Read Part 2 of the book Art & Fear, then search the following Web sites for at least three publications to which to submit your story. Explain why these publications are a good fit for you. Your response is due by 4 p.m., Tues., Nov. 12.
http://www.newpages.com/
http://www.thereviewreview.net/magazines/
http://www.everywritersresource.com/literarymagazines/
http://www.pw.org/literary_magazines
http://www.placesforwriters.com/
By the way, some of you are neglecting to complete the blog and, as a result, are compiling F's at an alarming rate. I encourage you to reconsider your conduct.
16 comments:
The three places of submission I chose were:
Chick Lit Mag & Indie Press (http://www.chicklitmag.com/): this publication is looking for creative nonfiction, specifically from women's voices. My story is not just about my travels in India, but also about being a western woman onlooking and outside of the USA for the first time, and it's an important part of my story.
damselflypress (http://damselflypress.net/): Much a similar reason as above, a call for female writers, but there's also an element to this venue of the ordinary being seen through a new lens. One of the main themes of my piece is that the ordinary assumptions that I take for granted in my journey mean very little in my travels.
Silk road (http://silkroad.pacificu.edu/index.html ): They are looking for stories of cultural exchange, which is exactly what my story is: an out-of-culture experience on a continent removed from my western assumptions.
Airplane Reading (airplanereading.org): They are looking for stories involving air travel.The journey there, and back, are important parts of my story. My cultural displacement doesn't end when I step on the plane home.
Bitterzoet, bitterzoetmag.submittable.com : This independent magazine is looking for fiction which engages in “interplay between bitterness and sweetness, light and darkness, salvation and damnation.” My story centers around a suicide but definitely has uplifting parts which contrast the darkness in the piece.
Illusio & Bager, illusiobaqer.com/submission-guidelines : This publication is looking for young adult manuscripts with “strong, dynamic characters, with an immersive plot that really pulls the reader in and doesn’t let go until the last page” which is something I plan to accomplish with my story.
Black Heart Magazine, blackheartmagazine.com/submission-guidelines: I thought this publication was a good fit because the length they are looking for is 1500 words max. “Short form modern literature” as they describe also definitely fits with my topic.
The Beloit Fiction Journal, Potomac Review, and the Sassafras Literary Magazine would be where I'd submit. The first two publications are looking for experimental writing, and while I know that what I'm doing isn't anything new, it is to me, something disorientating, which gives me the sense of going into the unknown. That sounds fancy for a bunch of stream-of-consciousness mumbling with a splash of color, but I figured I'd go for it. It's not like I know what I'm doing or where I am when I write, so maybe just the right form of it would help. And what better way than to call it experimental? The third publication would work because of its emphasis on minimalism. In my story I'm trying to break down the orientation of one drunk,loud, drug-filled night into colors and simple emotions. Going through the show and the stage like it's a color wheel. That experimental thing is coming back, and I don't want to stretch it too far. I don't even know where I stand on the whole publishing thing anyway. My thoughts are too jumbled and plastered with insecurities to even think about it. I want to learn what I'm doing first.
I would like to submit to A Public Space, it is a Brooklyn publication and I think it is important for my piece to be published in a NYC publication because it is about the subway. They are looking for new voices to "tell the stories of the twenty first century." I believe my story will be revealing of NYC today.
I would also submit to Atlas Review, another Brooklyn publication. The home page has a review of an avant garde play in Brooklyn that lasted eight hours and the reviewer reviews it in a time stamp form. Though this is not really my thing, I think this publication is aimed at the audience I am writing for, young literary New Yorkers.
I am also interested in submitting to InDigest, a Baltimore publication. What I find especially interesting about them is that they are really trying to start a dialogue among artists. They say "art does not happen in a vacuum," which is definitely true but I rarely see an effort for camaraderie among artists which seems very refreshing.
1. "The Sun Magazine". I love this magazine for its simplicity and cultural creative nonfiction. They publish pieces that are politically and culturally-focused, and I think mine would be appropriate as it's a commentary on peoples' stereotypes of groups of people.
2. "Gravel". The creative nonfiction in this literary magazine is really blunt and honest, which I enjoy. I am trying to write my piece as genuine as possible, which is an element this magazine strives for.
3. "Sun & Sandstone". This literary magazine's focus is to provide an outlet for emerging, college writers. They accept anything from poems to one-act plays as long as their is a distinct voice. My voice tends to be sarcasm and dry humor, which I think will be appropriate for this magazine.
