How to be publishable (according to Damon Knight, Creating Short Fiction):

Editors look for a number of things, including:

– A sense of the transaction between the author and the reader. If you’re writing as if you have no readers, you’ll be right. Knight’s imaginary reader is someone who shares all his tastes but is a little smarter than him and knows more (so he has to be careful not to do anything stupid).

– A sense of form. The story needs a discernible shape.

– A command of language, including some knowledge of how to assemble words into phrases and sentences, and a good active vocabulary. [Also, I would add, some knowledge of how language is used to create fictional effects.]

#shortfiction