scene and sequel

We editors are hard at work finishing up the slush for our upcoming November issue of Electric Spec. Everyone who submitted before October 16 will hear back from us by the beginning of November. Thanks for submitting! And I hope you all will come back and read and enjoy the excellent new issue. :)

So...slush.

I've seen some stories which...how shall I say it? Don't have much story to them. That can work, but that's not what we publish in general. In our stories, some kind of protagonist has some kind of problem and he/she/it/they act to solve it. They don't have to succeed, but they have to do something.

Authors struggling with how to put such stories together may be confused about 'scene and sequel' and 'showing and telling'. A scene is a cause, it's an action, while a sequel is an effect, a reaction. A scene could be considered real-time dramatic action and dialogue, while a sequel is often emotional reaction, thought, and/or decision. I admit, there's a lot of jargon associated with writing, so it doesn't really matter what you call it. The point is in a scene there's action, there's showing, and in a sequel, there's often telling. A good story that we would publish, generally will have both.

So, look at your story: Does it have action? Does it have dialogue? Does it have showing? Does it have telling?

If not, perhaps you need to work on it some more. Or submit elsewhere. :)

Good luck!