Theme – Worlds in Progress
Submissions will consist of 1-3 images and a short blurb to 1500 words of text.
Maturity rating – pg 13 for the Sun half, mature themes allowed for the Moon half
Recommended full page artwork specifications – 300 dpi, 1748 x 2480 [A5] in size. You may submit artwork of other aspect ratios if you’d like, but it will not take up a full page.
Artwork must be of your own creation, no AI content, tracing, or other art theft will be accepted.
Whatever that may mean for your skill level, please put in effort into your submission, use of copypaste assets like bases is discouraged
Deadline – May 15th 11:59 PM [EST]
As the theme implies, submission contents must feature original characters and worldbuilding only, characters from existing media, fan characters, and settings meant to directly imitate or parody a specific existing one are not allowed.
Adaptations of public domain media and homebrew content for tabletop roleplaying games are only allowed if the subject of the submission is an element of your own creation.
For example, you cannot send in a submission about Sherlock Holmes as he was written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, but you would absolutely be able to send in one about your version of Sherlock Holmes’ amazing telekinesis powers.
While there will not be any physical distribution of the zine please keep your submissions printable! Artwork may not be taller than a page* at intended viewing size, text may not be paced with gratuitous spacing that could drastically inflate the page count. If possible in your current setup, try your best to have images be 300 dpi.
*for best results assume A5 page aspect ratio. See above recommended full page art size for reference.
Text part of the submissions can be narrative [ex: the first meeting of two characters whose relationship you chose to focus on] or expository [ex: an in-dept explanation of the physiology of a planet’s sapient species those two belong to] or a mix of both, just make sure its writing a reader could enjoy!
The image part of the submission needs to be at least broadly related to the writing.
It is okay if your text is slightly over the max word count, we won’t tell you to edit down 50 words, but please don’t go way over the limit, anything 2000 words and upwards will be turned down.
If you would rather submit a comic or other text-heavy image medium like a heavily annotated spec bio diagram, you may trade the ability to submit prose in favor of being able to send in up to 6 images.
If you’re uninterested in sending much prose and really just want to submit artwork, you’re welcome to just assign your pieces short little text that provides some context or flavor as to what’s going on
[ex: “It was this moment, when the hero realized – the road ahead was tougher than expected”]
If you’re going this route, you’re strongly advised to have something happening in said artwork. Unless the appearance of the character is so drastic and unusual that it is in itself a spectacle, we rather you not submit art of your character just standing there without much accompanying text.
Please take care to deliver on the premise of the prompt and focus your submission on a self-contained idea. A reader should be able to derive any strictly necessary context for your submission from your submission alone, and shouldn’t have to look for your toyhouse profile, other work, or be able to read your mind to understand what is going on. Take care to briefly explain or footnote any strictly necessary setting ideas and leave out anything that will take up too much space.
The two halves of the zine have the following maturity guidelines. You’re allowed to submit two distinct entries if you’d like.
The Sun half is for works that roughly fit the pg-13 maturity rating.
Submissions that are lighter in tone or don’t feature particularly detailed violence or many very heavy themes would be at home in the Sun half.
A submission that is edgy, but would ultimately be appropriate for a teenager to read is also fine in the Sun half.
The Moon half is intended for works with a darker tone and/or containing mature content. You must be over the age of 18 to submit artwork to the moon half.
Nudity, substance use, discussion of heavy themes, gore, etc, are all fair game, but please don’t just send contextless pornographic material as an entry, this wouldn’t actually fit the prompt.
For the purpose of this particular collection we rather erotic content still be about something. Erotic work is great, but remember, this zine is about worlds and stories you’re working on at the end of the day.
A submission is not required to be edgy to go in the Moon half, just have adult readers as its intended audience. In fact, even if your work doesn’t strictly contain anything that would require it be put in the Moon half, you’re welcome to self-select for it regardless.
Entries will be assigned content warnings as necessary, feel free to suggest them yourself.
By submitting work to the Moon half you confirm that you are in fact an adult. If it is obvious otherwise your submission will be turned down. Works that mishandle a sensitive topic may also be turned down, but we generally trust you to behave.
There is no skill level gate, but we do ask that your work is generally finished and in a state that you yourself may be proud of, whatever that may be for where you’re at.
If submitting traditional work, ensure it is nicely photographed in natural light or scanned, try to catch any typos in the text, generally take care to fix anything you’d like to fix, you won’t be able to edit your entry after the zine is live.
If you still have questions or need help, you’re welcome to ask in the discord , or on the forum