2020 Spring Anthology: The Storm & Full Moon

[Renee Stevens]

The themes of the 2020 Spring Anthology are: The Storm and/or Full Moon

Feel free to interpret these themes in any way you want. The anthologies are not exclusive, but inclusive, so don't worry if you think your entry has only a tangential link to the theme. If you are inspired, then write a short story, poem or play, and submit it.

Please read these submission guidelines carefully.

You may address these themes in any style or genre you choose. Be as creative as you want to be with the themes. However, please note that this anthology is an anthology of short stories. By definition, a short story must stand alone and not require reading a prior story. It therefore cannot be a chapter in a serial.

Who may participate

Everyone is welcome and encouraged to participate. However, submission to GA Stories requires that you be a member here at GA so you can be assigned as the author. If you have author status (which is free and you can get after five posts in the GA forums), you can submit stories.

Submission Guidelines

Submission Date: May 15th, 2020

Please Note: Submission date is for submission to the Anthology Proof Team. Proofreads should take no more than 72 hours once you have been paired with a proofreader, if you have not received your story back within 72 hours, please contact Renee Stevens via PM. If you send your stories in within the last 48 hours of the deadline, you have 48 hours after receiving it back to upload it in order for it to be included in the Anthology.

Non-Poetry

• No Story Limit: Each story submitted must meet quality and editing guidelines and only one story can be under 1,000 words.
• Each story posted as its own submission
• Minimum Word Count Per Story: 1,000
• Maximum Word Count Per Story: 25,000

Poetry

• Up to five poems
• Posted as a single submission (a collection)
• Each poem posted as its own chapter

Submission Procedure *Please read carefully*

Once your story is complete and has gone through your beta and editing team, please complete the following steps:

• Contact @Valkyrie via PM. Include in the PM the following information: Title, original editor, genre, synopsis, word count, and excerpt in the body of the PM. Attach your story file. You will be paired with an editor from the Anthology Proof Team who will perform a final proof for the anthology and return the file to you. *Please Note: The Anthology Proof Team is not meant to take the place of an author’s normal editing team so all entries MUST be edited prior to contacting  Valkyrie*
• Once you receive your proofed file, complete your edits and submit your story into GA Stories, for help, please read How do I upload my anthology entry into GA Stories?
  • Make sure the story is unpublished by clicking BOTH the publish sliders, one for the chapter and one for the story itself
  • Select “Fiction” as the category. It will be moved to the correct category by the anthology team.
  • Mark your story as COMPLETE. Only completed stories are allowed in the anthologies
  • Please note that once you submit a story it will NOT show up in your list of stories until the anthology has gone live.
  • Copy the URL for your story and provide Renee Stevens with the URL via the appropriate thread (linked below) so that your submission may be checked to ensure it has been submitted correctly and meets submission guidelines. This also ensures that it will get moved to the anthology category. Please give the URL to the STORY page, not the chapter page.

  [*]Please do a visual check of your story once it has been uploaded to ensure that it uploaded correctly. If it did not, contact Renee Stevens. 
  IMPORTANT: Please DO NOT do ANYTHING with your story once it has been submitted to the anthology. We lock edits to anthologies, but we can only lock so much and trying to make ANY changes can cause issues with the system. If there is something with your story that absolutely needs fixed, added, etc, PLEASE contact Renee Stevens or another Admin prior to attempting anything. Thank you!

Extensions

Occasionally things happen that prevent an author from meeting the deadline. If you should find yourself in such a predicament, PM Renee Stevens, before the deadline (not the day of or after), and something may be able to be worked out. Please contact Renee only if you need an extension; requests will only be considered when requested by the author personally. However, if the same author is consistently asking for extra time, extensions may no longer be granted for that particular author. Deadlines exist for a reason. The Anthology Team needs time to prep the anthology to go live and extensions, while occasionally warranted due to unforeseeable circumstances, add to the already hectic workload. If you have NOT made arrangements with Renee prior to the deadline, your Anthology will not be included. Please do not send a message the day an anthology is due requesting an extension, these will not be granted. You are welcome to post your story on your own and include a story note stating that it was originally meant to be part of the anthology.

Story Titles

Please do not use the anthology themes or your GA Username as a title. Be as original as you can. In case of duplicate titles within the anthology, we will request that titles be changed.

Unacceptable entries & Content Warnings

Entries that are obviously unedited (containing many errors), are overly graphic, or which are deemed to have unacceptable content will be either declined outright, or changes may be requested as a condition of entry. For information on what is considered to be unacceptable, please see the Story Content Rules FAQ. If you still have questions, ask.

Please include a Content Warning in the story notes if your story contains sensitive content. Examples of sensitive content: abuse, especially graphic/extreme abuse or child abuse, in-scene graphic violence, suicide attempts/themes, allowable incest, etc... if you're unsure that your story falls within this type of content please alert Valkyrie when you send the PM requesting the final proof.

Previously posted stories (whether at GA or elsewhere) are not eligible for inclusion into the GA anthologies.

Editing

All entries MUST be edited prior to being sent to the Anthology Proof Team. If you need an editor, please visit the Writing Support Requests forum to request one. There are editors who prefer to edit only one shots, such as anthologies. Please make sure to state that your story is for the upcoming anthology. Also, please make sure to follow the guidelines when requesting an editor.

