November 2025 Prompt:

Vanessa is a middle-aged woman with yellow eyes and a nervous personality.

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 deadline: Nov 8, 2025

Submission Guidelines

– 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.
– We do not consider reprints, only unpublished work, please.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.
– No multiple submissions, just one per person. If your story is rejected, please wait until the next prompt before submitting again.
– 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 are currently unable to offer payment, but hope to within the next few years.

– If accepted, these are the rights we request:

First Electronic Publishing Rights: the right to be the first to publish the Work online.
Exclusive Electronic Rights: the right to be the sole publisher of the Work for 30 days after publication.
Archival Rights: the right to keep the Work on the this website and in our archives indefinitely, unless requested to remove it.

Submit

Our Process

Submissions open and character prompts are posted on the first of every other month (one week earlier for Ko-Fi Supporters). Submissions close on the 8th or when we reach our submission cap. Accepted pieces and finalist are notified around two weeks before the next prompt.

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. Ko-fi Supporters get the option to see their rubric if their piece is rejected.