Good thread. Also, speaking as a former acquiring editor, this post is true: A whole lot of submissions don't make it out of the first paragraph. It's not about the being flashy out of the gate. It's about whether the craft is there. Craft isn't something you can fake (even with "AI," trust me).
Reposted from
Gemma Amor
Authors! Submitting your story to an open call? As someone reading through 400+ submissions for an anthology, some tips:
Opening paragraph/sentence: I can tell within the first few sentences if a story is a 'no.'
'Maybes' turn to 'no's' by the end of the first paragraph. Brutal, but it's true.
Opening paragraph/sentence: I can tell within the first few sentences if a story is a 'no.'
'Maybes' turn to 'no's' by the end of the first paragraph. Brutal, but it's true.
Comments
A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away ....
People who read a lot can appreciate good human writing and recognize poor AI writing pretty fast.
I studied several plays in school (and also SAW several on both stage and screen) and I retained enough to know Shakespeare doesn’t look like this.
Why everyone’s speaking in quatrains though is quite beyond me.
In the same way as a broken clock, or 1/720 of the time. ;)
its a tool that will never go away, like saying horses are still better than cars for everything.
It’s a tool, nothing else good or bad.
The connection between scurvy & vitamin C got discovered and forgotten at least 8 times. 😮 We had hydrogen cars a century ago. (Killed by the Big Oil.) Video phones in the 70s. Supersonic Concord jets for passenger flights.) 🫠
I send some of them to friends to find out if they want to know what happens next.
A good beginning, a good ending, something exciting in the middle - it's all anyone can ask for.
You're a best-selling author!
Like a knife in the gut with a pat on the back.
The good news is, if you meet that standard you've improved your odds by an order of magnitude, because most open submissions don't.
His nose actually curled up a bit, as if a sour smell hung in the space between the screen and his face. I didn't speak. The room went quiet again.
The wheel of his mouse clicked faintly as he scrolled.
He was buying it anyway.