There’s a long-standing belief that genre stories aren’t as good as purely literary fare. We want you to prove that mindset wrong (not just wrong, but a steaming pile of griffin dung wrong) with every story you submit. It’s almost like we’re saying, “I do not bite my thumb at you, literary snobs, but I do bite my thumb,” but in a completely polite and non-confrontational way. Basically, we want imaginative stories that are well written, but not full of supercilious floridity.

What We Want

Fiction Vortex™ is seeking all genre fiction (No Erotica) that we can turn into serial/episodic fiction within an existing StoryVerse™, or develop into a new StoryVerse™. We want sci-fi, fantasy, horror, supernatural, alternate history, alternate realities, romance, western, teen, young adult, middle grade, etc.

We want people who are willing to work with other authors, editors, and our cover artists. We are pretty easy going. We love to work with writers at all stages of the game who are willing to step into this crazy (not-so-new) world of collaborative fiction (our legal counsel has advised against calling it a cult).

What is a StoryVerse™?

Excellent question. A StoryVerse™ is a vast multi-author story world (universe, planet, galaxy, glacier, city, neighborhood, witch coven, small bunker where a cult hides from the government, the scale is up to you). Popular examples parallel in movie franchises like the Marvel-verse, the DC-Verse (which we wouldn’t have even mentioned if Wonder Woman hadn’t picked up the slack) and Star Wars (we grudgingly recognize Episodes 1-3). By creating together, you get a better product and faster production (yes, you can create and follow deadlines without dying, barely). Readers can trust that the StoryVerse™ they dive into will continue to provide quality fiction they will enjoy. Writers gain the experience and imaginative superpower of a creative environment powered by other living beings instead of the vacuum of space so many of us are used to creating in. (I see you shaking your head at me, insisting you always create with beta-readers and your mom’s quick red pen. That’s a wonderful starting place, but it’s time to grow up and join the Vortexical Revolution!)

Submitting to an Established StoryVerse™

We want to see what you can do. With writing. Your weird toe talents aren’t something we can market… yet. In all seriousness (at the behest of our legal counsel), our submission process is somewhat more involved than a standard process you might find elsewhere.

Here are the main steps:

1. Read all of the guidelines. Seriously. Our slush-monkeys have low tolerance for deviation. Let’s keep the feces-flinging, on both sides, to a minimum.

2. Educate yourself on the Fiction Vortex episodic/serial publishing format. It’s not hard--if you watch Netflix, your brain is fairly molded to the model already. Plus, there are a lot of free examples on our app, Fictionite™ (currently out on IOS and soon to drop in the Android store).

3. Make sure you understand what a StoryVerse™ is and what your role could potentially be. (Guess what? There are examples on the website, www.fictionvortex.com, and our app, Fictionite.)

4. Look at the StoryVerses™ that are live and accepting. They are listed in the Fiction Vortex Submittable Page. Be inspired by one of the StoryVerses™, or adapt your work to one (this is common, but requires prolonged flexibility).

5. Write a pilot episode, 3500 words or less, for your proposed series. We will be looking for the four following things.

1. Adherence (zealot-like) to the guidelines.

2. Writing and storytelling talent (yes, they are two separate things).

3. World and character development.

4. The ability to create a full story arc (not a scene, not a chapter) in short format.

6. Submit through our Submittable portal.

Submitting a new StoryVerse™ Platform

I’m yelling this because it is just that important: WE WANT THE WORLD THAT YOUR STORY COMES FROM (we like to put them next to our collection of mid-twentieth century toupees).

We want original story-worlds, be it a whole multi-verse or a single city block. Size is only a relative matter–content is where the ju-ju is. You have one short story to give us a glimpse of your world,  sort of like a TV pilot.

But that isn’t all (queue dramatic drum music).

We want strong characters and stories that explore and explain elements of our world with the employ of the fictional and/or otherworldly. Answer the ordinary with the extraordinary. We want original stories that make people use their imaginations.