A Public Space because I like the idea of them wanting to bring “together a wide range of global voices to tell the stories of the twenty-first century.” It seems like an interesting publication that brings together many different forms of writing from current authors.
Nap Magazine because they are seeking detailed, serious and emotional pieces and I believe my story will fit into those categories. My story should also fit into their length requirement.
Write Place At the Write Time because I like what they are looking for. They are looking for an incredible story, that moves the audience through sympathetic characters and I believe my story can do that if I do it the right way.
Blunderbuss Magazine — They are looking for stories in my genre that deal with culture. “We want to splash in the mud of lived experience, to battle for a radical empathy, and to provide a megaphone to howling assertions of human subjectivity.”
Many Mountains Moving Press — They publish genres I am interested in writing about, particularly gender, race, ecology, politics, pop culture, the media, and spirituality.
Purple Books Publishing — Sexuality is something that I wish to explore in future writing. The publisher’s team-based style could be extremely helpful: “As a team, we support each other’s work in addition to our own, each of us offering writing and marketing support to one another.” They have an interesting and diverse catalogue.
Three pubications:
1.) FWRICTION: REVIEW (fwrictionreview.submittable.com/submit) - Their description reads, "We accept works in all genres, as long as the writing either melts faces or rocks waffles. That is your mission." With my sardonic voice, I feel like I can melt their face and rock their waffles. Plus, it's such an obscure topic, that I feel like it might be bizarre enough to work.
2.) R.K.V.R.Y. Quarterly Journal (http://www.rkvryquarterly.com/?page_id=433) - A publication that revolves around recovery and disorder that depicts "the human condition." My story's relevant to that.
3.) Wordgathering (www.wordgathering.com/guidelines.html) - This publication deals with breaking down stereotypes associated with certain disabilities.
4.) Creative Nonfiction (https://www.creativenonfiction.org/submissions) - I'm basically using this as a failsafe. The description states that a typical issue of Creative Nonfiction includes a story by a previously unpublished writer, which I basically am.
The Perch - A Yale School of Medicine sponsored literary magazine that publishes works about mental illness that compares societal health to individual health and how those suffering from mental illness balance the two. My protagonist's internal struggle is larger focused on this, fearing how he will be perceived upon leaving the hospital.
Open Minds Quarterly - A literature journal dealing with mental health recovery. Seeing as how my story is set in a mental health hospital, this seems more than appropriate.
Expressions: A Therapeutic Medium for Breaking the Silence - A Colombia University sponsored literary magazine that promotes the discussion of mental illness in an attempt to education the general public and refute the negative stigmas mental illness carries. There goal is literary the driving purpose for me writing this piece.
The first place I will probably choose to submit my magazine is Thought Catalog. I'm a big fan of the website and think the pieces they pick to put on the website (they are also currently looking for submissions for digital books they publish) are, in most cases, quality instances of writing. Like the name suggests, the theme for the website is truly promotes thoughts about entertainment to very serious matters. My piece would fit here because first and foremost, I just want my writing to make people think. Although there is clearly an end theme of understanding those who are not like you and seeing things from their perspective, if someone hates me or hates what I'm writing about that's fine, too. I just want them to ask themselves why and ponder the subject I'm discussing. I think that's what the Thought Catalogue Ready does when browsing the site and it is one of the more popular and well known sites for freelance writers.
The second place I was considering submitting is Asymptote, an online journal that puts emphasis on international and is dedicated to literary translation and bringing together in one place the best in contemporary writing. Their site says “We are interested in encounters between languages and the consequences of these encounters.” Although my story is written in English, I think the contrast in the story between myself and the Central Americans I work with speaks to this sort of encounter the journal is speaking of with a very realistic spin of what racism is in American today.
Another place I was thinking of submitting is the online publication American Dissent. It urges writers who submit pieces that may be unorthodox or shocking, but do so in a way that successfully gets the point across – a point that highlights an injustice or issue that current Americans face. I think my piece would fit here because it brings up a lot of thoughts about illegal immigrants that many people may feel, but no one truly discusses.
Places for writers, the review review and newspages are the only links that worked on my computer. Luckily they all contain publishers looking for a variety of writing such as fiction, short stories and poetry. These are the forms I'm hoping to use in the future for storytelling while journalism is more a means of improving my writing skills and paying bills.
I'd like to submit my piece to the American Literary Review. They are accepting nonfiction from writers in all stages of their careers. They are also looking for pieces that surprise us with their unerring truths, which is the point of my story.
Chautauqua: This magazine looks for writing that has inquiry into questions of social, personal spiritual and aesthetic importance and comments on larger public concerns.
