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so I’m looking at short story publishers (fantasy)

Tor, cream of the crop. 25 cents a word. Stories can be read for free (YES). Slowish response time at ~3 months. Prefer under 12k, absolute maximum is 17.5k. Don’t bother if it’s not highly professional quality. SFWA qualifying.

Crossed Genres. 6 cents a word. Different theme each month (this month’s is “failure”). Submissions must combine either sci-fi or fantasy with the theme. Response time 1 month. 1k-6k, no exceptions. SFWA qualifying.

Long Hidden, anthology from CG. 6 cents a word. 2k-8k, no exceptions. Must take place before 1935. Protagonist(s) must be under 18 and marginalized in their time and place. Must be sci-fi/fantasy/horror. Deadline 30 April. Response by 1 October.

Queers Destroy Science Fiction. Sci-fi only right now, author must identify as queer (gay, lesbian, bi, ace, pan, trans, genderfluid, etc, just not cishet). 7.5k max. Deadline 15 February. Responses by 1 March. You can submit one flash fiction and one short story at the same time. (My network blocks the Lightspeed site for some reason, so I can’t get all the submission details. >_>) Probably SFWA qualifying?

Women in Practical Armor. 6 cents a word. 2k-5k. Must be about 1) a female warrior who 2) is already empowered and 3) wears sensible armour. Deadline 1 April. Response within three months.

Fiction Vortex. $10 per story, with $20 and $30 for editor’s and readers’ choice stories (hoping to improve). Speculative fiction only. Imaginative but non-florid stories. 7.5k maximum, preference for 5k and under. (I kind of want to support them on general principle.)

Urban Fantasy Magazine. 6 cents a word. 8k max, under 4k preferred. Must be urban fantasy (aka, the modern world, doesn’t need to be a literal city).

Nightmare. 6 cents a word. 1.5-7.5k, preference for under 5k. Horror and dark fantasy. Response time up to two weeks. SFWA and HWA qualifying.

Apex Magazine. 6 cents a word. 7.5k max, no exceptions. Dark sci-fi/fantasy/horror. SFWA qualifying.

Asimov’s Science Fiction. 8-10 cents a word. 20k max, 1k minimum. Sci-fi; borderline fantasy is ok, but not S&S. Prefer character focused. Response time 5 weeks; query at 3 months. SFWA qualifying, ofc.

Buzzy Mag. 10 cents a word. 10k max. Should be acceptable for anyone 15+. Response time 6-8 weeks. SFWA qualifying.

Strange Horizons. 8 cents a word. Speculative fiction. 10k max, prefers under 5k. Response time 40 days. Particularly interested in diverse perspectives, nuanced approahces to political issues, and hypertexts. SFWA qualifying.

Fantasy and Science Fiction. 7-12 cents a word. Speculative fiction, preference for character focus, would like more science-fiction or humour. 25k maximum. Prefers Courier. Response time 15 days.

Scigentasy. 3 cents a word. .5-5k. Science-fiction and fantasy, progressive/feminist emphasis. Fantastic Stories of the Imagination. 15 cents a word. 3k maximum. Any sci-fi/fantasy, they like a literary bent. (psst, steinbecks!) They also like to see both traditional and experimental approaches. Response time two weeks.

Beneath Ceaseless Skies. 6 cents a word. 10k maximum. Fantasy in secondary worlds only (it can be Earth, but drastically different—alternate history or whatever). Character focus, prefer styles that are lush yet clear, limited first or third person narration. Response time usually 2-4 weeks, can be 5-7 weeks. SFWA qualifying.

Clarkesworld. 10 cents a word up to 4000, 7 afterwards. 1-8k, preferred is 4k. Science-fiction and fantasy. Needs to be well-written and convenient to read on-screen. Appreciates rigour. No talking cats. Response time 2 days. SFWA qualifying.

Orson Scott Card’s Intergalactic Medicine Show. 6 cents a word. Any length. Science-fiction and fantasy (along with fantastic horror). Good world-building and characterization. Clear straightforward prose. Response time three months. Yes, OSC is editor-in-chief. SFWA qualifying.

