Finally: Slush Pile Completed

It took much, much longer than anticipated even given our two-month extension, but I finally emailed the last author a few minutes ago. All authors have been notified of their submissions' status, whether it be accepted or rejected. So if you submitted a story to us prior to August 31, 2010 and have not heard back, please query at info@wingedhalo.com

We received 388 submissions for the S/F/H issue and narrowed it down to 5. Keep your eye out for the issue, debuting online New Year's Eve!

JDawson
Editor-in-Chief

Flash Me Magazine NEWS!

After much debate, we have decided to postpone our October 31st issue. It's our final issue before our indefinite hiatus, and we want to take the time to do a proper send-off. As we are still knee-deep in submissions, we thought the best decision would be to publish it on December 31st, giving us two months to finish the issue. That will allow us to keep providing the editorial feedback we're famous for, without sacrificing quality.

So, our new deadlines are as follows:

We should finish reading through the slush by November 15th. Final voting on held submissions will be completed by November 19th so that we can have all final notifications emailed out before the U.S.'s Thanksgiving Day.

We will then have a full month for contracts and formatting, and be able to offer both readers and authors the highest quality issue.

Our staff will begin sending notification emails to all authors awaiting a reply from us. If you do not receive an email by October 15th, please query.

Thank you,
JDawson
Editor-in-Chief

***TO CLARIFY: We will be sending notifications of the publication date change over the next week and if you have a story still in our slush pile and do not receive this special notification email by October 15th, please query. That may mean that your original submission has been misplaced, or that you should have received a rejection letter from us already. These special notification emails will only be sent to stories we are holding for voting and stories we have not previously rejected. That way all authors are notified of the new publication date and understand that we are still considering their stories.***

A Quick Update

We are still hip-deep in submissions, so our original response date of September 25th has been pushed back now to October 10th. We still have 120 submissions left in our inbox to review.

Please bear with us...

Thank you,
JDawson
Editor-in-Chief

SFH Slush Pile Update

Well, it's been a while since we've updated the blog, and that's partially because we've been overwhelmed with submissions. The submission deadline was August 31, 2010, and we are now officially on hiatus and no longer accepting any submissions for future issues.

I don't have any final tallies for the SFH issue because we've had to ask a few authors to send us corrected submissions. We're giving them a few days to get back to us. Here are the stats I do know:

We have received and logged 387 official submissions so far, but that number may go up before we're through. We have held 10 stories for voting and rejected 150. The editors are currently reviewing 11 submissions right now, with submissions received between June 18 and July 8. We have 216 submissions sitting in our inbox. We will work our way through them by the end of the month.

We hope to do final voting on or before October 5th, so if you're one of the lucky authors who has a story held for voting, we'll let you know as soon as we've made a decision. We have to get through the entire slush pile first.

That's all for now...
JDawson
Editor-in-Chief

Unfortunate News

After our October Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror issue, Flash Me Magazine will be taking an indefinite hiatus.

As the Editor-in-Chief and publisher, I am responsible for making sure each issue is published and our authors are paid. In 2011, I will be relocating overseas for three years, and I fear all of my traveling would affect the publication schedule. I would rather close things down while I am away than let the magazine’s quality suffer.

Our final issue will be October 31, 2010, and we are still accepting submissions for that special S/F/H issue until August 30th. Until then, we will be contacting all authors with submissions in our slush pile for the January 2011 issue, which will no longer be published. Those stories have not been reviewed yet, and may now be sent to other markets. We will no longer be accepting new subscription purchases, and we will contact current subscribers regarding their options.

If you have any questions or concerns about how this hiatus affects you, your work, or your subscription, please contact me at info@wingedhalo.com with the word QUERY in your subject line and I’ll be happy to answer all of your questions.

This was a very hard decision for me, but I believe it’s in the magazine’s best interests. We hope you enjoy our final two issues.

JDawson
Editor-in-Chief

July Issue Online Early

I will be out of town tonight, so I put the July issue online a day early.

