Kelly Chastain - The Rogue MFA

Kelly ChastainJanuary 15, 2026

How to Find the Right Literary Magazine for Your Work

Last week we talked about submitting more to literary magazines and how to format our work like we know what we’re doing. Lucky for us, literary magazines aren’t all dedicated to capital L literature. There are several that shut the door to genre writing entirely, but there are also many who publish it exclusively.

Submitting to lit mags isn’t the same as pitching a story to a magazine. Pitching is when you submit an idea for a story, and if it’s accepted, you then write it. This is more typical for non-fiction work. Lit mags are looking for completed works that are ready to go for publication.

How to Find Magazines

There are a bajillion places to find lists of magazines to submit to, but these are the most helpful:

Submittable. This platform is also where most magazines house their submission portal – the form that you fill out to attach your work and send it to them. Here, you can search by genre, open calls for submissions, calls that are closing soon, contests, and more. You’ll need to sign up for a free submittable account to use this database. You’ll also need an account if you submit to a magazine that uses this platform as their portal.
Poets & Writers. You can sort by sub-genre like Historical, Speculative, Horror, etc. They also have a Small Press database if you’re looking to publish book-length work.
New Pages. Their listings include calls for submissions, contests, and they even have a list of Alternative Magazines.
Clifford Garstang puts out a list every year of the top literary magazines, and has a comprehensive ranking system based on pushcart nominations and prizes, anthologies, etc… He also provides his full methodology. If your work skews more mainstream (Historical Fiction can often fall into this category), you can give his lists a try.

How to Submit

Once you’ve found a magazine that you like, make sure they publish the kind of work that you write. I know that sounds elementary, but as someone who has ran a magazine, I cannot tell you how many authors crop dust the literary market with their story just hoping that it will stick somewhere. It’s a massive waste of time and money.

Before you do anything, make sure that this draft is as polished as you can possibly make it. Run it past a few people for clarity, if anything. Then…
Ready your document per the guidelines if you haven’t already. If you’ve forgotten some of the terms, we’ve got you covered.
Determine a budget you’re willing to spend on submissions per piece or per month. Submission costs usually range from 3-5 US Dollars. More for contests or if you choose the option for feedback. Some are still free.
You’ll likely be redirected to a Submittable form or an in house Submission Manager. The steps are pretty straightforward at that point. You’ll upload your work, following their guidelines.
You’ll also need an author bio.

Next week, we’re going to cover how to write that pesky author bio, and what to write if you’ve never published before. Later, we’ll cover how to track your lit mag submissions and why you definitely want to do that.

Kelly ChastainJanuary 8, 2026

Stop Hoarding Your Drafts. The Guide to Lit Mag Submissions.

If your goal is to publish more in literary magazines, we’ve got something that will help. And it’s boring English teacher shit.

I know, I know. I told you that I was going to give you all the lessons I taught at university without the university price tag. While this writing advice is going to seem seriously boring, I promise it’s doing quiet work on your behalf.

If you’re submitting to literary magazines, this is for you. This is not the same as pitching a story to a magazine.

Follow Industry Standard Formatting

(wtf is that, exactly?)

Now, you may have heard of industry standard formatting, and if so, skip to the next subhead. If not, strap in.

When you start submitting your writing to magazines for publication, it can be exciting to think about fonts and colors and how you might want to lay your piece out as if it were to appear in Vogue. All fancy like.

I get it because I’m a real sucker for exquisite design, and if you have had a years-long love affair with Bodoni or Lucida Sans, or are a champion of navy blue typeset (you know who you are), I’m about to break your heart.

Why Follow Formatting Rules, Anyway?

It boils down to the magazine staff’s time and workload, and how much of a dream (or PITA) you’re going to be to work with. And yes, these judgments are made in the blink of an eye, with one glance at your documents.

How do I know? I not only worked for a literary magazine for a few years, I taught a class on how to run and produce one.

Following traditional formatting rules shows you’re a professional who knows what the industry expects from you, and that you can read directions. Publishing often happens in specific timeframes, and good formatting signals that you can follow instructions, and consequently, there’s a higher chance you’ll meet deadlines.
If you submit a sloppy manuscript, editors will question just how much work your project is going to be for them. A lot of magazines run on volunteer or student staff, and they simply don’t have the resources to massage your piece into shape.
There are pedantic slush pile readers who will chuck your submission without reading a single word when the formatting isn’t correct. And they’re not being assholes.
With the amount of AI slop, and really great human written work being submitted, there are times when an editor is literally looking for anything to reject your work. Not because it’s bad. Because there isn’t enough room in their publication.

