Daniel Davis Wood

Fiction at 3:AM

I’ve been the Fiction Editor at 3:AM Magazine since 2023. I commission, edit, and publish around thirty pieces of prose per year. I say “pieces of prose,” not “stories,” because fiction at 3:AM tends to be formally irreverent, innovative, or indeterminate. Occasionally, I’ll publish standalone excerpts from novels that display similar qualities.

Over on Substack, I’ve written some notes on what I’m looking for as an editor, as well as some reflections on the qualities I appreciate about the work I publish at 3:AM. Very broadly, I’ve identified thirteen varieties of prose that I favour in one way of another:

Submissions to 3:AM usually open in December each year and close in January of the following year. In the call-out for submissions, I always say that I don’t really have a preference for any particular genre; I’m much more interested in form. Here’s my general advice: “The only requirement is inventiveness of style or structure — or, preferably, both. There are no prescriptions on what this might look like in practice — a short, sharp sentence of Lutzian terseness is as welcome as a Bernhardian rant — except to say that your work has to have a voice or a timeflow that distinguishes it from the sort of stuff that usually wins accolades.” I also recommend that prospective writers take a look at these dozen pieces of prose to get a sense of what I always hope to publish:

  • Kevin Barry, ‘See the Tree, How Big It’s Grown’
  • Claire-Louise Bennett, anything from Pond
  • Gabriel Blackwell, ‘(    )’
  • Rob Doyle, ‘John-Paul Finnegan, Paltry Realist’
  • Camilla Grudova, ‘Notes From a Spider’
  • David Hayden, ‘Leckerdam of the Golden Hand’
  • Jo Lloyd, ‘My Bonny’
  • Linda Mannheim, ‘The Young Woman Sleeps While the Artist Paints Her’
  • Helen McClory, ‘Take Care, I Love You’
  • Joseph Scapellato, ‘Snake Canyon’
  • Cathy Sweeney, ‘The Woman With Too Many Mouths’
  • Eley Williams, ‘Smote’

Here’s a complete list of the work I’ve published at 3:AM, alphabetised by author’s surname:

< Return to Home