It contains stories by Igor Teper, Keri Clark, Rabia Gale
and Catherine Russell, with bonus stories by Sarahlyn S. Bruck, Michael Guillebeau, and Stephen V. Ramey. We hope you enjoy.

JDawson
Editor-in-Chief

Finally finished

We are finally finished wading through the July slush pile. We still have to do final voting in a few weeks, but I'm giving the staff a much needed break until then.

The stats:

2 accepted, 7 held for voting, 14 sent for rewrites, 2 wihdrawn, and 330 rejected. We will choose 4-6 stories for the issue and will notify authors and send out final contracts on or before July 10th.

All authors who submitted something for the regular issue between March 2nd and June 5th should have heard something from us by now. If not, please query.

JDawson
Editor-in-Chief

Almost Done!

We are almost done with the July Submissions:

We have accepted 2 submissions so far, held 7 for voting, sent 13 back for rewrites, and had 2 withdrawn. We have 24 submissions before the editors right now, have rejected 306 as of today, and have 1 left in our inbox.

We are currently reviewing the last of the submissions.

If you submitted a story for the July issue before May 30th and have not heard from us, please query asap.

We will return to S/F/H submissions after July 15th. This July issue took far longer than anticipated due to an overwhelming amount of last-minute submissions.

Thank you,
JDawson
Editor-in-Chief

July Slush Pile

As we work our way through the last of the submissions for the July issue, I'll be posting more frequent updates.

We have accepted 2 submissions so far, held 4 for voting, sent 12 back for rewrites, and had 2 withdrawn. We have 13 submissions before the editors right now, have rejected 261 as of today, and have 61 left in our inbox.

We are currently reviewing stories received between May 15th and May 21st.

If you submitted a story before May 14th and have not heard from us, please query asap.

Thank you,
JDawson
Editor-in-Chief

Corrected July Slush Pile Stats

The Editor-in-Chief is back in charge after a month-long absence.

I left things in the hands of my very capable Senior Managing Editor, Elizabeth Hull, and though we had a few minor snafus, over all things went smoothly during my absense.

We had a few staff absences while I was away, most notably our admins, and our inboxes and logs got a bit mixed up. I've gone through them all, straightened everything out, and am pleased to announce that though the submission numbers posted here on the blog were inaccurate during my absence, we seem to have all submissions accounted for. I don't think we've misplaced any.

The quarter ended at midnight on June 1st, but due to a bit of miscommunication, a few slipped in after the deadline and we've decided to keep them. Check your receipt email to verify which issue your story is being considered for.

We received a total of 355 submissions for the July issue:

We have accepted 2 submissions so far, held 3 for voting, sent 11 back for rewrites, and had 2 withdrawn. We have 21 submissions before the editors right now, have rejected 234 as of today, and have 82 left in our inbox. We hope to finish those this coming week. We have all staff on hand and are looking for more editors, as well.

We are currently reviewing stories received between May 4th and May 16th.

If you submitted a story before May 4th and have not heard from us, please query asap.

Thank you,
JDawson
Editor-in-Chief

S/F/H Slush Stats

We have received 102 submissions.

1 story is being held, 8 are before the editorial board, 43 have been rejected, and 50 are waiting in the inbox.

FMM Staff

July Issue Slush Stats

We have received 364 submissions.

We have accepted 2 stories, held 2 for voting, sent 9 back for rewrites, rejected 205, and 2 stories have been withdrawn. 17 stories are before the editorial board, and 127 are waiting in the inbox.

FMM Staff

S/F/H Issue Slush Stats

We have received 88 submissions.

1 story is being held, 3 are before the editorial board, 31 have been rejected, and 53 are waiting in the inbox.

FMM Staff

July Issue Slush Stats

We have received 315 submissions.

We have accepted 2 stories, held 1 for voting, sent 5 back for rewrites, rejected 178, and 2 stories have been withdrawn. 17 are before the editorial board, and 110 are waiting in the inbox.

