Jared Ward is the prose editor of decomP and a real renaissance man. We ask him some questions about facial hair, tennis, and alternate realities.

1. Do you have a beard? Why do so many male writers and editors sport beards?

No beard.   Had a goatee once, and  one of my best friends told me it was the worst  goatee in the world.   Worse than Adam Morrison’s.  (Google him.   That’s quite the insult.)   Not really sure about the other male writers and editors rocking the beards.   Speculation: They think it makes them look distinguished.   Or they’re lazy.   If I had beard-growing capacity, I would fall into the latter category.

2. What do you do in your role as prose editor for decomP?

At decomP I make recommendations for acceptance (or the occasional rejection).   Jason makes the final call on acceptances, but pretty much takes my word on rejections.

3. You’re not on Facebook. You don’t have a blog. I find that particularly interesting because you edit an online journal.   If you’re not online, do you exist? Why do you avoid social networking?

I think I exist.   The second question is better.   I’m private.    I want to put my work out there, but I don’t want to put myself out there — although I am doing this interview.   Hmm.    Plus, there’s the issue of time.   Between family, work, and writing, I don’t have a tremendous amount of free time.   Keeping up an online persona requires time that I would rather spend in other areas of my life.

4. You’re the director of a junior tennis academy. Do you ever want to throw a racket at a kid? How does one direct a tennis academy? What did you think of the Federer-Roddick Wimbledon final?

Yes, I’ve wanted to throw a racquet at a kid.   Many, many times.   One directs an academy by teaching group and private lessons, setting a tournament schedule that takes us all over the south, and constantly studying to become a better teacher.

The Roddick-Federer Wimbledon final was fantastic, and the last set was gripping.   Roddick showed all of his best attributes, and Roger showed why he’s arguably the best of all-time.   The only thing that diminished it is timing: last year’s final between Rafa Nadal and Roger might have been the best match of all time, so even a classic like this year’s doesn’t quite measure up.   Still, it was great.

5. What do you look for in prose submissions?

I look for pieces that don’t read like a first draft.   An author can get away with a lot with me, but I first have to believe that they put their own time into it.

6. What is the most common flaw in the writing you reject?

Unrealistic dialogue is up there.   Especially with long stretches of it.   I’m not sure sometimes if the author took the time to read it out loud, to make sure the cadence and timing jelled.

7. Other than PANK, what is your favorite magazine?

Honestly, I’m not sure I have a favorite.   Print or online, flash or short stories, prose or poetry?   I could list about fifty (lame), or name a few and leave out others I love (difficult).   Ok, second route.   In print, the Indiana Review has kept me subscribing for a couple of years now, and each issue is solid from front to back.   Usually like Mud Luscious for flash, StoryGlossia for short stories, Word Riot for a solid mix of both.

8. Has your editorial work influenced your writing? If so, how?

I think that the biggest thing has been the undeniable necessity to hook a reader in the first paragraph.   I approach the editorial process much the same way I imagine a reader approaching an online magazine: one finger on the button, ready to click away in a heartbeat.   If I’m not interested in a story immediately, why would I think anyone reading decomP would be?

9. decomP and PANK meet at a bar, have drinks, hit it off. Do they a. go to a sleazy motel and have a one night stand or b. make out in the bar but leave it at that or c. exchange phone numbers, start dating, and live happily ever after? Show your math.

(1/2 b) (1/2 a) = c squared

10. Other than writing and editing, how do you fill your time?

Micah Sol Ward.

11. What has been the most valuable part of the MFA experience? Has there been any part of the experience that was less than ideal?

I’ve learned from the MFA process a sense of professionalism, of respect for my craft, and I’ve been exposed to the writing and teaching of many talented individuals.   The biggest downside is that in workshops there seems to be a sense of critiques that aim to make the critiquer look good (which often includes the citation of some “rule” that is likely broken in every classic novel ever written), instead of truly meant to help the author achieve his or her goal of writing a spectacular story.   In fact, I’ve had the feeling that there is no story that would ever be well-received, unless the name attached was above reproach from lowly graduate students.   That said, in my experience the pros far outweigh the cons.

