Tag Archives: feedback

Call for Submissions: HCE’s Green Issue

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The editors at Here Come Everyone magazine (HCE) are seeking submissions for our upcoming Green Issue. We’re a tri-annual literary magazine of short fiction, poetry, articles and artwork based around topical and interesting themes. HCE aims to provide an open and accessible platform for readers and contributors.

 

The new theme: GREEN

Deadline: 10 Feb 2020

We encourage bold/striking interpretations of the theme. If your link to ‘green’ isn’t self-evident, we advise you to include a few lines in your author bio to provide context.

Green

Fiction: please submit only one piece per issue; stories may be up to 2,000 words.

Poetry: you may submit up to three poems of no longer than 35 lines each.

Non-fiction: please submit only one piece per issue; articles may be up to 1,500 words.

Artwork: you may submit up to three pieces; we accept all visual media (300 dpi and 640 x 640 res).

 

Please see our submissions guidelines for full details. Work must be sent via the submissions form on our website; stuff we receive via email will not be accepted. Any Word or .docx format is fine, but no PDFs. For submissions of artwork, please ensure your files are of sufficient image size and hi-res, otherwise they cannot be used.

We look forward to receiving your creations…

FRONT COVER Classified

To get an idea of what HCE is looking for, you can check out our brand new Classified Issue – now available for purchase from our shop! Full of short stories and flash fiction, plus art, poetry and other writing.

Manuscript-based Workshop with Claire Keegan

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December 7, 2019, 9.30am to 5pm

Dublin city centre

A unique opportunity to have your work read and critiqued by Claire Keegan, as well as to learn more about the writing process.

Tuition is 300 Euro with the submission of a 3,000 words manuscript, or 150 Euro without a manuscript.

There is only one place remaining!

To book, email ckfictionclinic@yahoo.com

Read reviews on Claire’s workshops and courses.

 

KEEGAN Claire

Subject: KEEGAN Claire – Copyright: Philippe MATSAS/Opale – Date: 20121017-

25th November. Flashy times in Bristol and Bath

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Bath-Flash-Fiction-AwardSome people write a  novel in November. Others write a flash a day. Join in the November flashy fun at Bath Flash Fiction Award’s ‘Flashathon’, an intensive day of writing and editing flash fiction at Trinity College, Bristol this coming Saturday 25th November, from 10:00 am- 4:00 pm. Be inspired by a variety of prompts from Meg Pokrass, flash fiction writer editor and tutor and current judge for the Bath Flash Fiction novella-in-flash award and Jude Higgins  flash fiction writer and founder of the Bath Flash Fiction Award. You’re guaranteed to produce at least six new pieces plus get advice, tips and encouragement on all aspects of flash. £45

NoirflashLater the same day come to ‘Flash Noir’ at, St James’ Wine Vaults Bath, an evening of darker-themed flash fiction . From 7.30-9.30pm. Six writers reading short- short stories. Expect suspense, mini-thrillers and black comedy from published  flash writers, Meg Pokrass, KM Elkes, Jason Jackson Damhnait Monaghan, John Wheway and Christopher Stanley. Cost £5. Free nibbles. Late Bar. Students can come free. Hope to see you there.

Book soon here for both events

Windows and Reminders

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stamp windowWe’d like to remind you that Issue 7 of The A3 Review is here. Click here to order a copy. We’d also like to remind you that the November deadline for our monthly contest is just a few days away. November the 25th is when we start reading submissions for our WINDOWS-themed contest.

Click here for inspiration and prompts, and for submission details. You could write about windows you’ve looked into and windows you’ve looked out of. Or write about a character standing at a hotel window, witnessing something they’ll never forget, or something that makes them laugh. Look into the metafictional potential of the window…

You could write about broken windows and throwing pebbles at a lover’s window. Write about glasshouses. Write about a particular type of window, anything from a witch window to a bay window. Write about eyes, for they are the window to the soul. Write about a character who loves to window shop, or a day in the life of a window dresser.

You could write about the windows in your day, or a character’s day and call it “All the Day’s Windows” or “A Day of Windows.” You could write a piece and start with the words: “The tiny window in his cell…” or “From the hospital bed she could see…” or, to steal the opening lines of a famous song: “Looking out on the pouring rain…”

This month’s contest is inspired by the Write Around the House Writing Map. As always, we welcome short stories, flash fiction, poetry, comics, graphic stories, a snippet of memoir, photographs, illustrations, and any combination of the above. The only restriction is a word-limit of 150 and images should fit well into an A6 panel.