FMM Staff

S/F/H Slush Stats

We have received 71 submissions.

5 of them are before the editorial board, 23 have been rejected, and 43 are waiting in the inbox.

FMM Staff

July Issue Slush Stats

We have received 244 submissions.

We have accepted 1, held 1 for voting, sent 5 back for rewrites, rejected 147, and 1 story has been withdrawn. 11 are before the editorial board, and 78 are waiting in the inbox.

FMM Staff

Slow Response Times

Flash Me Magazine may have slow response times for the rest of the month:

The editor-in-chief is in the middle of a move and will be without a reliable internet connection, and one administrative assistant will be handling regular submissions while the other will be handling S/F/H submissions. We tried hiring additional help, but didn't find anyone in time.

Please bear with us during this busy month.

Thank you,
FMM Staff

S/F/H Issue Slush Pile Stats

We have received 37 submissions.

6 of them are before the editorial board, 5 have been rejected, 26 are waiting in the inbox.

We are still reviewing submissions received on April 30th.

JDawson
Editor-in-Chief

July Issue Slush Stats

As of March 2, 2010, we have received 187 submissions:

We have accepted 1, held 1 for voting, sent 5 back for rewrites, and rejected 116. There are 14 submissions before the editors and 50 left in our inbox.

We have been through all submissions received prior to April 13th, so if submitted on or before April 12th and haven't heard from us, please query.

JDawson
Editor-in-Chief

S/F/H Issue Slush Pile Stats

As of April 30th, we have received 19 *correct* submissions. 6 of them are before the editorial board, 13 are waiting in the inbox.

And additional 17 submissions have been rejected outright thus far for not following our submission guidelines. 14 of them were received prior to our submission period. Not all of them have chosen to resubmit as of yet. I hope they do - after reading through the guidelines one last time.

It's been a rocky start, but it can only get better, right?

JDawson
Editor-in-Chief

S/F/H Issue Slush Pile

Due to a shortage of administrative assistants, I have been handling the inbox for the S/F/H submissions, and what a chaotic mess it has been!

I cannot stress how important it is to READ and FOLLOW submission guidelines.

I just rejected two more submissions today, one for a sloppy subject line, and one that managed to mess up just about everything. Incorrect subject line, no email with any of the required information, and just an attachment with the story. (I did read through the attachment, BTW to see if the bio was in there. It wasn't.)

I'll post stats later on this week, but I can't imagine we've have more correct submissions than we do reject ones.

I find that very, very sad, especially considering that our S/F/H guidelines are very, very similar to our regular guidelines. Throw a SFH into the subject line, don't send us simultaneous submissions, and note the new limitation on both the special issue and the regular issues about two submissions under consideration at a time. Not a big deal, is it?

I did just not that for some reason we're asking for the mailing address on the S/F/H issue. No need for that so I'm going in there now to delete that. You'll notice that the "Last Updated" date will change to today's date. We always do that.

I'm looking forward to more correct submissions in the future, and fewer rejection emails before we've ever had a chance to read your submissions.

JDawson
Editor-in-Chief

S/F/H Issue Now Open to Submissions

After a rough start where we received fourteen premature submissions (many of which didn't follow our submission guidelines either, funny enough) we are now open to submissions!

Since 12:01AM EST, we have received 9 submissions, one of which was rejected outright for not including the story's title in the subject line. Submission guidelines are important, authors! Read them, know them, follow them.

They can be found at http://www.wingedhalo.com/sfh.html

Submissions will be accepted until 11:59PM EST on August 31st. All stories submitted for the S/F/H issue must contain some element of science fiction, fantasy, horror, or any combination of those genres and be 1,000 words or less. We're especially interested in the "any combination." Surprise us.

Meanwhile, we are still accepting submissions for our regular July issue, so if you don't fit into the S/F/H category, the deadline for the July issue is June 1, 2010. You can find those submission guidelines at http://www.wingedhalo.com/guidelines.html

We're looking forward to reading those submissions...

