Submissions

After filling out the form component of the application, the next part of the application process is to submit a writing sample. The writing sample is used by the review team to evaluate the applicant's technical and craft skills. 

We don't expect works to be "Publishing Perfect," but we do expect that individuals have at least a basic understanding of the elements of a story, grammar, usage, and mechanics of writing.

Should there be any differences between the Part II: Writing Sample instructions and the instructions posted below, the instructions below (this website) are considered the definitive guide. 

For a basic example of what we expect submissions to look like, check out this short sample (content warning: strong language).

Document Conventions and Formatting

Length: submissions should be no longer than 6,000 words.

Margins: 1" margins on all sides.

Spacing: all paragraphs should be formatted as double spaced for ease of review.

Page Numbers: all pages should be numbered, with the exception of the cover page.

Pages Per Sheet: one page (no left-right alternation; simplex output)

Headers and Footers: the header should utilize the following format (or similar):

format:

Last Name / Submission Title / Page Number

example:

Alkani / Shattered Core / 1

Cover Page: must be included. Should have the following information on it:

1. Title or working title (for excerpts, this may be the chapter title)
2. Author name
3. Word count
4. Type of work
   1. Complete - this work is a stand-alone or serial work that is complete in and of itself.
   2. Excerpt - this work is taken from a longer work, such as a novella, novelette, or novel. 
      1. The following additional information must be provided if you select Excerpt as your type of work:
         1. Source Title - the name of the source for this excerpt
         2. Source Type - the type of work this excerpt is taken from (novelette, novella, novel)
         3. Source Word Count - the number of words in the original work this excerpt is from. Excerpts should be from works at least 17,500 or more words in length.
5. Synopsis (optional)

 

E-Mail Submission Guidelines

File Format: we accept submissions in Microsoft Word 2013-2016 (DOCX), Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF), and Microsoft Word 2003-2007 (DOC). 

File Name: please use the following naming convention when submitting files:

format:

RAWR[YEAR]-[AUTHOR]-[TITLE].[FORMAT]

example:

RAWR2018-Alkani-Shattered_Core.docx

Note that spaces in the title should be replaced with the underscore ("_") character.

E-Mail Address: send application story submissions to application AT rawr DOT community.

E-Mail Subject: please use the following e-mail subject format when submitting your application story:

format:

RAWR[YEAR] - [AUTHOR] - [TITLE]

example:

RAWR2019 - Alkani - Shattered Core