#hope this turns out well and wish us all--writers and contributors--luck!

[the-greek-mythos-project]

The Greek Mythos Project: The Submission Process

Hello everyone, Camila here! Finally have the time to actually flesh out the details of this project so here we are, with the Official Submission Process Post :). Dw, it's absolutely not as formal as the name suggests. This is mostly just a heads up on what will happen once you reach out with your submission (also... art is totally included btw. I need to put this in an official post but now that I've learned how to post art on AO3? Yeah, we're doing this 😂😂).

The Very First Step: How Do You Submit. Submission somewhat varies between whether or not you have an official account on Tumblr/want to stay completely anonymous or if you have a tumblr account you can submit to us through (although you can totally ask to stay anonymous to the general public or even just beyond me, Camila, who is currently and at this point going forward, the only one who maintains this account and therefore will see everything). Here are the two pathways to go through, separated for everyone's convenience :).

If You Don't Have Anything For Us To Communicate Back To Us Through, such as wanting to stay completely anonymous or just not having a Tumblr account, then you can just send us an anonymous ask! Of course, though, when you do this, we would like for you to acknowledge the fact that we will have no further communication with you other than public posts, and so basically when you submit your work, it's a "one and done." Yes, you can absolutely sign off a pseudo-name in your ask as something to keep track of you by and I'll explain that further later in this post, but just acknowledge and know that you're basically "dropping it off" into our hands from then on and we won't be able to offer further resources such as editing, "beta-ing", or even just asking for further clarifications of stuff :(. But! I promise to you that it's not that intimidating. Submitting things anonymously into this project will allow you to test the waters of your particular fixation and build confidence without having any strings attached and, honestly, we'll take good care of your works :). I personally am a writer of over 7 years, have been hyperfixated in Greek Mythology, and I've edited and worked with hundreds of writers over the years, scholarly or at the basic world-building levels. This is a project aimed to bring together a wide audience and just bring content to those niche writers/concepts and so, what's the big deal? We've got you <3.

If You Do Have A Tumblr Blog/Way To Communicate Back With Us, it's the exact same submission process as those without a blog. Just open up the ask box, copy and paste your submission along with any additional information you'd love to give, and send it our way :). You can tell us if you absolutely do not want to hear anything back from us or even have your name attached, or if you'd like to be connected with those similar to your interests :). Either way, the submissions are the same--via the Ask Box--but this just allows for better communication between us and you. There are two aspects of this project: getting people's work out there and building a community, and both ways of reaching out to us accomplish at least *one* goal of the two, if not both :).

The Second Step: What Happens After You Submit Your Work To Us. Well, we review it. Depending on what's going on, I and/or one of my lovely teammates will go through your work to do some basic editing and formatting work to make sure it fits Wattpad/AO3's structure along with making sure that all the triggers are correctly tagged. This is a requirement in your submission process, especially the trigger warning tagging process. As much as this is based on original writing styles, I do want to make sure we maintain a baseline level of conformity between the works as much as possible. Small things such as the space between paragraphs along with how the breaks in scenes are presented are mostly the things we'll be looking at but it'll really depend on the actual fic and it absolutely will not be on you as the writer to do this. Write it how you want to write it and we'll find a way to meet you in the closer-to-you middle :).

[Coming Soon] Here Is What We Ask For In Your Original Submission.

Optional Steps Within This In-Between Process. We provide in-depth editing, worldbuilding, and beta-ing help! Currently, as I am writing this, there are only two of us on the team--me, Camila/ @sleepdeprivationbutitsvaruna along with Leo, He/Him, @pluckedchicken --but I hope to either expand as this project develops further or we just grow comfortable in our roles. I personally specialize in developing worlds/AUs/worldbuiling while Leo has reached out to help with general editing and working with those darker AUs that I'd personally rather not touch. You can even reach out to us before you start your work! I know quite a lot of people with a diverse understanding of the myths that I can either point you to for help or I can even just do my own deep-dive search and help you out directly! This can be done based on request in the original ask submission--for those wanting to stay anonymous--or over DMing with me, my own blog, or Leo's blog. Just feel free to reach out and we'll try to help you out with anything!

