Status Hat + Trigger: Submission Guidelines

CALLS FOR WORK FROM
STATUS HAT PRODUCTIONS
NOW OPEN:
 

Trigger:  www.statushat.org/trigger
 

2nd Edition: The Extremes

Call for Submissions
 

Lately, we at Trigger have been thinking a lot about the role of subject matter in art. There are, it seems to us, two specific extremes of subject matter in fiction, poetry, and visual art. Some art focuses directly on moments of change or crisis, on the big moments in the lives of characters, creators, or subjects. Births, deaths, disease, divorce, marriage, the subject matter of these works is overtly life-altering. And then there is the work that focuses on the mundane, on the commonplace occurrences of a life as a way of hinting at the sublime or the universal. These artists construct narratives out of snippets and glimpses of something larger hiding in their small subject matter.
 

The danger with either approach is that you can lose sight of the bigger picture. A story can be about murder (a huge subject, to be sure), but if it doesn't do anything with that subject matter, if it doesn't reach for something more, then it is the weaker for it. Similarly, a work that focuses on the mundane and the everyday but that don't use that form to impart anything beyond the surface ends up being the type of dull work that turns readers and viewers away from art in droves. A poem about making a cup of coffee can't just be about making coffee.
 

With that in mind, we’re looking for your best writing or visual art dealing with one or the other of these extremes. Send us your best “big” fiction, poetry, or visual art, focusing on the life-changing, the inherently dramatic. Or send us your best “small” writing or art. We want stories, poems, and pieces of art that try to construct a narrative out of the bits and pieces of everyday life, isolated images, or random, disparate elements.
 

Above all else, we want you to be creative in your response to this call. We, as a publication, are most interested in looking at the wide range of ways that narrative manifests itself in art and the artistic process. If you have a unique take of this, we absolutely want to see it.
 

Guidelines for Submission:
 

Submissions will be open from August 1-October 31, 2011. We encourage simultaneous submissions, but please let us know if your work is accepted by another publication. Please follow all guidelines for your genre (see below). You may only submit work to one genre per submission period. If we accept your work, payment is in the form of undying gratitude. Please no previously published work. Email submissions to triggersubmissions@yahoo.com.
 

Genre Guidelines:
 

Fiction: Send only one story, up to 20 pages double spaced, attached as a .doc or .rtf file. The subject line of your email should read “Fiction Submission: Last Name.” Make sure to include all contact information in a cover letter in the body of the email and on the first page of your submission. Please specify in your cover letter which section (“Big” or “Small”) you are submitting to. There is no minimum word or page count.
 

Poetry: Send up to three poems, no more than 10 pages, attached as a single .doc or .rtf file. The subject line of your email should read “Poetry Submission: Last Name.” Make sure to include all contact information in a cover letter in the body of the email and on the first page of your submission. Please specify in your cover letter which section (“Big” or “Small”) each poem is being submitted to. We encourage both traditional and experimental forms.
 

Visual Art: Send up to three pieces of visual art, attached as .jpeg files -- web resolution quality is fine, and maximum width and height should be less than 1200 pixels. The subject line of your email should read “Visual Art Submission: Last Name.” Make sure to include all contact information in a cover letter in the body of the email. Please specify in your cover letter which section (“Big” or “Small”) each piece of art is being submitted to. We are equally open to painting, drawing, photography, sculpture, installations, etc. Essentially, if it is visual, we’d like to see it.