Weird Circular #26 November

The November Weird Circular

November 01, 2018

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

Welcome to the Weird Circular

Dear Fellow Weird Writers,

November appeared overnight, wearing a star on her brow and a veil in her hair. This month is one of my favorite writing months, #NaNoWriMo. In November, writers all across the globe band together to write 50,000 words or 1666.66 (roughly) words a day. Always a bit of a rebel, this month I'll be writing 10 short stories, all fairy tale retellings! If you want to follow along on my progress, you can add me on the NaNoWriMo website with my username Hwally, or check out my

where I'll post an excerpt a day from my WIP. 

NaNoWriMo is not for everyone. As with every piece of writing advice, group, community, or process, there are always ways to adapt it to your own needs. This month between carving the turkey and hunting holiday sales, I encourage you to sit down and think about your writing goals. What's important to you this month? How can you achieve those goals?

Best of luck to you, nanoers and writers of weird and extraordinary things. 

Your corporeal host,

Holly 

Submission Calls

Upcoming Submission Windows: 

  • Lost Balloon, open Nov. 1-7. Flash Fiction, prose poetry, CNF under 1k words. 

  • Luna Station Quarterly, Deadline Nov. 15. Speculative short fiction by women-identified authors. 500 to 700k words. $5 payment.

  • The Rumpus, Deadline Nov. 30. Call for essays. 1.5-4.5k words. 

  • Poetry Magazine, Deadline Nov. 30: Translations, visual poetry, poetry, prose. Pays $10/line

  • Podcastle, Deadline Nov. 30: General submissions call. Up to 6k words. Fantasy. Works are produced in professional audio format. 

  • Rosalind's Siblings Anthology, Deadline Dec. 1, Theme: Speculative stories about people of marginalized genders/sexes who are scientists. 500-7k words, £0.08/word payment. 

Need more submission ideas? Check the

newest markets,

, Duotrope's

,

, or Literary Mama's

.

YOU SHOULD BE WRITING

Prompt #1: NaNoWriMo is about getting your butt in the chair, every day, to write. But it's also about finding inspiration. This month, I want you to pick one "me" activity and put it on your schedule. It could be a trip to the art museum, a reading day, meeting a friend to chat writing, or finishing those errands you've been meaning to accomplish. 

Bonus Round: Write about your "me" activity. What do you love to do? Why does it matter to you? What is stopping you from doing it more? Why don't you reward yourself more for writing?

Prompt #2: When you get stuck in NaNoWriMo, a good exercise is to do something non-writing related. Try doodling. Get a blank piece of paper and doodle whatever comes to your mind. This will often free up new ideas about your manuscript.

Bonus Round: Reimagine one of your doodles as a character, setting, or object in your book. Treat it like an easter egg. Later, when you're famous, you can mention it in interviews :)  

Prompt #3: Remember those days when you were a kid and did collages in art class? Make a "mockup" of your book's cover using magazines! Similarly, you can find images of models, actors, and settings that inspire you. Cut them out and throw them up on a board above your desk for inspiration.

Bonus Round: Make a list of every character and setting in your book. Then give them attributes. What does your character look, smell, talk like? What kind of mood does your setting evoke?

Editing tip of the month: NO EDITING IN NANOWRIMO! (Really.) If you aren't doing NaNoWriMo, this is a good month to get caught up on things you put off throughout 2018. Make an award eligibility post, finish an old draft, or revise something you've been waiting on. Now or never!

Inspiration from the Ether

➳ Craft Article of the Month: A Reading List for Combating Impostor Syndrome ➳

News From Your Corporeal Host

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