One more reminder… our Brief Critique option is still only $15 (that’s about £11, depending on the state of the world on any specific day!). More and more writers are taking us up on the offer, and this is what some have said: “Very constructive. Good level of detail… Intelligent, direct, and useful suggestions for improvement.” For just $15 we’ll provide a line edit of your submission and feedback on ways to take your work to the next level. Choose the Brief Critique add-on, and you’ll be able to pay together with your entry fee. Critiques are provided after the month’s winning entries have been announced.

And one fnal reminder… Write! Write Write! Write wherever you are. Here’s some suggestions from The A3 Review‘s editor, Shaun Levin.

Don’t Betray Your Calling!

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One of the fun aspects of putting together The A3 Review is coming up with the themes and prompts for each month’s contest. This month’s theme is particularly rich. One of those themes that you really need an entire novel to tackle, and we’re inviting you to do it in no more than 150 words! Betrayal. In 12-and-a-half dozen words or less. Do not betray your risk-taking disposition as a writer and an artist! This month’s theme is for you.

We’re looking for stories, poems and artwork that are political, personal or both. Secret betrayals and double crossings. From the banal to the Biblical. Write the Samson story from Delilah’s POV, for example. Or: What would Judas say? Write a poem about feeling betrayed by someone’s Tinder profile. He, or she, is definitely not as cute in real life!

Find inspiration in the words associated with betrayal: back-stabbing, double-dealing, disloyalty, treachery and duplicity.

Or tell the story of the first time you betrayed someone. What happened and where is that person today? Put into words what it feels like to be betrayed. Or what it tastes like, smells like. Write a poem of rage or forgiveness. Possible opening phrases could be: “We knew we’d been betrayed when…” or “This is how I betrayed him…” or “Just before she did it she…” or “It wasn’t the first time that…”

Click here for more prompts, suggestions, and details about how to enter this month’s contest. Deadline is the 28th of October. There’s also info here about the next few contests. If you think “Betrayal” is a juicy one, then there’s “Losing It” and “Brief Encounters” coming up, too.

When you enter our contests, don’t forget our popular (and very affordable) Brief Critique option. For just $15 we provide a line edit of your submission, along with 250 words of feedback on ways to take your work to the next level. Tick the Brief Critique add-on, and you’ll be able to pay together with your entry fee. Critiques are provided once the month’s winning entries have been announced.

We hope you’ll enjoy this month’s theme.

FREE short story critique with the Writers’ HQ Writing Short Fiction course

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short fiction course

Get a FREE 3,000 word story critique when you book onto the next Writers’ HQ Writing Short Fiction online course (starting 18 Sept) using promo code CRITMEBABY

Spend six weeks immersed in the art of the short story with Writers’ HQ 5-star online course AND get feedback on the story of your choice (up to 3,000 words) with a special one-off promo code: CRITMEBABY.

The WHQ course is designed to fit in around busy lives, working hours, kids, attention-seeking partners, household chores and inevitable procrastination. Inspiring exercises, writing prompts, advice from award-winning short fiction writers, and a supportive online writing community will help you come up with some brand new ideas and explore a range of approaches and techniques to get the very best out of your short fiction.

And at the end of the course, submit a story to the Writers’ HQ tutors for detailed, one-to-one feedback and critique!

 

The next Writing Short Fiction course starts on 18 September

 CLICK HERE TO BOOK YOUR PLACE

(and don’t forget to use promo code CRITMEBABY at the checkout to get your free critique!)

 

Still not sure? Here’s what a few past students have said about the course (more reviews here):

writers hq short fiction course writers hq short fiction course writers hq short fiction course writers hq short fiction course

Vote Now and Help The A3 Review Decide

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This month’s contest theme over at The A3 Review is inspired by The Raw Soul Food Map and Writing the Love Writing Map. Dates and Dating, respectively!

We’re looking for flash fiction, poems and artwork about sweet fleshy things. Dates! And yes, about dating, too. Sweet fleshy moments of love, potential love, and times when the sugar’s just not there! Write about a couple on a date in a noisy bar. Turn a Tinder, Findhrr or Grindr profile into a poem. Compose a praise song to the perfect dating partner, or an elegy to the date that went wrong!