FMM Staff

New Issue Online

The April 30, 2010 issue of Flash me Magazine is now online!

Featuring stories by: D Gavin Guddi, Adam Armour, James Ellis, Rebecca Gaffron, Sylvia Hiven, Dave Hoing, Eric J. Juneau, Lora J. Rumsey, Wayne Scheer, and Glenda Thompson

We hope you enjoy...

FMM Staff

S/F/H Issue Reminder

The Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror Issue Submission Period begins April 30, 2010 and ends August 31, 2010. *Submissions received outside of this period will be deleted unread.*

Please see the S/F/H submission guidelines at http://www.wingedhalo.com/sfh.html for complete details.

Thank you,
Flash Me Magazine Staff
http://www.flashmemagazine.com

We received SIX submissions in the S/F/H inbox this month, and I sent them all this nice little reminder that their emails will be deleted unread and to go read our submission guidelines.

I also reread all the pages on our website that mention the special issue, just to verify that they all do say April 30th (they do). I can't control the content of market referral websites and such, but you should always, always verify submission periods at a magazine's website before submitting, even if you've submitted to them before. Reread their guidelines, and see if they state when their guidelines were last updated (we do).

I will also point out that several of these early submissions failed to follow some of our other submission guidelines, so it will be interesting to see if they actually do go read our guidelines and submit properly next time.

JDawson
Editor-in-Chief
(a stickler for following guidelines)

Backlogged

This is just a quick updated to let you know that although we have been reviewing submissions in a timely manner, we are backlogged in terms of sending out the rejections letters.

Both of the staff members qualified to handle rejection letters have been MIA (including me), leaving one lonely admin to send out receipt emails and post submissions before our editorial board. We are both back, now, but the upcoming issue will consume most of my time.

I hope to post accurate slush stats next week. For now, all I can tell you is that the editors have not reviewed any submissions received after April 12th.

JDawson
Editor-in-Chief

Slush Pile Update

Since March 2nd, 2010, we have received 109 submissions. So far we have rejected 38 submissions and sent 2 back for rewrites. We have 58 submissions still in our inbox.

We have held 1 story for voting, and have 10 submissions before the editorial staff. We are currently reviewing submissions received between March 18th and March 21st. If you sent your submission prior to March 18th and have not heard from us, please query.

Thank you,
JDawson
Editor-in-Chief

April Issue Finalized

We have finished voting on our April issue and sent out all the acceptance and rejection letters. We went with ten stories this quarter, which is more than usual. It seemed fitting since we'll be cutting back on stories July onwards due to the raise in pay rates. Consider it one last hurrah!

This is the last you'll hear about the April issue until it debuts on April 30th. If you don't yet have a subscription, now is the time: http://www.wingedhalo.com/subscribe.html. All funds help support the magazine, and we need more funds than ever to fund our upcoming pay rate increase. We also accept donations in any amount. We have donation buttons at the bottom of every page of our website. You can also support us by purchasing merchandise from one of our stores: http://www.wingedhalo.com/shop.html

The staff will be taking a week off before we begin reviewing July's slush pile. As of now, we have 35 submissions in the slush pile, received on or after March 2nd. We will continue to accept submissions while we're on break. We will post another slush update after we've gone through the first batch of submissions, in a few weeks.

Until then...

JDawson
Editor-in-Chief

Brief Slush Update

We have gone through all submissions received between December 2nd and March 1st. If you sent us a submission during that time period and have not heard back from us yet, please query immediately.

Right now we have 4 accepted stories and 10 stories in our "held for voting" pile. Voting will commence shortly, so we should be able to notify authors this week.

As of now, we have 33 submissions in our inbox for the July issue. We will not start reviewing those until after we've finalized the April issue.