The Third Step: What Happens When This Is All Published. Currently... absolutely no clue. It's only like a Month into this thing and I haven't even written the first sentence of my own submission, so this answer is really only going to come with time. Half of this post in general contains stuff that I came up with on the spot, and don't think that we (or at least I) have all the answers over here just because we have a fancy and cool blog. It's 2300 rn and I've literally written over a thousand words in one sitting while having spent the entire day luring out my motivation kitten and only managing to get it an inch closer and nowhere near out from under the bed, so. Yeah. We're figuring it out over here too.

As for a literal answer to this very real question: my current thoughts is that, at some point in the sooner or later stages (probably when I get the "What We Ask For In Your Original Submission" post posted), we'll come up with a general template to go off of, showing the submitter's name, socials, where to find them, additional information they want to give, author's notes, TWs, etc. in an easy-to-navigate way for both us and the reader.

[browniesnivy]

hiii brownie idk enough abt yugioh but *insert one of ur yugioh faves* and umm maybe franziska for that character ask game :]

Franziska Von Karma 

How I feel about this character- FRANZISKA LITERALLY SO AMAZING...I love how she’s introduced as just as terrifying and cruel as her father, but then you see that she really does care about helping other people throughout her determination to avenge Edgeworth and to help Phoenix save Maya in Farewell My Turnabout despite taking a bullet to the shoulder (such a good parallel with her father on its own!)... and then with the scene at the airport she’s is allowed to be emotionally vulnerable without being any less of a competent prodigy of law! She’s just... so fucking cool I LOVE HER!

All the people I ship romantically with this character- Maya Fey! I love the contrast between both of their personalities making them seem like total opposites, but when you look at their connection to a family legacy it becomes obvious they have a lot in common. I wish the games had expanded on their dynamic more, but unfortunately lesbians are oppressed :( 

My non-romantic OTP for this character- VON KARMA SIBLINGS... Mieke I know you agree with me on this! They grew up with the same terrible expectation that come with being a prodigy, and so they’re really the only ones who’s can comfort and understand each other... they obviously both feel such an obligation to protect each other and it makes me so CRAZY UGH. BROTHER AND SISTER! 

My unpopular opinion about this character- I don’t think this is an unpopular opinion but I wish she’d kept the shorter hair design from the concept art where her hair is slicked forward to contrast with her father’s slicked back hair, not only because I’m a lesbian and that hairstyle was SO GAY but because I think it could have highlighted or even foreshadowed how she differs from Manfred. Maybe since she hasn’t been able to abandon his influences by Justice for All it wouldn’t make since for her to have such a “wild” hairstyle, but I think that if she returns it would be amazing to see her with that hairstyle to represent how she’s moved on after a decade.

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon- SHOW HER DENOUNCING MANFRED VON KARMA FOR REAL. I can understand that it would take time for her to fully accept that her father was not as admirable as she’d been least to believe, but by this point in the timeline I think it’s time for that aspect of her character arc to be resolved. The natural conclusion of her development requires her experiencing the same acceptance of defeat as her brother, so I really hope that if they bring Franziska back at some point she’ll be allowed to admit that her father was awful and that victory isn’t an indication of worth.

Rex Raptor

How I feel about this character- HE IS MY FAVORITE CHARACTER IN ANY PIECE OF MEDIA EVER. I know that he isn’t meant to be a deep character at all and he isn’t given much narrative focus at all but he is just SO DAMN ENDEARING TO ME OKAY. I have an unhealthy obsession with how he is initially introduced as being crass and inconsiderate while Weevil is more polite and strategic, but then it turns out Weevil is a total asshole while Rex is just... a kid who likes dinosaurs and duels for fun? Like even though he’s a total dumbass (the best character trait) who can be a bit rude (not even mean-spirited if we’re being totally honest, like most of his remarks are just him being snarky), the manga describes him as “having to the spirit of a true duelist” and he never really seems as bitter about losing as his counterpart Weevil (except in the Season 4 filler arc, which although I adore for giving me so much more Rex content, makes a lot mistakes by characterizing him as basically interchangeable with Weevil... BUT that’s ANOTHER STORY for ANOTHER DAY). I mean he has more justifiable reasons to be upset than Weevil given how he was LITERALLY cheated out of the Battle City tournaments by Espa (which Mokuba the official rule enforcer LETS THEM GET AWAY WITH and then doesn’t do ANYTHING to compensate Rex), and he STILL tries to warn Joey to stay away from trouble despite him being the guy he supposedly dislikes because he took his best card, totally disgracing him and ruining his entire career. I could keep going but this paragraph isn’t probably already sickeningly long and I still need to be able to make posts about him in the future, so in a nutshell... he seems like a funny and good kid. OH AND WHEN MAI ASKED HIM THE “what can you see but cannot see” RIDDLE AND HE ANSWERED TAKOYAKI BECAUSE YOU CAN SEE THE DOUGH ON THE OUTSIDE BUT NOT THE OCTOPUS ON THE INSIDE? LITERAL CUTEST SHIT EVER KING OF COMEDY I LOVE YOU I LOVE YOU I LOVE YOU. Ahem. Sorry.  

