You’ve written a great story and you can’t wait to submit it. But hold your horses! Most editors have no shortage of good stories to choose from. Unfortunately, these can be let down by inadequate editing.

To give your story the best chance of being accepted, you should subject it to a rigorous editing regime. I don’t just mean reading it over, or even giving it to your mum to read. I mean examining numerous times, looking for specific issues on each editing pass. E.g., first you check for spelling errors, then you go back and check the punctuation, and so on.

To help, here’s a (non-exhaustive) list of key issues to look out for.

Spelling, grammar and punctuation

This is such a simple thing, but it could be the difference between having your work accepted or rejected. Devote an entire editing pass exclusively to weeding out those basic errors.

It’s also a good idea to find out which form of English the publication you are submitting to uses (e.g. UK or US English). Either way, be consistent with whichever one you use. Some editors might forgive you for using a different form, but be careful not to mix the two.

Consistency in Tense

You can write your story in the past tense or the present tense. Heck, you can even write it in the future tense if you want to be daring. But whatever tense you choose, be consistent. If your story begins in past tense, make sure you haven’t accidentally lapsed into present tense at any point. E.g.: ‘One day Bob went to the shop. He looks at the prices and groans.’

Narrative POV

Make sure you are consistent with your use of narrative point-of-view. If you began your story in 1st person, examine each sentence to make sure you haven’t lapsed into 3rd person.

Also think about whose point-of-view you are giving us, especially if you are using first person or third person limited. Check each line to make sure you aren’t endowing the narrator with more knowledge than he has.

E.g., ‘Sally cheated on me while I was backpacking in Rome. She visited Peter at his house in London and whispered seductively in his ear.’

While it is possible our narrator might know Sally cheated on him, he is unlikely to know the details. Therefore, the description of seductive whispering doesn’t work here. This also applies to third person limited. Whatever approach you use, be consistent.

Vague details

In short fiction, there is little room for vagueness. Make sure every detail drives the story onward, revealing a little more to the reader.

Suspense is good, but you will lose your audience quickly if they don’t understand what is happening.

A clear beginning, middle and ending

The story should begin with your protagonist facing some problem. Then there should be a climactic point in the middle of the story where the protagonist deals with the problem. Finally, the story should end with a clear resolution in which the protagonist grows or changes somehow.

It can be tempting in short fiction to create tension and then leave it hanging at the end. However, this is will not satisfy the reader. If you have successfully created a character the reader cares about, they will want to know how the situation unfolds. It doesn’t need to be explosive but it needs to be clear.

‘Hills Like White Elephants’ by Ernest Hemingway is worth studying if you want to see this done with masterful subtlety.