Behind the Scenes Part 1
by Jodie Abruscato
I asked three of The Baltimore Review readers to share how the review process works, what they’re looking for in a submission, and how reading for a literary journal affects their lives. They provided a fascinating behind-the-scenes look at The Baltimore Review.
Julia Tagliere
What genres do you review?
Fiction, creative nonfiction, and for contests, some poetry
Some reviewers have jobs related to literature, and others do not. What is your profession, and how does it affect—or not affect—your life as a writer and reader for a literary journal?
I'm a former high school Spanish and French teacher, which gave me not only a very solid grammar background (something not drilled as intensively nowadays as it used to be), but also built up a skill set that comes in very handy for reading for a lit mag: being able to read through stacks of submissions quickly and efficiently, kind of like grading papers. Having been out of the classroom for 20+ years now, however, I've been fortunate to be able to devote most of my time to reading, writing, editing, and studying. The more widely I've read, the better a reader I think I've become, which in turn has made me a better writer as well. I think being on the other side of Submittable is very helpful in my own writing because it keeps me humble, patient, and grateful as I submit my own work. Folks who work for lit mags do so for the love of it, and a great many of them are writers, also, which helps me remember that even if I don't thumbs-up a submission, that piece is someone else's pride and joy. It takes a lot of courage and faith and hope to hit send on a submission, and being on the receiving end of those is a great way to keep the process in perspective and make me a thoughtful, careful reader.
What are you looking for when reading submissions?
When I last answered that question, I only noted things that turned me off, which is simpler to convey, but here goes:
1. Polish that piece. Don't send it without reading it out loud (helps you catch a lot of things before it's too late) and doing one final spelling/grammar check. Will we DQ you for a typo? No. Could it be the tiny little detail that makes the difference between two content-brilliant pieces? Yes.
2. A smooth read, by which I mean there's nothing that jerks me out of your narrative. Show your piece to at least one other reader and see if anything makes their attention stumble. Try to keep me in the narrative as much as possible.
3. A great opening line or paragraph. Hook me right from the start with something that makes me want to keep reading, something that makes me keep asking what happens next.
4. Remember that there are no new stories under the sun (my shorthand for this I owe to Rocket from the Guardians of the Galaxy movie, i.e., "Everyone's got dead people." Virtually any reader who sees your piece has had some of the exact same experiences you're writing about: death, love, marriage, bullying, the pandemic, a childhood trauma. That's not to dismiss others' desire to write about them, your story is your story, but for it to rise to the level of literary fiction, you need to find some way to elevate a life event to help me see it in a completely different way. Play with the language, find unexpected angles or voices or structures that turn the whole thing on its head and make me say, "Wow, I never thought of it like that before."
5. Make me FEEL. Explore tactility; how does something feel or sound or taste or smell? But avoid cliches like the plague (see what I did there?); try to find some wholly fresh and inventive way of getting me into your world. One of my favorite examples of this is from Ocean Vuong's On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous: "Then, your chin turning into a peach pit, you lower your face into your hands." It would have been so easy to just write, "Your chin wrinkled up," but with this peach pit analogy, I can see his mother's chin crumpling up as she begins to cry, I can feel it under my finger tip, and it's a lightning bolt of comprehension.
6. Lastly? READ. Read, read, read, read, read. Get to know the genre in which you're writing. If it's flash, read flash. If it's poetry, read poetry. Study those pieces, dissect them, highlight the daylights out of them to figure out what makes them tick. Trust me, it WILL make you a better writer. Read outside your comfort zone as much as possible. The goal is to grow, and if you haven't read widely, it shows in your work.
Is there anything you’d like The Baltimore Review readers and/or submitters to know about the review process?
Over the years I've been reading for BR, I've had the opportunity to work with some exceptionally talented editors and writers. Every one of them understands the sacredness of this work; we are thoughtful in our discussions, mindful of how precious your submission is to you, and downright giddy when we find pieces that make us laugh or cry or mourn or fear in ways that we might never have expected. There's just nothing like reading something that makes you stop for a moment and savor. We all have our preferences and our own quirky, little idiosyncrasies about things writers do that drive us crazy, but we all recognize that writing is highly subjective, as is reading, and what one of us finds lovely, another editor may find too purple, and that's where the level of respect and professionalism of the BR team really shines. It's a pleasure to work with them, and Barbara Diehl, our founding and managing editor, does a marvelous job keeping us all moving forward as a team. It's an honor to be part of it.
Adina Edelman
What genres do you review?
Fiction and poetry
Some reviewers have jobs related to literature, and others do not. What is your profession, and how does it affect—or not affect—your life as a writer and reader for a literary journal?
I work as a book editor for authors of memoir and fiction (edelmanedits.com). I originally interned with The Baltimore Review to gain editorial experience, and I stayed on as a volunteer editor. I love the discussions that go on behind the scenes—what we like about a piece, whether it might prove insensitive, or if it was missing a crucial story element. Editing can be a lonely task, and joining with other people in the field and seeing their viewpoint is so refreshing. I definitely take those different viewpoints into my own work, letting them broaden my editorial eye. And, as I gain experience as a book editor, I bring what I learn into reading for the BR. I'm able to more easily pinpoint what's not working, why something is working, or what can be done to improve a submission. It's fun stuff.
What are you looking for when reading submissions?
One big thing is voice, and this is something that reading for The Baltimore Review has given me a strong appreciation for. Many writers are still finding their voice, and their writing may come across as flat and uninteresting. It's hard to nail voice. But when you read a story rich with it, it's like an espresso shot in a drink. Everything lights up, and it can easily carry you through an 18-page story. It's just dazzling.
Another thing I look for, and this is particular to poetry, is fresh perspective. Turning something mundane into something new. Making the ordinary extraordinary. And not doing it in a dramatic way but actually making it real. There's nothing new under the sun, but you can use certain language to turn those sun rays into something you've never seen before.
Is there anything you’d like The Baltimore Review readers and/or submitters to know about the review process?
I think it's important for readers to know that it's not just one person looking at their work and then done. It's a team. And for those submissions that get close, there's a lot of discussion. Writing—and reading—is so subjective, and we understand that. Know that rejection does not always mean the story doesn't have merit. It might have needed a couple more revisions, or perhaps it wasn't right for The Baltimore Review.
Coming from the other end, I do want to encourage all writers to please take time away from their work and then edit again before submitting. It's inevitable that a piece will have typos or grammar errors but show us that you care. Show us that you put in effort to make this work clean and presentable. It matters.
Elizabeth Knapp
What genres do you review?
Poetry
Some reviewers have jobs related to literature, and others do not. What is your profession, and how does it affect—or not affect—your life as a writer and reader for a literary journal?
I'm a college English professor, so I live and breathe literature. It's often difficult for me to get into a groove with my own writing during the academic year, so summer is usually my most productive season. I read poetry submissions all year round, but as with my own writing, I have more time in the summer to devote to editorial work.
What are you looking for when reading submissions?
I want a poem to “take the top of my head off,” to quote Emily Dickinson. If a poem does that on the first reading, I know it's a keeper.
Is there anything you’d like The Baltimore Review readers and/or submitters to know about the review process?
I recommend that submitters keep their cover letters brief and professional.