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- VIDEO — Write More Innovative Stories Exploring Other Genre Structures in this workshop video excerpt with Carlos Hernandez and CSE Cooney.
- Markets and contests with submissions open or opening soon.
- SATURDAY, May 23 - Award winning author Lavie Tidhar presents, Ready. Set. Go! How To Write Perfect Openings whether it's for a short story or a novel.
- Care to drabble with us? Each week our drabble community writes 100 words (or they don't—their call) to a single-word prompt.
- This Week's Prompt. An interesting item from the news to provide you with fodder for your creativity. This week, are we all just apples in an infinity box?
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How can I be more innovative in my writing? One time-honored way used by artists of all kinds is exploring and borrowing from other genres.
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“This is one of the things that I think is just about as important as it could be. Because a lot of the time when you’re creating an innovation in an art form, what you’re doing is borrowing from another art form,” says New York Times best-selling author, Carlos Hernandez in this free workshop excerpt with award-winning author, C.S.E. Cooney.
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Markets and Contests
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Many thanks to Scribophile for sponsoring this week's open submissions. Scribophile is a free welcoming community of writers where you're guaranteed to get solid critiques on your work. You can also get 20% off your first purchase using coupon code APEX20.
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- 🦸🏼♀️ Voices for the Voiceless is a forthcoming anthology of “guardianship, courage, and compassion”. Send them stories between 2,500 and 7,500 words before April 30th. No submissions fee! 💰Paying market!💰
- ⛰️ The Fieldstone Review is open to submissions of writing on the theme of “Wild Spaces”. There’s a prize of $100 for the best work. Send them stories of up to 4,000 words, personal essays of up to 2,500 words, or up to six pages of poetry before April 30th. No submissions fee! 💰Paying market!💰
- 🧱 Brick is open to submissions of literary nonfiction. Send them personal essays of up to 5,000 words before April 30th. Note that this call may close early if they reach a maximum number of submissions. No submissions fee! 💰Paying market!💰
- 🚀 Interpret Magazine is open to submissions of short stories and poems. They ask a submission fee from writers who can afford it, but it’s not required. Send them stories of up to 2,500 words, or up to three poems. No submissions fee! 💰Paying market!💰
- 🏚️ Dread House Publishing is open to submissions of short fiction for a forthcoming anthology of folk horror. Send them stories of up to 8,000 words before April 30th. No submissions fee! 💰Paying market!💰
- 👽 Dear Aliens is a contest for writing to offer up to our galactic colonists at the inevitable alien invasion. 1,000 words max, a $2,000 prize, and it has to be received (in the post) by May 15th. No submissions fee! 💰Paying market!💰
- 🌴 Joshua Tree Publishing is open to submissions of full-length fiction and creative nonfiction. Send them a query letter or proposal. No submissions fee! 💰Paying market!💰
- 🕵🏻♂️ Hard Case Crime is open to submissions of crime novels in the style of golden age mysteries. Send them a query letter only. No submissions fee! 💰Paying market!💰
- 📖 Invisible Publishing is open to submissions of full-length literary fiction novels, memoirs, and poetry collections. Send them a query letter and full manuscript. No submissions fee! 💰Paying market!💰
- 🏝️ Islandport Press is open to submissions of “books with a New England sensibility”. They focus on Maine writers, although there doesn’t seem to be a hard guideline regarding locale. They’re looking for literary fiction for all ages, as well as mysteries, thrillers, and select nonfiction. For fiction, send them a full manuscript; for nonfiction, a detailed proposal. No submissions fee! 💰Paying market!💰
- 📚 Harvard Square Editions is open to submissions of full-length novels and nonfiction work. Send them a query letter, synopsis, and opening chapter. No submissions fee! 💰Paying market!💰
- 🏜️ Thin Places is open to submissions of writing “which explores the intersection of place, space and the sacred”. Send them up to 2,000 words of prose writing, or up to three poems, before April 30th. No submissions fee!
- 📝 The Brussels Review is open to submissions of short fiction, creative nonfiction, and poetry. Note there is no fee for writers from Belgium, Netherlands, or Luxembourg. Send them up to 7,000 words of prose writing, or up to seven poems.
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Join award-winning author Lavie Tidhar for an in-depth look at crafting that all-important story opening, whether for a short story or a novel. Learn how to “hook” the reader’s attention and how to best prepare your manuscript for agent or editor submission.
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In this workshop, we will:
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- Study classic openings and what they do, in genre and out
- Explore Lavie’s own successful openings, from short stories to award-winning novels
- Learn the who, why, where, when and how of a successful beginning
- Identify the “telling detail” and the how to make use of effective dialogue, action and description
- Prepare that critical three chapters submission package
- Understand what agents and editors look for
- Become aware of the common pitfalls, traps and clichés of ineffective openings
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DATE: May 23, 2026 – Saturday
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TIME: 1PM ET | 12PM CT | 11AM MT | 10AM PT | 17:00 UTC
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RUNTIME: Approximately 90 minutes
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Each week our drabble community writes 100 words (or they don't—their call) to a single-word prompt. No fame. No fortune. Just fun. Well, maybe a teensy bit of fame if you count the animated adaptations we create and share on social media. Check 'em out on our YouTube channel and Bluesky.
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This Week's Prompt
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Imagine sealing an apple in a perfect box and leaving it for eternity. Infinite time would inevitably cause the contents to cycle through every possible configuration, eventually regenerating the apple. From the Netflix documentary, "A Trip To Infinity."
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