#SLFAQ Recap: May 2023

Last Wednesday, we hung out on Twitter to chat about all things Split Lip: editing, submitting, and more! Huge thanks to everyone who asked questions and participated!

Whether you missed it or need a refresher, here’s the recap:

What topics and perspectives are you specifically interested in right now?

Maureen Langloss (Editor-in-Chief): GREAT question! The topic is always less important to me than how it’s executed TBH. But I do love to be surprised by a topic or perspective. Something I’ve never encountered is always exciting. I’d love to see a piece on abortion or reproductive rights tho.

Krys Malcolm Belc (Memoir Editor): we are omnivorous at split lip memoir. if you look in the archives, you will see a huge range of writers and forms. we will love any nonfiction story well told. right now i’d love to see graphic works, writing about joy, and some flash memoir micros.

Anna Cabe (Fiction Editor): I’d love to see hermit crab works that engage with the limitations of their chosen form! I also always love a complicated family story, stories that adroitly mix humor and pathos, and pop culture stories. Would also love to see more slipstream or fabulism in the queue!

Amy Stuber (Print Issue Editor & Flash Editor): Weird situations that aren’t just weird for the sake of being weird AND have a strong emotional core. Stories about people over 50 that aren’t just about aging. Krys Malcolm Belc said this, too, but joy! Humor! (I’m always a sucker for a good funny/sad combo.)

Rita Mookerjee (Poetry Editor): I need spotlights on fresh oral history, recovered treasures, and terrible secrets. always down for funky ekphrasis not on classic works but stuff like manga and street art.

Youngseo Lee (Assistant Poetry Editor): i agree with maureen and krys that telling it well is what matters! but i love pieces about odd emotions where they’re least expected — joy at a funeral, sadness in a lover, etc

Wendy Oleson (Managing Editor): And it’s never about what one person or editor is looking for. I might really want to publish a tragi-comic story about Muppets and queerness, but it’s only going to get the green light if all the editors are on board.

CD Eskilson (Assistant Poetry Editor): I’m always interested in poetry that reimagines or reinvents a pop culture classic in an unexpected way. What doesn’t seem like it should work but totally does. For poetry, I often think back to this early SLM piece featuring Bruce Springsteen!

For fiction readers or any genre really, what kinds of titles catch your eye? Any thoughts on long vs. short?

Maureen: Title is SO IMPORTANT & often a catchy title will make me read a piece faster in the queue. “Our Tap Water Usually Tastes Like Hedgehog,” “The Other Norma Jean,” “My Sad Werewolf,” “A Husband Should Be Eaten and Not Heard,” “Sanctuary” are all titles that stand out to me!

Carson Sandell (Poetry Reader): I love very hyper-specific long titles, but also one word titles that re-imagine my reading experience every time I return to it. Also I’m a sucker for titles that flow into the poem itself! 

CD: Agree with Carson! I like to think of titles as like the dust jacket to a piece in some ways. What tones and textures will get me interested in reading?

Amy: I really struggle with titles, so I respect a unique title (long or short) that uses language in an interesting way and gives a tiny bit but not too much away about the story. That said, a not-great title isn’t a dealkiller; we sometimes end up with a new title in edits

Anna: I love either length of title as long as it suits the story. I am looking for surprise, aptness, in titles, something that sticks in the mind. That being said, in edits for accepted work, we have frequently workshopped or brainstormed new titles.

Younseo: for poetry, i think i’m usually intrigued by long titles that seem to promise a feeling. i like it when titles work to provide context that shapes the poem, and while 1-2 word titles can obviously work i think it’s harder for them to be as effective

Krys: titles are hard. i’m a sucker for long titles. that said, i am always willing to work with the writer to brainstorm new titles, and have done so a few times! we have a brilliant team who often have alternate title ideas.

Anne Rasmussen (Assistant Fiction Editor): I enjoy finding the title referenced in the story somewhere, a little Easter egg for the reader to find. I often think more about the title after I’ve finished a story than when I start. A resonance that lingers.

Editors, is there a past SLM publication that you still think about? Which SLM pieces still keep you up at night? :)

Erica Frederick (Assistant Flash Editor):BIG BIAS bc Hadley is my friend & cohort mate but this line: “Her shoulder warm against mine, her hip bone.” I think about ‘her hip bone’ and how it lands after the comma ALL THE TIME 

Anne· I gasped reading this stunner by Ashley Lopez

Rita: @adriennenovy knocked me on my ass with this title… stunning piece

Analía Villagra (Assistant Fiction Editor): I think about “Toyota Head” by @napguerreiro a lot. Love the voice of it

Daniel Garcia (InteR/e/views Editor): this review by @ashiainbloom, not just cuz of its devastating occasion, but the last sentence. it wasn’t originally so, but I knew it had to be. it still haunts me. only reason I didn’t accept faster was the long, gushing email I sent to ashia!

Anna: I keep hyping @bd_writer ‘s “Bound,” but it’s just that good! 

Krys: because i have the privilege of teaching writing i think a lot about Melanie Farmer’s “White Homework” whenever i design a syllabus. it’s really (really) hard to win me over with a borrowed form; this is smart/powerful 

CD: “I Told My Grandfather My Name” by the incredible @sadqueer4life gets me EVERY TIME!