Thank you,
FMM Staff

Looking for a few more editors

Flash Me Magazine is currently looking for a few more editors:

We're looking for people who enjoy reading a wide variety of fiction and who have the time to devote to the magazine. All of our staff works on a volunteer basis and enthusiasm is more important than any experience. For more details, visit http://www.wingedhalo.com/positions.html

FMM Staff

Update: We've hired one editor today, but we're still looking for at least one more person to join our staff.

Multiple Submissions

We now limit each author to two submissions in our slush pile at any given time. Please wait until you have heard back on your first two submissions before sending any others. Please send each submission in a separate email with all of the above requested information in each email. We will reject any emails that have more than one submission in it, and we will reject any submissions that exceed our two-submission limit.

If one of your two stories are accepted for publication or held for voting, that means you may only have one story in our slush pile at a time for the remainder of that quarter. If we accept or hold two of your stories, you may not submit further stories for that quarter. We thank you for your understanding.

FMM Staff

Slush Update & Multiple Submissions

We have received 279 submissions and are still waiting for a few possible rewrites. Of those 279 submissions, we have accepted 2, held 7, sent 18 back for rewrites, and had 4 withdrawals. So far, we have rejected 231 submissions. We have the final 17 submissions before the editors (dated February 27th and after). We have NO submissions left in our inbox!

Considering how many multiple submission we received this quarter, we will be updating our submission guidelines, limiting the amount of submissions we'll allow in our slush from a single author. We are discussing our preferences now, and will post a formal announcement as soon a a decision has been made.

JDawson
Editor-in-Chief

Detailed Slush Update & More

We are still accepting requested rewrites until March 15th, so the final totals for our April issue may change, but here are the stats so far:

We have received 277 submissions. Of those 277 submissions, we have accepted 1, held 6, sent 16 back for rewrites, and had 4 withdrawals. So far, we have rejected 209 submissions. We have 14 submissions before the editors (dated February 25th and 26th) and have 27 left in our inbox.

For the July issue, we have received 16 submissions to date, but we will not be reviewing any of them until we have finalized the April issue.

***

It's been a while since I blogged about some of our slush pile complaints. Overall, the submissions have been following our guidelines, which is a huge relief. I've been training a new administrative assistant, and the slush pile has been kind to her in terms of correct subject lines and necessary submission information.

My complaints this quarter have mainly been with attachments. I'd like to think that every prolific author has heard of standard manuscript formatting, so in this day and age when I open attachments that don't follow standard formatting, I have to conclude that the author is either new to submitting their work, or they just don't care. It's unprofessional, and it makes me shake my head every time.

Other notables this quarter are authors that submit more than three stories at a time. It doesn't particularly matter to us if you sent seven stories back-to-back, but I think these authors are doing themselves a disservice. Most authors have a distinct style, so the editors can tell that stories were written by the same author. If all seven stories have the same problems, the editors get weary of making the same comments, and the feedback they give isn't as in-depth as it might have been had they not grown bored with seeing everything in the author's trunk.

Do yourself a favor - don't submit a bunch of stories all on the same day. Space them out. That way, you're not getting a bunch of denial letters in your inbox at one time, either, since we generally send rejection letters in chunks.

And finally, we've sent back sixteen stories for rewrites this past quarter, which is unprecedented for us. It's our effort to give the authors a better chance of being published in the future. With the raise in our pay rates comes a decrease in the number of stories we'll publish each quarter, which means we can only hold on to the best stories for voting.

That also means stories that we may have sent back for rewrites before will be rejected outright. If a story doesn't have enough redeeming qualities, we won't ask to see it again, even if the editors gave several "maybe" votes. It's a judgement call - usually my judgement call. If I think a story can be easily fixed and the editors enjoyed the story, we may request a rewrite. Otherwise, we'll pass on it and hope our feedback helps the story get published elsewhere.

To give yourself the best chance at publication:

Only send us your best stories.
Proofread your stories before submission.
Use standard manuscript formatting.
Follow all submission guidelines.
Space out your submissions.

