Submission Guidelines

Story Type
Manuscript Format
Electronic File Types
How To Submit Electronically
Where To Mail Your Manuscript
Questions?

 

 

 

 

Story length is limited to between 3,000 and 5,000 words - something that can be read aloud in 30 to 40 minutes. We are interested in short stories of literary quality, what is often referred to as prose fiction. While it is difficult to define exactly what this is, we do not accept the following:

  • poetry
  • memoirs
  • essays
  • screenplays or plays
  • creative nonfiction
  • general nonfiction
  • scholarly works
  • journalism
  • excerpts from novels

Stories will be judged on the basis of their strong characters, compelling plots, distinctive voice and evocative prose and should exhibit a unity in the narrative pattern suggesting connection and coherence in experience.Only unpublished works will be considered.

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Manuscripts should be formatted as follows:

  • Typed, double-spaced, single-side printed.
  • Use at 10 or 12 point standard font such as Times New Roman, Arial or Courier.
  • Do not add photographs, clip-art or graphics in your manuscript.
  • Pages must be numbered and the title only should appear on the first page.
  • There should be no author identifying information (name, phone number address, etc) on the manuscript itself.
  • Please include a cover letter with your name, address, phone number, email address and the title of the story.
  • Do not send your only copy as manuscripts will not be returned.

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Manuscripts may be sent electronically to fiction@literallyspeaking.org. The same formatting requirements apply. In your email, please tell us you rname, address, telephone number and the title of the story.

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We can accept manuscripts in the following file formats:

  • Microsoft Word - all versions (.doc)
  • Microsoft WordPad (.doc)
  • Microsoft Works (.wps)
  • Rich Text Format (.rtf)
  • Plain text (.txt)
  • Word Perfect version 5.x and 6.x for Windows (.doc and .wpf)
  • PDF

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The author retains all rights to their work. Accepted manuscripts will be read once, in public, and will be attributed to the author during this reading. We hope the author will attend this public reading.

Finally, members of the Hudson Valley Writers Guild and Theater Voices are encouraged to submit work.

 

 

Manuscripts should be mailed to:
Literally Speaking™
PO Box 176
Watervliet, NY 12189

Please direct all questions to fiction@literallyspeaking.org

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