Interzone. Sub-pro rates if anything (but highly respected). 10k max. Short cover letter. Science-fiction and fantasy.

minutia-r

Whenever I see a post like this, I feel like I have to tell people about the Submission Grinder. I just did a search on it and it came up with 135 markets that pay for fantasy short stories. You can search by genre, pay rate, length of story they accept, etc, and it’s constantly being updated, which a post like this can’t be, and you can also use it to keep track of what you’ve sent where and when, and since a lot of people use it for this purpose it’s got a lot of good data about response times and so on. If you are trying to sell fiction or poetry on the regular, it is such a useful tool and I encourage everyone to use it.

emilyparagraph

Weak Trope: Having a character’s driving motivation be REVENGE up until the last second when they pull the “revenge won’t bring my wife/sister/town/three-eared dog back” and leave the bastard they’ve been hunting down alive.

Strong Trope: Hello! My Name! Is Inigo Montoya! You Killed My Father! Prepare! TO! DIE! *corners count rugen* Beg for your life *slashes cheek* Offer me anything I want in the world! *slashes other cheek* I WANT MY FATHER BACK, YOU SON OF A BITCH. *stabs count rugen to death*

saanphoenix-deactivated20260411

Weak Trope: The character killing the bastard out of revenge and then waxing poetic about how empty they still feel inside and that revenge honestly isn’t worth it in the long run.

Strong Trope: I’ve spent so long hunting my revenge, I don’t know what to do now. – You ever think about being the Dread Pirate Roberts? – *thoughtful frown*

psychofactz

More facts

thxrsdxy

….maybe that’s why I listen to Skyrim and Mass Effect when I’m writing.

petepaintswarhammer

http://www.rpgamers.net/radio/

Just going to leave that there for anyone who needs it

warchirf

this is true. whenever i study, write, or other university things, i always listened to game music, film musics and classical. (and maybe a playlist of adventure time and starwars). it makes me super focused!

mallowhoney

More advice from a gamer and psych major. Make two playlists! One with the softer, more flowing music, like what you hear while traveling in a game. Name it “Field music.” This kind of music is supposed to just keep the flow as you travel in the game and it keeps pressure even.

Now take all the high-intensity battle music and make a playlist called “Boss Fight.” This music is supposed to make you feel just a bit desperate, but also empowered and badass. This is good for VERY CLOSE DEADLINES and “HOLY SHIT THREE PARAGRAPHS TO GO I GOT THIS.” It helps you get reenergized and gets you pumped to push through the last bit.

This is how I study and write papers.

For those of us who like lyrics, pick something NOT in the language you are writing in. When you’re writing in English and listening to English music it lowers your ability to write as well as you could because your brain is also interpreting the music.

skits-and-stickers

If you’ve got 4 hours or close to that to work on something, I recommend this:

http://nmesh.bandcamp.com/album/welcome-to-warp-zone-tiny-mix-tapes-4-hour-video-game-mix

It’s wild but it fits the criteria and works for me.

thestoryofaslut

This is a big reason why i gush over game soundtracks.

postplus-protest

POST PLUS IS COMING, WHETHER YOU WANT IT OR NOT!

Despite the fancy survey, changes to the UI and TOS reveal we’re getting the service in the future whether we want it or not. Obviously, Post+ is a terrible idea that is trying to bank revenue on user content. Unlike patreon or onlyfans, tumblr’s primary focus is on FAN content. The legality of this is NOT in the users favor and as the new tumblr TOS states, said users will be entirely liable for whatever legal matters arise.

SO WHAT ARE WE DOING?

Besides filling out the survey, it’s time to show tumblr we mean business and show our displeasure by hitting them where it hurts.

Ad revenue.

We’re proposing a 24 hour log off as phase one of this protest.

WHEN IS THE PROTEST?

