Tag Archives: theme

One Small Step flash competition

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Marking the 50th anniversary of first Moon Walk 20 July 1969. Your chance to write a very short story inspired by the Moon Walk and have it published!Business_card_moon_2 copy

Working in collaboration with Sampson Low Publishers the Museum of Walking are delighted to announce the One Small Step flash writing competition for fact or fiction flashes of 50 words or under inspired by the first Moon walk.

Imagine what types of stories might be found in a “Lunar Library’ or which stories you would take on a journey to the Moon.

Winners will be published in One Small Step, a limited edition chapbook, published by Sampson Low Publishers. Winners receive  3 copies of the limited edition chapbook. The competition closes midnight GMT Saturday 17 August and the winners will be announced on the Friday 30 August. There is an entry fee (to cover administration costs) of £3 for one flash piece or £5 for two (entrants are limited to 2 entries only).

More details about how to submit here

Shooter seeks submissions for Identity issue

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Shooter Literary Magazine has opened submissions for its summer issue (#10), which will be Identity.

The biannual lit mag (recently reviewed in the TLS) wants stories, essays, reported narratives and poetry on anything to do with the sense of self, whether personal or cultural. What defines someone – character, actions, associations, appearance? Why is identity important? What happens when it’s threatened? Shooter particularly seeks content that addresses topical issues of gender, sexuality, race, nationality, religion and occupation, but the theme is open to wide interpretation.

For anyone with stories outside that theme (and keen to reap a rather larger cash reward), Shooter’s 2019 Short Story Competition is also open for entries. The winner will collect a £500 prize, with publication online and in the summer issue, while the runner-up receives £100 and online publication.

Deadline for both general and competition submissions is April 21st. Please visit Shooter’s Submissions or Competition pages for guidelines on how to submit.

Submit to National Flash Fiction Day 2019!

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m15flat-bwtextNational Flash Fiction Day this year will be on Saturday 15th June Submissions for the 2019 National Flash Fiction Day anthology and micro fiction competition are NOW OPEN!

Anthology

This year’s theme is filled with possibility…or not! Our theme can reveal secrets to us and it can keep danger hidden. Is it trying to keep everyone from getting in, or is it trying to keep you from getting out? Knock, knock, who’s there? It’s our theme: Doors!

We want you to open the door to stories wild with imagination. We’re looking for those creepy mysteries about doors we can’t find the key to. We want those funny tales of frustration when doors do exactly what they’re supposed to when we don’t want them to. Maybe the stories you want to share are about metaphorical doors, filled with the disappointment of doors that are closed to us or brimming with excitement at new opportunities. Whichever door you decide to write about, make sure it’s your best and that is fewer than 500 words!

This year’s editors are Joanna Campbell and Santino Prinzi.

Please submit up to three (3) unpublished flashes of 500 words or fewer before our deadline. Titles are not included in the word count.

The submission fee for this year’s anthology is: £2.50 for one (1) entry, £4.00 for two (2) entries, and £6.00 for three (3) entries.

The deadline is Friday 15th March 2019, 23:59pm GMT.

Please visit our website for the full submission guidelines.

 

Micro Fiction Competition

Entries are open for this year’s National Flash Fiction Day Micro Fiction competition! This year’s judges are Angela Readman, Diane Simmons, Kevlin Henney, and Judy Darley.

First prize is £75.
Second prize is £50.
Third prize is £25.

The winning and shortlisted authors will be published in the National Flash Fiction Day 2019 anthology. Winning and shortlisted authors will also receive a free print copy of this anthology.

Please submit up to three (3) unpublished micro fictions of 100 words or fewer before our deadline. Titles are not included in the word count and there is no themefor the micro fiction competition.

The entry fee for this year’s micro fiction competition is: £2.00 for one (1) entry, £3.50 for two (2) entries, £5.00 for three (3) entries.

The deadline is Friday 15th March 2019, 23:59pm GMT.

Please visit our website for the full submission guidelines.

 

Support

In previous years we have had funding and have been able to offer free entry to everyone. Other years, like this year, we do not have funding and have needed to charge a small fee in order to cover our costs so we can continue doing what we do.

We would like offer free entry to disadvantaged and marginalised writers but we do not have the funding we need to be able to do this. We are working to try and secure funding.

