Editor Interview: Interrobang Lit

Rewards skill over vibes

Neon & Smoke. Great editors and the stories they publish are hidden gems.
I also really admire Midnight & Indigo, Frigg, and Vast Chasm.

I don't want to influence submitters with listing my favorite writers.

We work very hard to separate personal taste from submissions. I've been part of many editorial teams and have witnessed too many exceptional stories getting rejected for conditional factors beyond a writer's control.
The exact incident that sparked InterrobangLit was a fellow staff member stating a piece was impeccably written but they had read the subject matter too many times to allow it to move forward. The piece was rejected and I didn’t think it was fair that impeccable work was rejected because of someone’s personal reading history.
InterrobangLit uses a rubric to evaluate several aspects of craft to ensure every piece is weighed equally and fairly. We try our best to keep vibes, preferences, and whims from influencing our decisions.

Every weekend, we offer a service where writers can get feedback on their pieces. Before submitting, it would probably be a good idea to get feedback on some pieces to better understand your strengths and weaknesses.

This is a hard question to answer because we don't have a house style and try to temper personal taste. The categories we evaluate are prose, plot, grammar, concept, structure, character, dialogue, and setting. However, we've structured our rubric to be flexible. If a story excels in all categories but fails in setting and plot, it would still be publishable because, overall, it is an excellent piece.
I guess my answer would be just do your very best. A brief summary of submission process is on our website. It would be best to review it.

We present character prompts for every submission window. The mistake we see most often is either the submitted story isn't about the character or the character has no impact on the story. The character doesn't have to be the protagonist, but they shouldn't be mentioned one and never seen again. The story should collapse if the character is removed.

We don't take cover letters and we're focused on the work, not publication credits. However, we love seeing credits listed in bios. They're accomplishments the author should be proud of and we're proud right along with them.

We read, and reread, and possible re-reread before sending rejections. We do this to keep our opinions in check and to fill out the rubric as objectively as possible. Each category is given a score which is added up at then end of the process. Only stories that score 13 points or higher are eligible for publication.

For pieces on the fence, we'll evaluate it again to decide if we should reject it, accept it, or allow the author to revise it.

Interestingly, reading submissions is probably the smallest part of my job. Most of it is administration: checking emails and communicating with writers; making sure listings (and our website) are current and correct; and managing our Patreon. Additionally, I am a graphic designer by trade so all the artwork, designs, and layouts are done by me.

We only do basic proofreading, with light copy editing if absolutely necessary. If a piece needs substantive editing, we send it back to the writer for revision. We always send a preview to the authors for approval.

Yes, we plan to nominate for Pushcart, Best of the Net, O. Henry, and the Best American Short Stories.

I personally fund most of InterrobangLit right now, but our Patreon is helping to pay contributors.

We are working on building robust SEO for the site and our featured stories. We also provide authors with a small media kit to help promote their stories.