MAKING WAVES: A WEST MICHIGAN REVIEW Submission Period: January 1 - April 30 Theme: Temples & Prisons

 

Writers & artists are encouraged to explore the ideas of the sacred, sanctuary, subjugation &/or suffering found in places, relationships, & ourselves.

While we focus on poetry, we also accept visual art & short pieces of fiction & nonfiction. We welcome sequential art, speculative fiction, & scripts under 1,000 words.

SUBMISSION BASICS

• No submission fees.
• Unpublished, original, non-AI generated works only.
• Simultaneous submissions allowed (withdraw your work if it is accepted elsewhere).
• No multiple submissions: One submission per category per reading period.
• We aim to respond within three (3) weeks. Cover art decisions will be made after submissions close.

We will consider speculative fiction & scripts, as long as they are stand-alone pieces & within our word count.

We aim to have a determination within three weeks of your date of submission. However, submissions for cover art will not be decided until after submissions close.

WHAT WE WANT

We love a conversational narrative voice & strong sensory experience. While we don’t often accept rhyming poetry, we are open to traditional forms when they avoid cliché & general, emotionally loaded language (e.g. anguished & soul-wrenching sobs).

View our past issues for free on our website: LudingtonWriters.org.

Please proof your work carefully before submitting, with attention to consistency in point of view, tense, & punctuation.

REQUIREMENTS

Submissions are reviewed blind. Do not include identifying information or a bio in your manuscript files. Contact information & bios must be entered only in the designated Submittable fields.

FORMATTING

.doc, .docx, .odt, or .pdf files for creative writing.

(Please reserve .pdf files for visual poetry).

Titles should appear in ALL CAPS for clarity. You may indicate preferred capitalization for publication.

POETRY

• Up to two (2) poems
• Maximum of five (5) pages per poem.
• Single-spaced, formatted as required by the chosen form

Space limitations allow for no more than 60 characters per line & 30 lines per page (excluding title & byline). This is provided as guidance for visual layout, not as a creative restriction.

PROSE

• Up to two (2) pieces
• Maximum of 1,000 words per piece
• Double-spaced

VISUAL ART

• Up to four (4) black & white pieces &/or up to (2) color pieces
• Color work will be considered for the cover only
• Interior work must be formatted in black & white (no sepia, warm or cool toned filters)
• Interior page size is 6”x9”
• Wraparound cover size: approximately 12.5”x9.25”
• Preferred file formats: high-resolution (minimum 300 dpi) .jpg or .png (.tiff are difficult for us to view in Submittable)

FILE NAMES

Include last name, number of submissions, & first words of the title. Avoid special characters.

For example, “LastName_3_TitleA_TitleB_TitleC”

For visual art, filenames must be descriptive. Untitled works should be labeled sequentially, e.g., “LastName_2_untitled1_untitled2.”

RIGHTS

Submitters grant First Rights to publish to Making Waves. We may reprint accepted work on our website &/or social media accounts, LudingtonWriters.org. Otherwise, all rights revert to the author upon publication.

ABOUT US

Making Waves is produced by an all-volunteer editorial staff from Ludington Writers, a not-for-profit dedicated to promoting & sustaining creative writing in West Michigan.

The journal is supported through community donations & receives no government funding. While we are unable to provide complimentary print copies, contributors will receive a link to the digital issue once it is ready for proofing. When print-on-demand copies become available, we will share ordering information.

Through community support, Ludington Writers funds the Carol Bennett $1,500 Scholarship, the George Dila $500 Sponsorship, the Barry Matthews Continuing Education Scholarship, as well as various workshops & live readings.

OPTIONAL TIP JAR

If you would like to support our work, you may contribute via the tip jar at checkout.

Participation is entirely optional & does not affect publication decisions. Contributions help offset production costs & support Ludington Writers programming.

Who Is Eligible to Submit?

Members of the Ludington Writers’ group

A member is defined as anyone who has attended at least one meeting in the last 12 months

View our full guidelines at LudingtonWriters.org/bc24guidelines
 

What Will We Consider?

Unpublished works only

Up to three (3) poems

Up to two (2) pieces of short prose (essays, memoirs, reflections, nonfictions, or fictions)

Up to four (4) B/W and/or one (1) color visual arts entry (photographs, drawings, cartoons, graphic novels/comics, collages, or paintings)