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We asked Apex Magazine editor-in-chief Lesley Conner "What advice would you give to genre short fiction writers?"

“Why should I care?”

This is a question I find myself asking when I’m reading submissions, and to be frank, it’s one of the biggest reasons I reject stories. I’ll get a page in and find myself scanning the text rather than truly reading because I’m searching for some reason to keep going. The moment I catch myself scanning, I know the story isn’t for me and I pass.

What can you, as a writer, do to keep me from scanning? This isn’t an easy question with a one size fits all the answer, but I can give you a few tips.

Rather than trying to shove everything into the opening of a story (all the characters, voice, tone, expansive world-building), nail down who the story is about (this informs voice, tone, and character development), where we are (begins world-building and gives a hint to genre) and get the action moving. The action of the story should tell the reader what is at stake, and knowing who the main character is and what is at stake for them is what builds a connection to your reader and makes them care.
Remember I said that at about a page is where I really start to ask myself why I should care. Go back and read that first page of your story. Do you introduce your main character, give the reader a good sense of where we are without bogging the story down with too many details, and start the action that will lead to the climax of the story? The first two are relatively easy: you can introduce a girl walking through a park and you’ve introduced the character and setting, but the third is more difficult. Yes, I see that the girl is walking and that technically is an action, but does that action lead us to the climax of the story? Does it lead us to why we should care about the girl? Could be yes—the girl’s entire family was attacked and eaten by a group of vampires and the girl ran away and is now walking through the park because she’s afraid to go home. Hello! I suddenly care about this orphaned girl as she’s trying to figure out how to keep herself safe. Could be no—the girl is walking to work and at her workplace is where the real action of the story is going to begin. Don’t show me her walking to work. It doesn’t matter and I don’t care. The story needs to start at work, where the real problem of the story begins.
Be mindful of details. If you watch Apex’s Snap Judgment series, then I’m sure you have heard some form of these two statements, repeatedly: There’s too many details, it bogs down the story. Or there’s not enough detail, I have no sense of where we are. Finding that sweet spot between not having enough detail or weighing the story down with too many is a fine line, and it is really easy to miss the mark. You need to sprinkle in enough details so the reader can see, small, taste, hear, and feel the story, without giving so many that the actual plot gets lost.