The Wax Paper The Wax Paper is a broadsheet publication open to all forms of written word, image, and collected conversation. The first priority of The Wax Paper is to expand our understanding of the people we share the world with, and in doing so, expand our understanding of ourselves. Pieces will be selected on their ability to illuminate the humanity and significance of the subjects that inhabit the work. The Wax Paper was inspired by the life of Louis “Studs” Terkel. Our name is taken after his first radio show, The Wax Museum, a groundbreaking program, emblematic of his democratic fondness of variety, in which arias were played alongside folk ballads. We look to populate The Wax Paper with pieces that share the spirit inherent in Studs’ written work. Work that required patient observation, remained steadfast in its empathy, and displayed genuine vitality. Studs Terkel’s voice and the voices he collected are a necessary…
Category: Just Write
The Rumpus
How could you resist submitting to a magazine named The Rumpus! “The Rumpus is a place where people come to be themselves through their writing, to tell their stories or speak their minds in the most artful and authentic way they know how.” — The Rumpus “The Rumpus is dedicated to fostering new voices: We want to introduce you to authors you’ve never heard of before . . .” The Rumpus has boosted the careers of writers such as Roxane Gay and Cheryl Strayed. Maybe you’ll be next on the “boosted career” list. Submit!
I don’t know what I’m doing . . .
“Eventually, I stop looking back and being prissy about the beginning, but I’m pretty prissy about it for a long while. At a certain point, I only go forward. I allow myself to write a chunk where I can say, ‘You know, I don’t know what I’m really doing here. It’s a bit messy.’ I cut myself some slack. I can also write with blind spots where I say, ‘I know I’m going to have to figure this out later I don’t know what the answer is right now but that’s OK,’ and I can keep writing.” —Julianna Baggott Excerpt from “Pure Writer,” by Elfrieda Abbe, The Writer Magazine, January 2016 Note from Marlene: When you get to a “stuck” place in your writing, type ‘xyz” or “something here” in red at your sticky spot.You can come back to that unsettled place later and fix it. Take a break. Get…
Emulate Writers to Improve Your Writing
The following is an excerpt from “Train Your Eye for Better Writing,” by Tess Callahan, September 2017, Writer’s Digest: “I encourage my students to read deeply a broad range of writers, and after each one, try writing a few sentences in that wordsmith’s style. For example, take a signature line from William Faulkner. . . and, while keeping the sentence structure intact, pluck out all of the nouns and verbs and replace them with your own. Don’t place these emulated lines directly into your own writing. . . Instead, the idea is to practice emulating lines so that the many different styles can work their way into your brain, spin around in the blender of your subconscious, and serve to inform your own unique voice. No art form exists in a vacuum. The impressionists were friends and rivals who hung around in the same cafes, shared, traded and borrowed, and…
Flash fiction: What it is and where to submit
“Flash fiction goes by many names: microfiction, sudden fiction, short-short, postcard fiction, etc. Its word count runs anywhere from 140 characters to over a thousand words, generally capping out at 1500. A short-short story has to handle all the fictional elements seamlessly within an extremely tight space. Give these extreme parameters, what makes a piece of flash fiction truly great?” —“Jumpin’ Jack Flash,” by Jack Smith, May 2017, The Writer “It’s a great artistic expression,” states Kim Chinquee, author of Oh Baby Flash Fictions and Prose Poetry. “Key attributes [for flash fiction]: Language. Imagery. Surprise. Things that are left out. Elements such as tone and point-of-view can fill in for the plot. Rhythm. And a smashing title and ending.” Smith writes in this article, “Hundreds of publications are open to flash fiction.” Here are some of them: Atticus Review The Carolina Quarterly Smokelong Quarterly More places to submit flash fiction….
Nervous about sharing your writing?
“Do you ever feel nervous about sharing so much in print?” Roxane Gay answers, “Absolutely. The only way I really have the courage or stupidity to share my writing is by believing that no one is going to read it. I have to tell myself that because I‘m actually very shy and private in real life. It’ hard to share such personal stories. But here I am! It’s difficult at this point to maintain the delusion. It was much easier when I was publishing in small literary magazines and nobody knew who I was.” Roxane Gay, September 2017 Writer’s Digest Note from Marlene: So, even prolific writers are nervous about their work being made public. Here’s a thought: Don’t worry. Just write! Roxane Gay’s writing appears in Best American Mystery Stories 2014, Best American Short Stories 2012, Best Sex Writing 2012, A Public Space, McSweeney’s, Tin House, Oxford American, American Short…
Uncanny ready for your submissions
Uncanny Magazine is an online Science Fiction and Fantasy magazine featuring passionate SF/F fiction and poetry, gorgeous prose, provocative nonfiction, and a deep investment in the diverse SF/F culture. Each issue contains intricate, experimental stories and poems with verve and imagination that elicit strong emotions and challenge beliefs, from writers of every conceivable background. Uncanny believes there’s still plenty of room in the genre for tales that make you feel. Uncanny looks for new and classic speculative fiction, podcasts, poetry, essays, art, and interviews. Submissions Oct 2 to Oct 16, 2017: short story submissions and poetry submissions. Note from Marlene: Sorry for the short notice. It’s good to always have something ready to submit for these short notices. Fiction Guidelines Uncanny is looking for original, unpublished speculative fiction stories between 750-6000 words. Payment is $.08 per word (including audio rights). Poetry Guidelines Uncanny is looking for original, unpublished speculative poetry of any length. Payment is $30 per…
Ecotone magazine invites reimaging place in writing and art
Ecotone’s mission is to publish and promote the best place-based work being written today. Founded at the University of North Carolina Wilmington in 2005, the award-winning magazine features writing and art that reimagine place, and our authors interpret this charge expansively. An ecotone is a transition zone between two adjacent ecological communities, containing the characteristic species of each. It is therefore a place of danger or opportunity, a testing ground. The magazine explores the ecotones between landscapes, literary genres, scientific and artistic disciplines, modes of thought. Submission guidelines Ecotone, the literary magazine dedicated to reimagining place, welcomes work from a wide range of voices. Please review guidelines before submitting. We strongly encourage writers to read work we’ve published before sending their own. A selection of work from recent issues is featured our website, where you can also order a copy of the magazine. Ecotone is open to submissions, by post and…
Being Kind . . . Prompt #338
Write about a kindness a stranger did for you. Or a kindness you offered to a stranger.
Fire Up The Reader’s Brain
“Once you are clear about how to choose your scenes, develop them to create ‘the dream’ of your memoir. The term ‘fictional dream’ comes from John Garner’s The Art of Fiction in which he writes that we weave a world for our readers with every detail we include —every scene, description, character and piece of dialogue. When we fail to offer continuous cues to scenes in that world, the reader falls out of the dream. The best way to create this dream is to write vivid scenes that stimulate the brain to see, feel and taste that world. Research in the neuroscience of writing demonstrates that when we read a story with sensual details, our brain fires up in the areas of visualization, taste and sound.” Excerpted from “You Must Remember This” by Linda Joy Myers, The Writer February 2016 Posts about using sensory detail in writing: Use Sensory Detail…