Polyphony H.S. Advice for Poets & Writers

  • Write your best story.
  • Revise it.
  • Make sure you’re happy with every word.
  • Show it to someone who knows what they’re doing and who isn’t related to you. (Many of us have relatives who think we’re the best living authors).
  • Revise your story again.
  • Send us your best work. We appreciate careful work. If you’re not happy with every word, fix it and send it to us when you’re happy with your story.
  • Start reading as writers. As you read, ask yourself questions such as: What does the author accomplish with this dialogue? Shift in point of view? Action? Movement in plot? etc.
  • Keep it clean. No erotica. Please. We won’t be horrified, appalled, shocked, or offended by profanity, but we will ask ourselves, What does the author lose or gain with this language? If you want to create despicable characters, there are cleverer ways to manage this.
  • Regarding First Drafts: Please don’t send us your first draft. Read over your work carefully after you’ve written the first draft. We all know how great that draft feels, the best stories ever written began with one; but it is not as good as the second draft, and it is certainly not as good as the tenth.
  • Don’t be afraid of that great sensory detail, but don’t fall prey to over-specificity.
  • Be wary of adverbs when you mean for them to describe human emotions. Instead of telling the reader that Joey Lessner looked excitedly at Tina Koumas from across the dance floor, tell us he put his hand on his pounding heart for fear that it would burst through his rib cage if he didn’t hold it back.
  • Showing vs. Telling. First of all, it’s okay to tell sometimes, but do not tell us "it was a real struggle for Alfonso to ride his bicycle through the mud." Show us the tires grappling for purchase in the mud, but slipping, let Alfonso scream at the gods for throwing yet another obstacle in his path.
  • Read your work aloud and edit it for sound, rhythm, and variation in sentence length.
  • Know something about the rules of fiction, but don’t obey them slavishly.
   

Polyphony H.S. Poetry Submission Guidelines

  • Authors are limited to three submissions at any one time. Any combination of poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction cannot total more than three submissions. Once an action has been made on a previous submission you can submit any piece. No author will have more than three pieces published in any one issue of Polyphony HS.
    • Each submission file should contain no more than one poem. If you send multiple submissions in one file, the submission will be drawn from consideration.
  • Font. Keep it conventional. If you want to be taken seriously out there in the publishing world, stick to Black, stick to conventional fonts, styles, and sizes.
    Color: Black
    Size: 12
    Type: Times or Times New Roman
  • Line count: Due to the limited amount of pages available to authors, poems should be limited to 80 lines.
  • Regarding Classroom Assignments: By all means, feel free to send us classroom assignments if they fit within the parameters of our writer’s guidelines, but make sure they stand on their own as poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction.
  • A word about centering: It’s mostly the mark of a rookie writer. If you choose to center your poem, you should have a pretty compelling reason for centering it. If your reason is because you think it looks good that way, it’s not a good enough reason.
  • Avoid clichés. Please.
  • Use your spell check and grammar check.
  • Read your work out loud before submitting it to us.
  • Revise it before submitting it to us.
  • Please don’t send us your first drafts. We know it seems like they’re brilliant. We’re tempted to do the same thing. But there’s only one guy out there who doesn’t have to revise his work. And he’s a stinking liar.
  • Please don’t send us visual art with your submissions
  • Read back issues of Polyphony HS
  • A word about profanity in poetry: one swear word goes a heckuva long way. Think carefully before using it. Ask yourself: does the poem gain anything with the word? Does it lose anything with its subtraction.
  • Before you log into the Polyphony H.S. Submission Manager, make sure that your name is not written on the manuscript you send to us. All of the works submitted to us are blindly juried, which is to say, our editors read and comment on submitted pieces without knowing the identity of the author.  The only way to ensure a blind jury for your creative work is to submit it on a file that does not include your name.  If your creative work is submitted to us with your name on the file, it may be withdrawn from consideration.
  • Hard Copy Submissions. We hate them. Don’t send them.
  • Deadlines: though Polyphony H.S. accepts submissions from July 1 through April 15, our readers and editors only act on submissions during our academic-year reading season (September 1 through April 15).  It is our hope that you will hear from our editors regarding the status of your submission within twelve weeks of your submission (but not likely sooner than November of that reading season).
  • NEW for Volume VII (PHS 2011): Due to the dramatic growth in the number of submissions we receive and the inundation of submissions in the last month of the reading season, we have imposed and early deadline of March 15. Though we will continue to accept submissions through April 15, those that reach us by the early deadline will be assured of responses from three readers/editors. Poetry submitted after between March 16 and April 15 will recieve responses from two readers/editors.
  • Payment: Polyphony HS authors are not paid in actual money. Maybe some day we’ll be so loaded with cash that this may change.
  • The Claudia Ann Seaman Writing Awards: See our Contest section for information
   

Fiction Submission Guidelines

If you stick with the format guidelines below, it’ll make it much easier on us if we accept your submission.

