Summary: This week on Hide and Create, Joshua Essoe, Jordan Ellinger, Debbie Viguie, and Michael J. Sullivan continue their conversation with slushmaster, Richard Salter about the slush pile. Here are some technical gripes or red flags that a slush reader might have that you can keep an eye out for. 1. Slush readers find that mistakes like typos and misspellings indicate a writer’s lack of experience — so avoid them if you can. One or two mistakes in the entire story won’t necessarily mean a rejection, but a few in the first two paragraphs will! 2. “It was.” I get a little worried when I see a story start like that. If numerous sentences start out with “It was,” then the slusher is going to think, “lazy writing” and pass on to something else. 3. If everything happens “suddenly” — hell, if only a few things happen suddenly. Don’t tell me how suddenly something happened, just tell me that it happened. If it is sudden, I’ll figure that out if it’s well written. Taking the time to tell me that it is sudden kind of makes it not so sudden anymore. It’s a quite overused word. This is our season closer, everyone, so have a safe, fulfilling and wonderful holiday! We’ll be back in January. Talk at you next year!