Copyright

As with all content in GA Stories, the rights remain with the individual authors. Your story will post with a simple 2020 copyright notice, using your GA user display name. If you have another preference (for example, a different name, or a Creative Commons license, or specific copyright wording you'd like to use), please include that with your submission.

However, with this anthology, by submitting your story, you are giving GayAuthors.org first worldwide rights with 14 days exclusivity. What that means is you are giving GayAuthors.org permission to archive your story on its website, distribute it via RSS, kindle, iphone, ipad, eyeball…. And you agree not to publish it anywhere else for 2 weeks.

If you later decide to post your story at another site, please mention at the beginning or end of the story that it was first published as part of the 2020 Gay Authors Spring Anthology: The Storm and/or Full Moon, and include a link back to GA if possible.

If you have any questions, please contact Renee Stevens via PM or via the Anthology Blog or Forum.

[Carlos Hazday]

How about it authors? Are you planning on submitting an entry? I started writing something and ended up posting it already since it didn't fit the theme well. I'll try again. Would love to see some of our newer authors give it a try. Doesn't have to be a huge endeavor, the last antho story I wrote was under 3k words yet garnered a huge number of reactions and comments. It's also a chance to get in front of new readers who may then check out your other work.

[northie]

I started expanding a prompt response, thinking it'd actually be my first short antho entry.  Of course, my writing brain couldn't leave it at that. More layers have appeared (in my head, at least) so while I hope it'll be shorter than usual, I doubt it'll be really short. *sigh* 

1 hour ago, Carlos Hazday said:

Would love to see some of our newer authors give it a try.

Yes, indeed. The themes don't have to dominate the story - they can be there in the background, or feature in a couple of scenes.

[Carlos Hazday]

@northie Send it to me, I'll slash the word count by half. LOL

[northie]

2 minutes ago, Carlos Hazday said:

@northie Send it to me, I'll slash the word count by half. LOL

Given it started life as a word-limited prompt, there ain't much fat. And to keep the developments in the same vein, they're also pretty sparse.   

[CassieQ]

I'm giving it a shot.  If it turns into another monster like the last antho, then I'm out.  

[Allan Stone]

I'm new around these parts but I'm going to give the challenge a try. Might as well and see where I end up.

[northie]

27 minutes ago, Allan Stone said:

I'm new around these parts but I'm going to give the challenge a try.

Welcome.    Anthologies are open to everyone. Good luck with your writing. If you need a beta reader and / or editor, asking in the forum below might find you volunteers. Remember that to post the story, you'll need to have 'author' status. 

https://gayauthors.org/forums/forum/282-editors/

[Allan Stone]

25 minutes ago, northie said:

Welcome.    Anthologies are open to everyone. Good luck with your writing. If you need a beta reader and / or editor, asking in the forum below might find you volunteers. Remember that to post the story, you'll need to have 'author' status. 

https://gayauthors.org/forums/forum/282-editors/

Thanks. I'll need to build up my status then. 

And thanks for the forum link too.

[Renee Stevens]

22 minutes ago, Allan Stone said:

Thanks. I'll need to build up my status then.

You can purchase the author status (for free) in the store.

Also, make sure, before you submit a story to the site that you read through the step-by-step guide for authors.

 

[Renee Stevens]

I have created two threads, one for each story, please post your story links in the appropriate thread!

 

[Carlos Hazday]

Story written and beta read by two different individuals. It's now in the hands of the editor.

[northie]

Well done, @Carlos Hazday. Making progress on mine. Finally got the story arc sorted in my head after several false trails. 

[Carlos Hazday]

@northie

I had a brain fart the other day and realized a story I had already written fit the Full Moon theme and at under 6k words it would work for the antho. I have a companion piece half written which will now become a Fall Anthology entry. #feelingproud #gloating LOL

[northie]

@Carlos Hazday

[Carlos Hazday]

@northie

Story's edited and has been sent to the antho proof team.

The editor gave me permission to be obnoxious and brag about it.

Edited February 29, 2020 by Carlos Hazday

[northie]

@Carlos Hazday. 😉😄

[Carlos Hazday]

LMAO

I'm hoping to light a fire under a few butts so we can get people who forget timing inspired.

People like @lilansui who previously appointed me as her anthology buddy.

Edited February 29, 2020 by Carlos Hazday

[lilansui]

On 2/29/2020 at 6:47 PM, Carlos Hazday said:

LMAO

I'm hoping to light a fire under a few butts so we can get people who forget timing inspired.

People like @lilansui who previously appointed me as her anthology buddy.

My Anthology buddy!!! Oh my, the deadline is really closing in. I hope I can get this one in too.

[Carlos Hazday]

10 hours ago, lilansui said:

My Anthology buddy!!! Oh my, the deadline is really closing in. I hope I can get this one in too.

I have faith in you. You have a little over two months.

 

[Headstall]

I wrote a story last night that I am considering entering in the Spring Anthology. I'll decide in the next few days.  

[northie]

Decided to give this antho a miss. I have a story - one which I'm enjoying writing - but it's going slowly for various reasons. Given the current situation, I can do without a deadline 'forcing' me to write. The story will appear in the next month or so, probably as a chaptered shortish story (about 7-8 k words). 

[CassieQ]

My editor threatened to "hunt me down"if I didn't submit, so I better hustle.  (Love you @Valkyrie).  

[Headstall]

I will have an entry in the anthology. It's already been proofed and returned.   

[Thorn Wilde]

Mine's with my editor at present. It's very different from other stuff I've written. I'm excited to get it out there.