That book has a lot of main characters introduced right away. Normally this can be confusing to the reader, unless you do what he did – he gave each of them memorable attributes to help us keep track:

  • Bill Denbrough: Severe stutter and natural leadership.
  • Richie Tozier: Compulsive joke-telling, comedic “Voices,” and thick glasses.
  • Beverly Marsh: Striking red hair and a dead-eye aim with a slingshot. Only female.
  • Eddie Kaspbrak: Constant reliance on an asthma inhaler.
  • Ben Hanscom: Severe obesity paired with a brilliant, analytical mind for engineering.
  • Mike Hanlon: The town’s sole Black youth. Had a deep knowledge of Derry’s history.
  • Stan Uris: Rigid logic, an obsession with order, and a passion for birdwatching.

Are the characters fleshed out, or are they just 2D stereotypes?

This aligns with the above “memorable” concept but goes a bit deeper. Even the secondary characters should have clear motivations to make them feel real. A reader can pick up on when you are creating a character just because it’s handy.

Is the ending rewarding to the reader? Is it surprising yet inevitable?

This one is a bit trickier to quantify. It is easy to feel that any twist you throw in at the end is enough to make it “surprising” but the ending needs to be earned and realistic and not one that is occurring due to chance. The word that is often used is “Payoff” and that is a great way to think about an ending. What is the reader’s return on time invested in your story?

Have you taken out all the parts that do not serve to advance the story or develop the character?

This one is my word lawnmower. It helps me a ton when I am reading through my stories for a second time. I may love a section and the way it flows but if it does not provide insight into the character or serve to advance the plot, it has to go. This is especially true for shorter fiction. In flash stories every word has to have a reason for being there.

Is everything clear and understandable?

This is more common than you might think. When you are the author of the story there is a lot of understanding and backstory inside your head that makes the words you put on the page very clear. This isn’t true for other readers. Clarity is also an issue when an author holds too much back believing they are building tension via curiosity.

Has the story been reviewed for grammar and punctuation?

This should be obvious but I think the tricky part is that we can read past some of these issues many times when editing our own stories. As an editor, one or two issues like this won’t cause me to reject an otherwise great piece but more than that and it can take me out of the story. Note that other editors may be more particular than I am.

Did I remove all of the adverbs?

“All” may be excessive, but in general adverbs make writing weaker. Try it on your own writing and see if anything feels like it is lost when taking them out.

Is the tense consistent?

Tense changes are useful for providing immediacy (present tense) or for revealing facts that have occurred previously (past tense) but writers get in trouble when they change the tense within the same sentence. Even within the same paragraph tense changes can be jarring to the reader. A good way to check for this is to have others read your story or record yourself reading your story aloud.

Have I let it sit for at least two weeks before revising it?

One of the best practices and one of the hardest to do. When I am done with a story, the first thing I want to do is to share it with friends and/or start submitting it. Resist that urge and get away from it. When you come back to it, you will be amazed at how different it looks.

Did I find myself (or did my first readers find themselves) thinking about the story after reading it?

If people are thinking about your story after they read it, asking you questions, telling you about some part they thought was cool, that is a very good sign. This is often a metric editors (myself included) use when they are considering whether or not to buy a story.

Is it interesting? Did I take out the boring parts? (Never waste a reader’s time)

This is another one that is hard to quantify. It is usually best to get this information from your friends that provide feedback for you. Asking them when it felt like the story was slow reveals this.

Keep in mind these are the checklist items that seem to work for me. Your mileage may vary.

Let me know in the comments below what you look for when editing your story.

-James