Weird Circular #19 (April)

The April Weird Circular

This month's Weird Circular is live with submission ideas, prompts, and more!

Welcome to the Weird Circular

Dear Fellow Writers of the Weird:

     Happy National Poetry Month! Every year in April I write a poem a day for #NaPoWriMo (Follow along on my

 or

). So this Weird Circular is all poetry-themed! Also, our prompts are all videos this month, because Why the Heck Not.

     I know what you fiction writers are thinking, which is, darn you bards. But look! I have converted many a prose writer to an occasional poet. It is not hard. Poetry is a way to challenge yourself if you're used to writing longform. One, you have to be concise. Two, it helps you think about your structure on the page. So I encourage you to write a poem this month, at least one!

     For my fellow poets, I bask in the glory of your verse. This is your time! Write some poems. Write them every day. Live them, breathe them. Hold them close and let them go.

- Holly 

Submission Calls

Deadline unknown. Extreme Horror, Splatterpunk, Bizarro, LGBTIQ+, Pornorotica, freaky fantasy worlds and futures, ridiculous mash-ups, or anything just plain weird.

(A note from your host: I know nothing about this magazine but I love their logo. So sue me.) 

Other Upcoming Submission Windows: 

  • Rediver Beacon Street Prize: Deadline April 15. Stories or essays less than 8k words, 3 poems, $10 submission fee, $1,000 prize. 

  • Apparition Lit. Deadline April 15. Theme: Lazarus. Stories 1k words and under.

  • Nonbinary Review: Deadline April 23. Theme: A Wrinkle in Time. Flashes up to 1k words. Fiction up to 5k words. Poems up to 3 pages. Pays .01/word for fiction, $10 for poems.

  • Tin House Summer Workshops, deadline April 29. Happening July 8-15 in Portland, OR. Workshops in short fiction, novel, nonfiction, and poetry. 

  • Fiyah. Deadline April 30. Theme: Music. Seeks writing by and about people of the African Diaspora. Short stories (2,000 – 7,000 words): $150 USD, Novelettes (

  • The Overcast: Deadline April 30. Speculative fiction under 5k words. Pays .01/word.

  • Alban Lake. Deadline April 30. Drabble contest - Fiction under 100 words. Pays .01/word. No fee to enter!

  • Parvus Press. Deadline April 30. Open call for submissions from writers of color. Fantasy and Science Fiction novels. 

Need more submission ideas? Check the

newest markets,

, Duotrope's

,

, or Literary Mama's

.

YOU SHOULD BE WRITING

Prompt #1: Write a poem in response to the above poem from Denice Frohman. 

Bonus Round: Record your poem! Read it to yourself on your iPhone or at a reading. Post in on Twitter or Facebook or Youtube. Sing it to your cat. Saying the words out loud will help you revise, but also will let you feel the weight of your words on your tongue.

Prompt #2: Write a poem in response to the above quote by Neil DeGrasse Tyson. Basically, write about the stars. Poets have been writing about the galaxy for as long as we've been alive. 

Bonus Round: Go to Wikipedia or another encyclopedia and look up a factoid about

,

, the

. Try to include those cold hard facts in your poem and see where it takes you. Let the grounding of those facts play against the lyric quality of your words.

Prompt #3: I want you to find a piece of music that inspires you. Maybe it's the latest broadway mashup, like the video above. Or maybe it's just some classical guitar or Cardi B. Turn it on, turn it up, and write a poem while you listen. 

Bonus Round: Props to you if you can make the poem rhyme or fit some kind of musical meter! I'm not very good at this myself, but it's always fun to experiment with structure. Or, ooh! Make it a haiku! I love the idea of three lines from a grand piece of music. 

Editing tip of the month: When you're editing poetry, every word counts.Poetry revision is boundless. Cut your poem up in pieces and rearrange them. Switch every word using a thesaurus. Look up interesting words and see if you can inject some life in the piece. Try new structures--turn a short choppy poem into a prose poem or vice versa. The important thing here is the word "play"--if you let yourself treat your poem like it's not the precious little jewel you thought it was, you can often open up your work to new dimensions. 

Inspiration from the Ether

✒ NaPoWriMo Special: Weird Poem of the Month: Fresh Kills by Claire Hero ✒

☢ Weird Inspiration from the Real World: 10 Weird and Wonderful Historical Newspaper Stories ☢

News From Your Corporeal Host

  • Two of my haiku will be published in Star*line 41.2.

  • I have a new subscriber-only post up at Curious Fictions on Odd Jobs and Past Selves. Read it here!

  • I have a new story up at Curious Fictions: Mermaid Hunt. This piece originally appeared in Pulp Literature. I'll be posting this story in audio format to my website later this month.

  • I'm chairing the 2018 SFPA poetry contest! Read here about how to enter starting June 1.

  • I made a blog post about my upcoming events. Read it here.

  • Pre-orders start soon for my chapbook, Glimmerglass Girl. Stay tuned for how to order and also how to get a free, gorgeous lapel pin of the cover image! More details soon!

This month's Weird Circular brought to you by the ghost of Walt Whitman and disco cats

Join the conversation

or to participate.