Kaleidoscopic Resonance

Submission Guidelines

Special Issue Guidelines

In honor of National Novel Writing Month in November, Kaleidoscopic Resonance is doing a special issue devoted to longer works-in-progress. Changing our focus from short stories and poems to novel excerpts means changing our guidelines a bit.

Novel exerpts should be self-contained, fully developed scenes. If you feel the need to set it up for us, it probably isn't self-contained. However, we do want to have an idea of where the story is going and where it has been, so please include a brief synopsis with your submission.

The process of writing a novel differs greatly from short stories and poems. We want to investigate the process. Let us know what your habits are. Are you a pantser or a plotter? How do you plot or how do you loathe plotting? What do you do to procrastinate? (Don't even act like you don't!) Have any of your characters surprised you? If you have any cover art or character sketches, let us know. If your work is picked, you may be asked to send any art later.

As always, we expect a cover letter with your contact info and a brief bio. In accordance with the theme of this magazine, preference will be given to works rich in sensory detail. But instead of categorizing by sense this time, we want to focus on beginning, middle, and end. Even if your novel starts at the end of the story, Tarantino style, as far as we are concerned, page one is still page one, even if it technically comes after page five-hundred in the plot arc. So tell us what page your excerpt starts on and how many pages your novel is long or how many pages you expect it to be. Include a total novel word count and the word count of your excerpt. And if you're writing in a genre, let it be known in the submission as well.

We will be accepting submissions through December 2009. Email them to submissions@kaleidoscopicresonance.com.

Kaleidoscopic Resonance is always looking for good work.

Submissions may be emailed to submissions@kaleidoscopicresonance.com.
Please paste your story in the body of the email and include the word “Submission” and the type of submission (i.e. poetry, fiction, art, etc.) as well as the title of the Sense Section you are submitting to (i.e. Sight, Taste, etc.). You may be asked to send your work as an attachment. Include in your email a cover letter with your name, address, phone number, email address, and a brief bio. Before sending a multimedia file, please query the editor on the format. Don’t be discouraged though: We love multimedia, but sometimes our technology doesn’t and we want to make sure we are able to open your file before you send it.

Please keep the following criteria in mind when submitting:

1. Your work should be strongly rooted in the sensory experience, with a clear focus on the Sense Section you are submitting to.
2. That said, stories don’t have to expressly focus on the sense at hand, but rather, should be saturated with the elements of the sense. In other words, a story submitted for the Sound Section doesn’t have to be about hearing, for example, but should have a strong sense of sound or cacophony resounding throughout.
3. All work must be original, previously unpublished, and in English please. Short stories should not exceed 3000 words. Novel excerpts will be considered, but must be self-contained. No more than 5 poems per submission. Multiple submissions may be considered - please query the editor for this. Simultaneous submissions are accepted, but not encouraged, as we try to get back to you as quickly as possible. We ask you give us up to 3 months to respond to your submission, but you might hear back from us in as quick as one week.
4. We love collabs! Consider working with an artist, a sound tech, your mom. What we mean is: put your story into a picture and make a painting. Record your story orally and add sound effects. Create a recipe for your story and make us some cake!

Any problems with email will be worked out the best we can, but we cannot be responsible for delay or loss of submissions. If you have any questions, please contact Editor Kate Shelton at editor@kaleidoscopicresonance.com.

By submitting your work to Kaleidoscopic Resonance, you grant us first serial rights and the right to archive your work online for an indefinite period of time. You retain all other rights. Once the issue featuring your work has been published, you are free to republish your work as you wish. We just ask that you credit the work to have first appeared in Kaleidoscopic Resonance. We also welcome link sharing and encourage our readers to link to Kaleidoscopic Resonance from their personal websites.