Analía: “Swimming Lessons” by Maeda Ali definitely haunts me

Wendy: This memoir by Kailee Haong @helloitskailee still gives me all the feels. 

Janelle Bassett (Fiction Editor): “Dog Chasing Waves” by @henry_iblis is definitely haunting me

Jerilynn Aquino (Social Media & Marketing Director): I will never shut up about this story, I swear! It is so strange and the images will not leave my brain. By the end I am feeling so much, even if I’m never 100% sure why

Maureen: I THINK ABOUT EVERY SINGLE SPLIT LIP FLASH I HAVE EDITED FOR YEARS AFTER PUBLICATION. YEARS! I literally adore every one. This is not a lie. Every time I reread one, I am filled with joy, I am amazed by the talent of our contributor all over again.

For flash: What are you seeing in flash these days that’s making you yawn? Second POV? Breathless single sentence? Fragmented structure? Other?

Erica: As someone who has a published second-person story, I am a little weary of second person, unless the “you” is a surprise & me personalllly, I think I’d like to see less personified animal stories.

Maureen: We’re seeing lots of pieces with really cool concepts, but that don’t spend time on character development, arc, voice, or emotional resonance. These flashes don’t make me yawn but rather frustrate me; I love them but want MORE from them. A cool concept alone is not a story.

Hi editors! What are you reading right now? Any books/collections/essays/stories/writers you would suggest for writers who are just starting out or are unpublished?

Analía: Venita Blackburn’s “How to Wrestle a Girl” would be a great read for newer writers because there’s just dazzling range to it. Sharp voices, interesting forms. It pushes the idea of what you’re “allowed” to do I think.

CD: For poetry, currently reading and blown away by DECADE OF THE BRAIN by @ninejoseph !

Anna: I’ve been super into books this year that are about talking back to, re-imagining, or adding to archives & other official documents (Courtney Faye Taylor’s Concentrate, Carmen Maria Machado’s In the Dream House, Jenny Molberg’s The Court of No Record).

Rita: yes, I tweeted 40 authors for AAPI heritage month. just search on my feed

Krys: anyone who wants to live the writing life, whatever that means for them right now, should read alexander chee’s HOW TO WRITE AN AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL NOVEL. i like to revisit it when writing feels hard! 

Maureen: Anthologies are great when just starting out because they offer a range of superb writing. Some faves: The Best of Brevity,  The Best American Essays 2022 edited by Alexander Chee, & SmokeLong’s The Best of the First Ten Years. Every single piece in these books is fabulous

CD: Also, some collections I’ve found transformative to my own work and always return to are EYES BOTTLE DARK WITH A MOUTHFUL OF FLOWERS by @JakeSkeets; INCENDIARY ART by @pswordwoman; and FRANK by @dlseuss!

Youngseo: i loved danez smith’s homie because it immensely opened up what i understood as possible in poetry. and this is more in the nonfiction realm, but bluets by maggie nelson and white magic by elissa washuta are some of my favs ever!

How much does a cover letter impact your decision? Are there best practices you recommend? How much does name-dropping previous pubs matter? Thanks!

Maureen: I don’t read cover letters until after the piece. I don’t care about them. I’m excited when someone tells us this would be a 1st pub! So tell us if you are unpublished. Keep them short & simple. Don’t summarize the work. Don’t try to be cute. Don’t say anything offensive.

Anne: I almost never look at a cover letter or bio until after I’ve read through a piece for first impressions. I would avoid a cover letter that “pitches” or explains the story to the reader. We’re going to read it! Let the work speak for itself.

Krys: none, i don’t look at it until after i read the piece and all of our readers’ comments. the only way it would impact me is if someone said something really off color in it. say hi, where you are, words in the piece, maybe a bio, done. don’t fret if i’m the reader

CD: Agree with Krys! Short and simple is always great to me

Rita: no impact as long as it is short and sweet.

Youngseo: i submitted my first ever published piece w an empty email with no text, just an attachment. i’m not saying you should do that but also ur work matters so much more anyway! tell us whether it’s a simultaneous sub and ur bio, and anything else u want us to know but don’t stress :)

Wendy: What Krys says! And it’s absolutely okay if you don’t have any previous pubs! We would LOVE to be your first pub! You and your work are way more interesting than previous pubs.

Maureen: Related to cover letters, we’ve seen an uptick in thank you letters after declines. They’re lovely, but, writers, I feel bad you spend the time. You do NOT need to do this. We can’t keep track of them. A reply if you’ve been sent a revise & resubmit is appreciated though.

If you could say one thing to writers before they submit, just one thing, what would it be?

Erica: okay, have you ever been like: this is such a peculiar way that I exist in this world. I really wonder if anyone else has ever thought/done XYZ. submit that story :)

Analía: Double space 

Anna: Read a few pieces from the magazine, but if nothing else, read our guidelines.

Krys: the word count limit is a hard cap.

Daniel: Please please please read the guidelines!! 

Janelle: If, like me, you’re a hasty submitter, maybe sit on it one more day, read for clarity and flow with fresh eyes and THEN hit submit

Wendy: Remember that your work could be a lifeline for someone.