  • Word Count: Please keep your stories to 1,500 words or less. We won’t fuss over the word count, but please be aware that we get hundreds of submissions a year. We won’t complain if you take advantage of our 250-word cushion, but we get grumpy once you get past that.
  • Double-spaced.
  • Font. Keep it conventional. If you want to be taken seriously out there in the publishing world, stick to conventional fonts, styles, and sizes.
    Color: Black
    Size: 12
    Type: Times or Times New Roman
    Everything else is crazy. No crazy colors. No giant titles.
  • If you want to send us college essays, they shouldn't sound like college essays. They should stand on their own as personal essays.
  • Keep your margins conventional, as well. Word Documents are typically formatted with one-inch at the top and bottom, and 1.25 inch at the left and right. One space after periods. There should be no extra returns after paragraphs unless you have a fictive reason for the extra space.
  • Before you log into the Polyphony H.S. Submission Manager, make sure that your name is not written on the manuscript you send to us. All of the works submitted to us are blindly juried, which is to say, our editors read and comment on them without knowing the identity of the author. The only way to ensure a blind jury for your creative work is to submit it on a file that does not include your name. If your creative work is submitted to us with your name on the file, it may be withdrawn from consideration.
  • Deadlines: though Polyphony H.S. accepts submissions from July 1 through April 15, our readers and editors only act on submissions during our academic-year reading season (September 1 through April 15).  It is our hope that you will hear from our editors regarding the status of your submission within twelve weeks of your submission (but not likely sooner than November of that reading season).
  • NEW for Volume VII (PHS 2011): Due to the dramatic growth in the number of submissions we receive and the inundation of submissions in the last month of the reading season, we have imposed and early deadline of March 15. Though we will continue to accept submissions through April 15, those that reach us by the early deadline will be assured of responses from three readers/editors. Poetry submitted after between March 16 and April 15 will recieve responses from two readers/editors.
  • Hard Copy Submissions. We hate them. Don’t send them.
  • Each submission file should contain no more than one poem, essay, or story. If you send us multiple submissions in one file, the submission will be withdrawn from consideration. 
  • Payment: Polyphony HS authors are not paid in actual money. Maybe some day we’ll be so loaded with cash that this may change.
  • The Claudia Ann Seaman Writing Awards: See our Contest section for information
   

Polyphony H.S.Creative Nonfiction Submission Guidelines

  • Fiction format and guidelines apply to Creative Nonfiction (CNF) as well. These Guidelines are reiterated below.
  • We’re looking for CNF marked by well-written prose, distinctive voice, and rich detail.
  • CNF should have an informational quality or instructive element that offers the reader something to learn (an idea, a concept, or a collection of facts), strong with insight, reflection, and interpretation.
  • CNF should be marked by compelling, focused, sustained narrative that is well-structured, logical, and meaningful
  • CNF submissions should be typed, double-spaced, same word count as fiction (1,500-word maximum with 250-word cushion)
  • CNF should be double-spaced.
  • Font. Keep it conventional. If you want to be taken seriously out there in the publishing world, stick to conventional fonts, styles, and sizes.
    Color: Black
    Size: 12
    Type: Times or Times New Roman
    Everything else is crazy. No crazy colors. No giant titles.
  • If you want to send us college essays, they shouldn't sound like college essays. They should stand on their own as personal essays.
  • Keep your margins conventional, as well. Word Documents are typically formatted with one-inch at the top and bottom, and 1.25 inch at the left and right. One space after periods.
  • Before you log into the Polyphony H.S. Submission Manager, make sure that your name is not written on the manuscript you send to us. All of the works submitted to us are blindly juried, which is to say, our editors read and comment on them without knowing the identity of the author. The only way to ensure a blind jury for your creative work is to submit it on a file that does not include your name. If your work is submitted to us with your name on the file, it may be withdrawn from consideration.
  • Deadlines: though Polyphony H.S. accepts submissions from July 1 through April 15, our readers and editors only act on submissions during our academic-year reading season (September 1 through April 15).  It is our hope that you will hear from our editors regarding the status of your submission within twelve weeks of your submission (but not likely sooner than November of that reading season).
  • NEW for Volume VII (PHS 2011): Due to the dramatic growth in the number of submissions we receive and the inundation of submissions in the last month of the reading season, we have imposed and early deadline of March 15. Though we will continue to accept submissions through April 15, those that reach us by the early deadline will be assured of responses from three readers/editors. Poetry submitted after between March 16 and April 15 will recieve responses from two readers/editors.
  • Hard Copy Submissions. We hate them. Don’t send them.
  • Each submission file should contain no more than one essay. If you send us multiple submissions in one file, the submission will be withdrawn from consideration.
  • Payment: Polyphony HS authors are not paid in actual money. Maybe some day we’ll be so loaded with cash that this may change.
  • The Claudia Ann Seaman Writing Awards: See our Contest section for information