All the people I ship romantically with this character- Weevil Underwood. They’re both teenagers who got famous, let it get to their heads, and then lost everything... considering that they seem like the types of kids who would be bullied relentlessly (they're already constantly being made fun of by mostly of the character anyway), I think the fact that they end up befriending each other is a good sign that they can find some comfort in each other and discover other things to be fulfilled by beside card games. I love how even though this friendship is framed as a begrudging alliance between two self-servings jerks half of the time, the other half of the time it’s about best friends starting a shit together for petty reasons and always being by each other’s side no matter what. The way that they tease each other constantly but then always stand up for one another when others pick on them... it’s so obvious that they actually really care about one another! I just love their dynamic so much it’s unreal, hence the blog.

My non-romantic OTP for this character- Although I primarily think about his relationship with Weevil, there is still a lot of potential to be explored with other characters! Mako is another minor character obsessed with a type of animal, but where’s he differs from Rex and ESPECIALLY Weevil is his sportsmanship, being able to become friends with Yugi and Joey even after being defeated by them. I think that difference mostly comes down to Mako being significantly older than Red and Weevil and therefore having more perspective on gaming fame, so I feel like he would be a great influence on them. On Rex specifically, I think Season 4 missed a big opportunity to expand on Rex and Mai’s relationship. Mai had been a major contributor to Rex losing in Duelist Kingdom, but now they both feel like washed-up failures. I think given the circumstances they could have comeback to an understanding, maybe even have Mai apologize for throwing him under the bus to screw with Joey? I think showing Rex that not everyone who has wronged him in the past had/still has bad intentions would be really good addition to his character arc in Season 4. Then of course there is Joey... to me, the main difference between Rex and Joey is that Joey is stupidly lucky while Rex never seems to catch a break. Otherwise they’re both recklessness dumbasses who prioritize brawn over brain, but Joey is nevertheless able to triumph through sheer dumb luck while Rex gets anihilated over and over with basically the same strategy (minus the RNG cards, Joey’s strategy is just big monsters after all). While the previously mentions she relationships were hypothetical, this dynamic between Joey and Rex is actually given some focus in canon, and I found it very compelling! I only wish this difference between them hadn't only been used to increase Joey’s confidence in his skills as a duelist (which I will remind you is mostly LUCK, no offense to Joey because I do love him BUT I MEAN... only being able to beat Rex because of a lucky Time Wizard isn’t peak strategy ), but to develop Rex’s character somehow as well. 

My unpopular opinion about this character- JUST LIKING THIS CHARACTER IS AN UNPOPULAR OPINION MAN... tons of people hate him so much! I know he isn’t an important character at all but he isn’t nearly as much of a jerk as people make him out to be, and I mean even if he was he’s just a kid! I won’t pretend that he is always portrayed favorably by the narrative, but the fact that some people feel nothing but disdain for a child whose accomplishments were robbed from him by forces outside of his control and who received no sympathy for it, causing his self-worth to deteriorate... it’s a bit concerning to me that so many adults in particular are so disgusted by that. 

