An Editing Checklist for Short Story Submissions: 10 Things to Check Before You Send
The last line is written, the file is saved, and the temptation is to send it while the enthusiasm is still warm. Resist that for an hour or two. Editors and competition readers see a great many near-misses, and most fail on details that have nothing to do with talent: a synopsis that hides the ending, a file called "final version 3", a 4,200-word story sent to a market with a 3,000-word limit. None of it is hard to fix. All of it is easier to catch before you press send.
Read It Aloud, From Start to Finish
Reading aloud remains the most efficient proofreading tool there is. You hear the dropped word in "she put the kettle on the table" when it reads as "she put the kettle the table". You hear the sentence with three ands in it. You hear the paragraph where every line ends the same way.
Work through the whole story before you start fixing anything. Stopping at every slip turns proofreading into rewriting, and rewriting is a different job with a different hat on.
Then hunt your tics. Use the search function for words you over-rely on: just, suddenly, very, began to, seemed to, a bit. Check dialogue punctuation (commas and full stops sit inside the quotation marks; each new speaker gets a new paragraph) and small consistencies: hyphenation, "Dad" as a name but "my dad" as a description, numbers spelled out in prose, and any drift between past and present tense. Leave it overnight, read once more, and you will find something.
Follow the Guidelines Before Your Own Preferences
Markets publish submission guidelines for practical reasons. Ignoring them suggests you will ignore edits too. If a magazine asks for double spacing, 12-point type and the story pasted into the body of an email, that is what it gets — not a PDF in 11-point with hand-drawn section breaks.
Where there are no guidelines, standard manuscript format covers most situations:
- Name and contact details top left, word count top right, title centred.
- Body double-spaced in a plain 12-point serif, with page numbers in the header.
- Italics for interior thought and emphasis, not underlining or capitals.
- No coloured text, decorative fonts or illustrations.
Two quiet details matter more than people expect. Set indents with the paragraph formatting rather than by tapping the tab or space bar, and give the file a sensible name — Surname_Title.docx, or whatever pattern the guidelines specify.
Word Count, Counted Honestly
Count the story, not the title page, synopsis or cover letter. If the limit is 3,000 words, 3,100 is not close enough; limits are often hard, whether because of print space or judging rules.
If you are over, cut rather than squeeze. Look for the scene that repeats an earlier one, the paragraph of backstory the reader could infer, the exchange of pleasantries before the argument. Removing 400 words from a 3,400-word story usually sharpens it. Shaving adjectives until the prose goes bloodless does not.
And if a story is genuinely 5,000 words and the market wants 2,500, send it somewhere else. Halving a story rarely leaves you with a good 2,500-word story; it leaves you with a summary of the one you wrote.
Interrogate the First Paragraph and the Last
Most readers give a story a page before deciding. Check that yours begins where the story begins. Weather, a character waking up, a drive with the radio on — none of these are forbidden, but they have to earn their space, and often they are the author warming up rather than the story starting.
Look hard at the first sentence. Does it offer a voice, a situation, or a question worth following? "It was a cold morning in March" asks for nothing. "My mother sold the piano on a Tuesday and told me about it on Friday" gives you something to hold.
Now the final paragraph. If it explains what the story means, cut the explanation and end a line or two earlier. Trust the reader to arrive without a guide. Then reconsider the title: a good one adds a slant, an image or an irony. A title that only labels the setting is a wasted chance.
The Synopsis Is a Map, Not a Teaser
Some markets want a synopsis. When they do, include the ending. Withholding the resolution to preserve suspense misunderstands the form: the synopsis tells an editor what the story does, so they can decide whether to read it.
Write it in the present tense, one page or less unless told otherwise, with three or four named characters at most. Follow the spine: who wants what, what stands in the way, what they do about it, what it costs them. A sentence might run: "When her brother sells the family piano, Maura stops speaking to him; she later learns the money paid for his treatment, and the reconciliation comes too late for either of them to feel clean about it." The ending is right there.
Leave out the thematic statement, the comparison to famous writers, and any line about the reader being surprised.
The Cover Letter: Three Short Paragraphs
First paragraph: the story's title, word count, genre if it helps, and one specific line about why this market — a story you admired, an issue you read, a call for submissions you are answering.
Second: a sentence or two of relevant biography. Previous publications if you have them; if you do not, say nothing and apologise for nothing.
Third: thanks, and your name.
Keep the whole thing under 200 words. Do not summarise the plot, mention other rejections, or ask for feedback unless the guidelines invite it. Check the editor's name and the market's name one final time. Addressing your cover letter to the previous magazine you submitted to is a memorable way to look careless.
The Ten-Point Check Before You Press Send
- Guidelines open beside the document, every requirement ticked.
- Word count accurate and inside the limit.
- Spacing, font size and margins match what was asked for.
- File named as specified, in the specified format.
- Your name removed from the story file if the market reads anonymously.
- First and last paragraphs read aloud one more time.
- Synopsis included, if requested, with the ending intact.
- Cover letter: right market, right editor, no typos.
- Attachments genuinely attached; subject line as instructed.
- Submission logged with market, date and expected response time.
Then send it, and start something else. A story that sits in a folder waiting for one more polish is doing nothing for you, and the next draft is where the real improvement happens.
Photo: Kindel Media / Pexels