If you would like to help us achieve this by donating entries for the anthology or micro competition, please email us: nationalflashfictionday@gmail.com.

Call for Submissions: HCE’s Classified Issue

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The editors at Here Come Everyone magazine (HCE) are seeking submissions for our upcoming Classified Issue. We’re a literary magazine of short fiction, poetry, articles and artwork based around different themes. Our aim is to provide an open and accessible platform, full of interesting content, for readers and contributors.

The new theme: CLASSIFIED

Deadline: 1st February 2019

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

Promo Pic_Classified_Back page of Rituals

Poetry: you may submit up to three poems of no longer than 30 lines each.

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

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 (300 dpi and 640 x 640 res). We will consider all visual media, including photographs of sculpture and installations.

 

 

 

Please see our submissions guidelines for full details. Work must be sent via the form on our website; stuff we receive via email will not be accepted.

We look forward to receiving your creations…

 

Rituals front cover_v1To get an idea of what HCE is looking for, you can check out our previous issues. Full of short stories and flash fiction, plus art, poetry and other writing.

We’re also taking pre-orders for the brand new Rituals Issue!

12 Writing Tips To Get You Started

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As Anne Frank poignantly wrote: “I can shake off everything as I write; my sorrows disappear, my courage is reborn.” Writing can be an incredible outlet, but sometimes there are stumbling blocks along the way.

Which is why the team at READ Foundation has put together a list of 12 Writing Tips to Get You Started.

Children writing in a classroom

READ is an education charity which builds schools and enables children from poverty-stricken backgrounds to access schooling. We’re currently running a writing competition for short stories, poems and personal essays which will inspire children in their educational path. Scroll down for more details on how to enter.

The charity has gathered the best tips from well-known writers, blogs and the wider web to help writers in their pursuit of the perfect prose.

  1. Write from the heart. A book without a pulse is like a person without a spirit. – Linda F Rad
  2. We love the tips in this Guardian article on the Top 10 Writers’ Tips on Writing. Particularly this one from Katherine Mansfield: “Looking back I imagine I was always writing. Twaddle it was too. But better far write twaddle or anything, anything, than nothing at all.”
  3. Enter competitions, send off examples to agents, read up on literacy festivals to attend, join writing clubs either locally or online – research as many places as you can which can help you on your writing journey, whether the aim is to get published, receive feedback, or simply learn more about the writing process from the people who do it professionally.
  4. Write on a computer which is disconnected from the internet (after you’ve finished reading this blog, obviously). It’s a distraction you can do without.
  5. The “show don’t tell” mentality is well-known for a good reason: it’s true. As fiction author Anton Chekhov puts it: “Don’t tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass.”
  6. Oxford Dictionaries has some excellent general advice on better writing, whether it’s a letter, speech, email or something more creative. We like the tip “guide readers through what you write”. The advice is to “help readers understand your message quickly and precisely. To do this, it is necessary to show them clearly how the different parts relate to each other.”
  7. How about a writing tip from a Nobel winning author? Alice Munro, who was given the Nobel for Literature in 2013, has spent most of her writing life focussing on short stories. She said: “Usually I have a lot of acquaintance with the story before I start writing it….stories would just be working in my head for so long that when I started to write I was deep into them.”
  8. Proofread proofread proofread. It’s relly obviously when a sentennce has speling errors in it. If you’re entering a writing competition, judges may penalise you for the errors and it could mean the difference between winning or losing a contest.
  9. Write, even when you don’t feel like it. Get into the habit of writing on a regular basis. If you can commit to writing for a certain amount of time each day, for 30 days, it’ll soon become second nature. About 30-40 days is all you need to make a new habit stick.
  10. Recognise it’s not just your characters that are human – you are too! So if you have periods of struggle, you’re not alone. Don’t be too hard on yourself.
  11. Don’t wait for the perfect moment. Julie Duffy, founder of Story a Day, says “Don’t wait to write until you’re older/wiser/invited to the party. Don’t wait until you have something ‘important’ to say.” Other experts have revealed their best writing tips for beginners.
  12. Enjoy the process! It’s a journey you’ll be proud you’ve taken. Good luck!

