Skip to Content

Editor Interview: 10Flash Quarterly

This interview is provided for archival purposes. The listing is not currently active.

Q: Describe what you publish in 25 characters or less.

A: Genre flash fiction

Q: What other current publications (or publishers) do you admire most?

A: Flash Fiction Online, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Fantasy Magazine, Every Day Fiction, Analog, Clarkesworld

Q: If you publish writing, who are your favorite writers? If you publish art, who are your favorite artists?

A: Maureen McHugh, Ken Scholes, Bruce Holland Rogers, Kij Johnson, Cat Rambo

Q: What sets your publication apart from others that publish similar material?

A: Each of the stories in an issue are written from the same prompt, but in the genre the author choices.

Q: What is the best advice you can give people who are considering submitting work to your publication?

A: Read the back issues. I'm looking for solid flash pieces that tell a complete story and that offer something unique. My goal is to present stories that are fun to read.

Q: Describe the ideal submission.

A: Eight hundred to a thousand words; tight, clean prose; an interesting character facing an interesting situation.

Q: What do submitters most often get wrong about your submissions process?

A: Most rejections are due to writers not writing to the issue prompt or that send a trunk story they've tried to work the prompt into. I also don't care for trope stories. I'm looking for a spark of originality.

Q: How much do you want to know about the person submitting to you?

A: I read cover letters because I'm interested in what writers say about themselves. Listing previous publications can't hurt; all editors want to bring professionalism to their magazines and post work reflects that. But the quality of the story, what it says to me, is the most important thing. And it's fun to find a new writer with talent and publish their first story.

Q: If you publish writing, how much of a piece do you read before making the decision to reject it?

A: I usually can tell within the first couple of sentences if the story works for me, but since what I'm looking for is flash fiction, I read every piece to the end.

Q: What additional evaluations, if any, does a piece go through before it is accepted?

A: None. I've pretty much made up my mind by the time I finish the read.

Q: What is a day in the life of an editor like for you?

A: I do this part-time and 10Flash is a quarterly, so I don't work at it every day. I spend about forty hours on each issue, with about sixty percent of that coming in the last week before publication.

Q: How important do you feel it is for publishers to embrace modern technologies?

A: Anything that remains static is dying. I accept electronic submissions -- by e-mail right now but I hope to move soon to an electronic submission form. Obviously, since 10Flash is an online publication, I am attracted to electronic publishing. I couldn't afford to pay what I do for stories and put out a paper issue. I am considering a paper-bound anthology, though, now that the first year is complete. If I do go there, I'll most likely use Lulu or one of the other online self-publishing systems.