Report for Our Journal Discussion on 10.28

       I’m very glad to be one of the general editorial staff in fiction group. Three general editorial staff in the fiction group are responsible for reading  fictions, picking up good fictions and discussing with the fiction editor. 

       Before we read those submissions, it’s very important for us to make clear what is a “good” fiction and what makes “good”. So, our fiction group members set a few criteria to choose good fictions. Following are the five principles:

1.     The author shows the story rather than tells the story (using setting, character, and tension rather than description to illustrate action & create sequence)
2.     Good fiction should show the motivation of the character (focus on why & how).
3.     Good fiction should impart knowledge or wisdom (it can be shown in many forms such as give information about a place or teach sth)
4.     Good fiction should show the understanding of human nature (explain humanity, understand the world, what makes people who they are etc. so that readers could have space to imagine)
5.     Good fiction should entertain readers (entertaining means that it takes readers on a journey, arouses readers’ feelings such as making heart soar or sink, transport them from the normality of life for a short while before releasing them back to reality such as open a new world for a while)
       In addition, we also decide our target audience. They are people who under 30 years old. But the decision of audience is not the final result. We need to talk to other groups and make us have the same target.