Deadline is the 24th of June. The only restriction is a word-limit of 150 and images should fit well into an A6 panel. Visit our Submittable page for more details and to enter. Follow us on Twitter, too. There’s publication, Writing Maps and cash prizes for the winners.

Choose contest themes for The A3 ReviewNow, we need your help… Have your say in the new themes for our next issue, The Gold Issue. If you click here, you’ll be taken to the poll. As a thank-you, we’ll pick three winners from all respondents to receive a full set of The A3 Review (Issues 1 to 6).

Happy writing, and we look forward to reading your work.

PS. There are still three places left on the Write Around Town online course with The A3 Review‘s editor, Shaun Levin. Six weeks of inspiration, writing, feedback, and community. Check out all the details here.

 

Seven Days of Story Inspiration from Writers’ HQ

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writers' hq seven ideas in seven days online writing course

SEVEN IDEAS IN SEVEN DAYS – 1 WEEK ONLINE WRITING COURSE – STARTS 5th JUNE (£20)

Learn how to see, hear and think like a writer with Writers’ HQ’s 5-star online creative writing course, Seven Ideas in Seven Days.  Designed to fit around every day life and a busy schedule wherever you are in the world, we’ll give you techniques and exercises for generating ideas and turning them into usable outlines for brilliant stories.

If you’ve ever sat down with good intentions to write a short story but find your brain (and the page) utterly blank, then this is the writing course for you. Ideas are the bedrock of story writing. Sometimes they come thick and fast, and sometimes they seem to languish in the dank cellar of your subconscious and refuse to come out to play. Seven Ideas in Seven Days will help you to turn into an idea-generating machine using inspiring exercises, forum discussions, writing prompts, feedback and support.

Over the course of the week, we’ll teach your brain to germinate those idea-seeds. (Seedy ideas? Something like that.) We’ll give you techniques to spot ideas in both the fantastic and the mundane, exercises to encourage them to grow and bloom, ways to record them for when you need them, and generally help you get into the habit of THINKING.

By the end you will have: seven ideas that can be grown into fully fledged stories, or inserted into existing stories to make them even better. Book your place HERE!

WHAT YOU GET

  • Seven ideas that you can use, grow, nurture, or throw on the floor in frustration (then pick up again and hope no one saw)
  • Daily inspiration, whip-cracking, writing exercises and prompts
  • Top tips from tip-top authors
  • A private student forum to discuss ideas, techniques and get advice from your tutors and fellow writers
  • Dedicated support by email from your fantastic tutors
  • Feedback and writerly conversation from the LOVELY social media community of Writers HQers

STARTS MONDAY 5th JUNE (and costs just £20!) – BOOK YOUR PLACE NOW!

Still not convinced? Check out just a few of the 5-star reviews from previous students:

“More ideas than you can shake an inspiration stick at! Fab exercises for toning up your idea muscles. A fun, inspiring week.”

“Super splendid idea generating joy! I’d been feeling like I’d lost the ability to generate ideas but this course gave me my confidence back. You’ll get the chance to play around with some really fun exercises and just see what happens! I got at least seven really decent ideas to develop further. It’s great value for money and will really give you a great big creative kick. Five gold stars from me!”

“A mysterious benefactor gives you a task a day and – shazam! – by the end of the week you’re a-fizzing with ideas. Tis witchcraft. Do it.”

“Inspiring! A really varied crash course in ideas generation. It was great sharing the course with a small group of fellow students and Sarah is a wonderful course leader. I’ll definitely use the ideas I came up with and the techniques I learned in my writing. Five gold stars!”

” Just a fab way to work. Really enjoyed myself and discovered so many aspects of the writing process I didn’t know or ignored. They throw you in at the deep end but best way to question your process and the way you work. We are so easily stuck in a rut. And this course is a real encouragement to define a box and then think outside it.”

Orange as Inspirational Fruit

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orangesThe holiday season is on its way, but don’t let that distract you from writing… and entering The A3 Review’s last monthly contest of 2016.

This month’s theme is Orange Things: an antidote to the grey winter weather (or to echo the sunshine if you’re in the Southern Hemisphere). Deadline for entries is 24th December. We won’t be expecting you to address festive topics (do people still put satsumas into Christmas stockings?) or even The Donald’s tan and hair dye!

We’re looking for short fiction, poetry and artwork that reflects the complexity and uniqueness of ‘orange’ – an ancient word and one of the few which (fun fact alert) has no direct rhymes in English, only half-rhymes.