The possibilities are endless. Well, not endless. If your story has even a whiff of vampire love triangles, we’ll probably laugh at you. (But if you can do it better than anyone else, go for it!)

Here are the main steps:

1. Read all of the guidelines. Seriously. Our slush-monkeys have low tolerance for deviation. Let’s keep the feces-flinging, on both sides, to a minimum.

2. Educate yourself on the Fiction Vortex episodic/serial publishing format. It’s not hard--if you watch Netflix, your brain is fairly molded to the model already. Plus, there are a lot of free examples on our app, Fictionite (currently out on IOS and soon to drop in the Android store).

3. Make sure you understand what a StoryVerse™ is and what your role could potentially be. (Guess what? There are examples on the website, www.fictionvortex.com, and our app, Fictionite.)

4. Write a pilot episode, 3500 words or less, for your proposed StoryVerse™. We will be looking for the five following things.

1. Adherence (zealot-like) to the guidelines.

2. Writing and storytelling talent (yes, they are two separate things).

3. World and character development.

4. The ability to create a full story arc (not a scene, not a chapter) in short format.

5. The room for world and story expansion (this is crucial).

5. Submit through our Submittable Portal

In addition, we will be looking for, and expecting you to have, certain imperative qualities for running, managing, and sustaining a StoryVerse™:

1. You know how to play nice with others, and more so, lead and inspire others. There is an ‘i’ in team--it’s the negative space of the ‘A’, otherwise known as the a-hole. Don’t be the a-hole.

2. Dedication - you will be expected to be prompt with communication between yourself and Fiction Vortex and/or the authors writing within your StoryVerse™. Do you have the time and bandwidth to manage and write? We have no way of gaging this from your submission, but we hope you will understand the scope of your commitment before you submit a StoryVerse™

3. An understanding that you are submitting your world for at least three authors to write and collaborate in. You can’t cradle your baby, alone, in a dark room, forever. As it has been from the moment you said “I do” to the love of your life, gained a sibling, or made a friend, collaboration changes things, hopefully for the better.  

What We DON’T Want

Fiction Vortex is not a pulpit for preachy stories. While we want stories that address current issues and concerns in the world, we will not accept personal sermons that are vaguely veiled in narrative. This means you, Aunt Berenice. We all have opinions; for instance, we happen to think that the full Windsor knot is infinitely superior to the half Windsor, and that LOLdogs are funnier than LOLcats, but that doesn’t mean we won’t subject you to a story about the Final Battle between the LOLdogs of Windsor against the evil LOLcats of Halfwin. Actually, that sounds kind of cool. But the point is that just like some other things we all have (like weird moles), it’s better to keep some opinions to ourselves.

We want Fiction Vortex to appeal to a broad range of ages and personalities, so we will not accept anything containing unnecessary or graphic violence, language, and sexual content. We want strong stories not stories that rely on shock factor or sensationalism.

We will not accept multi-part or partial stories. You are submitting a pilot manuscript to us, we need a strong feel for your world, your writing skills, and your ability to complete a story arc. This initial story must stand on its own.

No work that has been officially published through any other press will be accepted. We will be asking first rights. That means even work on your own blog or community site (Wattpad and such) won’t be accepted. However, that only applies to the story you submit to us, not the world it comes from. We want well-developed worlds, not pubescent half-man planets that really need to shave but are too proud of their three new face whiskers to do so.

Fiction Vortex and its staff reserves the right to reject any story for any reason. We also reserve the right to let out evil cackles when doing so.

Acceptance/Rejection Process

If your submission is rejected, we are not rejecting you, just your submission. There could be many reasons, and we won’t be able to give everyone a detailed rejection. Yep, we form reject. Deal with it.

If your submission makes it past the slush monkeys, we will contact you, through email, with further inquiries. This does not mean the submission is accepted, but has made it through to the next level of our sentries (the quality pandas may seem nice, but really their world is quite black and white).