I was recently listening in on a moderated chat about the mechanics of submission in a Writer's Workshop on America On Line, and somebody asked the guest speaker for the night, a published author, "If an editor has rejected my story should I resubmit it?"

The author replied: "If you do, change the title first <g>"

Editors are very much like filter feeders: we burrow through mounds of manuscripts, reading thousands of words every day, and discarding most of it. However, some things stick. You can never say what, but some things do.

Suppose you decide to resubmit a story (perhaps you have reworked it, or perhaps you are convinced that the editor was just plain wrong). Let's also suppose that you neglect to tell the editor that the story is a resubmission (Wouldn't want to prejudice the editor's mind, now, would you?).

Two things can happen:

1. First, the editor can read the story and reject it again (we really don't make that many mistakes). Even if you have improved the story, you will probably not have eliminated all the flaws that led to the initial rejection. The story will therefore get rejected for different reason. This is the good scenario.
   
   
2. Second, the editor can read the resubmitted story and think, "this rings a bell. Where have I seen it before?" At this point she gets up, goes to the files, and searches for your name. If she discovers that the story has been previously submitted, you get rapped on the knuckles for resubmitting. If there is no file on you, she begins to wonder if she hasn't perchance stumbled across plagiarism.

This is the last thing that you as an author want. Because you will get a curt rejection letter, and all the other editors in your field will get blind carbon copies of that letter, with a paragraph tacked on warning that you might be a plagiarist. Editors simply cannot afford to risk getting zapped with plagiarism -- the costs are too high. They will do almost anything to avoid it. Including ruin an author's career. It has happened.

Does this sort of thing sound far fetched to you? About a month ago (May 1996), I was reading a vampire story (I edit for Worlds of Fantasy and Horror, and we get dozens of them), in which the protagonist, a girl, wandered out onto a bridge late at night and was confronted by the vampire -- her father -- who chased her. I began to get a funny feeling, and when the girl's mother, newly deceased and also a vampire, appeared and attacked the father, I was certain I'd already seen the story and went to look in our files. I found that I had seen it -- in January 1993. Hundreds of stories ago, but this particular one stuck. The author was lucky that our records go back that far. She got a nasty letter from me and the matter ended there. Had she submitted to a magazine whose records weren't as good, she would have gotten a rejection, and I would have gotten a carbon copy. Editors do talk to each other. Especially about plagiarism.

NEVER EVER RESUBMIT A STORY UNLESS YOU ARE ASKED TO. If the editor asks you to correct a specific problem in a story, do so and return the story with a letter in which you explain that the story is a resubmission, remind her of what the problem was, and tell her what you've done about it.

That's the only time you should ever resubmit a story to a magazine.

© Kyle Phillips, 1996. Like what you read? Find out more about me.

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