JDawson
Editor-in-Chief

Brief Slush Pile Update

We've been posting frequent updates on the slush pile for our upcoming April issue because we're working through them so quickly. We will continue to do so until we are caught up, which we hope will be next week.

We are currently reviewing submissions received between February 21st and February 22nd. We have 12 submissions before the editorial staff, and 48 left in our inbox.

FMM Staff

Brief Slush Pile Update

We are currently reviewing submissions received between February 16th and February 20th. We have 14 submissions before the editorial staff, and 64 left in our inbox.

FMM Staff

Brief Slush Pile Update

We are currently reviewing submissions received between February 12th and February 15th. We have 10 submissions before the editorial staff, and 77 left in our inbox.

We have received 9 submissions so far for the July issue. We will not be reviewing those for a few weeks.

FMM Staff

April Issue's Slush Pile Update

We are still waiting for a few more rewrites, but here are the current statistics:

So far, we have received 277 submissions.

We have accepted 1 story, held 4 stories for voting, and have 11 submissions before the editorial staff.

So far we have rejected 150 submissions, sent 14 back for rewrites, and had 4 withdrawals. We have 93 submissions still in our inbox.

We are currently reviewing submissions received between February 6th and February 10th. We will work through the remaining slush as quickly as we can, but should be finished before March 19th. If you haven't heard from us by then, please query.

FMM Staff

April Issue's Slush Pile

The submission period for the upcoming April issue has ended, though we are still accepting rewrites we've requested until March 15th. So our final tally isn't necessary the final tally. Here is what we have so far:

We have received 273 submissions.

We have held 4 stories for voting and have 12 submissions before the editorial staff.

So far we have rejected 139 submissions, sent 12 back for rewrites, and had 4 withdrawals. We have 102 submissions still in our inbox.

We are currently reviewing submissions received between February 1st and February 7th. We will work through the remaining slush as quickly as we can, but should be finished before March 19th. If you haven't heard from us by then, please query.

FMM Staff

Increased Pay Rates

To celebrate our seventh year of publication, Flash Me Magazine is increasing its pay rates:

As of July 1, 2010, all published stories will receive twenty-five dollars ($25) US via PayPal, plus a year's subscription to Flash Me Magazine. Our Feature Story winner will receive an additional twenty-five dollars ($25), for a total of fifty dollars ($50) US via PayPal. That means Feature Stories are guaranteed professional rates of at least five cents ($0.05) per word!

These new pay rates will go into effect for stories published in our July 2010 issue and onward.

FMM Staff

Special Issue

Flash Me Magazine is pleased to announce our upcoming Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror issue. We'll be publishing this special combination issue on October 31, 2010.

All stories submitted for the S/F/H issue must contain some element of science fiction, fantasy, horror, or any combination of those genres and be 1,000 words or less. The S/F/H Issue submission period begins April 30, 2010 and ends August 31, 2010.

Special guidelines apply, and we will not be accepting simultaneous submissions for this issue. Please see the S/F/H submission guidelines for complete details at http://www.wingedhalo.com/sfh.html

FMM Staff

Writer's Corner: Flash Fiction Is...?

Today Flash Me Magazine debuts our new Writer's Corner, with posts by our editors.

Flash Fiction Is...? by Nicholas Carter

The question “What is flash fiction?” really begs the question, “What is good flash fiction?” In fact, I would argue that the two are one and the same. Among common criticisms that a flash story receives, statements to the effect that a story “feels like part of a longer piece,” or “seems like a character sketch,” or “reads like a scene, not a complete story” do not, in point of fact, show that a flash tale is bad; they banish it from the realm of flash altogether by suggesting that it is just a fragment of story.

This is peculiar to flash fiction. A short story might be criticized for feeling incomplete, but this does not remove it from the realm of short story. A given novel could be stated to feel like part of a longer story, but this doesn’t mean it isn’t a novel - it could be part of a series, and critics would be fine with that. Nobody I know would suggest that any of the Lord of the Rings books are incomplete because they do not finish the story in a single book. Likewise, I don’t think anyone would suggest that they must be merged into one large volume.

