The Trials and Tribulations of Writing Submissions: A Chat with Professor Emma Törzs and Professor Ben Voigt

By Sarah Tachau ’27

Do you recall any part of the writing process for your submission?

B: I was working with a mentor, but I switched from fiction to poetry at the end of undergrad. I wrote this piece for an independent study, and it was inspired by and went along with an art installation. The piece was very narrative, but it had a turn near the end, a volta, and I remember thinking, “So, this is what a poem feels like.”

E: Well, my first experience of writing short stories was in college, believe it or not, in Peter Bognanni’s class. Because I started writing short fiction in creative writing classes, my experience of writing fiction was always sort of tied with the idea of deadlines and readership, which I think has actually helped me a lot. Having readers in mind, having an audience in mind, and working with deadlines is something that you continue to do long out of college if you want to keep writing. 

Was this contest the first time you submitted your work?

E: It probably was the first time. I don’t know when I would have submitted anything else. In graduate school, I started more frequently submitting the stories that I wrote. And one of the reasons that I don’t remember submitting to the Harry Scherman Contest is that I have submitted hundreds of times since then, which is just part and parcel of the writing career. So one submission, which I am certain 20 years ago felt so important, I genuinely don’t remember. 

B: At Macalester I worked with and submitted to Chanter, and I also started a writing group which I don’t think is around anymore, Thistle, that published work, too. I didn’t start submitting my work to national magazines until grad school, and even then, not very often. It didn’t truly become part of my process until later, until I felt more confident in what I was writing. 

What have you learned from the process of submitting your writing?

E: Once you start to understand the inner workings of how literary magazines are run, it gets a lot easier not to take it personally, because you realize that so much of it is chance, and that all you can do is the very best that you can do. The stories that have gotten published though are the ones that I’ve really worked the hardest on and thought were actually ready. I would encourage against submitting for the hell of submitting. 

B: Submitting your writing is an important part of the process from the professional standpoint, it’s one way you get to know the literary world and the literary world gets to know you. But it’s also an important part of your individual creative process–knowing when a piece is ready to share with those who are essentially strangers. So it’s important to do the legwork in terms of both processes: try to get to know magazines that you admire and actually fit your sensibility, and send your best work at regular intervals, once you’ve thought it through, shared it with friends, etc.

How do you feel the process of submitting your work has influenced your career as a writer?

E: The only way to have a career as a writer is to submit your work, because it’s the only way to get published. 100% of my career has been submitting my work over and over. I don’t remember the rejections, but out of hundreds of rejections, the few publications and acceptances that I’ve got have been building blocks for my career, and that’s how I started to gather readers, found an agent, and how I taught myself to write. You cannot get published if you do not submit your work, but you cannot submit your work until you have finished your work. So the work always comes first, then the submission.

B: Submitting is the worst, frankly. It’s right there in the name itself: it’s very humbling. Writing that you really worked really hard will get tons of rejections. But! It’s a learning process and it can really open doors for you. Even more, though, I’d keep in mind that the literary ecosystem is made of individual people and their passions. Literature in general, but especially poetry, is community-based. It’s very DIY, there’s no money in it, so people do it out of love, and I think it feels best when you’re engaging with it on that relational level. Try to bear that in mind: the people who are reading your work are people too, with their own taste, trying to figure things out. Getting involved, making friends through it–it makes it all feel better, and is the true reward of the whole thing, honestly.

How did you find what literary magazines were within your tier?

E: I really enjoyed, and still do, reading short story collections, and I would always see where the stories had been published individually before they were collected. That’s a great way to figure out where to submit. I always read acknowledgments, because authors will often reference where they’ve published before, and they’ll also thank grants and organizations, and that’s how I’ve learned how to apply for grants. Any university that has a good MFA program usually also has a pretty good literary journal attached to it.

B: Oftentimes the work published in an author’s chapbook, for instance, has appeared elsewhere first. If I really like an author’s work, I would always check the bios and acknowledgments to see where it’s been published. Other good ways to learn about them are through social media: follow writers you like, follow magazines, find themed calls, figure out what’s happening. 

Any literary magazines you recommend Macalester students submit to?

E: I want Macalester students to submit their work, but I also think that submitting short stories in college is a very young time to start, and once you publish something, especially these days, it’s out there forever. I feel really grateful that I waited to submit more widely because I’ve grown so much as a writer. Amassing a collection of work and knowing who you are as a writer before you start putting it out there is something to think about.  

B: I really like The Adroit Journal. They’re online, they take poems and a wide range of prose. They’ve also got contests for younger writers, as well as a mentorship program for high school students.

If you could go back and give your senior year self advice for submitting work, what would it be?

E: Maybe this is cheating, but I actually feel so content with the trajectory that my work has taken. I can say that now, but if you asked me six years ago, I probably would have had a really different answer. So I guess I would just say, like, keep trucking, keep going, keep finishing work, reading, writing. That’s the only thing you can do, and keep your writing friends. What’s kept me going is having a bunch of writer friends and a literary community. Also, submit to every contest that has a monetary prize, because you never know. Oh and if anybody tries to charge you to publish your work, don’t do it.

B: I’d tell myself that submitting work is part of the process, do your work finding your place or your tier, to some extent. I’d say you’ll face tons of rejection, everyone has to go through that all the time, it never ends, and it’s not personal. I’d also recommend being part of the literary culture; work for Chanter, do internships, learn what makes a poem stand out.

The Words would like to thank Professor Emma Törzs and Professor Ben Voigt for their time and insight!