While you’re here, we have some exciting news for you. Education charity READ Foundation is running its very first writing competition and needs people like YOU to take part. Read all about it here. The deadline for entries is Wednesday, 10thOctober 2018.

Call for Submissions: HCE’s Rituals Issue

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The editors at Here Come Everyone magazine (HCE) are seeking submissions for our upcoming Rituals Issue. We’re a literary magazine of short fiction, poetry, articles and artwork based around topical and interesting themes. HCE aims to bring together a network of artists, writers and thinkers to create new and innovative content, as well as carry out community creative writing projects. Our team strives to make each magazine an open and accessible platform for readers and contributors.

The new theme: RITUALS

Deadline: 01 July 2018

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

Poetry: you may submit up to three poems of no longer than 30 lines each.

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

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 Submittable button on our website; stuff we receive via email will not be accepted. Any Word or .doc.x 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 work…

 

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

Shooter seeks “Dirty Money” for issue #8

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Shooter Literary Magazine invites submissions of short fiction, non-fiction and poetry on the theme of “Dirty Money” for its summer 2018 issue.

Writers should submit stories, essays, reported narratives and poetry on anything to do with dough, whether rolling in it or scrounging for it. We want to read about playboys and girls, corrupt bankers, hard-up students, entrepreneurs, gamblers, thieves, grafters – anyone affected by money in any compelling way. Are riches really the root of all evil, or the key to the world’s delights?

Please visit https://shooterlitmag.com/submissions for guidelines; deadline is April 8th, 2018. Successful writers will hear from us within a few weeks of the deadline, if not before, and receive payment and a copy of the issue. Due to the volume of submissions we no longer send rejection emails.

The 2018 Shooter Short Story Competition is also now open, with a newly reduced entry fee for those wishing to submit more than one story. Find guidelines for entering the competition at https://shooterlitmag.com/competition.

 

New Release – HCE: The Brutal Issue!

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The brand new issue of Here Comes Everyone magazine – The Brutal Issue – is now published and available for you to buy!

Front Cover_Brutal

Inside The Brutal Issue, you will find the work of sixty writers and artists from all around the world. As well as short stories/flash fiction, we publish poetry, creative non-fiction and artwork.

New features include: more pages than ever before, better quality paper and a perfect-bound spine, so the A5 magazine will feel at home on your bookshelves. It’s a bargain at only £5 (plus p&p).

Our next issue will be The Tomorrow Issue. Submissions don’t open until 1st February, but the new theme will be space/science/technology. So start thinking…

Palm-Sized Press call for submissions

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Originally founded as an online flash fiction writing community, Palm-Sized Press is now open to submissions for its debut print zine. Flash fiction up to 500 words and black & white artwork on the theme ‘Retrospective’ will be considered until 6 August.

Responses submitted to the monthly prompts will also be considered through August. Anyone can submit a response, as long as it is no longer than 500 words.

For more information about submissions, see our website.

Happy writing!
E.M. Killaley
Editor

Submissions open for Shooter’s “New Life” issue

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Submissions have reopened for Shooter Literary Magazine‘s issue #7 with the theme of “New Life”.

As always, the theme is open to interpretation. In addition to the subject of birth, writers might like to consider themes to do with renewal, invention and reinvention. “New Life” could conjure starting over later in life; giving someone a chance at a critical time; rescuing animals or people, perhaps through adoption; second chances and opportunities that radically change someone’s circumstances. Non-fiction to do with trying to get pregnant, birth or parenting (from either a personal or political perspective) is particularly welcome. Poetry should incline to the observational rather than experimental end of the spectrum.

Literary fiction, creative non-fiction and narrative journalism should fall between 2,000 and 7,500 words. Please submit only one story or up to three poems per issue. Simultaneous submissions are welcome but let us know if your work is accepted elsewhere. All work must be previously unpublished either in print or online. Successful writers receive payment and a copy of the issue.

Please read the guidelines at Shooter’s Submissions page before sending your work. The deadline for issue #7, which comes out this winter, is November 5th.

In addition to general submissions to the magazine, poets might like to submit verse on any theme to Shooter’s 2017 Poetry Competition. Further details can be found at https://shooterlitmag.com/poetry-competition.

Issue 7 available + call for submissions

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Issue 7 of The Nottingham Review is now available to read online here.