Write about the colour orange and its associations with places: an orange beach under an orange sun with melting orange ice-lollies. Write or draw the moods and situations associated with orange: warmth, fire, energy, danger. Or explore the association of orange and religion: Irish Protestant links with Orange in France, the meaning of the colour for Hindus and Buddhists. The Dutch House of Orange.

Visit our Submittable page for more inspiration.

“Sometimes when I was starting a new story and I could not get it going, I would sit in front of the fire and squeeze the peel of the little oranges into the edge of the flame and watch the sputter of blue that they made. I would stand and look out over the roofs of Paris and think, ‘Do not worry. You have always written before and you will write now’.” Ernest Hemingway, A Moveable Feast.

Each month we choose two winning pieces for publication in our six-monthly journal. All winning entries receive Writing Maps and contributor copies, while three overall winners for each issue receive cash prizes totalling £275.

Follow us on Twitter and sign up to our newsletter. And if you’re looking for detailed, knowledgeable and forward-looking feedback on your short fiction, editors KM Elkes and Shaun Levin offer a critique service for writers. To find out more about it, click here.

The A3 Review: Issue 5 Is Here!

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issue-5It’s a busy time at the The A3 Review. Issue #5 has officially launched! Short fiction and poetry from the UK, North America and Ireland. There’s also a guest piece from leading US flash fiction writer Meg Pokrass. You can order a copy via this link.

Meanwhile, our monthly contests to find contributors for Issue #6 are underway. The theme for October is Uniforms. Soldiers, nurses, prisoners, cops, sailors, fighter pilots, guerilla fighters, firefighters, goths, priests, chefs, hipsters and school children… the list of uniforms people wear is long and varied.

We’re looking for stories about how characters change when they put on a uniform, how people perceive those in uniform, how much of a disguise a uniform can be. You could write about a couple – one who loves their uniform, the other hates it. Or someone who doesn’t need to wear a uniform, but does anyway. Use the idea of rank and status to kickstart your creativity. Write about uniforms you’ve worn, or about those that excite or scare you. Secret uniforms and uniforms that elicit shame or pride.

Visit our Submittable page for more inspiration. The deadline is 22 October 2016.

Each month we choose two winning pieces for publication (The A3 Review is published twice a year). All winning entries receive Writing Maps and contributor copies, while three overall winners for each issue receive cash prizes totaling £275. You can get more inspiration by following The A3 Review on Twitter @TheA3Review and sign up for our newsletter here.

If you’re looking for detailed, knowledgeable and forward-looking feedback on your short fiction, editors KM Elkes and Shaun Levin are offering a critique service for writers. To find out more click here.

Happy writing and reading.

Short Story Critiques and Refugee Fundraiser

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Here’s an opportunity to receive some writerly feedback and support a worthy cause at the same time.  Harriet Kline, award winning short story writer, experienced in teaching and assessing creative writing, is offering to critique short stories of up to 5000 words in return for a £20 donation to Medecins Sans Frontieres or the Doctors of the World Calais Appeal.   More information here

August Fortnightly Round-Up III

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Hello all,
Here’s what’s been happening on our blog over the past few weeks.
Best,
Tania x

Lit Mags
Open Pen magazine are to publish an anthology of short stories. The London Journal of Fiction is calling for submissions. Structo has a new issue out and is running a submissions experiment. Paper Republic has just launched, publishing new Chinese fiction in translation.

New lit mag Flight Journal is seeking bold short fiction. Paper and Ink Zine’s new issue, #6, is now available, as is the summer issue of Jotters United, Stuck. The Queen’s Head is calling for submissions for Issue #7 – a Sci-Fi Special and Shooter Literary Magazine is calling for submissions for its ‘Surreal’ issue.

Bunbury magazine’s ninth issue is published, The Night Issue and SHORT FICTION gives us a preview of their ninth issue. Trafika Europe’s fourth issue, Armenian Rhapsody, is now available, as is Holdfast magazine’s Issue 6, Gods and Monsters, and they are looking for work for Issue 7. The Nottingham Review is still open for submissions for its first issue. Hotel Magazine has announced issue 1 and is calling for submissions for its second issue.

Live Lit

We’re delighted to welcome a new live lit event to our listings, Speak Easy Manchester: “a night of eclectic poetry, prose and creative non-fiction”. Fictions of Every Kind is holding it’s Worlds-themed event on Sept 7th in Leeds. And London StorySLAM Live is calling for submissions for its event on 1st October.