AUGUST 6th, 2021 12 am Eastern Time (US) 5 am Greenwich Mean Time 6 am Central European Time 8 am Moscow Standard Time 1 pm Australian Western Time 2 pm Japan Standard Time 3:30 pm Australian Central Time 4 pm Australian Eastern Time

AUGUST 5th, 2021

11 pm Central Time (US) 10 pm Mountain Time (US) 9 pm Pacific Time (US)

THE END TIME IS 24 HOURS FROM START TIME!!!

So no posting, no queues, no likes, and no reblogs!

WHAT IF I CAN’T/WHAT ELSE CAN I DO?

Like this post and share it AS MANY TIMES AS POSSIBLE. Use the hashtags #tumblrlogoff2021 or #postplusprotest on ANY and ALL social media.

WILL THIS WORK?

Maybe, maybe not. It’s an attempt at doing SOMETHING.

BECAUSE I’M A TIRED IDIOT, USE THIS TO DOUBLE CHECK YOUR TIME ZONE!!!!

Event Time Announcer shows time for Log off protest 2021 in locations all over the world. In New York it happens on Friday, August 6, 2021 a

wrenhyperfixates

As much as I hate to say this because this hellsite is a big part of my life, I think we should all participate in this. And you know what, it’s actually because this hellsite means so much to me that I think we should do this. post+ will hurt content creators and possibly shut down tumblr itself (though they’re much better protected than we could ever be). Don’t use post+. Use the link above and find when you should log off to help

sheris532

BOOST

nildespirandum

Boost

trickster-grrrrl-deactivated202

We can all survive 24 hours off of Tumblr. BOOST!

ariwritessometimes

In light of the recent PostPlus nonsense tumblr is trying to pull, here's a reminder that monetization of fanfiction can lead you to legal trouble. On Ao3 it's against the TOS to even mention any money-sending site at all because of the conditonal protection they offer.

Putting your entire fanfiction blog behind a paywall is like pointing a neon sign saying "please sue me". I bring this up specifically because tumblr mentioned fanfiction in the post that they made and that is going to leave a lot of people misinformed.

Remember: Do NOT paywall your fanworks.

And rest assured, my blog will never be pay-to-read, even if this weren't a fanfiction blog. I think the whole thing is ridiculous.

dearwriters

Fanfic writers, be careful!

nepofledgling

sorry theres not a single person on this website id pay to follow idc if we’ve been mutuals for six years, if you put up a paywall we’re done

eudaemxn

{ID: an image of Bernie Sanders captioned with text saying "I am once again asking my mutuals to complete the Post+ survey to keep Tumblr free. Post+ is a terrible idea and WILL fuck over anyone who could possibly benefit from it"}

neo-lightchild-decafineator-dea

Wait there's a survey where is it?

too-much-to-think-about

https://tumblr.survey.fm/post-feedback-form

Hi There :-) As you might have noticed, we’re beta-testing something new, Tumblr Post+. Post+ is our new subscription feature that allows y

ohsweetvenom

OH ME GOD TY

travesty-majesty

GUYS YOU CAN ANSWER MULTIPLE TIMES

frankenmouse

DON’T DO THAT. Look. I’m a researcher that uses online surveys A LOT. You know what happens to a flood of replies from the same IP? They get flagged as a bot/ballot box stuffing and deleted.

Answer once. Answer clearly. Don’t try to be clever or cute. I guarantee whoever came up with this BS will be just itching for any reason to toss stuff that doesn’t reflect well on their idea. “Cause corporate entities aren’t bound to data ethics the same way academic researchers are.

the-tired-tenor

So uh....some dude apparently recreated Adobe Photoshop feature-for-feature, for FREE, and it runs in your browser.

