Meet the Reader: Eric Rasmussen

Our readers are a treasured part of the Split Lip FAM. They work hard and handle your words with the utmost thought and care, and we want you to know them! So, welcome to Meet the Reader, where we pull back the curtain and ask our poetry, fiction, and flash readers: what makes you say yes to a submission? First up is fiction reader Eric Rasmussen: 

"I wish my answer was something that would actually help new or emerging writers, like 'stories about garbagemen!' or 'stories that feature scenes where characters tear their homes apart looking for listening devices!' But what makes me say yes is more elusive. The story needs to be about something new, something different from the hundreds of stories about divorce and traveling abroad and werewolves that I’ve read from slush piles. And the writing needs to be adept, needs to show skill in voice and pacing and all those elements that must be felt, not constructed. More than anything, stories from people who’ve put in the work always shine through. Keep working at it, and I’ll say yes."

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Eric Rasmussen teaches high school English in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. He is pursuing an MFA from Augsburg College, and his work is featured or upcoming in Fugue, Sundog Lit, Pithead Chapel, Black Fox Literary, and Volume One Magazine, among others. In addition to reading fiction for Split Lip, he serves as editor of the regional literary journal Barstow & Grand. www.theotherericrasmussen.com