Our Guidelines

You may have noticed that our guidelines for the kind of stories we are looking for are simple and very general: anything that deals with the dark side of human nature.

This was not an act of laziness on our part, but was intentional.  We wanted to cast as wide of a net as possible – to not limit the subject matter of a story that you may deem worthy of our attention.  As you’ve seen from our first 3 issues, the type of stories and premises are all over the map.  Some are flat out strange or eccentric, and some have more of a classic-horror feel to them.  But they generally all share the following characteristics (i.e. this is what we really want):

• we are presented with characters that we feel for, care about, or otherwise are genuinely interested in seeing how they progress through the narrative.  Chuck Palahniuk has talked about his practice of focusing only on the ‘heart’ or ‘head’ method of characterization (making the reader care or empathize with a character because of the unfortunate but relatable situation he finds himself in, or making the reader respect and admire the character because of his intimate knowledge of a particular subject) and I tend to agree.  The best plot with the cleverest twist will fall completely flat if we don’t relate to the character on at least some level.  Likewise, a great character can make even the blandest story come alive (we may not accept it, but we’ll certainly ask you to keep submitting).
• The story takes us into new territory.  You may see this often in our rejection comments, and it means we want the story to present an experience for the reader that is beyond the ordinary.  Whether it’s the premise or the style of writing, it should be unique.  Readers have usually made up their mind about their willingness to get immersed in a tale during that first page, and if they don’t immediately think, ‘wow, this person really knows how to write’, there’s a good chance the story won’t work for them no matter how unique the premise.   And if you’re writing about a common theme, present it in a way that keeps us wanting to turn that page.  (yes, those first-person cold-hearted serial killer stories are probably best left in the trunk.)

So there you go.  We hope that narrows it down a bit for you…but not too much.  If you’ve got a story and you’re not sure if it’s right for us, toss it in anyway.  We’re happy to give it a read.  Just keep in mind that we started this zine specifically because we love the genre and we want to leave a mark on it.  To do so, we want each issue to be memorable.  Readers will keep coming back, the word will spread, and before long, Nossa Morte will be right up there with the big boys.  And your excellent fiction will help get us there.

-michael

Submissions — submissions@nossamorte.com