More Ways For You To Write

If you’ve taken a look around our site, you’ve seen we’ve got new calls for flash novels (1st and 2nd place winners get advances and royalties!) and short stories–in addition to our monthly 713 flash call. All of this to give you more incentive to write–and perhaps make a little bit of money. Very exciting times ahead for us and you, we feel.

We’re very excited by this month’s 713 Flash winner, Anne E. Johnson. Her story, “Beyond Rainbow,” is a wonderful read. We’re honored to be publishing her story, the lone story from the several dozen entries we received in January. We hope you enjoy the story. If so, please share it.

Also, we’ve got a contest running on Twitter. Follow us @kazkapress. We’re looking for entries on Twitter, with the hashtag #kazka713, that seek to explain what ‘kazka’ means. The tweet with the best explanation (precise or simply entertaining) will win a signed copy of Ganymede by Cherie Priest. Contest runs for 20 days-1 Feb – 20 Feb. You have to be following our Twitter account to win.

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A few people have asked for feedback on the stories we didn’t take, and I decided to give a bit of our feedback in general terms, publicly, so people can get a better idea of what we’re looking for in the fiction we buy.

We’re looking for stories that move somewhere immediately. If your story begins with a lot of exposition, and we don’t get a sense for the main character, the world, and the stakes of the story in the first 100 words, it’s likely we’ll pass on the story.

We’re looking for stories that feature language that holds our attention, language that exhibits careful thought and skill. We’re looking for variety in sentence length and complexity, too. If all of your sentences run 8-10 words, the reading can become monotonous. Mix it up. Give us a 7/20/13/2/8/11/22 sequence, where each number is the word count for each sentence in a paragraph. Don’t send us stories with paragraphs that read 8/9/10/9/8/10/9/8/12.

We’re looking for stories that leave us thinking at the end, that leave us with the feeling that we’ve just witnessed something happen. If we get to the end of your story, no matter how well written, and think “Did anything actually happen?” it’s likely we’ll pass on it.

Not that our passing on it means it’s a bad story. Not at all. We’re only 4 (sometimes 6) readers, each with his or her own biases and blinders. Take our rejection with a grain of salt. Not right for us, knowing there’s someone else out there who might take it.

Overall, we’re looking for movement in stories. Momentum. Something at stake. Crunchy characters. Uniqueness.

Perhaps that’s a lot to ask for 1 cent a word. If so, check out Duotrope. There are lots of markets that pay a lot more. And lots that pay $0.

However, if you want to submit to us, take some of the things here to heart, ignore the rest, and write your asses off. We await your next work.

Best,

L. Lambert Lawson
Editor and Publisher