Anyway, fuck Adobe, and enjoy!

revretch

Oh damn this is REALLY good for gifs!!!!

bogleech

We are really in the future finally

nanalineni

Even if scihub is blocked by your internet provider they have a telegram bot that gives you the articles provided you give them a doi or issn

nanalineni

Works pretty well, scihub is blocked in France if you don't have access to the academic internet provider, but this bot isn't

nanalineni

Also unpaywall is an addon for all the classic explorers that gives you freely legally accessible PDFs when they seem like behind a paywall

nanalineni

And finally, more and more researchers are publishing their preprints for free on web archives, the most well known here being Hal and ArXiv

loveletter2you

ending a story in other languages

kurdish: “my story went to other homes, god bless the mothers and fathers of its listeners” (Çîroka min çû diyaran, rehmet li dê û bavê guhdaran.)

greek: “and they lived well, and we lived better” (και ζήσανε αυτοί καλά και εμείς καλύτερα)

afrikaans: “whistle whistle, the story is done” (fluit fluit, die storie is uit)

goemai: “my tale has finished, (it) has returned to go (and) come home.” (tamtis noe lat / dok ba muaan yi wa)

amharic: “return my story and feed me bread” (ተረቴን መልሱ አፌን በዳቦ አብሱ::)

bengali: “my story ends and the spinach is eaten by the goat” (aamaar kothati furolo; Notey gaachhti murolo) *means something is irreversibly ended because goats eats herbs from the root

norwegian: “snip snap snout, the tale is finished” (snipp snapp snute, så er eventyret ute”

polish: “and i was there [at the wedding] too, and drank mead and wine.” (a ja tam byłem, miód i wino piłem.)

georgian: “disaster there, feast here… bran there, flour here…” (ჭირი – იქა, ლხინი – აქა, ქატო – იქა, ფქვილი – აქა)

hungarian: “this is the end, run away with it” (itt a vége, fuss el véle)

turkish: “lastly, three apples fell from the sky; one for our story’s heroes, one for the person who told their tale, and one for those who listened and promise to share. And with that, they all achieved their hearts’ desires. Let us now step up and settle into their thrones.” (Gökten üç elma düşmüş; biri onların, biri anlatanın, diğeri de dinleyenlerin başına. Onlar ermiş muradına, biz çıkalım kerevetine.)

aurpiment

spanish: and they lived happily and ate partridges (y vivieron felices y comieron perdices)

also: red goldfinch, this story has finished (colorín colorado, este cuento se ha acabado)

hypokeimena

german: and if they haven’t died yet, then they’re still alive today (und wenn sie nicht gestorben sind, dann leben sie noch heute)

spindlewit

heads up that clip studio is on sale again (link) until june 22 2021 which makes the basic version $25 USD. good program, one-time purchase, etc. etc. let a broke artist know

the19thduckpotato

I’ve tried multiple art programs n CSP is what finally got me away from Photoshop. please do yourself a favor n invest in this; i promise it’s worth it

nightrevelations

I heard that Cassandra Clare’s lawyers are trying to take down any pages that reference her history of plagiarism…so here’s some fandom history: Cassandra Claire is a bully and a plagiarist.

mythopoeticlicense

Oh hell no, she does not get to be one of the most (in)famous cases of fandom fuckery in the history of modern fandom and then just make it all go away because she made money doing exactly the same damned thing to an already published author.

thestraggletag

Oh, damn, the law clearly indicates that now that I’ve seen this post I must re-read her story. Sorry, everyone.

rufeepeach

The plagiarism link no longer works - she got to them guys :(

amuseoffyre

Remember when she was kicked off fanfiction.net because of plagiarism? Because that was fun. Because that was still the era when hardly anyone got kicked off ff.net. That was when they still allowed all sorts of shenanigans. Remember how her friends had to club together to make a website that they controlled so she could post her fic unrestricted by morals and/or the law? And used her plagiarised quotes (such as “cold-blooded piece of toast”) as one of the markers of your posting count/user level on their forums? That was such fun as well!

Oh, how she denied it. Oh, how she said it was purely ‘pastiche’. Oh how she unleashed her winged monkeys by saying “these people are saying I’m a plagiarist wah wah wah!” and standing by and watching as those winged monkeys ripped innocent people to ribbons. There was doxxing. There was harassment. There was baiting.

