This call is for our first annual Mother’s and Father’s Day Anthologies. This year we’re celebrating (or criticizing) the people who took the place of birth parents for any reason. The character must start the story in their prompted state, but how they evolve from there, if they do, is completely up to you.
Submissions: January 26-February 26, 2026
(or when we reach our cap)
Mother’s Day Prompt
An adopted mom
(can be adopted by choice)
Father’s Day Prompt
A stepdad
Submission Guidelines
– You can submit one story per prompt. Please do two separate submissions; don’t include both in the same message/form.
– We only accept prose up to 3,000 words in English. This is a hard limit, any stories exceeding this will be automatically rejected.
– We do not accept AI written content.
– Due to financial limitations, we use a form to accept submissions and have a text box for you to type or paste your story. Please make sure to add a break in between paragraphs for readability. This tool will do it for you.
– We do not consider reprints, only unpublished work, please. We do accept simultaneous submissions but ask for immediate withdrawal if your work is accepted elsewhere. Email withdraw (at) interrobanglit.com.
– We will not publish work that is offensive or shows hatred, prejudice, or violence directed towards a particular race, religion or any form of religious bashing, sexuality, gender, ethnicity, ability, socioeconomic class, or other social identity or status.
– We don’t consider pieces that are relevant to any religion or any religious concept, or pieces that contain excessive gore or excessive violence.
– We offer a token payment of $3 through Paypal. Unfortunately, we will not be able to use another payment processor.
– If accepted for the anthology, we request:
- First Digital Anthology Rights, non-exclusive thereafter: the right to be the first to publish Work in a perpetually sold digital ebook anthology.
Submit
Our Process
When reading submissions, points are added based on the quality of several aspects of storytelling.
- Prose: style, voice, descriptive clarity
- Plot: coherence, originality, tension, stakes
- Grammar: spelling, mechanics, clarity (only gains 1 point if not poor)
- Concept: creativity, uniqueness
- Structure: pacing, clarity, flow
- Characterization: depth, motivation, believability
- Dialogue: realism, voice consistency
- Setting: atmosphere, immersion, a sense of place
Points are based on the quality of each aspect:
- Poor: 0 pts
- Adequate: 1 pt
- Good: 2 pts
- Excellent: 3 pts
Only stories scoring 13+ points are considered for publication. Patreon Supporters get the option to see their rubric if their piece is rejected and receive editorial feedback.