Competitions

Shoreline of Infinity magazine is running a science fiction competition, deadline 21 Dec. Liberties Flash Fiction competition has published the winning entries, now available on iTunes. Galley Beggar Press have launched a new short story prize, deadline Nov 15th. The A3 Review launches 6 new writing contests.

A new competition, the Cambridge Flash Fiction award, has just launched, with monthly deadlines. The Cro-Magnon lit zine’s new short story competition, ‘Primitive Humanity‘ closes on Sept 15th.

Other

Taylz is now live and providing free, structured feedback on short stories.

Festivals & Workshops
Paul McVeigh is running his Killer First Page workshop in Bath on October 17th, followed by a an evening reading.

Last Minute & Gentle Reminders
The London Short Story Prize closes tomorrow, Sep 1st (UK residents only). The University of Leicester’s 2015 short story competition is open until 11 September.

If you are eager for even more short-story-related news, do follow ShortStops on Twitter where, when we should be writing, we spend (far too) much time passing on news from lit mags, live lit events, short story workshops and festivals! If you’d like to review an event or a publication, drop me a line.

Structured feedback for your short stories; Taylz is live! (and free).

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taylz logo

Phew! We are finally there. After countless missed deadlines and much gnashing of teeth, Taylz has finally launched!

Taylz.com is a free website for short-story writers to test and develop their work. We aim to supply you with high-quality, objective critiques from experienced writers, as well as a hungry, global readership.

We have designed an incentive based system whereby writers anonymously read and rate one another’s work using a simple but thorough, personalised survey format, giving you constructive, forthright feedback without any flannel.

Getting involved now means you can benefit straight away from the Taylz review process, and also enter the running for our Taylz Short Story Collection. This collection will help promote our upcoming phase 2 launch to the general public, and will feature the best rated short stories from our Phase 1 story building phase.

We are hoping to provide writers of all levels with a really useful tool, and hope that you’ll get involved to help us do so.

You can read more about Taylz here. Any questions/feedback goes here.

Hope to read you soon!

TShirt Back (300dpi)

THE REVIEWS ARE IN!

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Banner PNG

Here at PAPER AND INK LITERARY ZINE we love to hear what our readers think of the zine, good or bad, all feedback is helpful (Well, most of it). Steve Nash of Sabotage Reviews recently got hold of our fifth issue and had some very kind words to say about it (I promise, we did not bribe or blackmail him into saying such things). Check out the review here.

We would love to know what you thought of the zine, too, so if you’d like to sing our praises or tell us why you hated it, drop us an email at paperandinkzine@outlook.com

Digital Writer in Residence: Commemorating World War I

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Banner-unknown-soldier-624x254Writing East Midlands has commissioned poet and polar explorer Siobhan Logan to be our Digital Writer in Residence as part of the 14-18 Now commemorations of the centenary of the declaration of WWI.

On the – 14-18 Now.  website, acclaimed writer Kate Pullinger and writer/director Neil Bartlett introduces the national project Letter to an Unknown Soldier:  “On Platform One of Paddington Station in London, there is a statue of an unknown soldier; he’s reading a letter. On the hundredth anniversary of the declaration of war – in this year crowded with official remembrance and ceremony – we’re inviting everyone in the country to pause, take a moment or two, and write that letter. All the letters the soldier receives will be published here, creating a new kind of war memorial – one made only of words.”

Every week, Siobhan, whose first book, Firebridge to Skyshore: A Northern Lights Journey is a collection of prose and poetry exploring the myths and science of the aurora borealis, will provide inspiration, answer questions or help you polish your writing as you add your voice to this exciting national project.pinkrim

This unique, week-long residency will take the form of an online forum, where you will find resources to inspire your writing, links to valuable research material and hints and tips from Siobhan,who will be available to read your work and offer you advice every day from Mon 28th July to Sun 3rd Aug.

To be a part of this exciting national project all you need to do is SIGN UP to the Writing East Midlands Forum and start writing!

14-18logoWhen you’ve written something you’re happy with, you can submit it to the Letters to an Unknown Soldier project at the 14-18 Now website. When you do submit your work, please let them know that we sent you by putting Writing East Midlands in the ‘Organisation’ box on the submission form.

There have already been 16,000 letters so far – read the letters and add your voice to this inspiring and exciting project.