Weird Circular #7 April

The April Weird Circular

April 01, 2017

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

Welcome to the Weird Circular

Dear Fellow Writers of the Weird:

I'm thinking a lot about writing community lately. How are we succeeding as a writing community? How are we failing? Or rather, who are we failing? I think as writers, we often have to learn to bridge gaps in our work between the unknown. But are we willing to take the same risks with our careers? 

I see this a lot in writing communities. We seem committed to lifting up those of us who do the hard work when we should be looking for the outliers who need the most help.

Just a few thoughts to get you per-ka-latin'. I hope you're finding your community and figuring out ways to change the world around you, write through the weird, look into the void and tell its story.

- Holly 

April Submission Calls

Fiyah, Theme: Sundown Town. Deadline April 30. Fiyah is a quarterly speculative fiction magazine that features stories by and about people of the African Diaspora. It is currently accepting submissions for its ‘Sundown Town’ issue. 

Ox-Bow Fall Writers Residency. Deadline May 1. Ox-Bow’s AIR program offers artists and writers, at various stages in their career, the time, space, and community to encourage growth and experimentation in their practice. The Arts Faculty and MFA residences are held during the summer while our core classes and community programs are in session. The small group of residents is a part of Ox-Bow’s artist community of students, faculty, and Visiting Artists. The Fall Artist Residencies are held for five weeks between September and October. 

Other Upcoming Submission Windows: 

  • Granta, open to non-fiction April 24th. Granta is one of the world’s most prestigious literary magazines. Granta will be accepting unsolicited nonfiction fiction submissions from 24 April until 24 May. There are no strict word limits, though most prose submissions are between 3000 and 6000 words and the editors advise they are unlikely to read more than 10,000 words of any submission.

  • Tin House Writers Workshop. Deadline May 1. The Tin House Summer Workshop is a weeklong intensive of workshops, seminars, panels, and readings led by prominent contemporary writers of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. The program combines morning workshops with afternoon craft seminars and career panels. Evenings are reserved for author readings and revelry.

  • Strange Horizons, rolling deadlines. Strange Horizons is an online magazine publishing science fiction, fantasy and horror from both established and emerging writers. Fiction submissions may be up to 10,000 words, though under 5,000 preferred. Payment is 8 cents per word.

  • Subterrain Magazine, Theme: The Interview Issue. Deadline May 1.  This issue will be devoted almost entirely to interviews with (mostly) Canadian writers and thinkers, covering a wide range of topics from writing, the economy, politics, the future, migration, borders in an increasingly “borderless” world, and wherever the conversations take us.

Need more submission ideas? Check the

newest markets, Aerogramme's

, Duotrope's

, or Literary Mama's

.

YOU SHOULD BE WRITING

Prompt #1: I heard this prompt recently at Writefest from fellow editor Chelsey Clammer and loved it so much I'll share. Step one is to write a list of things you like or are interested in. Maybe you love old books, boats, or architecture. Step two, determine what texts surround that work. Manuals, lists, plans, diagrams. Step three, write down what you know, or don't know about that subject. Write a good page or two on it, just expounding on why you like it or what you want to know about it. These can be questions. Bonus Round: Try to write a story or poem in the manner of that text, using it as the structure of your work. This is called a hermit crab essay.

Prompt #2: What's underneath your story or poem? Write a piece that is secretly talking about something else, something buried deep in subtext or the subconscious of your character. Try very hard not to name the thing you are hiding. Keep it hidden under the "water" of your story.Bonus Round: Write a short paragraph where you do nothing but explicitly talk about the hidden subject of your piece. Make it straight exposition or explanation. Try to write this section as straightforward and flat as possible. Then see if you can work it in somewhere to the piece in a surprising way. 

Prompt #3:

 Write a poem/story/essay in the form of a letter. Who is your novel's main character writing to and why? Think about the act of sending a letter, or an email. Think about the language we use in letter-writing, and why we use that language. What can your character hide in a letter? Why? 

Bonus Round:

 What if the letter never arrived or went to a nonexistent person? Think about how you can flip the trope of letter writing in fiction. For poets, consider reversing the letter, starting backwards and working towards a greeting.

Editing tip of the month: Try sending your poem, story, or novel to your Kindle. You can email yourself on your Amazon kindle email address. Reading your work on a different platform can be super helpful in finding errors.

Inspiration from the Ether

☢ Weird Inspiration from the Real World The Weird Things People Leave in Ubers ☢

News From Your Corporeal Host

  • My poems, "Of Whales in Paint and Other Poems" are live at Crab Fat Magazine 

  • My poem, "Pine Song, Robin Song, Star Song," is live at Liminality 

  • Looking for an editor? I'm collaborating with Writership.

  • Want to work with me directly? I've updated my website. 

  • I'll be taking the poetry bus with Public Poetry and Writespace to Round Top Poetry Festival. Ride with me?

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