We who lived through it, we do not forget.

ethanrayne

https://fanlore.org/wiki/The_Cassandra_Claire_Plagiarism_Debacle and further info here- https://fanlore.org/wiki/Cassandra_Claire And THIS is why I have no interest whatsoever in her Mortal Instruments nonsense. She’s a plagiarist and an asshole, and she does not deserve even one percent of the success she’s accrued from her shitty behavior.

bookishdiplodocus

Naughty words in a godless world

Imagine you're writing a story that takes place in a world that has no God, or gods, or saints. What do you do with exclamations like "Oh gosh!" (derived from "Oh God") or "Jeez!" (derived from "Jesus!")? And - oh god - what do you do with curses and swear words? If your characters can't say "Oh my god", "hell no", or "damn" because there are no gods to damn anyone to hell... what are your options?

Here is a list for inspiration

In general, non-religious curse and swear words refer to local cultural taboos.

Many languages swear by referring to cleanliness: dirty, sweaty, sticky, smelly etc. This includes things you do on the toilet.

Some languages, like Dutch, use diseases as curses and insults. For example, someone nasty/bothersome might be called a "cancer sufferer" in Dutch. These swear words are combinations of (derivates of) typhus, cholera, and cancer.

Societal hierarchy and family trees, mainly the inferior positions like a bastard (seen as inferior in the family tree) or a derogatory word that refers to lower class people (seen as inferior in that society).

On the other hand, you could insult a highly valued member of the other person's family, like their mother, or of their society, like their Queen/Emperor.

Sexual taboos, often implying someone (or their mother) is more sexually active than society accepts of them.

Calling someone the word for someone's genitalia refers to the same taboo.

How do you apply this to your language?

You could use explicit/taboo words as ... :

... an intensifier: "It was a shit-hot day."

... a negative adjective: "This is a shitty job."

... an insulting noun: "This journey is shit."

Or try to be creative and combine different taboos for a multi-hit offense. My favorite one is the Spanish "I shit in your mother's milk", which combines insulting the other person's mother, the taboo of bodily functions, and the taboo of cleanliness.

During my research I came across this article, which contains a number of concrete examples from all over the world you can draw inspiration from.

And on a less offensive note, you could always make up your own equivalent of "Merlin's beard!", "Great Scott!", or "For Pete's sake!" (Pete, by the way, is a catholic reference: Pete is Saint Peter.)

I hope this was helpful. Don’t hesitate to ask me any questions, and happy writing!

Follow me for more writing advice, or check out my other writing tips here. New topics to write advice about are also always appreciated.

Tag list below the cut. If you like to be added to or removed from the list, let me know.

And if you come up with creative curses, feel free to add them in the comments :)

party-gilmore

I would also suggest to take superstitions of the world/locale into account!

For instance, a sailor might swear by the tides, or like, [gasp] "sky's breath, that's a big cannon!" or "Well, a Storm upon ye then!"

Like, stuff referencing the common dangers inherent in their life would be the basis for negative swear replacements like damn and hell, while the things sailors cherish and revere like the stars to chart by and the winds to sail by and easy waters etc. would replace the positive religious swear like "jeezus," "mother mary," "my g-d," etc.

bookishdiplodocus

This is a good addition!

writingquestionsanswered

Helpful guide to creating fantasy curse words!

nightrevelations

I heard that Cassandra Clare’s lawyers are trying to take down any pages that reference her history of plagiarism…so here’s some fandom history: Cassandra Claire is a bully and a plagiarist.

mythopoeticlicense

Oh hell no, she does not get to be one of the most (in)famous cases of fandom fuckery in the history of modern fandom and then just make it all go away because she made money doing exactly the same damned thing to an already published author.

thestraggletag

Oh, damn, the law clearly indicates that now that I’ve seen this post I must re-read her story. Sorry, everyone.

rufeepeach

The plagiarism link no longer works - she got to them guys :(

amuseoffyre

Remember when she was kicked off fanfiction.net because of plagiarism? Because that was fun. Because that was still the era when hardly anyone got kicked off ff.net. That was when they still allowed all sorts of shenanigans. Remember how her friends had to club together to make a website that they controlled so she could post her fic unrestricted by morals and/or the law? And used her plagiarised quotes (such as “cold-blooded piece of toast”) as one of the markers of your posting count/user level on their forums? That was such fun as well!

