Allison Amend, whose debut short story collection, Things That Pass for Love, will be published in October 2008 by OV Books, offers her suggestions for how to get your short story collection in publishable shape. Here’s a sample:
“Order matters. I do not cook. And I have never understood why you need to mix the dry ingredients together before you add the liquid ones. But it makes a difference. Similarly, the order of stories in a collection adheres to some alchemical rule. Just as a story that starts in the wrong place feels wrong, a collection that is out of order just feels off, which is all the excuse an editor, looking to winnow the pile of excellent manuscripts, needs to dismiss yours.”
(Link via Emerging Writers Network.)
