The MFA Student Community at Whidbey Writers’ Workshop

Fiction Submissions Checklist

By Helen Sears 

The quality of submissions we’re receiving for the contest makes taking a turn at editing something we all look forward to. Thank you to everyone who cares enough about solid writing to submit a piece for consideration!

We receive so many good entries it’s difficult to choose just one with the designation of “winner.” At the same time, we’ve noticed that several of the pieces miss the top slots because of similar revision “soft spots” which may have been overlooked when redrafting.

Because we are students of writing and consider ourselves on a continuous learning path, we want to offer some of the elements in our own work we wrestle with when approaching the last drafts: (these apply primarily to prose, poetry being a country all its own)

• Whatever is mentioned first has great weight in setting up the “contract” with the reader. Stay true to it and weave it throughout the piece, even if in subtle, slant ways. Develop this concept or image, then come back to it at the end in a way that completes its arc.
• Every detail should have its own arc (pattern of development) within the story, but always in conjunction with the main arc: images, descriptions, dialogue. This provides movement within the piece in addition to the main arc.
• Decide where to linger. These are opportunities to emphasize a moment by slowing the pace down via greater detailed reactions, descriptions of objects noticed by a character, gestures.
• Put dialogue and its connected action in the same paragraph. This helps the reader keep track of who’s speaking and moving.
• Avoid clichés by any possible means, both in narrative/dialogue and plot. This includes any element that is too predictable.
• Endings: as our faculty members say, endings need to surprise, yet seem inevitable. Special care to give an unexpected twist or dimension, yet click perfectly into its prepared place, provides more satisfaction for the reader. And setting up an ending is as important as the ending itself. A final lingering to notice things with changed eyes or enlarged scope adds depth and resonance. Everything in the story beginning with the first word needs to work up to the ending.

Thanks, again, for submitting your good work. We look forward to the contests ahead!

(note: do not use the comments area below for submissions. We mean it. We will immediately delete submissions posted as comments.)