Featuring original short fiction by Chloe Turner, Fiona J. Mackintosh, Anton Rose, Charles Haddox, Shannon McLeod, Rachel Wild, Kimberly Paulk, Jenny Bhatt, Neil Bristow, Mike Fox, Sonia Hope, and Bryn Agnew. Poetry by Adam Tavel, Ariel Clark-Semyck, Matthew Lippman, Sarah Escue, Jacq Greyja, and Benjamin Hertwig.

Call for submissions

We are open for submissions until the end of May. In our first themed issue we are exploring COURAGE. Controlling fear in dangerous or difficult situations. Having the confidence to be yourself. Doing or saying what you think is right despite opposition. Facing suffering with dignity or faith. Courage can be physical or moral, and come in many sizes and shapes. Fiction between 100-3000 words and poetry.

Submission guidelines can be found here.

Submit your flashes to National Flash Fiction Day’s Micro Competition and Anthology!

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National Flash Fiction Day UK is on Saturday 24th June 2017, and we are open for submissions for our Micro Fiction Competition and our Annual Anthology! Entry for both are free!

Competition: There is no theme for our competition, so feel free to send us up to three of your stories that are 100 words or fewer! Deadline for entries for our Micro Fiction Competition is Friday 31st March 2017. You can find out more information here: http://nationalflashfictionday.co.uk/comp.html

Anthology: Once again we are delighted to open ourselves up to submissions for the annual NFFD anthology. This year the theme is Life As You Know It.

This year’s editors will be the Co-Director of National Flash-Fiction Day, Santino Prinzi, and renowned flash-fiction writer, Meg Pokrass.

We want stories inspired by the lens of your own experiences, stories that navigate life and the world as only your characters know how. Tales of hope, loss, fear, and resilience. Flashes about identity, vulnerability, and triumph. We want you to harness and make use of your own experiences in fiction: What are your secrets? What makes you cry? What keeps you awake? Feel free to interpret “life as you know it” however you like, but your flashes must fit the theme in some way.

However you care to work with our theme, we want to read your stories. The word limit is 500 words, and you can submit up to 3 stories. Please include them in the email as MS Word attachments, and follow all the guidelines below.

All writers who have a story selected for the anthology will receive a free print copy of the book upon publication. Deadline for entries for our Anthology is Friday 14th April 2017.

You can find out more information here: http://nationalflashfictionday.co.uk/anth.html

This year we will be launching the anthology the U.K.’s first ever Flash Fiction Literary Festival, which will be taking place in Bath.

Call for Submissions: HCE’s Toys & Games Issue

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The editors at Here Come Everyone magazine (HCE) are seeking submissions for our upcoming issue: Toys & Games. We’re a quarterly literary magazine of poetry, fiction, articles and artwork based around topical and interesting themes.  HCE is published by Silhouette Press, a not-for-profit publishing social enterprise that aims to create a network of artists, writers and thinkers to create new and innovative content, as well as carry out community creative writing projects. Together, we aim to provide an open and accessible platform for readers and contributors.

The new theme: TOYS & GAMES

Deadline: 10 January 2017

We encourage bold/striking interpretations of the theme. If your link to toys/games isn’t self-evident, we advise you to include a few lines in your author bio to provide context.Poetry: you may submit up to three poems of no longer than 30 lines each.

pos

Fiction: please submit only one piece per issue; stories may be up to 2,500 words.

Non-fiction: please submit only one piece per issue; articles may be up to 2,000 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 Submittable button on our website; stuff we receive via email will not be accepted. Any Word or .doc.x 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…

The Fractured Nuance seeks submissions for issue four – PLACE

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***Call for submissions!***

Issue #4 of The Fractured Nuance lit zine is seeking photography and writing based on the theme of ‘PLACE’.

Send in writing of any form (to fit a side of a4) together with an adjoining photograph- they’ll be printed b&w side by side in the zine. Send to: editorfn@gmail.com

Visit the website for guidelines TFN submissions

Like the page for updates & lit curios! TFN Facebook

Submissions open for Shooter #4: Technology

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Staring into screens all day as so many of us now do, it’s not surprising to end up contemplating the extent to which fast-evolving technologies improve our lives – or deaden us to reality.

