Tag Archives: writing prompt

Going Round in Circles?

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circlesIf you’re going round in circles, we want to hear about it. This month’s theme is the title theme for our next issue, Issue 9, The Circles Issue.

The A3 Review is looking for stories, poems and artwork about circles of trust and circular logic, running circles around someone and being in or outside the circle. We’d love stories and concrete poems in the shape of a circle or a spiral. See our Submittable page for all the details and more inspiration.

Each month’s 2 winners are published in The A3 Review, receive gifts from Writing Maps, and are in the running to win cash prizes. All the details are here.

Our current issue, Issue 8, is at the printers, and should be on its way out into the world by the end of April. Pre-order a copy here.

Can You Play the Guitar?

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a3 guitar contestAnd even if you can’t play the guitar, you’ve probably tried, or know someone who plays, or wanted to play, or serenaded you. The A3 Review‘s March contest theme is: GUITAR. For immediate inspiration, listen to BB King and write the blues.

You could write about a busker who becomes a star, or the family that jams together, or write about your first guitar teacher. Write an ode to your favourite chord: E, Dm7, or maybe C major 7 as a barre chord. Explore guitar-related settings like a Flamenco bar, the campfire on a holiday beach, or being part of the crowd at a music gig. Write about a late-night smoky blues bar in New Orleans.

Have you ever boarded a plane with a guitar? Read Debra Marquart’s beautiful poem “Traveling with Guitar” to trigger your memory.

Click here for more inspiration and ideas, and details about our contests and prizes.

Deadline is Saturday, 24th March.

We invite you to use the language of guitars as prompts for prose or poetry: riffs, licks, hammer, pull, slide, bend, distort, reverb, overdrive. Listen to an album by your favourite guitar band on a loop as you write, imagine being on a festival stage with a wild crowd in front of you, just about to strike your first chord…

The A3 Review publishes short stories, flash fiction, poetry, comics, graphic stories, 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.

Visit our Submittable page for more inspiration and details.

PS. Our Issue 8 is almost ready to launch. Click here to pre-order your copy.

Call for Submissions: HCE’s Tomorrow Issue

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

 

The new theme: ‘TOMORROW’ (future/technology/space/other worlds/science etc.)

Deadline: 1st March 2018

POS Tomorrow Issue

We encourage bold/striking interpretations of the theme. If your link to ‘tomorrow’ 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 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…

 

 

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

The Gilded Lily & Gold Lamé Shorts

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The prompt for this month’s A3 Review contest is: Gold Things. We suggest writing about all that gliters and is gold. Submit flash fiction, brief essays and poems about lost wedding rings, edible gold leaf and hidden gold bullion. Tell the story of a heist in 150 words, or write a poem about a heist gone wrong. Tell the story of a day in the life of a detectorist. Write the story behind the gold medal you won, or almost won, or wish you’d won.

You could explore different idioms with “gold” in them: a heart of gold, good as gold, silence is golden. Write about rainbows and what’s at the end of them. You could write a non-fiction piece about the brutal reality of gold mines. Tell the story of a person looking back at the golden age of their life, or make it your story.

Be inspired by Rachel Hadas’ poem “Green and Gold” and Sandra M. Gilbert’s “Gold Tooth” – then write about your own golden fruit and gold tooth.

Some suggestions for opening words… start with “Gold is the colour of…” or “When I think of gold…”

This month’s contest is inspired by The Description Writing Map.

As always, The A3 Review welcomes 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.

Come say hi on Twitter @TheA3Review

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.

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.

 

Behave Yourself and Submit!

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Sit up straight, face the front, and no chewing in class! Yes, all you well-behaved andschool naughty people, this month’s A3 Review contest is on the theme of Teachers.

Inspired by the Write Through School Writing Map, we’re looking for short fiction, poetry and artwork on tutors, instructors, professors, mentors, personal trainers… any type of teacher. We’ve all had them and many of us are them!

Write about a memorable moment with a memorable teacher. Frustrated teachers, inspirational teachers, nervous newbies or those who’ve seen it all. Create something that delves into the heart of the teacher/student relationship. Explore different setting where teaching takes place: a farmer passing on knowledge to a child; an experienced soldier guiding a raw recruit; a chance meeting in a remote, dusty town that results in a lesson learned.

The only restriction is a word-limit of 150 and images should fit well into an A6 panel. To find out more about what kind of work we like at The A3 Review, check out the latest issue here, and see our submission guidelines here. This month’s deadline is Saturday, the 27th of May. Send us your work. It’s not compulsory, but it is for your own good!

Good luck and keep writing!

New Things: An Issue, A Contest, The A3 on Instagram

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Screen Shot 2017-04-12 at 14.47.30Inspired by the How to Turn Food Into Words Writing Map, this month’s contest theme is Dinners. The A3 Review invites you to submit short stories, poems and artwork about the things that happen round a table. Or after dinner. Or in the build-up to a meal. School dinners and candlelit dinners. Dinners with friends and work dinners. Create stories out of dinners you remember and dinners you wish you could remember.

