Voiceworks is now open for submissions to issue 119 Butter!

EXT. DAY. A VERDANT FIELD. SUNFLOWERS LINE THE FENCE. IT IS TOO WINDY.

A COW and a single ALMOND stand behind a trestle table. They await judgement.

A BUTTER KNIFE stands before them with the manic energy of an early afternoon cooking show host.

BUTTER KNIFE:

It’s been a long road for you both. Highs and lows. Too much salt, too much sugar. Not enough calcium. Not creamy enough. Splitting when the water is too hot. You must be exhausted. Almost too tired to go on. We’ve got something that can help.

A MOTHER ALMOND emerges from the middle distance and rolls over to hug her son. Patches of his skin flake off when he jumps in excitement. The COW looks around expectantly. The BUTTER KNIFE laughs awkwardly. There is a moment.

COW:

[plaintive moo]

BUTTER KNIFE:

[clears throat] It’s time to begin the final challenge!

A TUB OF BODY BUTTER cheers from the sidelines. It was not food and didn’t taste good.

INT. LATE EVENING. LIVING ROOM.

A YOUNG WOMAN, home after a long day at work, sits in the middle of her dirtied white couch. Golden streams of warm melted butter run down her forearms, leaking out the bottom of her toast. It coats her lips. She swipes on Tinder while the ads play, struggling to stay awake. A notification comes up her screen: BELOVED TV HOST BUTTER KNIFE CAUGHT IN WAGES SCANDAL. The phone slips out of her buttered hands. She falls asleep.

A dream sequence: she sails a celery vessel on a sea of peanut butter, eyes on the smooth horizon.

~Thanks to EdCommers Kareena Dhaliwal and Catherine Treloar 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We only consider previously unpublished work.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 29 March, 11:59pm AEDT

Fiction, completed nonfiction and poetry—Sunday 12 April, 11:59pm AEDT

Art, comics and comic pitches—Sunday 3 May, 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 Mira Schlosberg if you have any questions or concerns.

NormalVoiceworks27 February 2020

Voiceworks is now open for submissions to issue 119 Butter!

EXT. DAY. A VERDANT FIELD. SUNFLOWERS LINE THE FENCE. IT IS TOO WINDY.

A COW and a single ALMOND stand behind a trestle table. They await judgement.

A BUTTER KNIFE stands before them with the manic energy of an early afternoon cooking show host.

BUTTER KNIFE:

It’s been a long road for you both. Highs and lows. Too much salt, too much sugar. Not enough calcium. Not creamy enough. Splitting when the water is too hot. You must be exhausted. Almost too tired to go on. We’ve got something that can help.

A MOTHER ALMOND emerges from the middle distance and rolls over to hug her son. Patches of his skin flake off when he jumps in excitement. The COW looks around expectantly. The BUTTER KNIFE laughs awkwardly. There is a moment.

COW:

[plaintive moo]

BUTTER KNIFE:

[clears throat] It’s time to begin the final challenge!

A TUB OF BODY BUTTER cheers from the sidelines. It was not food and didn’t taste good.

INT. LATE EVENING. LIVING ROOM.

A dream sequence: she sails a celery vessel on a sea of peanut butter, eyes on the smooth horizon.

~Thanks to EdCommers Kareena Dhaliwal and Catherine Treloar 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.

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 29 March, 11:59pm AEDT

Fiction, completed nonfiction and poetry—Sunday 12 April, 11:59pm AEDT

Art, comics and comic pitches—Sunday 3 May, 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 Mira Schlosberg if you have any questions or concerns.