Transformative Explications

The well-meaning and generous-minded colleagues in my writing group sometimes encourage me to submit my short fiction to writing contests. I am reluctant. And not merely because of the disappointment that would ensue should I not be successful. That disappointment is readily available elsewhere. Rather, my reluctance is due to an insufficient understanding of the efficacy of such contests.

To be clear, I do not doubt the legitimacy of (many) writing contests. Indeed, virtually all of the Canadian literary journals and magazines that I previously canvassed host at least one contest for either poetry or fiction and several host multiple contests. The entrance fee for submitting your fiction to these contests is always somewhat more than the cost of a one-year subscription to the journal or magazine. But in most cases your entrance fee entitles you to a one-year subscription. So even if your work does not win, at least you get something valuable. Indeed, if you wish, you could consider the entrance fee as merely a market research expense. Of course this is somewhat more expensive than subscribing directly. But you do have at least the chance of having your submitted story selected for publication. Think of that!

There are also writing contests unconnected to literary journals or magazines. The CBC Canada Writes competitions are a good example. This year there were more than 3000 entries for the short story competition alone. I have no idea how that number compares with journal competitions but I suspect it must be somewhat higher.

I was going to ask who enters such competitions. But with the numbers entering the CBC competition, it must be nearly everyone. Amongst the ten finalists, there are numerous published authors as well as some first-timers. The published authors tend to have had a few stories published, possibly a collection, but they do not appear to be well-established writers. I’m guessing that at some point in one’s career it becomes either unnecessary or unseemly to continue participating in such contests.

That brings me back to the question of efficacy.

What is the relative value of a competition-winning work? Winning the CBC Canada Writes competition will certainly raise awareness of your work, and to a lesser extent I imagine the same is true for winning one of the literary journal or magazine competitions. And of course there is the publication itself, which in most cases is accompanied by either prize money or the standard remuneration that the journal or magazine offers. No doubt there is some residual effect, as you may forever after be apotheosized as “the past winner of …”

But how does this compare with the value of getting a story published in a journal or magazine through the non-competition route? Is the competition story published in the same journal issue with three non-competition stories considered to be of lesser, equal, or greater value? That’s what I don’t know.

And it makes a difference. There is no entrance fee for the submission of one’s work to a journal or magazine, other than the normal cost of preparation time and the cost to one’s ego when the rejection follows later.

Disappointment, as noted earlier, is ubiquitous. But is the disappointment I would receive from the rejection letter following a non-competition submission different in kind or quantity from the disappointment I would receive in not winning a writing contest?

All the writing/publishing guides agree on one point: before submitting your work anywhere, always investigate recent issues of the journal or magazine in order to be certain that what you are submitting falls roughly within the range of writing that journal or magazine tends to publish.

I prefer to think of this advice as straightforwardly pragmatic. Aligning your submissions to realistic targets saves time (both yours and the editors), effort (both yours and the editors), and money (mostly yours). There is no reason to treat this as the first step on the downward spiral to crass capitulation to the whims of the market (dread word!). There will be plenty of time for that later.

How do you set about investigating the recent issues of the many and varied literary journals and magazines in Canada? First stop for me – the library.

We have an excellent public library in Waterloo, and I’m not just saying that because it is within walking distance of where I live. I duly made a list of the twelve most likely candidates I would like to investigate and headed to the library. Alas, dear reader, the public library did not contain even one of the journals or magazines on my list. And I’m not talking obscure stuff here; these were mainstream Canadian literary journals. To be fair, the library did contain The New Quarterly, but as that is edited and published just down the street, I’m not sure that demonstrated much commitment to new Canadian writing.

Fortunately we are blessed with a fabulous independent bookstore in Waterloo – Words Worth Books. The folks there are definitely committed to new Canadian writing. A great many literary journals and magazines are available…for purchase. Fair enough. But if you are on a research quest you might want to add things up first. To purchase just the most recent issue of the twelve most likely candidates to receive my, as yet undiscovered, prose would set me back $135.79.

Back at the drawing board, I determined that I might have over-estimated the number of literary journals and magazines that would be interested in my, as yet undiscovered, writing. It’s highly likely that less than five would really be worth investigating. Or, as amounts to much the same, two, plus the one carried by the public library. Research, as we used to say when I was a graduate student, is subject to market forces.

This brings me to The Journey Prize Stories 23, selected by Alexander MacLeod, Alison Peck and Sarah Selecky (buy it at your local independent bookstore). Each year, the whole field of Canadian literary journals and magazines is canvassed and the best of the new Canadian writing finds a home in this annual publication. It’s like concentrated market research, but in the form of something you would actually enjoy reading.

The 2011 collection is of a high standard (not unlike the fine writing of the selectors). I did not find a single story here that I thought out of place amongst its peers. Some surprised, impressed, or startled me: Miranda Hill’s “Petitions to Saint Chronic”, Jessica Westhead’s “What I Would Say”, Jay Brown’s “The Girl From the War”, and Seyward Goodhand’s “The Fur Trader’s Daughter”.

Having read The Journey Prize Stories, I think it is safe to say that the literary journals and magazines in Canada are already getting plenty of worthy submissions, and I can probably save the editors a bit of time by setting mine aside. But what really intrigues me is whether, and how, these writers did their market research.