May 26, 2020

Announced: Twisted Fairy Tales Author & Artist Fall #SpookyShowcase

Welcome to the open submission call for the 8th annual author and artist showcase! I’m so happy you’re here and I’m beyond grateful that this showcase is in its eighth year.

What is the Twisted Fairy Tales Spooky Showcase?

I am pleased to present an open submission call for the 8th annual author and artist showcase! The Spooky Showcase celebrates the dark minds of creatives around the world through short stories and artistic creations that are dark in nature, macabre, or horror themed.

This year’s theme (you voted on Twitter) is Twisted Fairy Tales. All submissions must include this theme.

Have you heard the story of Cinderella? No, the real story. Where Cinderella’s sisters cut off pieces of their feet to fit into Cinderella’s shoe. Or the true story of The Little Mermaid who fell in love and tosses herself into the sea to become foam when she can’t have the man she wants.

Think cautionary tales and bedtime stories with nightmares. Think Grimm’s fairy tales. Think Hans Christian Anderson stories that kept you up at night. Think traditional fairy tales turned macabre that linger on mysterious, dangerous, or macabre. Hell, make up your own.

All writers are welcome. All genres are welcome. All art and artists are welcome. All talent levels welcome. The level of spooky is up to the contributor.

Due to time restraints, I am only taking the first 45 people to sign up.
Sign up here.

Submissions are due: August 31, 2020. If shit hits the fan and you need more time, just let me know. I’m not a monster.

Featured: They will be showcased here, on my website, from September through October 2020.

ARE THERE RULES?

There are only have a few rules:

1. Be nice and have fun!

2. Turn your work in by the deadline or let me know if you need more time. It must feature some aspect of a fairy tale.

3. If you are an author contributing a story, keep your word count between 1000 to 4000 words.

4. If you’re an artist contributing art, please plan to provide me with a high res image.

5. Did I mention be nice?! Be kind. Support each other. Leave a friendly comment for the others on their post dates if you can. Spread the word. Root each other on. This is an amazing community. A wonderful community. And I’m glad you’re here!

6. Animal abuse, racism, and sexism is not okay, so let’s steer clear of that please.

7. I do NOT normally proof-read or assist with edits. So please send in your best work.

How do I join?

It’s easy. Sign up, write your heart out / art your heart out, and get ready to be spooky with it.

1. Sign up here.

2. Write a story or create some spooky art.

3. By August 31, 2020, send your work to me, a bio and an author/artist pic. I also welcome any links, including buy links if you want me to include them in the posting. Email this and your submission to Jolene.Haley at gmail.com.

4. Get magical. Get mysterious. Get macabre. Because the fairy tales that you know and love are about to get a whole lot darker.

What should I include in my submission?

On or before the August 31, 2020 deadline, you should send your submission to me at Jolene.Haley at gmail.com. Here’s what to include.

1. Email subject line should look like the example below.
Twisted Fairy Tales Submission: Story/Art Piece Name by Author/Artist Name.
Example: Twisted Fairy Tales Submission: Mermaids Smell by Jolene Haley

2. Authors, send your submission as a word doc. Artists, send your art as a high res image file. If you have another creative way to showcase (ie interactive art, etc), let me know.

3. Type up a biography on yourself. Or if you don’t want to include one, let me know. These are normally in third person and includes a little about you. (This might include where you want to school, what you do, or what you’ve written, whatever you want to share…). You are not required to include one if you don’t want to.

4. If you want to include an artist/author pic and buy links, attach that too or copy/paste in the body of the email.

5. Let me know if you need anything. I will respond when I’ve scheduled your post with your date and time and link when it goes live. It takes me about 30 days to schedule them all. If you do not hear back from me, please reach out again! I may have missed it or it may not have come through. I respond when I receive it.

6. Sign up and get ready to have some scary fun! If you have any questions, feel free to ask in the comments below.

If you’re curious about previous showcases I’ve run, check out [WARNING! Dangerously cool art and scary stories lie ahead]: