Voiceworks is now open for submissions to issue 124 'Saddle'!
Theme: Saddle
They’re at the gate… AND they’re off! First out the gate is the favourite, Mane Character, followed by Unbridled Emotions, closely tailed by Stirrupshit. Tough going for Hello World This Is Me and a non-starter for Skeletal Wire Horse Ridden By Daniel Radcliffe In Erotic Psychodrama In Bold But Ultimately Cursed Career Move.
It’s looking like a photo finish: does your horse have a fascinator? Does your horse have tiny Trojan men inside it? Does your horse have a horse have a horse inside it? Neigh gurl neigh… unless?
HAY GURL HAYYY.
It is 2005 and you are happily flicking through a stack of horse books from the library. On road trips into the countryside you can identify from your perch in the backseat all the horse colours and breeds. It’s all in their size, their build, the gentle slope of their faces. You are a Horse Fact girl. You know horse can sleep sitting down and standing up. You know horse evolved from an animal no larger than a golden retriever (and that makes him a Good Boy). You know horse has two huge eyes on the side of his head which means he can see 360 degrees at any one time. You may have seen Equus and you haven’t been turned off equines, not yet.
Is your horse metaphorical? Apocalyptic? Does your horse have a long face, hoarse voice? Maybe she’s barn with it… All horses welcome, so saddle up, baby. It’s showtime.
~Thanks to EdCommers Jocelin Chan and Lou Garcia-Dolnik for the blurb~
Remember, you don’t have to stick to the theme! Our themes are a prompt more than anything else—a springboard to get the creative ideas flowing. Most of all, we just want good work.
Print Guidelines
Voiceworks accepts fiction, poetry, nonfiction, art and comics, but before you send your work our way, here are some rules:
We are only able to publish writers and artists who are under the age of 25 (that is, 24 and under) at the time of submission.
We only accept work by people living in Australia (including international students) or by Australians living overseas.
We only consider previously unpublished work.
Each category has its own submission page with specific guidelines, but here are the basics:
Fiction: send no more than two stories, each no more than 3,000 words.
Poetry: send no more than three poems, each no more than 100 lines. We recommend reading our poetry guide here before sending us your work.
Nonfiction: we recommend that you pitch your nonfiction work before sending it to us. Head here for advice on how to construct your pitch and write good nonfiction. For completed work, send no more than two pieces, each no more than 3,000 words.
Art and comics: please keep in mind, we print in duotone (only two colours of ink) and our page dimensions are 170 x 245 mm. We recommend you pitch your comics before sending them to us. For advice on how to pitch your comics, check out our handy guide here. Please send no more than three artworks or comics.
We encourage you to submit across genres, but please send us no more than four submissions in total (excluding comics and art).
Deadlines
Nonfiction pitches—Sunday 20 June, 11:59pm AEDT
Fiction, completed nonfiction and poetry—Sunday 4 July, 11:59pm AEDT
Art, comics and comic pitches—Sunday 18 July, 11:59pm AEDT
Rates of pay
$100 for written work and art
$150 for multi-page comics or suites of art
You’ll find further details and submission guidelines here. Please read the information carefully and contact Voiceworks Editor Adalya Nash Hussein if you have any questions or concerns.