Alzheimer’s and parents’ deaths lose their force as plot devices/ emotion tweakers after the 100th read or so;
Plagiarizing premises’ from famous short stories dilutes their power;
Using graduate school as a setting or graduate students as characters seems lazy and boring;
Plot remains paramount – well-written plotless stories dominate slushpiles;
The ability to convey emotion through words is rare;
You get one premise free, the others you have to earn;
After completing a draft, figure out what the story is (the story making machinery) and then write it again;
Having a PhD in English/CompLit etc. doesn’t mean you can write things people want to read;
MFA publishing slush pile