WRITERS MAKE THE IMPOSSIBLE POSSIBLE
There is a lot to take in on this site so please take a look around, explore the About, Story Gallery and Services pages too via the menu button or footer menu and inquire if you want more information: themanyplanets@gmail.com
Every month, we curate and select the best of emergent fiction (and sometimes non-fiction) that chimes with our themes, publish and promote a winner and offset creativity costs with a prize.
HOW IT WORKS: Writers create original short stories or commentaries based on our (general but fixed) parameters and submit by the end of the month. We select the best and publish on the 15th of the following month. Each writer can submit one entry per month, until they win.
WHAT SHOULD I WRITE ABOUT?
A night sky replete with stars is one of the most beautiful panoramas we can behold with the naked eye. The stars seem to shine for us, they light and guide, give direction and twinkle merrily. Yet, what we see is unreal, as fulfilling as it might be; we see a relative truth, a composite image coming from different points in time depending on how far the light must travel. In actuality, many of the stars we see are no longer there; some have exploded in supernovae, collided with other stars or collapsed to form mysterious black holes.
The gap between what we perceive as true and what is true can only be bridged by objectivity and in essence, the writing process allows us to objectively evaluate our subjective experience.
Objectivity is the connector between the many planets we live on; same world, different planets.
THAT DIDN’T ANSWER THE QUESTION
Fair enough, we needed to get that point across but now we’ll cut to the chase: Everything we want to read is set at least ten years in the future, minimum a decade from today. From here, you’ll design the future and while it may be utopian or dystopian, it must not be lacking in hope.
We don’t want to see tragedy, trauma and turmoil unless they are surmounted and transcended. No stories without resolution, solutions, inspiration, great ideas. Your characters are resilient and resourceful, ultimately they never give up, they’re thinkers, doers, goal-oriented go-getters whether they’re human, animal, technological or bizarrely alien. With or without knowing why, they accept the challenge that lies in their destiny.
RIGHT, SO SCIENCE FICTION THEN?
Speculative fiction, or projective narrative! 📡 The Many Planets doesn’t just mean physical locations, it also refers to perspectives and worldviews, possible outcomes of the future.
These might feature in genre-stories like:
FANTASY, HORROR, SATIRE, COMEDY, SCI-FI or even in HISTORICAL FICTION if a character or narrator is looking back in time to today or further. In that case they might refer to The Big Bang, The Stone Age, or even the roaring 2020s.
And you don’t need to limit yourself to a genre.
We’d like to see inventions like:
• New worlds, moons, planetoids, ecosystems, solar systems, dimensions, universes.
• Political movements, new culture, new religions, civilisations that exist elsewhere or arrive here.
• Evolved modes of transport, technologies, weaponry, medicines, sustainable energy.
We need it all packed into 500 words, so keep it simple, explore one idea at a time, save the rest for another story. Submit by the end of each calendar month to: themanyplanets@gmail.com
Terms and Conditions:
• You’ll need to be 18+ by the submission date or enter with written permission of a legal guardian.
• We allow one submission per writer, per month. Writers may win once only, after which they must agree to cease participating actively.
• Submissions should come in a file attached to an email. Please type your PayPal ID along with any basic contact details or biographical information you’d like to share in the body of the email. This is for processing only and will remain private.
• Immediately before or after sending the submission email, please click on the PayPal link below (the yellow button) and select the amount you wish to contribute with, as an entry fee.
Although we operate with a sliding fee scale, i.e. Pay What You Wish and this is to allow writers in difficult circumstances to participate, we decided that there can be no zero payment. At the very least, a symbolic sum must accompany an entry. We realise that this requires establishing a PayPal account for some but since we send all prizes via PayPal, this is mutually beneficial.
You may send a fee using a friend or relation’s PayPal and receive a prize the same way.
We welcome donations which support this enterprise and will apply them to increase monthly prizes or set up participant resources.
So, Pay What You Wish using this link:
• The monthly winner will receive £50, publication, promotion and detailed feedback. We may award bonuses if the winner or a close second really exceeds expectations.
• We require one-time publication rights and would like to hold up to twelve winning stories onsite at a time (for reader inspiration) but this can be limited to a one-month period if for any reason the writer needs it elsewhere. Let us know.
• We prefer to read double-spaced, 12-point text in a standard font, no images please.
• Submission email: themanyplanets@gmail.com
• While we love to witness the birth of fresh masterpieces, we don’t mind having older, reworked stories joining the fray.
• We cannot accept anything that has previously won a prize, nor currently published works.
• THE MANY PLANETS will respond to each submission. This may take up to 48 hours. If you haven’t received confirmation within that period, please reach out to let us know.
• People in the personal network of our masthead members are asked to refrain from entering the monthly contest. The adjudicators do not receive any personal information about submitters. Please keep your manuscript free of such.
• Submissions intended for participation but received after midnight on the final day of the month will be counted as entries for the following month. A confirmation email will reflect this.
• Prizewinners will be notified and paid on the same day as publication where possible, the 15th of the month following submission.
• Remember, entries are a maximum 500 words.
MAY INSPIRATION STRIKE YOU AT THE MOST CONVENIENT TIME, BEST OF LUCK!
MANY PLANETS 