Given the impact that cutting-edge technology will continue to have on our lives – whether in the fields of medicine, agriculture, energy, warfare, entertainment, love or pretty much any area of human life – it seems that this is a crucial theme for writers to contemplate. Scientific advances may keep people alive for longer; but what will be the quality of life? Industry has polluted the earth to levels that ultimately may threaten our survival; will environmental innovation develop in time to combat the effects of climate change? The global population continues to mushroom; how will we manage to feed the planet? The latest dating apps arguably encourage grass-is-greener syndrome and an expedient attitude towards sex and romance; in light of this, how will people build loving relationships and stable families?

With so many significant issues swirling around technology, Shooter Literary Magazine invites submissions of short fiction, non-fiction and poetry on that theme for its summer issue. The magazine will favour pieces that grapple with the effect of real technologies (either those already in existence or currently being developed) over imaginary technologies of futuristic science-fiction. Fantastical sci-fi will be considered, but must either be related to a current technology or be of an exceptionally high literary standard. Whether in the form of a gadget, digital app, scientific development or cutting-edge process, technology can form either a small or large part of the story or poem, but in all cases work should address the impact that technology has on human experience, interaction or way of life.

As always, Shooter places a high value on entertaining, emotionally engaging stories that feature elegant writing and compelling characters. Irrespective of genre, writing must be of a high literary standard. Poetry that inclines to the observational, rather than experimental, end of the spectrum is preferred. Non-fiction can take the form of an opinion essay, personal memoir or reported piece of narrative journalism; non-fiction writers may query Melanie White at editor.shooterlitmag@gmail.com if they wish to run an idea past her first.

Prose writers may submit one story of 2,000 to 7,500 words, while poets may submit up to three poems by the deadline of April 24th. Shooter also seeks original illustrations for the cover; artists should send samples of their work or a link to their portfolio to artwork.shooterlitmag@gmail.com. Shooter pays writers and artists for their contributions. For submission guidelines and further details, please visit www.shooterlitmag.com/submissions.

The new Galley Beggar Press short story prize

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Galley Beggar logo widescreen

 

The inaugural £500 Galley Beggar Press Short Story Prize is now open to submissions.

Building on the success of the monthly Galley Beggar Singles Club, which since its inception has won several national awards, Galley Beggar Press will be running a new, annual short story prize for both published and unpublished writers. The prize aims to sponsor nothing more and nothing less than exceptionally good stories. We want the best – and we want you to be the best.

Full details about the competition are available on our site here. The deadline for submissions is 15 November 2015. It costs £10 to enter and you can send your stories electronically.

We are also offering an alternative prize of year-long editorial support from the directors of Galley Beggar Press… which could be just the boost you need to get your novel or collection of stories on the road.

We hope to hear from you soon! Visit our submissions page for all the details you need to enter.

 

 

Shooter Lit Mag invites submissions for “Surreal” issue

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Submissions are now open for the third issue of Shooter Literary Magazine, with the theme of “Surreal.”

Shooter welcomes short fiction, non-fiction and poetry that pertains to the strange and fantastical, oddballs and eccentrics, weird and wonderful, transgressive and transcendent. Writers might consider the juxtaposition of the bizarre with the everyday and the unusual within the ordinary. Other starting points include dreams, nightmares, symbolism, places where anything can happen and things that are not as they seem.

Shooter invites writers to explore the limits of their imagination, but keep in mind that writing must be of a literary standard: beautifully written, well crafted stories with compelling characters, and poetry that is rooted in meaning. Prose pieces should run between 2,000 and 7,500 words. Writers may submit one story and up to three poems per issue. The deadline is October 25th, 2015. Please visit Shooter’s Submissions page for further guidelines.

Please send work as .doc, .docx or .rtf attachments, with a brief 2-3 sentence cover letter mentioning prior publishing experience, to submissions.shooterlitmag@gmail.com.

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS

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Banner PNG

PAPER AND INK LITERARY ZINE is currently accepting submissions for its sixth issue, the theme of which is childhood. No restrictions on age, race, gender, sexual orientation or geographical location; we promote good writing, presented on paper and printed in ink. We are also looking for photography and illustrations for the issue. Email all submissions to paperandinkzine@outlook.com. Previous issues can be purchased on our website and all other info can be found on the following flyer:

CALL FOR SUBS FLYER 6