I’m joined today by the lovely and talented editors, Shauntel Simper and Jaylee Kennedy. I’ve had the privilege of working with both of these two over the past few months, and I have loved every minute of it. The anthology they’ve created, Above, Below, and Beyond the Sea, is a work of art, and I am so excited to be part of it. I’m also incredibly excited that they were willing to sit down with me and discuss anthologies from an editor’s POV. So let’s get to it!
Amy: Shauntel, Jaylee WELCOME! I’ so excited to talk with y’all. But let’s start basic. Why anthologies? What is an anthology, and how did y’all get involved in editing anthologies?
Shauntel: This specific anthology has the purpose of raising money for the ANWA Conference Scholarship. All sales go toward helping ANWA members who wouldn’t otherwise be able to attend conference get the funding they need to have that unique learning experience.
Anthologies in general serve many purposes, though. The most common reason is simply “for fun,” but I’ve seen plenty of other charity anthologies like ANWA’s. Back when I worked in publishing, the company I worked for would host anthologies both for the fun of it but also to get attention from querying authors who would often, in turn, pitch their stories to us because they had gotten a taste to how our process worked.
Jaylee: Anthologies are collections of stories based around a theme, but each one is told by a different author. There are many reasons why people would choose to do this, but the two I think are most common are these-
- A few well known names are included in the anthology to get people to buy it and then the readers are introduced to lesser known writers of a similar genre.
- An organization will collect stories from authors in their group and then sell the anthology to raise money for a cause.
In the case of this anthology it’s the second. The money raised goes to help other members of ANWA who otherwise wouldn’t be able to afford to attend our annual conference.
As for how I got involved- I’ve been an ARC reader of Shauntel’s for years and known her even longer. I have a history of working well with her and keeping deadlines. When she was building the committee for this year’s anthology she reached out and asked if I would be interested and I said yes!
Amy: Did y’all get to pick the theme for this anthology? If so, why nautical historical fiction? If not, how do you feel about it?
Shauntel: As the Events Chair of ANWA, it was my responsibility to pick the anthology theme. Historical fiction was recommended by my predecessor, as it was a genre that had never been featured in the ANWA anthologies before, but I was the one who put a nautical spin on it.
What’s funny is I famously (among my friends) despise pirate stories. I don’t know why. Frankly it makes no sense. By all accounts I shouldn’t have picked this theme because it would inevitably lead to me having to read about pirates. But I approached it with utmost thoughtfulness, and after narrowing it down to a number of options, there was no doubt in my heart or mind that this was the right path (and I even liked the pirate stories 😉).
Picking a theme for an anthology requires more consideration than you’d think. It has to be sufficiently specific enough to attract unifying stories, while also being broad enough to spark unique ideas, and it has to be likeable enough to attract writers. Nautical historical fiction has utmost potential for romance, action, mystery, and even a little bit of magic.
Jaylee: I did not pick the theme. I joined the committee after that had already been decided. The prompt sounding interesting to me was a deciding factor in joining. I’m so delighted to say that the authors who submitted did not disappoint!
There were some people who leaned more towards the historical and talked about things like the Napoleonic War or the Gold Rush. While others leaned more towards the fiction and gave us mermaids or ghosts. Many different people submitted and there were a lot of great stories.
Amy: What do you wish more readers and writers knew about the behind the scenes process of creating an anthology?
Shauntel: I suppose I can only speak for myself and the team I created, but we care a ton about you and want you to feel proud of your story! All our notes come from a place of wisdom and caring because we want you to look back on your story in five years and feel proud of it. I want you to have a good experience and, in the case of newer authors, hopefully help instill the confidence you might need to publish full novels someday.
Jaylee: Anthologies are generally judged blind. I didn’t know who any of the writers were until after we picked their stories. For this anthology the editors were also the judges. Our main criteria was: Did it follow the rules? How well did it fit the theme? How much editing will it take to make this story sparkle?
Editing one short story might not take too long, but 15 stories and coordinating and communicating with 15 authors adds up very quickly and can get confusing if you’re not taking notes and paying attention, so we try to stick with the more polished stories to save everyone some sanity.
