Problem Child

Problem Child is an alternative college literary magazine. Our format fits somewhere between traditional literary magazines and self-published underground zines. This means we look for pieces that do have literary merit, to fit our collegiate agenda, but have more of an edge that more mainstream publications ignore.

To avoid confusion over what types of pieces Problem Child is looking for, our staff has compiled this list of tips for submitting to us.

Be Avant

We really like things we haven’t seen before. We tend to receive a lot of pieces about either a grandparent’s death or reflections on life while sitting in a coffee shop or laundry room. It can be the most evocative, well written piece we’ve ever read, but just because the subject matter is something we’ve seen a thousand times before, it’s going to lose points.

Now, if the speaker were a zombie reflecting on life while sitting in a coffee shop or laundry room, that’s something we don’t get every day.

Imagery

Imagery in poetry is good. It gives readers a mental picture of what’s going on in the piece. You don’t have to go overboard with description, but don’t be too abstract either. The less we can picture what’s happening, the less we can understand it, and the less we understand it, the lower we’re going to score it. That said… poems need to have…

Meaning!

You can’t just plug in images for no reason. Everything that’s in a piece needs to have a reason for being there, including the piece itself.

Also, try to make the meaning universal. Something that might have personal meaning to you, but makes no sense to anyone else, is game for misunderstanding. Again, the less we understand it, the lower we’re going to score it.

Getting It

We do read the piece more than once, so we don’t mean we need to understand it right away. In fact, if we got it the first time we’d probably think it was boring. We just mean that there should at least be a mood or a vibe you want us to get, something that will have some impact. If it looks like random words on the page after we’ve read it to ourselves and out loud, then we’re probably going to treat it like random words.

Mind Your Line Breaks

Line breaks are a major point of contention in Problem Child. Even freeform poetry has a pattern for line breaks. You can’t just hit return whenever your line starts getting too long or you feel it’s time. Please be mindful that someone else is going to read your piece, and if the line breaks are jarring and don’t flow, it can ruin the piece for the reader.

Trim the Fat

Again, it’s about meaning. If you start getting excessive with your words, you’re probably veering off course. We get pieces where whole stanzas could (and should) be omitted without any loss to the piece.

Brevity is the soul of wit.

Remember your Audience

Problem Child is a print magazine. Slam pieces or pieces that are meant to be heard out loud are not really suited for print media. The majority of our readers glance through the issue and read the pieces once. If pieces are too abstract or don’t read well, they won’t look at it again.

Rhyming

Our first reaction is to groan when we read something that rhymes. Yes, it is a valid feature of some poetry, but it sort of gives off an amateur or juvenile impression. If it has to rhyme, we like it to be more subtle than Seuss.

Lastly… There are No Rules

These aren’t hard and fast rules, they’re just tips based off of what we’ve seen in the past. We accept and are thrilled to receive anything you have to send us.

Surprise us, wow us, submit to us.