12. Other Jared Wards include a C-list actor, a ceramics potter, and a Canadian forester. If you had to assume the identity of one of these other Jareds, who would you choose?

No contest — ceramics potter.   I love being on the wheel, finding the center.   Good stuff.

13. It often seems to me that the only people reading literary magazines are writers and their friends. How do we broaden our audiences? Is that even something we want to do?

I definitely think the audience should be expanded.   And I think online journals are the key.   There is a resistance to the online world from the print world / academic world, which I think makes no sense, since it is another way to get more people reading.   I don’t share my publication history with my teachers or most of my peers, but when the topic comes up there is no interest in StoryGlossia or Hobart or elimae.   Yet the pieces I’ve been fortunate enough to place online, have been read far more often than those in print.   And I don’t see what the medium has to do with the quality of the piece itself, though the implication is that print stories somehow have greater intrinsic value than those online.   (Did I really answer that question?   Feels a little convoluted.   I would reject it.)

14. What is your favorite television show? Why?

NFL football and  ATP/WTA tennis.   I find them more entertaining than regular shows.   Unscripted, athletic, exciting.

15. What should I have asked?

You should have asked what writers/artists I’m following.   I’ve been big into three:

Writing — got Steven McDermott’s Winter of Different Directions. Looking forward to it.

Music — Bloodshot Records.   Split Lip Rayfield, Bobby Bare, Jr, and Ha Ha Tonka, all in one place.   Awesome.

Art — Saw this ceramist in a Columbia, Mo, gallery. Nate Ferree, has a thing with robots going. Very inventive, very cool.

An extra credit question: Favorite beer?   Moose Drool Brown Ale, Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, and Little Yeoman Pale Ale.

Erin Fitzgerald is a writer and the editor of The Northville Review. Today, she talks with us about alter egos, pop culture and the reality TV horrors she knows all too well.

1. Did you know that amongst the many Erin Fitzgeralds that can be found via Google, one is a well-known voice actress, another is a contemporary expressionist painter, there’s a lawyer, an engineer getting her PhD at Johns Hopkins, and a member of the MIT crew team. If you had to assume one of these identities, which would you choose?

The voice actress, because I’d have more valid excuses to watch anime and play video games.

2. Pop culture encompasses many things. Which aspect of pop culture do you enjoy the most and why?

As a kid, it was pure comfort to turn on the TV every Saturday night and watch B-list actors trudge onto The Love Boat. Now, I love responses to pop culture best. When people are confronted with collective experiences, they say and do interesting, inane, puzzling, and profound things.

3. Are you really Rarely Likable? Why?

I’m very bad at self-assessment. Instead, here are some similarities I have to Britney Spears. We’re both mothers. We have sisters who also have kids. We’ve both looked pretty stupid without intending to do so, particularly in the hair category. We’re both reformed Cheetos eaters, and still secretly harbor tiny crushes on Justin Timberlake.

4. The Northville Review, your fine fine magazine, is feed reader compatible. Why did you make that extra effort?

I love my feed reader — it’s TiVo for the Internet. It’s always bothered me that I can read almost any blog under the sun that way, but relatively few literary magazines, even online ones. Don’t get me wrong — I like nice looking design as much as the next person. But there are times when text is more than enough. Like at work, for example. Actually, reading at work is probably the biggest and best example

5. What are you looking for in submissions? Is there any method to how you assemble an issue?

I’d love it if The Northville Review received more submissions that weren’t conventionally literary. Our guidelines invite writers to submit letters, reviews, interviews, and other less specific types of work. The genre of submissions that most often misses the mark with us is, by far, poetry. So for the summer, we have a guest poetry editor who hates poetry. I have to say, that’s working out fairly well.

I let accepted submissions accumulate for a short while, and then I start grouping them. I tend to assemble issues thematically, rather than stylistically. As new submissions are accepted, I add them to groups or I start new groups. Sometimes I combine groups. Eventually, those groups become issues, and get assigned dates. Right now I’m working on this for the fall. There will also be some surprises.

