Archive for the 'Editor’s Eye' Category

Since joining in 2008, I have found Fictionaut a wonderful place to read and discover great writing. Taking a turn at Editor’s Eye has been an honor, and like those before me, a challenge, since many of the stories I loved received more than 5 stars. However, there was no shortage of gems, and I’m happy to recommend them.

Fictionaut is full of amazing people who love to read and write. But it’s very difficult to isolate the overlooked writer on board because they don’t stay hidden for long.

An excuse to put all my nagging concerns aside and read every single piece posted to Fictionaut over two weeks: what a rare treat.

I wanted to take all these stories home for dinner.

The voices here at Fictionaut are so diverse, it almost comes down to something like this: What’s best? A carrot or a hummingbird?

I confess that if the writer is unfamiliar, anything with a word count greater than 1000 words will likely be ignored unless the volume of comments and stars suggest I pay attention. I have a short little span of attention. But, if the first sentence or line is authoritative enough, I will continue without the comfort of other opinion or familiarity. Through such combinations of curiosity and serendipity, I make “discoveries” that often lead to serious enthusiasms for particular writers and those enthusiasms lead to comments, citations of favorite passages, and “faves”.

Sometimes the beauty of Fictionaut offerings is purely raw in the emotional sense, found beauty and truth presented entirely without guile. Yes, I can appreciate humor and clever writing, but when I recognize quality that I cannot so easily define as entertaining, amusing or clever, I am pleased beyond measure. Perhaps the key to that curious finesse is simply the indefinable essence of attraction.

As a reader, I am either lazy or persnickety. Never fussy, but I gotta be grabbed in the first few lines. I want to have my heart broken, my face smashed in, my pulse changed. I want to be inspired, destroyed, or both.

Joani Reese developed a Welcome and Primer, posted at the beginning of the Forum.  It’s a wonderful introduction, and I recommend it to everyone.  I wish I could have read its guidelines when I joined – what a help that would have been – but I’m glad it’s in place now. 

As an editor, I search for a writer whose work contains a mix of the pragmatic (as far as mastery of basic craft) and the mysterious /romantic /lyrical/ or humorous nature of plot or voice. I like a good yarn. I also adore a good laugh. Irony is my friend.



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