"I Love Complex Characters." A Chat With Colby Ornell & Katie Edkins Milligan, Fiction Editors of Gulf Coast

Editors of University of Houston lit mag take us behind the scenes

Another editor interview is complete!

Today I had the joy of chatting with Colby Ornell and Katie Edkins Milligan, Fiction Editors of Gulf Coast. Colby and Katie were great fun to talk to, and there was a terrific turnout of participants as well. A bright patch of literary light on this cold January day!

Gulf Coast is a student-run lit mag at the University of Houston, Texas. Colby and Katie are enrolled in the PhD and MFA programs, respectively. Here we talked about the journal’s founding, the legacy of Donald Barthelme who was a big contributor to the Texas literary scene, and what takes place behind the scenes at Gulf Coast’s editorial meetings.

At these meetings (which occasionally last up to five hours!) each editor comes prepared to discuss the submissions they’re most excited about, and the students debate and discuss the work. Colby noted that they mostly talk about the strengths of the work, and both editors said they try to avoid publishing too many works in a single issue that touch on one particular theme.

What are some common reasons for rejection? Both editors emphasized the importance of story endings and beginnings. It is in these moments that a story will be elevated from a strong piece of writing to a must-publish piece of writing.

Also, on the subject of writing about the pandemic, Katie observed that the most successful stories are set in pandemic-times, but aren’t necessarily about pandemic-times. A piece that was recently accepted for the magazine was in the world of the pandemic but didn’t try too hard to address the subject directly.

Gulf Coast collaborates with the Texas journal Art Lies, and, since 2013, “commits sixteen pages to full-color visual art features and twenty-four pages to critical art writing in each issue.”

In addition to visual art and art criticism, the magazine publishes fiction, nonfiction, and poetry in print three times a year, and web exclusives on an ongoing basis. They also runs several contests annually. General submissions are open now.

To everyone who came out to participate today, thank you for tuning in! I love seeing your faces!

And a huge thank you to Colby and Katie for taking the time today to peel back the curtain of another amazing little magazine.

Happy viewing!

Please note: Our interview with Thom Didato of failbetter did not take place yesterday. A special thank you to those who showed up. (We ended up having a grand old time discussing lit mag submissions, life in an RV, and the secrets of French cuisine. I did not learn much about failbetter magazine, but I did learn a great deal about how to find the freshest carrots! A rescheduled interview will Thom will take place in February. Stay tuned.)

Also, reminder: Our next event will be a chat with Jenn Scheck-Kahn, Founder of Journal of the Month. Jenn is a friend of Lit Mag News Roundup and has done so much for the world of literary magazines. We are going to chat about all things lit mag—what more writers should know about submitting to journals, what goes on behind the scenes of many lit mags, the pros and cons of taking on literary side projects, building a literary community, and much more fun stuff. This will take place on January 21st at 11am est. Learn more and register here.