Submission Wish Lists for Issue 07
/It's here. It's happening. Issue 07 submissions are OPEN, and we've already begun to dive in. Our theme has been posted, writing prompts have been given... but what are we really looking for?
Well, you're in luck, because we're here to give you our secret wish lists. From the broad to the hyper-specific, here's what each member of our editorial team is crossing their fingers to see in that glorious submission pile. Whether you're still seeking inspiration for a new piece or are sifting through the archives for something to dust off, we humbly offer you our deepest dreams & desires to get those creative gears turning.
OLIVIA | Editor in Chief, poetry
Poems about places!
Anything that mentions the weather
Break-up poems with a self reclamation twist
Poems that use two languages (either within the poem or as a translation)
Poems featuring cats who play piano
LIS | Managing Editor, poetry/fiction/nonfiction
Poems that use Arabic or Portuguese (your translated original work, or poems that mix languages!)
Submissions from Lebanon, Syria, or Palestine
Content about sign language/Deafness
Essays and poems about queer parenthood
Poems about food
Fiction about trains
Mythology and folklore content, especially from cultures that don't usually show up in US publications!
Speculative fiction about language, myth, and intergenerational communication
Stories, art and poems about the stories that fascinated you as a child
Working-class speculative fiction
I just want a story about eating on a train in Lebanon with a mythological monster, translated from Arabic, is that too much to ask?!?!
CAMERON | Editor, fiction/nonfiction
Be gay, do crimes! Transgress and be liminal. There’s no barrier like a burned bridge, and no bridge like a barrier you ignore.
I’m very interested in things that engage with religion and religious trappings and rituals (along similar lines as Bridget Duffy’s “Full of Grace” in issue 04). I would particularly love to see more works in this vein from writers with non-Christian backgrounds.
Mythic-scale figures in scifi/fantasy settings to tell stories that aren’t heroic fantasies. (See: Issue 05, Aimee Ogden’s “The Weight of Her World, and Another”)
Revolution and community (Issue 04, Elliott Zee’s “Consumed”)
Loosely disguise Asterius and Theseus Hades fanfic (JOKING JOKING … unless)
Comics! You can do a lot with one page (Issue 05, Allison Bannister’s “Biking Saturns Rings”), but also super down for something like the Femme Magnifique comics anthology, splicing together historical people, events, or even cool science (space! animals! carcinization and the root networks of plants!) with resonances to the self. Funny or serious.
I’m vibing caves at the moment. This has to do with: liminality, quiet, solitude, something awesome and awful and best shared with a companion.
ALEX | Editor, poetry/fiction
Black and Brown folks practicing magic in all forms
Women exploring themselves unapologetically - with or without men!
Swords, dragons, and fairy tales flipped on their heads
Joy without trauma or insecurity
More slang, more sex, less shame
Fat people embracing and exploring their bodies and souls
Letters! Love notes, dear diaries, inner monologues
Dancing (with or without music!)
Geeking out (like if WIS hosted a Ted Talk)
ARI | Digital Media Manager, nonfiction/poetry/fiction
More nonfiction that…
Plays with form
Involves food
Explores the evolution of gender/sexuality identity
Is deeply immersed in Place
More fiction that...
Is silly & cute with a happy ending
Has a protagonist with a super weird career (think entomologist or food scientist or recycling specialist)
Is about caring for something small
Has queer YA characters who love each other deeply
Pirates. Just pirates.
More poetry that...
Uses a specific form i.e. sestina
Involves repetition in a creative way
You think it's a love poem but it's really about something totally different
RILEY | Art Director, visual art
Art that’s intensely personal
Decorative art that fits the theme
Personal comics from your own experiences
Nonsensical comics full of whimsy that are open-ended
Black and white art that has clear contrasts to print well - art that has great line quality and line texture. See those brush strokes and the movement of your hand.
Of course, your submissions don’t have to include any of the above - as always, we encourage you to send in work that matters to you above all else - but, you know, if you wanted to make a multilingual cave-train recipe letter comic featuring Black characters & dragons & queer kids, you’d have our attention! We’re loving what we’ve received so far and can’t wait to see even more magic in our queue.