But flash fiction defines itself by its brevity and when this brevity fails - either because a piece goes on for too long, or because a piece must go on for too long to give a sense of closure - so fails the piece. Short fiction and novels are generally thought to have certain lengths, but they are not so adamantly defined by length. Failure to complete a story in the minimal amount of words doesn’t make a story bad; it excludes it from the genre.

So if completeness can’t be the measure of “bad” flash fiction, what can? Errors in punctuation and spelling? Unbelievable characters? Lack of focus? These are problems with all fiction. None are specific to flash. If there must be one defining characteristic of extremely short stories, one trait that separates the good from bad, let it be word choice.

Obviously, the careful selection of words is a necessary ingredient in all varieties of fiction, but it is all the more important in flash. A short story writer who decides that a theme is not fully carried by a previous paragraph can simply lengthen the piece. A flash writer is typically limited to 500-1,000 words. There is very little room for error. If some necessary detail is not present at just the right moment, it may be impossible to insert later on.

Each word must be measured; the scale of flash fiction allows for no excess, no imprecision. An idea that can only be carried by two words is at a disadvantage. If that same notion can be concentrated in one, that’s all the better. If you can seal multiple themes into a single word, you’ve begun to write flash fiction.

Perhaps a quick and dirty demonstration is in order: consider the following sentence.

“The ballet dancer leapt nimbly over the stage, a smile on her lips.”

How can this be shortened? Consider what information is being imparted to the reader.

1: There is a dancer.
2: She is currently performing.
3: The dance is ballet.
4: She seems to be enjoying herself.

Firstly, a smile can be understood to be taking place on a person’s lips. Lets renovate the portion after the comma.

“The ballet dancer leapt nimbly over the stage, smiling.”

Although, now the truncated end loses the feel of flowing that the original sentence provided (which suggested a sensation of movement), and while shorter, it suffers artistically.
So let’s merge two of these ideas.

“The ballet dancer leapt joyously over the stage.”

This sentence does not state that the dancer is smiling, but this is fine. In applying a smile to a character, you, the writer, are trying to show your reader that said character is happy. Could our dancer not be smiling? Certainly, but I believe the mental image that “joyously” provides is one of a person whose body language will imply gladness.

And while some might wonder how “joyously” could replace “nimbly”, it comes once again to mental image. Joy implies a gracefulness of the heart, a lightness of spirit which here stands in for the lightness of body. It works well in this capacity by being paired with a verb that indicates an upward motion. That our character is a dancer also promotes the idea of lively motion. Imagine if instead you encountered this sentence:

“The garbage man leapt joyously over the stage.”

We may picture this sanitation worker as happy, (And why not? Perhaps this man is living a long-repressed dream.) but probably not quite so graceful as our dancer, even if he is doing this joyously. Our dancer’s clothes are easy to imagine as thin and consisting of light colors. The garbage man’s clothes are probably baggy and dirty.

Moving back to our original sentence, we may begin to find it difficult to shorten it any more. I might suggest...

“The ballerina leapt joyously over the stage.”

This might work, but “ballerina” makes the sentence feel lengthy. Let’s try…

“The dancer leapt joyously over the stage.”

This is also a possibility, but we’ve lost the idea that said dancer is a ballerina. If the type of dancer she is isn’t an important part of the story, the change doesn’t matter.

One more way we might shorten this…

“Onstage, the dancer leapt joyously.” (Or even, “joyously leapt”)

The difficulty here is that, while shorter, “onstage” has become the focus of this sentence, our dancer moved slightly into the background. We begin to picture the stage first, dancer second. You will note that the further along we went in this exercise, the more things began to fall apart.

There is a point to this: Flash fiction is like cutting diamonds. In choosing to write flash fiction, you have decided to work on something very hard, on a very small scale, where the minutest precision is absolutely vital. Every facet is cut to catch the light; the rigid stone rendered invisible under the flash.