It’s genuinely nothing personal if you don’t get picked. And just because you weren’t picked doesn’t mean your story was bad. Some other reasons might be:
- An overarching theme started appearing in multiple stories and they wanted a more cohesive collection.
- You were under or over the word count.
- More than one story with too similar of a plot was submitted and they could only pick one.
Amy: What surprised you most about working on this anthology?
Shauntel: Something that was imparted to me when I first took the Events Chair position was the advice to approach all things thoughtfully and prayerfully. I’ve tried to take that advice into all things—including accepting and rejecting story submissions for the anthology.
I will not name names, but there was one story that was about to be rejected (not due to content but because it didn’t fit genre requirements), but literally as I was writing the rejection email, I felt the strongest impression to stop. I just couldn’t hit send. So I turned to my group chat with the anthology judges and asked their thoughts on reconsidering. They all unanimously agreed that giving the story a chance, with the understanding that it could be tweaked to fit genre requirements, was the best idea.
Jaylee: The variety surprised me! I always enjoy seeing how different people will interpret the same thing. Everyone was given the same piece of play dough, but that doesn’t mean that they all made the same thing.
Amy: What tips do you have for enjoying anthologies or even submitting to future anthologies?
Shauntel: Editors order the stories for publication in the anthology the way that they do for a reason. I dare you to read one from start to finish and see if you can figure out the secret 😉 (hint: never overlook a story just because it’s last!)
For submitting, besides the obvious of making sure you follow all the formatting rules, if you submit a story that’s on the lower end of the word count requirements, it has a higher chance of getting picked.
Jaylee: Go for it! The worst you will get is a no. Even if you don’t end up submitting the challenge of writing something with a deadline in mind and trying something new is a great way to help with writer’s block.
Before you submit make sure that you read the rules over once more and double check that your story meets parameters. I would hate for you to not be picked over something as silly as going over on the word count.
Amy: What were some of the stories in this anthology that you are particularly proud of and hope everyone reads?
Shauntel: I’m admittedly biased towards the ones that ended up in my personal developmental editing pile, but that’s also because I took most of the horror-oriented ones (which is my genre of choice to write and edit). “A Tail of Rope and Stone” shattered me into a million pieces and changed me as a person when I read it the first time. “Beware the Sea” was perfect when it appeared in my inbox, and it’s even more perfect now. The author for “Pearl Island” dared to accept my tutelage as a horror editor and author, and she totally knocked it out of the park with the work she did. She did SO MUCH work, and I can’t speak highly enough about it. And the author for “Harmony’s Melody” took a story that was almost perfect and elevated beyond what I thought possible.
But that risks alienating some of my other personal standouts. “Seaflower” melted my crusty heart and made it soar. “Secrets of the Celtic Sea” genuinely left me sobbing. “Love, Lies, and Pirate Allies” is so delightfully silly that I was giggling the whole time. It’s difficult to narrow down favorites and standouts because I’m a sentimental goober who thinks every story has something special to say.
Jaylee: That’s a hard one. Obviously the ones where I worked the most on, but I’m really bad at picking favorites.
Amy: Okay, pie in the sky time. What would be your dream theme for a future anthology?
Shauntel: You want my oddly specific dream anthology project? For realz? You’re sure?
Genre: Dark Fantasy/Horror
Theme: F/F Dark Romance Fairytale Retellings
I wouldn’t run this one with ANWA though 😉
Jaylee: Ooo! Well fairytale retellings are my bread and butter so that could be fun.
But if I’m being honest… Adventurer Requested- A fantasy setting with different stories of people in an adventuring guild completing quests could be amazing. So many different ways it could go!
Amy: I would read all of them and shall keep my fingers crossed for future submission calls. Tell us where and when we can get our hands on this anthology.
Jaylee: Shauntel should have the links for that!
Shauntel: TBA lol
Thanks everyone for reading. Please note: Above, Below, and Beyond the Sea is available for preorder now!