Arcadia Magazine: This magazine makes a point of being very open to all types of work from all genres. I think it is a good idea to submit to at least one magazine like this.
New Orleans Review: looks for fiction, nonfiction and poetry. My piece takes place in New Orleans so i think it could be a geographic fit. They are looking for longer nonfiction pieces for their print edition, but shorter pieces of nonfiction for this online edition. Depending on how long my vignettes turn out, i would consider submitting the entire piece, or just a segment.
Stepaway magazine: an online magazine that specializes in publishing "flash fiction" in urban setting. They have a call for submissions for "urban walking narratives...Our magazine is hungry for literature that evokes the sensory experience of walking in specific neighborhoods, districts or zones within a city." Considering my piece takes place in (what was prior to Katrina) one of the largest populated cities in America, i think this might be a good fit, especially considering how much the neighborhood has physically changed, as well as the dynamics of the people who live there: volunteers. They seem to be looking for short pieces, so if i were to submit something to them, it would be a snippet or a fraction of my entire story.
True Stories: is an online site that publishes a nonfiction piece every Wednesday. I figure it might be a good fit because they specifically want true stories, as opposed to many other magazines, site, journals and reviews who take submissions from a variety of different genres and arts.
I'm still looking at other publications that might be a good fit. There's a lot of possibilities.
I read one piece on Pankmagazine.com (http://pankmagazine.com/piece/ways-mary-beth-could-spend-her-friday-night/) that was to me the perfect piece of writing, the kind of thing I really wish I wrote. And, for me, that's a good sign for the publication. I like their openness to experimental prose and I was interested in mixing my piece down to a similar mosaic sort of aesthetic. So this would be my top choice.
Another option was (http://www.scapegoatreview.com/), and I was thinking of submitting the a mix of only two vignettes as a more flash fiction piece. Because part of my problem with my piece is how I really favor certain sections of it.
I was happy to see Petrichor Review in the catalog of publishing options because the people who run it are former SUNY New Paltz students who worked on the lit. mag on campus with me in my freshman year. Although it's a bit close to home, I really love their taste in stories and I feel like my story could maybe find a home there.
And if all else fails, maybe "Mermaids in the Basement: An Anthology of Mermaid Poetry" will take me.
Switchback (swback.com)- The first publication I want to submit to is a bi-yearly publication of the MFA writing program at University of San Francisco. What really caught my interest from this site was the description of non-fiction work they accept: “We want prose to be quiet and thoughtful, urgent and explosive…We value engaging subject matter, but we value being engaged by precise, intentional prose much, much more.” I think if my piece comes out the way I want, if it strikes the right balance between chaos and reflection, it will be able to do all of those things.
APT (apt.aforementionedproductions.com)- This is a literary journal featuring “challenging writing that combines the cerebral and the visceral.” After reading some of the non-fiction pieces under the “Essays” headline, I felt that a lot of the writers’ voices were similar to mine in my vignette. They may not have had the same melancholy tone that I take, but the structure and subject matter of the published work is similar. A lot of the writing edges on memoir, but is still written about arguably mundane things. They are interesting because they dissect this arguably mundane subject matter and see what is the driving forces are behind it, which is what I am trying to do with my piece on divorce and how it affects people.
Paper Darts (paperdarts.org)- Besides having a really captivating website, this literary magazine that publishes daily is on my radar for the same reason as the above journal- the voices I read remind me of my own. There is also a cultural feel to this magazine, something I think would work in my favor if I were to weave in some more cultural references into my vignette. And my vignette is supposed to be a commentary on a huge part of our culture today, in a sense.
The Sun: It's a high regarded literary magazine with a print and digital run, which is good for keeping your work out there. They specialize and even prefer personal narratives, which is exactly what my piece is.
The Gay & Lesbian Review: It tops many lists of best lit magazines for LGBTQ authors, and is published bi-monthly, which means I'll have more chances to get published with them then in a magazine that's only published quarterly or monthly. They welcome submissions from younger voices. And my story is obviously about a gay relationship, so it fits their criteria.
Alaska Quarterly Review: they too encourage submissions form new voices. It's well known and even though it's the "reach" of the list, it's worth attempting submission. They allow simultaneous submissions as well.
Stonethrow Review: our school literary magazine run by the faculty and creative writing department. They publish a wide variety of genre and topics, not to mention part of getting published in some cases is knowing editors and I'm close with several people on the editorial committee so they'll recognize my name when it crosses their desk. It doesn't guarantee publication, but it helps.
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