Visit our Submittable page here for more suggestions and inspiration. Follow us on Twitter, too. A bit late to the party, but we’ve recently made it to Instagram! Read pieces from back issues, and see more closely what we’re up to here at The A3 Review. Click here to visit us on Instagram.

The April deadline is the 22nd. 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 bit of news (drumroll, please)… Issue 6 is here! That means we’ve been around for three years already. Take a look at the new issue by clicking here. The contributions to Issue 6 take us from Sicily to Los Angeles via the Outer Hebrides. Oranges, fire, Lenin, kittiwakes and Dali’s Crucifixion are just some of the people and things glimpsed along the way.

Join us on our journey at: http://thea3review.com/

Keep writing!

Try a FREE taster of the Writers’ HQ Short Story course!

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The next round of Writers’ HQ’s 6-week online Writing Short Fiction course starts on the 20th of March but you can try out a FREE taster week HERE!

writing-short-fiction

Writing Short Fiction

6 Week Online Course from Writers’ HQ

Starts 20th March, £140 (Get 10% off when you use promo code SHORTSTOPS10 before the 12th of March!)

Short stories aren’t just easier versions of the novel. They’re a broad, complex and rewarding art form in their own right. Writers’ HQ’s new online writing short story course will help you see the bigger picture and compress it into short stories with real punch.

Short stories have been here since the dawn of time. Based in the oral tradition (stop sniggering at the back), they’re the apocryphal family legends our grandmas/weird uncle used to tell us over Christmas dinner; they’re the school-yard urban myths; the sleepover ghost stories; the soliloquies in our diaries; the wine-soaked rants to that random person you cornered in the kitchen at that party after so-and-so dumped you. Short stories are all around us. <cue X-Files theme>

But super short stories are not super easy for writers, natch. In fact, the shorter your story becomes, the harder it is to distil what really matters onto the page. I would have written a shorter letter, so the famous quote goes, but I didn’t have the time.

So what makes truly great short fiction? The kind that leaves you dribbling, slack-jawed, slap-faced when you finish it. The kind you remember forever, like some weird dream-memory. Well. We can’t write it for you, but we can give you a nudge, a shove, and a poke with a sharp stick (whatever floats your boat) to help you on your way. With the help of writing prompts, advice from award-winning short fiction writers, inspiring exercises, and our awesome little online community, you’ll come out the other side at least one fully formed short story to call your very own.

TRY OUT A FREEBIE WEEK HERE AND BOOK YOUR PLACE! (Don’t forget to use promo code SHORTSTOPS10 to get 10% off when you book before 12th March.)

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The Leaders and Followers Contest

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the-a3-review-6Happy New Year from The A3 Review. We’re here to help you make it a creative one!

Because we have a feeling it’s going to be that kind of year, we’re looking for writing and artwork on the theme of Leaders and Followers. We want pieces sparked by the idea of leaders, followers and/or the dynamic between the two. Use the theme as a catalyst for some creative ideas.

Think about blind loyalty and betrayal. Explore the complex emotions and interactions: obedience, humility, charisma, authority, cruelty. Or be inspired by the natural world: ducklings following their mother, bees attending their queen, herds of animals or flocks of birds following their dominant leader. Write about the point when a new leader usurps the old one. Or think about work environments, sports teams, religion, the battlefield, cults or clans.

Write about fictional situations or your own experiences of any of the above.

Start with “She was the leader of…” or “We had no choice but to follow him…” or “I finally became the leader when…” Write about a follower who wants to be a leader by making a list of all the things they’d do to get what they want? Write about the burden of leadership, a tired dictator, a cult leader who’s lost their faith, or that person who’ll go to any length to get more Twitter followers!

Deadline is 28 January. For more details visit our Submittable page.

Each month we choose two winning pieces for publication (The A3 Review is published twice a year, and the next issue comes out in April 2017). All winning entries receive Writing Maps and contributor copies, while three overall winners for each issue receive cash prizes.

Good luck and keep writing!

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 Queen’s Head Flash Fiction Competition – With Mahr

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After discovering Marh, a.k.a. Piotr Marchela, way back in February, we’ve fallen in love with his illustrations – but of course we have! His work is folky, mysterious, and just a little bit grisly; what’s not to like? So The Queen’s Head is well chuffed to be teaming up with him to launch a flash fiction competition. Up for grabs is a Queen’s Head bundle of everything we’ve published thus far! That includes:

  • The Queen’s Head back-issues #1-5 & New Issue #6
  • ‘The Queen’s Head Presents’ triptych mini-zine
  • 2 x postcards by Tawny Kerr – ‘Wish You Were Here’ & ‘Come Home Soon’
  • 1 x poster by Kate Montgomery & Aimee Williamson – ‘Agony Aunts’

It’s a veritable zine haul. Three runners-up will get any issue of their choosing, and all writers in the top ten will have their work featured on the site.

To enter, send us up to 300 words inspired by one of three of Marh’s illustrations, which can be found here on The Queen’s Head blog.

