Voiceworks is now open for submissions to issue 122 'Reflex'!

Theme: Reflex

The moro reflex begins at 2 months, triggered by a sudden lack of support: flinging the arms open wide, pulling them close, crying. You remember tracing shapes on an infant’s palm—round and round the garden, like a teddy bear—and the baby’s finger curling around your own, reaching, holding.

Send all the messages you’ve saved in your notes. Impulse, not introspection. The counsellor tells you to stop and notice and record the physical feeling if possible, record it on your phone if there’s no time to stop and write it down. Later, you find a phone memo that says: fidgety, heart pumping, throat tightening, hot, cold, breathless.

The lights go on. Can you see your reflection in the daze? You hear your own voice before you open your mouth. You’ve tasted the syllables and the tone you’ll adopt. Relaxed body posture, sit back in your right hip, hands alive, now stride. A singular persona. An icon on stage. Reflexivity—the process of becoming self-aware. You’ve been practicing in front of the mirror your whole life.

Re Flex. What made you feel strong? What makes you feel strong?

~Thanks to EdCommers Zowie Douglas-Kinghorn and Michelle Wang 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We only consider previously unpublished work.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 10 January, 11:59pm AEDT

Fiction, completed nonfiction and poetry—Sunday 17 January, 11:59pm AEDT

Art, comics and comic pitches—Sunday 7 February, 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.

Voiceworks21 December 2020

Voiceworks is now open for submissions to issue 122 'Reflex'!

Theme: Reflex

The moro reflex begins at 2 months, triggered by a sudden lack of support: flinging the arms open wide, pulling them close, crying. You remember tracing shapes on an infant’s palm—round and round the garden, like a teddy bear—and the baby’s finger curling around your own, reaching, holding.

Re Flex. What made you feel strong? What makes you feel strong?

~Thanks to EdCommers Zowie Douglas-Kinghorn and Michelle Wang 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 10 January, 11:59pm AEDT

Fiction, completed nonfiction and poetry—Sunday 17 January, 11:59pm AEDT

Art, comics and comic pitches—Sunday 7 February, 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.