We Do Not Demand You Write To Our Aesthetic

I’ve seen a number of cover letters lately alluding to our “edgy aesthetic,” and how stories are a good fit for that “edgy aesthetic.” You don’t have to write edgy stories for us to love your writing. My love of dirty realism is pretty well-documented but that is by no means the only kind of writing I love and M. Bartley has his own literary loves and between the two of us, there is balance. You don’t have to try and force things by trying to push your story artificially. We can tell when you’re doing this. It’s uncomfortable. If you’re writing about a fireman, for example, he doesn’t have to wear women’s underwear to be interesting though if he does wear women’s underwear because he likes the way it keeps him snug, we’re totally fine with that. We appreciate the gesture but would rather read what you think is your best work, what you think is the best reflection of who you are as a writer. Yes, we have an aesthetic and we are interested in curating that aesthetic but we would like to think our aesthetic is flexible enough to include all kinds of writing and in looking at the writing we publish that flexibility can be found. Our aesthetic is dynamic, not static. It evolves because our tastes evolve, because we grow and learn and try, every day, to become better editors who are open-minded. We are not necessarily looking for work that mirrors what we’ve published. When we say, “This isn’t right for PANK,” that doesn’t mean that you need to change your writing style. It means try again but be yourself. When we say, “Read PANK,” we are asking you to give us money by subscribing (which you totally should because PANK 5 is going to blow your head off) or to check out our monthly issues AND we’re asking you to understand that the bar is very high because our writers are, simply put, the greatest. We want you to get a sense of what we love but we don’t want you to feel like the writing we publish is all we love.

We are looking for writing we would have never thought to publish until your brilliance came long.

Unless you are writing about cats in which case, sorry.It’s not going to happen.

Also, we are having a contest with a very reasonable entry fee of $10 for one entry or $15 for two entries. There is a very nice prize. Take a chance! Support PANK!