6. What is your biggest editorial peeve?

I’d have to choose three. Extending an offer of publication only to be told the piece had been accepted elsewhere…with no apologies for not having notified us. Work over 2,000 words that wasn’t queried first, per our guidelines. And queries that include only a title and a word count. A lengthy bio is not a good replacement for a summary of the piece. Like many editors, I don’t really look at bios until I’ve already read the work and made up my mind.

7. Other than PANK, what is your favorite magazine?

There’s a lot of gnashing of teeth over the death of literature, but I think about a question like that and it starts to seem silly.  It’s like asking me to pick a second favorite breakfast cereal. There are too many interesting ones out there. In the print universe, some magazines I like are Barrelhouse, Keyhole, One Story, and upstreet. Some online ones are Freight Stories, FRiGG, decomP, and Wigleaf. Also Hobart and Monkeybicycle, on both sides of the format fence. There are so many others, too. I try to put them up on the “Elsewhere” tab at The Northville Review as I find them, and I love getting recommendations.

8. Why are so many magazines named The  Review? What does the “Review” stand for?

I can only speak for my own magazine. The Northville Review’s name is intentionally stodgy because I wanted to give contributors something of implied value. A writer can say “I have a poem in The Northville Review,” and it sounds quite august and impressive. If she wants to add “It’s a limerick about Motley Crue,” that’s up to her.

9. The Northville Review and PANK meet at a bar, have drinks, hit it off. Do they a. go to a sleazy motel and have a one night stand or b. make out in the bar but leave it at that or c. exchange phone numbers, start dating, and live happily ever after? Show your math.

A is out. Northville would worry that the next morning they’d go out for breakfast, and PANK would see it as a bedheaded hangover who whines too much. C is also out, because Northville is absolutely a slave to its vices. Leaving B…which would include long term hope for something more, and short term hope Northville’s not so drunk it pukes on PANK’s shoes.

10. Do you read every submission all the way through, even the excruciating ones? What makes for an excruciating submission?

I read every submission from beginning to end. Not always for the same reason, though.

Relatively few of TNR’s submissions are excruciating in the traditional sense, knock wood. Excruciation — in the sense where I have some torment about saying no — happens when the idea fits us but the writing doesn’t. Or, especially, the other way around.

11. Does your work as an editor influence your writing?

Reading others’ good work makes me happy. Being happy makes me take chances in my writing. Taking chances is good for my work.

One thing I thought editor duties might affect, and they haven’t — I still don’t submit work to other magazines as often as I probably should. I’m an overthinker, and that is much more compatible with being on the editorial side of the desk.

12. Would you agree with the assertion that the Bravo! network is the greatest thing to happen in our lifetimes? Why or why not? Also, are you mourning the cancellation of Best Week Ever the way I am?

I’m very sad about Project Runway. I don’t want to watch commercials for Lifetime movies during Tim and Heidi Story Hour, dammit!  I haven’t forsaken Bravo! completely, though. After being told for ages that I should check out the Real Housewives shows? I watched New Jersey. It left me pretty speechless…and keep in mind, I’ve watched every single episode of Rock of Love. I’m no stranger to horror.

The only thing I don’t miss about Best Week Ever is being kept on tenterhooks for half an hour about who actually *had* the Best Week Ever. Unlike with Blue’s Clues, my outcome predictions were never right.

14. I find your linkbuckets very useful. Where do you find your information?

Feeds, links from feed posts, Facebook, Twitter, instant messaging, emails, flyers on bulletin boards, everyday conversation. This fall marks my 20th year online. As far as Internet usage goes? I’m Keith Richards.

15. What question should I have asked?

If you receive a rejection slip from The Northville Review that says we enjoyed your work, and hope to hear from you again? No, it’s not just a nicety. The range of what I think is right for TNR is considerably narrower than what I like to read. So please, come back soon if asked. Really.

(And my favorite VH-1’s Behind the Music? The Leif Garrett one, of course.) (ed: That would have been a great question! Thanks for answering.)