Editor Interview: Talk Vomit

Strong, voice-y pieces

Virtually every publication we originally aspired to be like has unfortunately ceased publication. Such publications have included The Toast, The Awl and Man Repeller. More recently, we are fans of Hobart and Dirt.

Writers: Jia Tolentino, Sally Rooney, Darcie Wilder, Melissa Broder, Joan Didion, Sarah Perry

Be kind in your email, but don't worry about sounding overly artsy or formal. Make capturing an honest experience or feeling your priority in the work you submit.

Precise, careful prose that avoids cliche; accessible and unique voice; witty; a demonstrated interest in digging below the surface. And although we just to avoid cliche, please, show — don't tell.

Submitters often make the mistake of not adhering to our submission formatting requests, or maintain an absolutely zero-level of chill during correspondence. Also, be prepared to potentially engaged in the editing process.

If you've been previously published, it's nice to know. It's also nice to know, generally, where you are located, or if you are a student. We don't need a lengthy, formal bio, but we like to have some idea of who we are working, or potentially working, with. We will Google you.

Typically, if we are interested in a piece, we read it thoroughly twice before even thinking about making a decision. That said, if a piece is overly cliche or relies on offensive stereotypes, we don't go past the second page.

It depends. If we see a lot of promise in a piece, but think it needs significant work, we are more likely to engage in one to three rounds of edits. This most often happens with nonfiction work. For fiction, we edit less, but will sometimes ask for clarification. Same with poetry. All pieces are line edited.