Oh, how she denied it. Oh, how she said it was purely ‘pastiche’. Oh how she unleashed her winged monkeys by saying “these people are saying I’m a plagiarist wah wah wah!” and standing by and watching as those winged monkeys ripped innocent people to ribbons. There was doxxing. There was harassment. There was baiting.

We who lived through it, we do not forget.

ethanrayne

https://fanlore.org/wiki/The_Cassandra_Claire_Plagiarism_Debacle and further info here- https://fanlore.org/wiki/Cassandra_Claire And THIS is why I have no interest whatsoever in her Mortal Instruments nonsense. She’s a plagiarist and an asshole, and she does not deserve even one percent of the success she’s accrued from her shitty behavior.

tanzanitedepths

inkwell-attitude

all the tips I found for drawing a fantasy map are like :) “here’s a strategy to draw the land masses! here’s how to plot islands!” :) and that’s wonderful and I love them all but ??? how? do y'all decide where to put cities/mountains/forests/towns I have my map and my land but I’m throwing darts to decide where the Main Citadel where the Action Takes Place is

fatal-blow

okay so i know i said most of this in the replies but it might be easier to actually reblog and say stuff instead lmao

Cities - go near water! freshwater lakes and rivers (rivers especially) are the best places for cities because A) source of water and B) travel and trade is much easier cus you can put your boats like right there. Basically ever relevant city ever was built on a lake or a river.

for rivers in general - because gravity, rivers run from mountains (forming from melting snow and ice (this is why they get fat in spring–more stuff melting)) to lakes/ocean where they can empty out (and even lakes will have rivers leading out that eventually get to the ocean), which can help when mapping out where those start and end. rivers are also much thinner and faster in steeper elevations and very slow and wide when the land is flat

mountains - i like to think of what the tectonic plates look like because that’s what makes mountains! mountains are also never standalone they’re always in mountain ranges (archipelagos are really just underwater mountain ranges babey). a cool trick I like to do is occasionally separate mountain ranges across continents, because over time the tectonic plates shifted and literally split the range in half. These mountains are really old tho so they’ve eroded and therefore it makes them smaller and rounder (like the appalachians) as opposed to relatively young mountain ranges like the rocky mountains which have taller and sharper peaks

Another mountain trick: if your mountains run along the ocean, the ocean side of the mountains will get a LOT of rain while the other side will be very dry–almost desert-like, in fact. think of temperate rainforests in British Columbia vs the drier conditions in the canadian prairies

forests - depends on how warm the area might be. coniferous forests are found further north (before you hit the tree line, and then it’s only tundra onwards) but as you head south you get leafier trees, and the leaves tend to get larger too

If you think about general elevation too, you’ll have places that might be swampy (wet + lower). if your world has an ice age like we did, then glaciers may have carved the land, leaving piles of soil in the south that was left when the ice receded and places where the bedrock has been bared north of that (like the Canadian Shield in Canada–the reason we see that is because of the glaciers)

You might also have a land that’s dotted in a shitton of freshwater lakes as well because the meltwater filled the holes that the glaciers scraped out (this is why canada has so many goddamn lakes)

and if the ice age was more recent than it was in our world, then you might not even have the forest re-growth and it could be a lot of open plains

tl;dr i like to think of major climate events that might have also shaped the land on top of some basic rules

possiblypedanticrpgideas

The Artifexian has an entire series on building your world from literally the stars down and then the ground up.

All my worldbuilding videos

Though, for fantasy, you can make the world operate on entirely different principles:

With that done, the actual topic of city placement can be covered by videos like this:

Or

Once you have your places, if you want help naming them in realistic ways, this video can help:

This one is on architecture, which is definitely a subset of cities:

But for a more relevant practical guide on making settlements realistic:

Here’s a quick guide for making demographics:

inkwell-attitude

holy shit?

the-noxxi

Some writers will understand

writing-prompt-s

Relatable

blackbellybella

This is for the... accountants out there or if you’re like me and people have stolen your photos before and sent several angry perverts to your personal accounts

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