Young Writers Literary Journal 2011

artwork doesn't mean photography does it.

Oooh, awesome! *starts thinking about possible submissions*

I would do this, but I'd totally be rejected. Plus, what would I write on?

wickedwonder wrote:I would do this, but I'd totally be rejected. Plus, what would I write on?

You shouldn't have that mindset-- you really never know unless you try. And even if you do get rejected, you'll at least have showed the initiative to submit, and you'll get your writing out there, and hopefully have a greater chance of getting in next time.

wickedwonder wrote:I would do this, but I'd totally be rejected. Plus, what would I write on?

Eli's right- Don't be discouraged! And write about whatever you love to write about. =D

I'm definitely interested in doing this. I didn't get the chance last time, seeing as I was such a newb. For artwork, I'm assuming we'll just send in pics/scans of our work when the time comes rather than send the piece itself?

I wanna submit! But my art is bad, I only have one poem, and I don't think I can write a short story...

idraax wrote:I wanna submit! But my art is bad, I only have one poem, and I don't think I can write a short story...

you can try though, and that is the important part!

So up for this. : )

*rolls metaphorical writerly sleeves up*

This submission timing is perfect. I'll be off school and able to submit!

To answer a few questions...

Photography: Yes, photography is accepted. However, keep in mind that the Journal is in black and white. Thus, any artwork and photography must look good in b & w.

What if I get rejected?: As Elinor pointed out, don't worry about it. If you want to be a writer and that's your mindset, then you won't last long! Almost every famous writer dealt with dozens if not hundreds (in some cases, even thousands) of rejections before they made it big. But they took the rejection as a badge of honor and kept improving. Rejection isn't a bad thing because it means you actually did do something. The worst thing is to do nothing.

Submission of Multiple Works: We do allow multiple submissions, although we're going to do it differently this year than in past years. Previously, you could submit up to three poems. This year, you may only submit one poem. This way, you have to pick the best one. Also, you may also submit one short story and one piece of artwork on top of that. So all told, you could submit one poem, one short story, and one piece of artwork/photo if you wanted to. However, only one at most will be accepted.


By the way, if you wish to improve your chances of being accepted, here are some tips:

1. PROOFREAD. I can't stress that enough, and it's something that hits even experienced writers. Read over you work twice silently, then once aloud. Then have others read it.

2. Follow the guidelines when they are released. This will be stuff like including your name on the first page, word count, yada yada yada. Failure to follow them is an automatic rejection.

Following just those two tips will improve your chances significantly; I'm not kidding.

Other than those two tips, submit a short story. There are generally 50% fewer short story submissions than poetry submissions, but we end up publishing the same amount of both. Also, choose a relatively rare genre to write about. I always try to make sure that the genres are varied in the Journal, but it's tough because we get so many love stories. We don't get nearly enough historical fiction, science fiction, steam-punk, or even fantasy. In other words, don't write a love story and you'll improve your chances. That's not to say the main character can't have a love interest, far from it. But think of it as more like Star Wars vs. Titanic. The characters in both have love interests, but one is only about the love interest.

Nate wrote:Photography: Yes, photography is accepted. However, keep in mind that the Journal is in black and white. Thus, any artwork and photography must look good in b & w.

Art or Photography?? *aaah, torn.* We'll see.

Nate wrote: So all told, you could submit one poem, one short story, and one piece of artwork/photo if you wanted to.

Yaaaaay!

Rest assured, you'll be receiving either a sci-fi or a fantasy short story submission from me. ^^ I just have to decide what to enter...

When you say we have to put our name on the first page, is that YWS username or real name?

silentpages wrote:Rest assured, you'll be receiving either a sci-fi or a fantasy short story submission from me. ^^ I just have to decide what to enter...

When you say we have to put our name on the first page, is that YWS username or real name?

I'm pretty sure the specifics of submissions will be available December 1st.