Here’s the guidelines:

  • The competition is open to UK & Ireland entrants only.
  • The closing date for entries is midnight (UK time) on the 7th June.
  • Submit your entry to thequeenszine@gmail.com. Please start your subject line with ‘Comp Sub’ followed by the name of your chosen illustration, with your name, flash fiction and word count included in the body of the email.
  • Any entries over 300 words will be disqualified.
  • Entries must not have been published or accepted for publication elsewhere; copyright remains with the author.

We can’t wait to read your entries – get flashing!

New Writing Maps Writing Contest and Prizes

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Granta Issue 27“Life is hell, but at least there are prizes.” Janet Frame’s story, “Prizes”, is one of the best you’ll ever read about prizes! You can listen to Miranda July read it as a New Yorker fiction podcast here.

And talking of prizes…

We’re giving away two subscriptions to Granta magazine for one year (4 issues) to the winners of this month’s Writing Maps Writing Contest.

The prompt for December’s Writing Contest is: Write a piece about a prize you won or wanted to win, or almost won, or dreamt of winning. Or maybe you regret having won a prize. Or you were a runner up, or you didn’t turn up for the big prize-giving ceremony. As always, you can write this as fiction or creative non-fiction, a short story, a graphic story, a snippet of memoir or a piece of flash fiction, a poem or a prose poem. In 150 words.

The two winners will receive a subscription to Granta magazine. In addition to that, the first 3 submissions to arrive will each receive a pack of 3 Writing Maps; and because we’re great believers in the last-minute submission, the last 3 entries will also receive a pack of 3 Writing Maps.

Please make sure to view our full guidelines here. In brief, the main rules are:

Entry is free. One entry per person. All genres welcome. All writers welcome. 150 words max.

Deadline is 27 December 2014.

The two winning entries will be published in The A3 Review, Issue #2.

Good luck, good writing and have a creative and peaceful festive season!

PS. There’s 50% off all single Writing Maps till the 1st of January. Just enter the discount code SANTA at checkout.

The Short Anthology – The First Issue

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The Short Anthology‘s First Issue has launched.

Each issue of The Short Anthology will be a collection of short stories based on photography. The first issue used 8 photographs of the sea by Joe Coleman and had 6 writers create short stories based on one or a few of the photos. The stories are a very eclectic mixture, ranging from dystopian African sci-fi to a story about immigration and loneliness set in Dover, UK.

The writers are:

  • Dilman Dila, who was shortlisted for the 2013 Commonwealth Short Story Prize and is based in Uganda
  • Jonathan Kearnes, an MA graduate in Creative Writing based in London
  • Scott Morris, who was shortlisted for the 2013 White Review Short Story Prize and is Fiction Editor of The Literateur
  • Katherine Proctor, non-fiction editor of Should Does from North Carolina
  • Michael Salu, former artistic director of Granta Publications who has had his work published in various magazines
  • Matthew Sperling, a writer of poetry, fiction and criticism and a Leverhulme Trust research fellow at Reading University

The First Issue is available to buy here: www.theshortanthology.com

twitter.com/shortanthology

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Writing Maps Launches New Contest and Lit Mag

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The Character Writing MapWriting Maps, the illustrated posters with writing inspiration and story ideas, has launched a monthly Writing Maps Writing Contest to coincide with each month’s new Writing Map.

The challenge is to write a 150-word piece in response to the Prompt of the Month. Each month’s two winning entries will appear in A3, a new fold-out literary magazine to be published every six months. The first issue will appear in September 2014. Winning entries will also receive free Writing Maps and contributor copies of the Writing Maps Journal.

April’s Writing Maps Writing Contest opens 19 April 2014. Deadline is: 26 April 2014. Click here to visit the site for submission guidelines and the April prompt.

March’s prompt was inspired by the new Voice and Point of View Writing Map: Your writing voice is made up of the words that resonate for you. Pick a word you love and write about it with passion. Research it, reshape it, reinvent it. Be exuberant about it, erudite, outrageous. The winning entries were: Susan Barsby’s “Diphthong” and Fay Griffiths’ “Muslin”.

A Big Thank You!

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Thank you to everyone who entered Brittle Star‘s first open writing competition.

We had a little shy of 700 entries – a good mix of poetry and short fiction – which we thought was a fantastic response! Thank you to everyone who helped us to spread the word – it was massively appreciated.thank-you-flower

The launch of our next issue and the prize giving for the competition will take place at The Barbican Library, Silk St, London, 16 July at 7pm (doors open 6.30). Pencil this date in your diaries – in fact write it in in thick, black biro! There will be readings from contributors to the magazine, as well as the winners of our competition.

Reading the notice above, I’m reminded of our new nudge because it’s full of adjectives – ‘open’, ‘good’, ‘fantastic’, ‘massive’, ‘thick, black’ – if it was a poem or story I was writing then I wouldn’t know where to put my face! It’s a good job it’s a notice! Our new writing nudge is ‘Move away from the adjective…’ go and have a look to find out why!