We get far more submissions for every issue than we could possibly publish. Even with the option of online-only feature articles, we only have so much staff editing time and reader attention. Here are some tips for writing articles for Friends Journal. It’s a bit of a behind-the-scenes glimpse into what we look for.
The first bit of advice is to give our editorial submission guidelines a good once-over. The introduction is instructive:
We prefer articles written in a fresh, nonâacademic style. Friends value an experiential approach to life and religious thought. Our readers particularly value articles on: exploring Friendsâ testimonies and beliefs; integrating faith, work, and home lives; historical and contemporary Friends; social concerns and actions; and the variety of beliefs across the branches of Friends.
Some of the most common problems we see are:
- Length: The average Friends Journal feature is around 1800 words. We generally only consider feature articles that run between 1200 and 2500 words.
- Second-hand work:Â We’re all influenced by others and by people that have come before us. It’s only right to give credit and cite them when appropriate. But when a piece leans too heavily on a single source, it makes us ask why we shouldn’t publish something written by that person instead.
- Structure:Â It’s important to think about the structure of an article. A good feature will have a couple of big ideas and weave them together with personal stories in a way that keeps the storytelling flowing. An alternating mix of personal anecdotes with exposition is often a winning formula. If you’re telling a story about a process a Quaker meeting went though, try to avoid an overly comprehensive, blow-by-blow episodic narrative, and instead pick stories that highlight key moments of the discernment and decision-making process.
- Have the article stand on its own: Don’t built it around another article you read in FJ in such a way that people have to dig up their old issues to understand what you’re saying. Don’t refer to the prompts in our calls-for-submission.
- Avoid the memoir: Similarly, an episodic story focused too much on yourself (“I did this, I did that”) can quickly come to feel repetitive and so specific that it loses its value as a teaching tool others will want to read. Friends Journal values personal stories, but they should be chosen to highlight the specific concerns you’re making with the article. One tip: if you do a Control-F search in your article for “I ” and come up with more than 30 results, you should probably restructure your article.
- Avoid PR: We generally don’t accept articles written to publicize the work of an organization, including fundraising calls-to-action or announcements of upcoming events. Please consider contacting our advertising department or placing a classified ad instead. We also run a biannual Quaker Works department open to eligible Quaker organizations.
- Avoid outlines:Â Submitted articles should not retain elements of their structural outlines. Finished pieces should use bullet points very sparingly. Specifically Quaker outline structures to be avoided are lists of queries or paragraphs built around the “SPICES” list.
- Previous publication: In general, submissions should not have been published elsewhere. We donât want readers opening our magazine and realizing halfway through that theyâve already read something in it. We realize ideas sometimes get a first threshing in blog posts or in low-circulation newsletters, but still prefer something written with print publication in mind.
- Why Friends Journal? There are not many venues for Quaker writing. We get some general spirituality submissions that could be published in a dozen other magazines and others that could only be published in Friends Journal. Authors donât need to be Quaker and an article doesn’t need to focus on Friends, but the piece should have some sort of hook that will make it of interest to our readership.
When youâre ready to send us something, please use the Submittable service so that we will have all of your information on file.