ISSUE 3: Mind Mapping

Optional Theme:

Valley Verbomania's Issue 3 Theme is "Mind Mapping"!! Explore the intricacies of neuroscience, the mind, and STEM through literary/creative arts. Share your poignant, poetic experiences with mental health, or cerebral endeavors into academia. Write about the latest scientific breakthroughs that are shaping the field of psychology. Create surrealist artwork that stretches the limits between what our mind can and cannot perceive. In any way possible, Valley Verbomania invites you to demonstrate the power of interdisciplinary work in creating meaningful text.

Submissions that are unrelated to or vaguely fit the theme are also acceptable! The deadline for submissions for Mind Mapping will be in early May. We mainly encourage those between the ages of 13-30 to submit, as this is a youth literary review. Regardless, ANYONE can submit. Lastly, our word count is not a strict enforcement, and feel free to submit to as many genres as you would like!! :)

Categories:

• Prose: 3,000 maximum word count, Limited to 1-7 pieces. Submit each as a separate document/PDF, regardless of attaching it in an email OR our google form.

• Poetry: 100 maximum line count, Limited to 1-7 pieces. Submit each as a separate document/PDF, regardless of attaching it in an email OR our google form.

• Art: any form (digital, sculptures, collages, paintings, drawings, etc). Limited to 1-7 pieces. Submit each separately as a PNG or JPG/JPEG, regardless of attaching it in an email OR our google form.

• Photography: Limited to 1-7 photos. Submit each separately as a PNG or JPG/JPEG photo, regardless of attaching it in an email OR our google form.

• Other (creative nonfiction, plays, flash fiction, opinion essays, journalistic writing, etc): 3,000 maximum word count, Limited to 1-3 pieces. Submit each as a separate document/PDF, regardless of attaching it in an email OR our google form.

Guidelines:

• LANGUAGE: All pieces should be in English. We do accept submissions in different languages, as long as they include an English translation! If accepted, we will publish both together.

• FORMAT: Send all pieces as a Google Document/Word Document/PDF. Please make sure to give us commenting access.

• AVOID: Plagiarism, AI-generated pieces, hate speech, slurs, and/or extreme violence. If we find any submissions with such, we will immediately reject them.

• FONT: All pieces should be written in Times New Roman, Arial, or EB Garamond font. Writing should be 12-point size. These rules are not strictly enforced!

• PUBLISHING: We accept submissions from both emerging and established authors, showing no bias within the world of creativity! Previously published works are also accepted. If we are your piece's first publisher, we ask for first serial rights and that any future publications will acknowledge Valley Verbomania.

• SUBMIT (Two Different Options):

1. Email your work to valleyverbomania@gmail.com with the subject line [Your Name] [Submission Category] [Title of Piece(s)]. The body of your submission email can include an optional author bio (roughly 1-4 sentences) and an optional description of your piece(s). In addition, we encourage you to include any social media handles, as these will be displayed next to your piece if accepted. Lastly, you can optionally disclose your age and country which helps Valley Verbomania understand its impact on a broader perspective.

2. Submit your work to our Google Form, which is linked in our LinkTree. From there, follow all of the prompts (ex. Submission Category, optional Author Bio, etc).

We will send out emails immediately after our deadline (not decided yet, depends on the number of submissions) notifying submitters whether or not their work has been accepted. Be confident in submitting -- because we are a smaller literary review, the chances of being accepted are higher!

If your piece gets accepted, Valley Verbomania reserves the right to design the layout that is best for the issue. However, none of the actual content will be altered, filtered, or reworded drastically.