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon- I’ve talked QUITE a lot already about things that I wish had happened to develop his character more, but above all else I wish his character arc in Season 4 had been given a proper conclusion. The writers set up this interesting conflict where the insignificant minor characters are upset that they aren’t allowed to be successful when the more important characters aren’t involved and shows the consequences that their defeat had on their lives and self-image... BUT THEN AFTER THEY’RE DEFEATED THEY ARE FORGOTTEN ABOUT FOR THE REST OF THE SEASON UNTIL THEY WAKE UP IN THE HOSPITAL AND INSTANTLY REVERT BACK TO BEING COMIC RELIEF GRRR GRRRRRRRR! There wasn’t no resolution to this arc AT ALL and it drives me UP THE GODDAMN WALL because it absolutely captivated me in concept... but like with many things in Yu-Gi-Oh! the execution was totally ruined :( 

[wivibook]

Let’s Talk About Short Stories

Like many other pieces I post writing advice and writing topic wise, this is coming from the perspective of a new writer. Though I lack in experience, I’m hoping to pass on what I’ve learned and found as someone who is picking up on the intricacies or writing and publishing on their own. I hope this eases the process for anyone else still in the process of learning as well.

On to the topic of short stories--those things I write when I’m not working on my novel. Are they shorter? Yes, of course. Are they EASIER? No. Not even close. They’re just different, and the process of submitting them for publication is a little bit different too. So if you have one of these short different little stories, what do you do with it?

WELL, DO YOU ACTUALLY HAVE A SHORT STORY? THE ANSWER IS PROBABLY-KINDA.

Short stories have a lot of cousins, and knowing which cousin you have can help you find a publication faster. From what I’ve seen, most places will break the cousins down like this:

Flash fiction- 500 to 1,000 words

“True” Short Story- 1,000 to 7,000 words

Novelette (cute name, right?)- 7,000-15,000 words

Novella- 15,000+ words

And this may differ depending on where you look to submit. Some places cap a Novelette a lot sooner than 15,000 or others may give you up to 1,500 for your flash fiction, but this is a general guideline.

COOL. YOU KNOW WHERE YOUR STORY LENGTH PLACES YOU, BUT WHY DOES THAT MATTER?

Welcome to the world of guidelines and word caps. If you’re dealing with a Novella, Novelette, or longer short story, you’re in for a bit of a struggle.

Many magazines don’t like to take longer pieces. It makes sense if you think about it as shorter pieces leave more room for other contributors if your working with a publisher with a page limit and shorty pieces are more likely to hold a readers attention. Anthologies look to be better about this, but might leave you waiting on longer response times. Even if you’re still in that Short Story range, you’re going to run into places that will only take up to 4,000 to 5,000 words. Even if you find a place that takes Novelettes, you may find their word counts cut at 10,000 words. The struggle is real for longer short fiction.

Flash fiction might find itself in better luck as I’ve seen several places looking for those shorter pieces.

FINE, THE STRUGGLE IS REAL IF YOUR WORDY. REGARDLESS, HOW DO YOU FIND SOMEPLACE TO TAKE YOUR WORK?

There are very few times I will say Google is not your best friend, but Google is not your best friend when it comes to this. You’ll find a few places on the first page that may seem nice right away, and maybe your search skills are strong, yet you’re bound to end up with results that actually don’t take your genre or won’t take your word count.

Don’t worry there is a better way.

Duotrope is your best friend for finding places to submit your shorter works, and for 7 days, they’re your best friend for free. After that, cancel or it’s $5 a month. Ew, paying for things right? IT IS WORTH IT.

Duotrope let’s you fill out your genre, sub genre, word count, topic, sub topic,how you want to submit, how much money you’re looking to make if any, and more, and then it will find you a full list of places that will take your story.

Thinking one of those places looks neat? Click on it, and Duotrope will tell you as much info as it has on that publisher like hat percentage of people using Duotrope who submit there get accepted or how quickly those that submit typically hear back. It’s pretty useful. 

Trying to shift through Google even after giving it the same specifications just did not give me the same number or quality of results, and believe me, I tried.

SO YOU’VE DUOTROPED OR GOOGLED (HEAVEN FORBID) YOUR WAY TO A PUBLISHER. NOW WHAT?

Well, you don’t have to worry about agents, which is something you may want to look into for novels. Short Stories or relevant cousins? Most cases, nah.

