Fiction Editor Michelle Ross with Jamie Thome
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Last fall, we spoke with Michelle Ross, who is the Fiction Editor at Atticus Review. Michelle is also the author of three story collections: There’s So Much They Haven’t Told You, winner of the 2016 Moon City Short Fiction Award (2017); Shapeshifting, winner of the 2020 Stillhouse Press Short Fiction Award (November 2021); and They Kept Running, winner of the 2021 Katherine Anne Porter Prize in Short Fiction (forthcoming in Spring 2022). Her work is included in Flash Fiction America, Best Small Fictions, Best Microfiction, the Wigleaf Top 50, and other anthologies. To learn more, visit her website.
Here is our unedited email conversation with Ms. Ross. Please enjoy!
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As a writer and editor who specializes in short stories, what is it about this form that intrigues you the most?
MR: I love narrative, and I love concision. I love sharp, spare prose.
Also, my time is limited, which means my attention is limited, too. I work full time at a digital curriculum and assessment company, and I’m the mother of a twelve-year-old. I don’t have long spans of time to write—just a few hours a day if I’m lucky.
Thirdly, I’m a restless writer. I tend to jump from one project to another to another, sometimes in a single morning. I always have many stories in progress at any given moment—some that I’ve been working on fairly regularly, some that have been sitting in the compost bin for months or maybe even years. I don’t try to fight any of this anymore. I’ve found that it’s better to let myself wander than to try to force myself to work on something that I don’t seem able to make progress on at a particular moment. Short stories seem to suit this tendency.
How do you balance the two sides of the coin, writer and editor? How do the two jobs complement each other for you?
MR: All writers are already editors of their own work, so reading other writers’ work with an eye toward polishing it is just an extension of that. The difference is it’s a little easier to edit others’ work in a way because I’m less attached.
I suppose editing other writers’ work is a good exercise that transfers to the editing of my own writing. Maybe it’s made me more ruthless in editing my own work? Occasionally, I might keep a line that the story doesn’t absolutely need because I just love it, but I’m only going to do that if the story isn’t harmed by keeping the line. If the story is harmed, perhaps because the line doesn’t ring true, then the line has got to go or be revised.
Certainly, editing others’ work has made me more particular about my own writing. I don’t want to be that writer submitting dull or sloppily written stories. Good stories get rejected all the time because of factors such as subjective aesthetic preferences, and that’s fine; I can’t do anything about that. But absolutely I can do my darndest to make sure I don’t submit stories before they’re ready.
At the same time, I think that reading submissions has made me a tad more forgiving of my own writing, too. It’s helped me to learn to not overly sweat certain imperfections.
When reading submissions for Atticus Review, what are you looking for from short story writers?
MR: I’m mainly looking for stories that excite me. I want stories that spark, that are high in energy, that have momentum. I want stories that exude joy. I want to feel writers’ enthusiasm and dedication to the story. In terms of subject matter or style, I’m not super particular. I don’t have preconceived ideas about the kinds of stories I want to publish outside of that energy quotient.
The prose is kind of inseparable from that spark I’m talking about. That is, I think it’s tough to generate that spark without strong, polished prose. I said before that I want to feel writers’ enthusiasm and dedication to the story. Sloppy prose is a good indication that the writer isn’t all that dedicated; or at least that the writer hasn’t really put in the time needed reading and writing to master their craft.
This is a good place perhaps to emphasize the importance of first paragraphs. What I see in the openings of many, many submissions is both a lack of energy and a lack of polishing. If a story opens with high energy or polished prose, but not both, I’m likely to push past my doubts or frustrations and keep reading. Chances are, however, that a story that doesn’t have both these qualities isn’t going to win over the staff in the end. And if a first paragraph is both dull and sloppy, I’m probably going to call it quits before getting beyond the first page.
Are there writers that you devour regularly? Why are you drawn to their work?
MR: Mostly I like to read widely, but George Saunders is one of those writers I come back to again and again. He’s a master of voice and humor. And his stories are just so much fun. Eric Puchner, too—for similar reasons. His stories make me laugh. I return to Amy Hempel’s work again and again for the concision and the density of her prose. I also admire the modular way in which she constructs stories.
What advice would you give to new writers, whether young or old, who are just starting out? As a writer, what would you say to them? As an editor, would that advice be different?
MR: My advice would largely be the same in both cases: first, read a lot, write a lot, revise a lot. As an editor, I’m astounded by how many submissions I see in which the writer doesn’t know how to punctuate dialogue or use dialogue tags. As a new writer, pay attention to these mechanical details. If you’re unsure how to do something, open up a few books and look at how published writers do it.
Give serious consideration to what you’re writing about. Write about what you can’t stop thinking about. Write about what obsesses you. Write what delights you. Have fun. I say this both as a writer and as an editor. There’s not much joy in writing what you think you’re supposed to write or what you think others will admire. That lack of passion for what you’re writing will show in your work.
Revision is writing. Sometimes revision is a long, slow process. Give your work the time and respect it and your readers (and you) deserve.
Know that knowing when a story is done is sometimes tricky. On one hand, listen to your gut if you have doubts about a story. Probe those doubts. Are there particular elements of the story that concern you? Why? Can you do better? Be brutally honest with yourself. But on the other hand, know that taking risks produces doubt, too. Probe that doubt as well, but be careful not to edit out all the risks in your work. Be careful not to play it too safe.
I’m pretty sure all writers who persist get to know failure and rejection intimately. Don’t take them personally. Don’t let them deter you.
What are you reading right now (besides submissions, that is!)?
MR: I just finished Atul Gawandi’s Being Mortal, which I can’t recommend enough. I’m currently reading Muriel Spark’s The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, Gwen Kirby’s Shit Cassandra Saw, Robert Lopez’s Good People, Phillip Pullman’s The Secret Commonwealth, Robert Scotellaro’s Ways to Read the World, Paul Rezendes’s Tracking & the Art of Seeing, and probably a few other books I’ve neglected to mention. Just as I always have many different stories going at once, I’m always reading many different books at once.
Artists Book House Conversations are bite-sized video conversations between host Jamie Lou Thome and various book artists, illustrators, cartoonists, writers, poets, librarians and book collectors.
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Date: Published on Dec 14, 2022 at 4:58pm.
URL: news/2022/5/23/conversations/michelleross