Writers’ Resources

by Bewildering Stories

A prospective contributor acknowledges one of Bewildering Stories’ most distinctive features: communication. And our new acquaintance asks a pertinent question: what resources might be available to prospective contributors generally?

After going through the review process at your ezine, I realized that there were areas where my writing group could have been more helpful. We tend to focus on plot, flow and language but may miss the “big picture” a lot of the time. Do you have any materials that you have developed for members of writing groups to spot things in a piece that are easily missed?

It would be nice if we could pick up on these issues and address them before submitting the stories, because most magazines would just reject the story and not provide feedback.

Thank you for the query. Bewildering Stories’ is not the same as a writers’ group; it differs mainly by focusing discussion on particular questions of structure and style. In that way, its mission is primarily educational. I like to think of it as a virtual university seminar with an open subject.

When a new submission comes in, I do a preliminary guideline check in order to forestall about a dozen common problems. Please see the Review Readers’ Checklist.

Then, I forward the submission to a Coordinating Editor, who assigns it to review readers, who evaluate primarily structure, characterization and narrative logic.

Our Writer’s Craft index lists articles on topics ranging from spelling and grammar to analyses of various genres. The most frequently referenced articles are marked with a red star. And our Style Manual has what may be the briefest and yet most informative article on commas to be found on the Net.

Our friends Zombo and Zomba have some fun with common style faults in Speedways to Literary Oblivion. Aside from title choices, the most common fault we’ve seen in recent months has been some authors’ almost obsessive fixation on simultaneity in narration. We have two articles that deal with conspicuous proliferations of “as” and “— ing”: It Beats As It Sweeps As It Cleans and Fun With Present Participles.

Please feel free to share the information as you see fit.

Don Webb
Managing Editor
Bewildering Stories
“Ars longa, vita brevis” -- rough translation: “Proofreading never ends.”