You may or may not have to worry about “selling” your story. Many places do not want you talk up your story like you need to for novels, in fact many of them want little to NO information about your story. If you’ve got a multiple paragraph cover letter or query for your story, reconsider bringing it down to one short paragraph, and there are resources for your letter if you’re not confident if your should include something (not that they all agree).

The above is not always true though. I have had to summarize and “sell” the novelette I’m currently working on, which leads me to say...

Read. Their. Guidelines. They will have guidelines, but don’t stress. They’re there to help you send them your best work in the way easiest for them to handle (and a way they are MOST likely to take it).

Most places will clearly tell you exactly what they will and will not take. Does you genre really fit into speculative fiction? Are you willing to push their word count (some publishers allow it)? Do they allow that use of profanity? So on and so on. Sending something they don’t want is a good way to get it thrown out (brutal, but fair).

They’ll also tell you HOW to submit, and you’ll want to read that part several times. Most places are online only now, but some still do post. Many want certain formats, so don’t just trust a general one. Remember what I said about maybe or maybe not needing to sum up or sell your story? They should tell you if that’s necessary, and to what extent. Go with the mentality of unless they say “do” DON’T.  They will tell you what want and how they want it. Pay attention.

SO WHAT’S LEFT?

Miscellaneous information like:

-Some place are cool with you submitting to more than one publisher at a time and expect it. Others don’t want something you’ve got submitted somewhere else, so wait to hear back before giving it to them. Again, this would be in their guidelines.

-Some places will take more than one piece of yours at a time. Some won’t. Again, guidelines.

-Some of the places you find will have weirdly old looking websites. I’ve found this to be especially true with the fantasy/sci-fy/horror publishers I’ve gone to on the hunt for places to send my work. I’m talking like early 2000s or late 1990s looking places. Give them a look anyway.

-Don’t submit to too many places at a time.

-Do bookmark the heck out of places you can submit to in the future.

-Some places have small fees for submitting.

-I’ve heard back from places in less than a day, and others I’ve never heard from again. Practice patience and hang in there. Always double check those guidelines about what they deem an appropriate for you to query to ask about the state of your story. If they don’t say, well, I’ve run into this problem and had to use my best judgment about when and if to contact them.

-Silence may be your rejection, and that’s okay.

-They may outright reject you, and that’s okay.

-They may tell you how to improve with your rejection, and that’s awsome.

-You will be rejected. That’s okay. Reassess, revise, and resubmit to those places you bookmarked.

-Um, but don’t resend the same piece to the same people. That’s generally frowned upon.

EXAMPLES

This is a blurb I wrote for my novelette that got it consideration in an anthology. The manuscript was requested after submitting this, and places that don’t want the manuscript right away are where you are most likely to come across needing to do this.

“When prompted by a nightmare to start a dream journal to share with a childhood friend, the protagonist of "Tabitha" slowly starts to lose control of her reality as the journal that was expected to be a cathartic project turns into a daily rehashing of the same nightmare that sparked it. As the nightmare progresses and evolves, the protagonist begins to feel she is becoming haunted by the malevolent presence from the dreams--a grey girl with seething, hating eyes that the protagonist calls Tabitha. As Tabitha pursues the protagonist's sleeping hours relentlessly, sleep paralysis, hallucinations, and sleep deprivation start to bring the protagonist to her wits-end and make this nightmare her reality.”

It’s not perfect, but it worked. Also it taught me the pain of describing an unnamed protag.        

This is a cover letter I wrote for a place that wanted next to no information on my story. I’ve removed the specifics about me and the publication.

Attached is my unpublished psychological horror short story “Tabitha” (approximately 9500 words) for consideration at your publication, XXXXXX.

I am a recent graduate of Northern Illinois University where I graduated magna cum laude with my BA in English.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Big difference, huh?

HAVE I LOST YOU ALL WITH HOW LONG THIS POST WAS? SORRY.

But I hope this was helpful to someone in someway. I’ve been testing my feet and trying to figure some of this out myself in bits and pieces for a bit now. Perhaps this will make life easier for someone in the same boat.

Keep writing, and keep trying. Make and submit something great.

Best wishes,

M. K. Pluck.