Word Pirates

Word Pirates: What story plots are overdone and overplayed? What do you wish you saw more of?

Ellen Parker: There aren’t really any “plots” that I do or do not want to see. The plot, by itself, is never the reason I pick a story. Take any given plot and each writer will do it differently. How the writer writes the story is what attracts me. What draws my attention is ALWAYS the language. Given that, I wish I would see more original language. I wish I would see more stories that were told in a voice that I have not heard before. I can spot an original voice in the first paragraph—sometimes in the first sentence. Sometimes it’s just one word. I’m serious. It’s how a writer uses one word. Right away, I’m like, Tell me more. Oh, one thing, though. Maybe leave out the handguns. Stories that involve handguns are almost always dumb. Is there any other way you could tell that story without including a handgun? I’ll bet you can.

WP: If you could publish any living writer in the journal, whom would you pick?

EP: I would like to publish the short story writer Lorrie Moore. But I wouldn’t want to publish any of her castoffs. I see these journals trumpeting these “famous” writers on their covers and I read the story inside and it’s lame. It’s obvious the editors asked the writer for a story, so the writer’s like, Yeah, whatever—and drags some moth-eaten ditty out of a drawer. I would like to publish a good story by Lorrie Moore, with lots of exclamation points. A writer friend said he met her at a reading and she was a snooty bitch, but I don’t care. Her stories are so damn funny and original. No one else can write like her. Plus, I’m a snooty bitch, too.

WP: How many submissions do you actually receive? How much of that would you consider amateurish and unpublishable?

EP: It seems like our submissions come in spurts. I’m not sure why. A few days will go by and we’ll get, like, two submissions. Then the next week we’ll get fifty. If we were a print mag, I’m sure we’d get a lot more—but I don’t want a lot more. Now, I am wary of the terms “amateurish” and “unpublishable.” Sometimes a good story seems “amateurish”—because the writer has a pure, quirky voice that, thank god, has not been whipped into shape by a writer’s workshop. And what is “unpublishable”? Unpublishable by whom? Sometimes I tell writers, Send me your stories that you wouldn’t dare send anywhere else. Send me your ugly, messy, daring, sexy, “amateurish,” “unpublishable” ones. I want to see them.

WP: How much of what you publish is solicited vs. unsolicited work? Are a writer’s credentials/previous publications important? If so, what is likely to get your attention?

EP: When we were new, I solicited more material. Now we get a greater number of good submissions so I don’t have to solicit as much if I don’t want to. I am a participant in the Short Story and Flash wings of the Zoetrope Virtual Studio  and Sean Farragher, FRiGG’s poetry editor, participates in the Poetry wing. Many good writers are posting work there. The place is like a big ol’ slush pile. Both Sean and I have solicited work we’ve seen there—and made connections with many good writers. If you’re a writer who wants to have his or her work seen (and critiqued) by magazine editors as well as hundreds of other writers, join Zoetrope (it’s free) and post your writing there. But don’t get caught up in the Short Stories discussion board. It’s a freakin’ snake pit.

As for writer’s creds/previous publications, I guess it’s sometimes illuminating to see where a writer has gotten published, but it still comes down to the submitted work itself. Fairly often a writer with great creds will submit work that I think is bad. What does this mean? Any number of things. Creds are interesting, I guess, and, in fact, we might read a submission from a writer with impressive creds sooner than we would another submission—but we won’t take the work unless we think it’s good.

WP: Do you get more story, poem, or essay submissions? Which would you like to see more of and why?

EP: We get a lot of stories and poems; hardly any essays. This is a stupid answer, but we would like to get more GOOD stories and poems. More good essays, too! So, all you good writers out there, send your good stuff to FRiGG, especially if you’re famous.

WP: Would you say you are more likely to publish short pieces over long pieces?

Unlike many online lit mag editors, I do like the longer stuff. But I also like shorter stuff. I like ‘em long; I like ‘em short. Just depends on whether or not they’re cute.

WP: What is the process: Who looks at the submissions and what is done with them? How do you decide what makes it into the issue?

EP: I look at all the submissions initially. I pass on the good poetry to Sean Farragher. From those, Sean picks the ones he likes and he tells me which ones they are and I send an e-mail to the writers. I am the only fiction reader. I pick the fiction I like and send an e-mail to the writers. I also send e-mails to the writers whose work we don’t take, but those e-mails are a little less enthusiastic. We have a form rejection letter that we almost always use if we don’t take the work, but if we liked the work but didn’t accept it, I’ll send a personalized rejection letter asking to see more work. I do not do this very often. When I tell writers I want to see more work from them, I mean it. So, Sean, all by himself, picks the poetry. I, all by myself, pick the fiction. We both like it this way because we are, essentially, egomaniacs.

WP: When do you accept submissions? What time of year are you the most likely read for the next issue?

EP: We accept submissions all the time, baby. We are likely to read at any given moment, if the mood strikes us. If you are a writer who submitted a long time ago and hasn’t heard from us yet, send us an e-mail asking what the heck the hold-up is.

WP: What are your pet peeves about your job?

EP: I love being editor of FRiGG. Luvvvvvvvvv it. It’s hella fun. That said, I often flip out right before an issue is about to go live because there is some damn glitch with some damn HTML code that I cannot for the life of me figure out, and I use profanity and whine copiously to some people, but in a couple of days I get over it.

WP: Do you have any other thoughts you’d like to share?

EP: My daughter just started middle school and she is straightening her hair and brushing her teeth and wearing makeup and I am freaking out. Hell, just last month she was this sweet little kid and now—boom!—she’s this teen-queen wannabe. She listens to Black Eyed Peas. Ew! What on earth does she think she’s doing? I need some help RIGHT AWAY.