Open Submissions for Traveling Light: A Worldbuilding for Masochists Anthology!

This anthology will feature stories set in the world that has been co-built on air by the podcast co-hosts and their guests over the past few years, focusing on the tentpole concept of the Magical Nude Gates: a system of portals connecting locations in the world. The catch? No luggage. The gate will only let living creatures pass through, meaning no sending weapons, trade goods, or even–ahem–your own clothing through the gate.

 

Open date: September 10

Close Date: October 31

 

Guidelines for Submission:

• A short story in the range of 4,000-6,000 words.
• We are providing our world bible, which will give you all the existing parameters and details we have about the world, but also show you places in the world where details are sparse. If you choose to write in one of those sparser areas, you would have a lot of freedom to add to those details as best fits your story and its needs.
  • For writers seeking further guidance, we recommend listening to episodes in which we spend a lot of time adding details to the MNG and the world, including Episode 43: Getting There is Half the Fun; Episode 59: Oooh, Shiny!; Episode 60: Worldbuilding - The Never-Ending Story; Episode 74: FMK Worldbuilding Edition; Episode 99: Connect the Dots; and especially Episode 84: Make or Break Worldbuilding Deep Dive: The MNG
• The Magical Nude Gates will be the connective tissue between all the stories in the anthology, so they need to play some sort of role in each -- though whether that’s major or minor is up to each author.
• Payment at $0.09 a word.
• Submission material to include preferred name for communication and contact.
  • Selected authors will need to provide legal name for payment (if different), pen name for publishing (if different), and mailing/other info to provide payment.
• Multiple Submissions: One submission per author, please.
• Simultaneous submissions: Exclusive submission during our (very short!) reading period, please. If you choose to submit the story elsewhere afterwards, we would ask that any MNG-world specific details be altered or removed.
• New Writers: We welcome submissions from new, unpublished writers! If this ends up being your first sale, great!
• All Writers: We welcome submissions from ALL writers, nationalities, identities, and backgrounds.
• All submissions must be in English.

 

How to Submit:

• Manuscript Format: Please ATTACH your story in a Word doc or PDF in standard manuscript formatting (Times New Roman font, 12 point, double spaced). We appreciate a header with author name and story title.
• Do not put the story in the body of the email, please
• Cover Letter: We appreciate a short cover letter in the body of the email giving us a short bio with some info about you and any previously published work (it’s ok if you don’t have any, we’re just nosy!).
• Send these things to worldbuildcast@gmail.com with TRAVELING LIGHT SUBMISSION: [YOUR NAME] as the subject line.

 

If Accepted:

• Accepted stories will be edited for clarity, in-world accuracy, overall development if necessary, and grammatical fluency.
• Author will have opportunity to review editorial comments and revise to their satisfaction within a given timeframe.