Spotlight on Fantasy Scroll Magazine

Website

Featured Genres: Science Fiction, Fantasy, Horror, Paranormal

Base of operations: New York, USA

Length Requirements: Up to 5000 words

Submission Window: Rolling

Contributor Compensation: 1c / word

Publication Schedule: Quarterly

Formats published: WWW, EPUB, MOBI, PDF

Why they started their journal: The answer to this question has two parts: On one side, I too was a pure beginner at some point. I had a few written pages, maybe a chapter, and I had no idea what to do. I got rejections galore and I started to understand what it means to be a writer. So, I started this magazine to help other writers boost their careers. On the other hand, I’ve always wanted to see the publishing world from the other side – the publisher’s view. I am a geek at heart and I enjoy creating websites and programming, so getting into ebooks and the whole e-publishing process felt very natural to me.

What they are looking for: I am looking for great stories more than anything else. Great stories, to me, are built around interesting plots and memorable, strong characters. Because we are talking about short fiction here, there’s not a lot of time to spend outside of the story, so I expect a manuscript to start strong and hook me early. If the story drags on I will lose interest. On the same token, if the ending is flat and leaves me unsatisfied, the story won’t work either. So, I am looking for a strong story through and through, where great characters do something that holds my interest.

What they are tired of seeing: I am tired of seeing stories written for no other purpose but to reveal a twist ending. I am not against twist endings; when done right, they are wonderful. But if you write the story just because you have an amazing twist ending, that’s not going to hold. I am also tired of stories written just for shock value, overly and unnecessarily gory. And I am VERY tired of stories where 75% of the story is happening in a dream.

Tips for writers: Read a lot and write a lot. Don’t let any day pass by without putting words on paper. It doesn’t matter how much. 10, 20, 100, 1000, just write something. Then read – read a variety of works from classics to modern. Don’t read just speculative fiction, read great authors. Remember, as I said above, stories are made from plots and characters. There are many non-speculative authors that will teach you how to craft those perfectly. With that knowledge, you can add your speculative elements and create your story.

Additional Information: We started in year one with four issues and paying one cent per word. Our goal is to turn this magazine into a monthly publication and pay professional rates, and we hope to achieve this within the next three years.