Wednesday, June 29, 2016

Tomorrow


...is the last day. 

After tomorrow, you can no longer submit your work for publication in Mavguard Edition IV.


Maybe you’re thinking you’ll just catch the next edition, that right now it’s too scary and it’ll be easier next time. But if you’re saying that now, then I know you’ll say it again when the next window opens up. You’ll look at Mavguard’s website and you’ll look at your work, and you’ll decide to submit next time. Again. Trouble is, you can’t always wait until next time.

Sooner or later, you need to get out of the boat and walk on water.

If you don’t try, you’ll never succeed.

You’ve made this masterpiece, this beautiful craft that makes you beam with joy every time you look at it. But then, why haven’t you done anything with it? Why not send it in for publication, why not let other people see it and admire it? 

But maybe you don't beam at it. Maybe you think it's only okay. But how will you get any advice on how to make it better, if you don't send it somewhere? 

We’re not a pretend magazine. We’re not a gimmick. We’re a publisher, a magazine, and we want to publish you.


Our primary goal is publication. Of course it is. We’re not looking at your name to see if you’ve been published before, or how well those publications did for you. We’re looking at your work, at the quality of what you’ve created. That’s all we need to know: is your work beautiful. And really, everything is beautiful to someone, isn’t it?

We don’t want to scare you. We don’t want to stress you out.

We only want to publish you.

Won’t you let us?

Go to www.MavguardMagazine.com and submit something. You’re allowed to submit up to five pieces in each category. That means if you’re a short story author, poet, and artist, you can submit up to fifteen pieces, total. That gives you pretty good chances, wouldn’t you say?

So go online and send something in.

Don’t overthink it. Don’t freak out.

Just fill out the form online, attach a copy of your work, and send it in.


That’s all there is to it.


We start reading on July 1, so you won’t even have long to wait. If you ask me, now’s the best time to be sending in your work.

Do it.

I want to see you succeed.


[love]

{Rani Divine}

Monday, June 27, 2016

Three Days


By now I’m fairly certain that some of you have grown tired of hearing this. But rather than spend this week talking about a genre that I know very little about (since we've already covered my top four), I’d like to take this time to talk about something which means a great deal to me. And if you’ve been reading Too Many Books to Count for any significant amount of time, then it’s probably something you’ve heard before.

As of today, there are three days left to submit your work for publication in Mavguard Magazine.


I’m not sure why, but I’ve noticed that a lot of creatives need to be constantly reminded of deadlines. I don’t know if it’s because we’re a little chicken of getting rejection letters, if we’re too busy to pay attention to what’s going on around us, or if we’ve given up entirely on the notion of publication. But either way, I’m not having it.

Mavguard wants to publish you.

We really do.

No matter your age, your background, your style of art or writing.

We want to publish you.

But we can’t do that unless you send something in. You’re inhibiting yourself by not submitting, by staying on the sidelines and neglecting to do your part.

What’s the point in art if you keep it locked in a closet and never allow anyone to see it?


The whole point of art is to be seen an enjoyed. For writers, that means letting someone else read what you’ve written. For artists, it means showing someone what you’ve created. For all of us, it means sending stuff in for publication.

And I know it can be scary. I know rejection letters are harsh and hard to take. I even know that publishers are incredibly intimidating. I work for one. Of course I know.

But I also know that Mavguard is different.

Our goal is to publish people.


We don’t care if you’ve been published before. We don’t care if you’re nine or ninety-nine. All we look at is your work, with the goal of publication. And we’ve published ninety some percent of all our submitters. Those are pretty high returns, if you ask me.

Want to get published?



Then it’s time to send something in.



Submissions window closes midnight, June 30. 

 

www.MavguardMagazine.com


[love]

{Rani Divine}

Friday, June 24, 2016

Fantasy, Part 3



Now that we’ve dealt with the boring stuff, the what is it and the don’t do this with it, it’s time we get into the fun stuff.

What do we do with Fantasy?


1. Have fun!


This is the first and foremost thing that you should be doing with Fantasy. You should be using it to have the most fun known to your own consciousness. Writing it should be like an escape from the real world, a plunge into the depths of a land where all these things are really possible and these creatures really exist. It should be fun. For the most part, anyway. You’ll still need to have an antagonist, etc. but really, try to have fun. And yes, you will have to put some effort into that.Writing isn't always fun, there are sometimes things we don't want to write, that need to go in the story. So you'll have to make it fun as you go along.

2. Play


People don’t talk about this very much when it comes to writing, but a lot of it is like a game. It’s like rolling the dice to create a story, something that will be interesting and fun at the same time, something both you and your readers enjoy. Play with it, explore new realms and new possibilities, bend your own mind until you come up with something so beautiful and fantastical that even you beam to think of your created world.

3. Invent


This one is big for both Science-Fiction and Fantasy. Use your thinker and invent some new things, push the boundaries to develop something unlike anything you’ve read before. Invent, whenever the opportunity strikes you. Make a new creature, a new form of magic. Blow your reader’s minds. Invent things until your head hurts, until you don’t think you can do it anymore, and then keep inventing.

And never regret anything you create. Never, ever. Even if it’s utterly ridiculous and silly, don’t regret it. Learn from it. Use it.

[love]

{Rani Divine}