What is Industry Standard Formatting

Now that you know the philosophy behind it, here’s what you’ve gotta do when submitting prose. Poetry has it’s own set of rules, and usually goes against everything I’ve outlined here. I love those rebels.

Font: 12 pt Times New Roman (Georgia and Garamond are also cool)
Margins: One inch all around.
Line Spacing: Double Spaced

This is the bare minimum formatting that everyone will accept. I suggest setting up a document template if you’re working in Word or Pages to reflect these choices. A set it and forget it method to make sure you’re on track even when it doesn’t matter. You can do the same with Projects in Scrivener, if you write in that program.

While screwing up the formatting isn’t always a deal breaker, it’s always an impression maker. This is a simple and easy way to make your document shine and convey to the publishing world that you know your stuff because now you do.

Blind or Not Blind? What’s the difference?

Some magazines will ask you to submit your work blind. What they’re asking is that you remove any identifying information about you on your submission. So, no last name in the header. No full name after the title. No author information anywhere on the piece. If your email address includes your name, don’t put it next to the word count.

Even when magazines don’t specifically ask for a blind submission, I tend to do it anyway. I don’t want their slush pile readers to have any clue about me, and most magazines do this in order to fight bias. So, let’s help them out.

Magazine Specific Rules

Magazines are particular little buggers. A lot of them will have additional requests in their submission portal. Do your best to follow them to a tee.

They also tend to publish a certain type of work, either in theme, topic, or style. And they’re kinda the worst at telling you what that is. You will see a lot of this phrase. “To know what we like to publish, read a few of our back issues to get a sense of our taste.”

Which, to me, is lazy as fuck. Because you know who else wants to know the kind of work they publish? People thinking of buying a subscription, but that’s the marketer in me cringing, and also annoyed because it’s one thing to be published. It’s another to be read. Anyway….

All this to say, do what you can to determine the kind of information and submissions they want, and then follow that as closely as you can to not waste everyone’s time.

Kelly ChastainNovember 14, 2025

Writer’s Block Sucks. Here’s How to Get UnStuck

Let’s talk about writer’s block – at the beginning of a project or somewhere along the journey – it stinks. When it strikes, it can tie us to the chair like a hostage.

We’re going to walk you through a process that will help you generate story ideas in less that 10 minutes. Think of it as a generative MadLibs exercise.

Generate Story Ideas Through Story Components

At their core, stories are made up of components like Characters, Location, Time, Valuable Objects, Decisions, Fears, and Numbers. By creating a list that touches on these items, you can easily mix them around to generate multiple story ideas in one go. And use them to get yourself going again in the middle of a story.

As we go, list the first thing that comes to mind. Grab the worksheet above to help you keep track as you go.

Characters: Start with 2 names. It’s easy to get bogged down in character details up front. We’re going for story ideas, and that’s often messy and incomplete in the beginning. Embrace the chaos.
Holiday (or Time): This can mean the amount of time that passes while the story is told, the time period in which the story takes place, or time constraints around an event or vacation.
Location: Your characters must have a place to work out their drama. Choose something interesting to you, even if it doesn’t seem like it fits right away. Location doesn’t have to be a city, it can also be an event, or an outer planet, or a point in a process like a debutante’s coming out ball.
Something Valuable: Rare, stolen, antique, valuable or trash. List objects that might have some kind of significant meaning to the characters or the story itself, the more valuable the better.
A Life Changing Decision: When a character makes a decision, it impacts the entire story and all the players. The more life changing the decision, the higher the stakes.
Fear or Phobia: Fears and phobias are excellent tension devices because they add an additional layer to the drama. So, is it spiders, or the number 13, or something else altogether?
Number: Speaking of numbers… Jot down the first one you think of.

A word on Conflict

I have never dreaded conflict, but I have taught many who have. It’s pretty normal to not want to put your characters through it, but if we don’t, what’s the point? Conflict can be with nature (location), each other (characters), time, desire, a decision, a fear or phobia, and so much more. More conflict, more story ideas.

Sometimes it’s easier to think of what your character most wants, and then think of all the obstacles they’ll have to face in order to get it.

Mix It Up and Get Even More Story Ideas

Now that you’ve got your list, it’s time to start playing musical chairs with the components. Let’s say your characters are siblings. Are they squabbling over an object or reckoning with a life changing decision? How would that play if they were lovers or long lost friends or colleagues instead? What if they were at odds with the location instead of an object?

Keep asking what if, what if, what if. You’ll be out of writer’s block and back in business in less than ten minutes. Before you know it, you’ll have generated more story ideas than you’ll have time to write.