Getting Published, The Challenge of Creating According to Theme
Coming soon, in just a few days, online will be the Spring Issue of Instant Noodles Literary Magazine. The theme word for the Spring 2024 issue is “Instant.”
As one of the contributing editors, I worried that the word “instant” might be challenging for some, but I figured writers are innovative and they’ d be up to the challenge.
In the nonfiction department, submissions were not as hefty as I hoped, but spring is a busy month. It’s not the quantity, I tell myself, it’s the quality.
Choosing a theme for a magazine issue, I believe to be a good practice because it lets writers and artists know what the editors will be focusing on when they make their selections.
Otherwise, writers don’t exactly know what readers and editors are looking for. We send our pieces out, hoping to see them published in magazines we admire, and often are rewarded with a rejection notice.
Depending on the readers at the publication, and what may be on the editors’ minds at the time they are reading, “good writing” is often passed over, considered “not quite right for us at this time.” The rejections may be for reasons ranging from, we just published a similar piece like this in our last issue, to this piece just doesn’t seem to be compatible with some of the other work we’ve selected. Or it just may be they have too much of a particular genre and barely have time to read anything.
Limiting submissions to a theme also has its flaws, because by definition it’s restrictive. This has gotten me to wondering if some “themes” are better than others. So I made a visit to the current “Theme calls” on Duotrope to take a look. A website for publishers, editors, and writers, for subscribers they have a theme and deadline calendar.
I often use those theme requests as a writing exercise in order to force myself to write about less comfortable subjects. I see a popular theme such as “money” and I challenge myself to write two or three scenes, true or false involving money. Sometimes I like what I write down and I might develop it into a story. Other times, I don’t bother to save my sentences, and I move on to something else.
My approach for a writing exercise is to not overthink the word and go with whatever pops into my mind. However, if I actually want to submit something, I need to visit the publication’s website to get a sense of what was published in the past and what they might be seeking.
Theme ideas for literary magazines run the gambit. I look at the many themes on the list and ask myself, what can I write about a term such as “status anxiety”, or “dirt,” “maybe,” or “ten”?
The themes, “Nightlife,” “Trash,” and “Nostalgia,” conjure up a list of ideas, but I’m not so confident about writing to the themes: “bite,” “feral space,” and “manifesto.” Another reader, however, might find those themes enticing. What types of themes do you like?
Returning to the theme word “instant”, yesterday afternoon I took some time to leisurely read the New York Times Magazine and what did I find but a delightful essay by Peter C. Baker on the subject of Instant Coffee. The essay in many ways dealt with the subject of the unexpected benefits of achieving something quickly ie a caffeine rush. It was a perfect response to the “instant” theme. “I wanted to be woken up,” Baker writes, “ as fast as possible so I could tend to my kids.” He goes on to describe his purchase of a canister of instant coffee for his pantry and describes the cup of coffee he makes as fine. “I soon felt the caffeine caressing my synapses,” writes Baker. “If I had to pick one word to describe the process, that word would be: “instant.”
I look across the street and see my neighbor’s yards are neatly mulched with new trees and plants. Instant garden, I think. Then I look at all the newspapers scattered across the dining table and I see an instant mess. Completion and disarray are on opposite sides of the spectrum, an unlikely contrast. Instantly I have another idea for how to write about the word “instant.”
But that theme call-out is over and looking ahead, the next Instant Noodles Literary Review theme is “Devil’s Party.” Our publishers and editing collective specifically ask that submitters steer away from devil worship. The following is stated on the website, “Of course poet John Milton was said to be a member of the devil’s party (meant like political party), so think about a devilish party of any kind, or the devil is in the details, devil’s food cake, the devil take you, etc. Use your creativity and take our friend the devil out to play. NOPE, we are not looking for religious admonitions against the devil. Serious pieces are okay; religious rants or attempts at conversion are not, nor are we looking for devil worship (we respectfully leave that to the band Black Sabbath). We’re not viewing the devil in the biblical sense here; we’re thinking of it as a signifier, as, for example, devil’s food cake is named that way to indicate the cake is very tempting. However if you write a short piece that includes the devil as a character in some way (horror, humor), that works, as long as it is not a religious lesson.”
WRITING PROMPT
Writers, are you up to the challenge, because “Devil’s Party” is your writing prompt. How many different ways can you approach this complicated subject? Try humor and mystery. Focus on the setting or focus on the characters. Whatever you do, explore the possibilities and have fun.
Keep it short. If you decide to submit to Instant Noodles Literary Magazine, fiction and nonfiction prose should be under 500 words. Poem submissions are limited to two poems. In your cover letter, please write a sentence explaining how your submission is in response to the theme. We’d love to read your work.
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Originally published at http://nadjamaril.com on April 9, 2024.
