The Standard Magazine, Volume 1, Issue 1: The Measure of Fine Fiction

The inaugural issue of The Standard Magazine.

A new literary magazine for writers and aspiring writers that picks up where Writer’s Digest and Poets & Writers began — a place to show our work and how we approach the pathway to truthful publication. Every issue pairs original fiction with a nonfiction craft feature exploring how fine fiction works and why it matters. This issue asks the foundational question: Why do we need better fiction?

The Standard does not accept or commission outside submissions. Every original work of fiction in this magazine is written by a student in the Story Grid Writer Mentorship Program and edited by a Story Grid editor. The stories are not illustrations of a theory — they are proofs of concept, evidence that the Story Grid methodology produces real work that meets a real standard. Each issue also includes masterwork short stories — touchstones from the literary tradition that set the bar our writers are working to meet. Full color throughout. 108 pages. Original artwork accompanies every piece.

FIVE ORIGINAL SCENES

• Social Studies by Jeyla Briar, edited by Laura Graves, artwork by Sasha Davydova
• Styx by Sibley Dale, edited by Krista Adams, artwork by Ventiko and Layne Miller
• Guard Rails by Lark Rowen, edited by Kallista Foote, artwork by Sasha Davydova
• Escalade by Mary Koehler, edited by Joanne Haines, artwork by Sonnie Kozlover
• The Game by Randall Surles, edited by Tim Grahl, artwork by Kimmy Quillin

TWO ORIGINAL SHORT STORIES

• The Candymaker’s Son by Ryan McRae, edited by Tim Grahl, artwork by Sasha Davydova and Timothy Hsu
• The Resident Ghost by Brent G. Spalding, edited by Tim Grahl, artwork by Clare Kim

TWO MASTERWORK SHORT STORIES

• The Monkey’s Paw by W.W. Jacobs, edited by Henry Mills Alden, artwork by HUNTER
• Xingu by Edith Wharton, edited by Edward L. Burlingame, artwork by HUNTER

CRAFT FEATURE AND MISSION STATEMENT

• The Lives We Dream and Do Not Realize by Shawn Coyne, edited by Tim Grahl, artwork by Victor Juhasz, photography by Victor Castro, artwork by Masa Shigeta Cover artwork by Victor Juhasz.

Story Grid began with Shawn Coyne’s 2015 book The Story Grid: What Good Editors Know, which introduced a methodology for analyzing and improving narrative craft. Over the past decade, Story Grid has grown into a community of writers, editors, and artists dedicated to understanding how stories work and why they matter. The Standard Magazine is the next step — a place where that work meets the page. This is where we are now. Not as an endpoint, but as a commitment to continual improvement.