Nicholas Carter
Editor, FMM

Slush Update & Deadline Information

So far we have received 238 submissions.

We have held 3 stories for voting and have 10 submissions before the editorial staff.

So far we have rejected 117 submissions, sent 11 back for rewrites, and had 4 withdrawals. We have 93 submissions still in our inbox.

We have not reviewed any submissions received after January 29th.

***

Our submission deadline for the upcoming April issue is fast approaching. We will continue to accept submissions until midnight EST on Monday, March 1st. Anything received after that time will be considered for our July issue.

JDawson
Editor-in-Chief

Slush Pile Update

So far we have received 200 submissions.

We have held 3 stories for voting and have 10 submissions before the editorial staff.

So far we have rejected 101 submissions, sent 9 back for rewrites, and had 4 withdrawals. We have 73 submissions still in our inbox.

We have not reviewed any submissions received after January 23rd.

JDawson
Editor-in-Chief

Slush Pile Update

So far we have received 158 submissions.

We have held 2 stories for voting and have 10 submissions before the editorial staff.

So far we have rejected 74 submissions, sent 7 back for rewrites, and had 2 withdrawals. We have 63 submissions still in our inbox.

We have not reviewed any submissions received after January 11th.

JDawson
Editor-in-Chief

Slush Pile Update

So far we have received 122 submissions.

We have held 2 stories for voting and have 10 submissions before the editorial staff.

So far we have rejected 57 submissions, sent 3 back for rewrites, and had 2 withdrawals. We have 48 submissions still in our inbox.

We have not reviewed any submissions received after December 30th.

JDawson
Editor-in-Chief

Slush Update

So far we have received 107 submissions.

We have held 2 stories for voting and have 9 submissions before the editorial staff.

So far we have rejected 30 submissions, and had 2 withdrawals. We have 64 submissions still in our inbox.

FMM Staff

Last Chance!

This is your last chance to register for the third Flash Fiction Boot Camp Session! Interested participants must register by January 15th.

Visit http://www.wingedhalo.com/bootcamp.html for more information and instructions on how to register.

If you have any questions or concerns, please contact me.

FMM Staff

Slush Pile Update

It's back to work for the staff at FMM, and we have started reviewing submissions for our April 30, 2010 issue.

So far we have received 80 submissions.

We have 10 submissions before the editorial staff. So far we have rejected 1 story for being over our word count, and had 2 withdrawals. We have 67 submissions still in our inbox.

***

After reviewing all the submissions we've received since December 2nd, these are some of the complaints I've had:

Authors who simply attach a document, without so much as their name in the body of the email. This means I have to open the attachment in order to log the submission into our database. Wastes time, and comes across as lazy. A short cover letter is always appreciated, but this is also the best place to put the required information: your legal name, your name as you want it published, your email address and a short biography to be published with your story.

Story titles in the subject line of the email that do not match the title of the attached story. I don't know if you've attached the wrong story or made a typo.

Excessively long story titles. We have several in our inbox that exceed seven words! This is a frequent gripe of mine - see our old post about titles.

Submissions that are forwarded to us. These submissions feel like hand-me-downs. It isn't that difficult to copy the original email and paste it into a new draft.

None of the above complaints will keep your story from being considered for publication, but they are things I urge every author to consider before sending us a submission.

***

There is still time to register for our next Flash Fiction Boot Camp. If you haven't checked it out, I encourage you to do so. If you'd like to participate but can't afford the tuition, contact me. We have a few scholarships available to FMM readers.

***

That's all for now...

JDawson
Editor-in-Chief

Vote for us!

If you've enjoyed reading Flash Me Magazine over the last six years, please swing by the P & E Readers Poll and vote for us today: http://www.critters.org/predpoll/

We are currently listed in the "Fiction e-zine" category, as well as the "Magazine/e-zine Cover Artwork published in 2009" categories, and you can add your votes for favorite stories published in 2009.

Thanks!
FMM Staff