Call for Submissions to American Stories NOW

Friends, if you have a taste for flash-non-fiction, your submissions are warmly welcomed at my f-n-f site, American Stories NOW. In the past I've shared the work of emerging writers including Cassondra Ellis, Michelle Lee, John Summerfield, Boudreau Freret and Noreen Lape, along with my own experiments in the form. What is American Stories NOW? Developed out of an assignment I often give to apprentice writers, ASN invites you to work within specific parameters, and is a great exercise for enhancing observational and memory skills, listening for the story, writing away from the self and capturing detail. The guidelines are simple. ASN accepts:

--Original, previously unpublished work. Length: 500-1,000 words

--Non-fiction (i.e. "true" stories)

--Stories that focus on a recent ("NOW") event, conversation or encounter here in America

--Stories that focus not on the writer, but rather on another person (or people).

The charge is to develop ourselves, both as writers and human beings, as people who listen closely and generously to the narratives of others. Interested? You can send your story in the body of an email to stories@mylenedressler.com. If you have any questions, feel free to contact me at that address. I do try to read and review stories as quickly as possible, and to post them within a few weeks after acceptance.

Happy listening, happy writing!

--MD

Comments

This is good information for my students! I'm teaching fiction this semester, but this is great! And the next time I'm out at the prison, I'll see if any of the prison students want to do this too--imagine the stories they can tell!
Oh, and can it be a light, funny piece? Because there's a retiree who hangs out at the senior center here who's a hoot, and I've always thought of interviewing him. He's developed a contraption to give squirrels food while exercising them "so they don't get too plump there." Could that work?
Mylène said…
Kathryn, how wonderful! Please do share the assignment with your students and out at the prison--it's a great exercise, and has a way of attuning students to the amazing "fund" of stories all around them. And yes, absolutely, the stories can be lighthearted. There are no restrictions on theme, mood, tone or style. The only restriction is...no navel-gazing!