How to Get Published

 

What is the Cross and the Cosmos looking for when it picks stories to publish? There are four primary things we look for in stories and authors:

1) Does the story hold the my attention?

2) Does the story fit within TC2's chosen genre (Is it speculative? Is it Christian?)

3) Did the author take the time to read the guidelines?

4) Does the author accept correction/recommendations?

5) Does the story have the potential to be amazing?

 

First and foremost: if I can't get through the story, I won't publish it. Nothing mean or vicious there, just common sense. If I don't like it, my readers won't either. Sometimes I can see the potential in the story and develop it, but it still needs to hold my attention from the onset, and I do have A.D.D.

Second off, TC2 doesn't publish non-Fiction or regular fiction what so ever, but! We aren't afraid of unusual dynamics, tempo, POV, or concepts within the story. The story need not scream “HI! I'M A CHRISTIAN!” nor preach to the great unwashed. If anything, we prefer that they not, and I'll post more on this in the future. The main point is that the story must glorify the creator, and even a story that doesn't mention God or any have Christian concepts at all can do this. I have a personal preference for stories with some kind of moral to it, but that is a preference and by no means a requirement.

Another thing to consider here is whether the author bothered to read the guidelines. Check it out, TC2 is the only e-Zine I know of that prefers either .doc or .odt format. If you miss that little line, guess what that means: you delay the process. What's sad is that our guidelines are tiny compared to most. I do all the formatting on my end, so there's little need to make the author do it.

So here's a favorite line: my story was nominated for awards x,y, and z and go the awesomeness award for awesomeness. What do you mean it needs to be edited? Look, I don't care if your work got the redundant award for redundancy or if Jesus signed it during the second coming, each and every story gets edited. If you don't like it, please consider publication somewhere else. I have had this conversation before, and the story wasn't that good. It had the potential to be amazing, once finished, but, well, I'm not publishing a story that's not at it's top potential. Period. Therefore, anyone who submits to TC2 needs to be humble enough to work through the editing process respectfully, gently, but also be able to explain why they did something a certain way. Who knows, maybe once explained it will all make sense? It's happened. So far, we've only had this issue once or twice, but it has come up and it is something that we consider a deal breaker.

So what makes a story amazing? To me, it has to be fleshed out enough to tell the entire story, but not bloated to where you're telling the life story of the grasshopper prior to it getting squished (Unless for comedic purposes). It means elegance that transcends the writing to allow the reader to actually enjoy the work without having to wade through the author's prose. Above all: it means holding the attention of the reader and leaving them thinking, “Wow. Just...wow” If you've got that, you have an amazing story. I should either feel like the story is actually over or be dying inside a little as I realize that I have to wait for next time. Make me feel, folks. Is that too much to ask?

In closing, remember this: take a few minutes and edit your work. Fix the mistakes and for Pete's sake, have someone else, that isn't a close family member, read over it before you send it. There are lots of self-editing tips out there, some of which will be posted here shortly, use them, better your work, and remember the golden rule of advice: never follow it off a cliff.

God bless you all, and remember: Keep writing!

Glyn Shull

Founding Editor - TC2

 

Last Updated on Tuesday, 26 March 2013 18:23

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The Cross and The Cosmos is one of the greatest sources of Christian Speculative fiction on the web. Where else can one go to get a fresh helping of Christian Spec Fic every month? Where else can pure insanity be mixed with the order and majesty of our Creator? Where else can one find Christ in the midst of all the crazyness? I tell you: nowhere but here.

So what is it? TC2 is a free e-zine freely downloadable and readable with any PDF reader on the market. It's portable reading at its finest. Oh, and did we mention that it's free?

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Last Updated on Monday, 21 January 2013 20:07