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Editor Interview: freeze frame fiction

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

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

A: Excellent flash fiction

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

A: Stupefying Stories, F&SF, Plasma Frequency, Spark: A Creative Anthology

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

A: Robert A. Heinlein

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

A: 1. Flash fiction only
2. No genre or content restrictions: just great writing
3. New writers alongside established ones
4. Beautiful artwork
freeze frame fiction is a place to showcase just what flash fiction is really about and all it can accomplish. We focus on featuring excellent stories that have a lasting impact, and then we pair them with striking illustrations.

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

A: We're not looking for shock value or character sketches or unoriginal stories lacking depth.
Read our current volume online—it's free, and because it's all flash fiction, it's a quick read. Nothing to buy and you don't need hours to get through a volume.
Also, please read our submission guidelines.

Q: Describe the ideal submission.

A: A well-told, complete story featuring real people.
That's it. No vignettes or scenes. No stock characters or two-dimensional fillers. No funny or shocking twist endings tacked onto poorly written pieces.
We want good writing. We want a complete story—even if the ending is left open for interpretation. And we want people we can connect to.

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

A: 1. Thinking flash fiction can't have as much depth as a short story because the word count is so low. We expect just as much out of 1000 words as you can get out of 5000.
2. Not reading our simple guidelines: double space, remove your name, one submission at a time. That's pretty much all we ask for.

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

A: Not much. We need bios for the website and ebooks, but they have no relevance on whether or not your story will be accepted. We make an effort to find a balance between well-published authors and writers new to submitting, but that tends to happen magically on its own. Submissions are read blind: meaning, readers don't see your name, your cover letter, or anything else except your story. If you send us a bio, feel free to include the publication credits you're most proud of (and not all 50 of them).

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

A: The readers almost always read the entire piece. Therefore, your flash fiction will be read in its entirety by (probably) at least three people. As editor, I tend to read a page or two and if I'm not hooked, I stop. Since it's flash fiction, that can be most or all of the story.

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

A: Stories are typically read by at least four readers, and then by me. And that's it. If it's being considered during the middle or end of a volume's submission window, it may be evaluated against the other pieces, as far as tone and variety. We work hard to make sure each volume spans many genres and styles. If the piece is good but doesn't fit with the current volume, it may be held for consideration for the next volume.

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

A: Modern technology is hugely important to freeze frame fiction—it's the only reason we exist.
Social media is responsible for people knowing about us at all.
Electronic submissions keep us organized and sane, and let us spend our time on more valuable things than keeping track of submissions and responses. Because of Submittable, we have staff and submitters from all over the world.
ebooks and POD print options are how we bring flash fiction to people offline.