Formatting Guidelines

All Creative Submissions

The following guidelines are for formatting creative work only. A full creative submission includes a cover letter and the work to be considered.

For more information about our different submissions categories as well as the process for submitting pitches for F(r)iction Log articles, please read our Submit page.

Your Cover Letter

When submitting via Submittable, the submission management system we use, there will be space within the form itself to enter your cover letter. Your cover letter should be short and sweet. We don’t need a whole lot of information here, but we do need the following:

  • Title and category (short fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction, comic) of your piece(s)
  • If you are submitting prose, please include the word count in your cover letter. You do not need to include the word count if you are submitting poetry
  • A short bio (100 word maximum)

Your Work

All Submissions

  • Font: Times New Roman
  • Font Size: 12pt
  • Title: Centered
  • Page Numbers: Lower right-hand corner of every page in the footer

Please do not include your name on your submission. We seek to read all submissions blindly. Your name and contact information will be provided through your Submittable account, so remove any identifying information from the submitted manuscript itself. Any submissions that include identifying information will not be considered.

Prose

  • Line Spacing: Double-spaced
  • Justification: Left
  • Word Count: in the top right corner on the first page, formatted like this: “Word Count: ###”

Poetry

  • Line Spacing: Poetry can be laid out as you wish, as we understand that form often relates to the effect of a poem. However, please be sure to adhere to a maximum of 3 pages per individual poem.

Graphic Short Stories

  • Credits: Include both author and artist information in your cover letter
  • Format: PDF files are preferred
  • Aesthetic: Both color or black-and-white accepted