Reasons Short Stories Are Rejected

A controversy recently erupted over a short story contest in which the prizes were not awarded because it was determined that none of the finalists was good enough. This post is not about that controversy, but as a result of the controversy, the newspaper sponsoring the contest ran this piece by Steve Moran: Common Faults of Short Stories Submitted. Lousy title, but a valuable list (a long list) of things to think about when preparing a story for submission.