Hey Xeno Hive!!!
At Cotton Xenomorph we love talking about writing. We like to break things down, analyze them, and enrich our own writing practices. There are countless craft books out there and essays about what makes a good poem good or a great story great. We’ve read those books, but we want to hear from you too! We want to expand the conversation, and to that end, we’re introducing an ongoing series called “Manifestos.”
In a letter to his brother, Chekhov once wrote out his "Six Principles" of a good short story:
- Absence of lengthy verbiage of a political-social-economic nature
- Total objectivity
- Truthful descriptions of persons and objects
- Extreme brevity
- Audacity and originality: flee the stereotype
- Compassion
Those are his rules, but not everyone’s. For Manifestos, we’re calling for submissions of six “rules” followed by your explanation of that rule and why you have it. The explanation should substantial, but it doesn’t have to be incredibly lengthy.
We hope you’re excited for this series, and we hope to see your submissions in our inbox! Send your Manifesto (with the subject line “Manifestos Submission”) to editors@cottonxenomorph.com. Please include your contributor bio in third person (less than 300 words) in the body of the email. This submission does not count toward our one submission per month rule. Past contributors may submit regardless of the three-month wait time between acceptances.
Love,
CX