1. Tor, cream of the crop. 25 cents a word. Stories can be read for free (YES). Slowish response time at ~3 months. Prefer under 12k, absolute maximum is 17.5k. Don’t bother if it’s not highly professional quality. SFWA qualifying.
2. Crossed Genres. 6 cents a word. Different theme each month (this month’s is “failure”). Submissions must combine either sci-fi or fantasy with the theme. Response time 1 month. 1k-6k, no exceptions. SFWA qualifying.
3. Long Hidden, anthology from CG. 6 cents a word. 2k-8k, no exceptions. Must take place before 1935. Protagonist(s) must be under 18 and marginalized in their time and place. Must be sci-fi/fantasy/horror. Deadline 30 April. Response by 1 October.
4. Queers Destroy Science Fiction. Sci-fi only right now, author must identify as queer (gay, lesbian, bi, ace, pan, trans, genderfluid, etc, just not cishet). 7.5k max. Deadline 15 February. Responses by 1 March. You can submit one flash fiction and one short story at the same time. (My network blocks the Lightspeed site for some reason, so I can’t get all the submission details. >_>) Probably SFWA qualifying?
5. Women in Practical Armor. 6 cents a word. 2k-5k. Must be about 1) a female warrior who 2) is already empowered and 3) wears sensible armour. Deadline 1 April. Response within three months.
6. Fiction Vortex. $10 per story, with $20 and $30 for editor’s and readers’ choice stories (hoping to improve). Speculative fiction only. Imaginative but non-florid stories. 7.5k maximum, preference for 5k and under. (I kind of want to support them on general principle.)
7. Urban Fantasy Magazine. 6 cents a word. 8k max, under 4k preferred. Must be urban fantasy (aka, the modern world, doesn’t need to be a literal city). 
8. Nightmare. 6 cents a word. 1.5-7.5k, preference for under 5k. Horror and dark fantasy. Response time up to two weeks. SFWA and HWA qualifying.
9. Apex Magazine. 6 cents a word. 7.5k max, no exceptions. Dark sci-fi/fantasy/horror. SFWA qualifying.
10. Asimov’s Science Fiction. 8-10 cents a word. 20k max, 1k minimum. Sci-fi; borderline fantasy is ok, but not S&S. Prefer character focused. Response time 5 weeks; query at 3 months. SFWA qualifying, ofc.
11. Buzzy Mag. 10 cents a word. 10k max. Should be acceptable for anyone 15+. Response time 6-8 weeks. SFWA qualifying.
12. Strange Horizons. 8 cents a word. Speculative fiction. 10k max, prefers under 5k. Response time 40 days. Particularly interested in diverse perspectives, nuanced approahces to political issues, and hypertexts. SFWA qualifying. 
13. Fantasy and Science Fiction. 7-12 cents a word. Speculative fiction, preference for character focus, would like more science-fiction or humour. 25k maximum. Prefers Courier. Response time 15 days.
14. Scigentasy. 3 cents a word. .5-5k. Science-fiction and fantasy, progressive/feminist emphasis. Fantastic Stories of the Imagination. 15 cents a word. 3k maximum. Any sci-fi/fantasy, they like a literary bent. (psst, steinbecks!) They also like to see both traditional and experimental approaches. Response time two weeks. 
15. Beneath Ceaseless Skies. 6 cents a word. 10k maximum. Fantasy in secondary worlds only (it can be Earth, but drastically different—alternate history or whatever). Character focus, prefer styles that are lush yet clear, limited first or third person narration. Response time usually 2-4 weeks, can be 5-7 weeks. SFWA qualifying.
16. Clarkesworld. 10 cents a word up to 4000, 7 afterwards. 1-8k, preferred is 4k. Science-fiction and fantasy. Needs to be well-written and convenient to read on-screen. Appreciates rigour. No talking cats. Response time 2 days. SFWA qualifying.
17. Orson Scott Card’s Intergalactic Medicine Show. 6 cents a word. Any length. Science-fiction and fantasy (along with fantastic horror). Good world-building and characterization. Clear straightforward prose. Response time three months. Yes, OSC is editor-in-chief. SFWA qualifying.
18. Interzone. Sub-pro rates if anything (but highly respected). 10k max. Short cover letter. Science-fiction and fantasy.

GENRE: sci-fi fantasy > urban fantasy AUDIENCE: young adult/new adult CWs: amnesia, blood, body horror (minor), death (of a loved one & others), euthanasia, grief, needles. [will update as it goes] STATUS: drafting [chapters 2/10]

summary: 

Zoyka Abraxis, the pretty but eccentric granddaughter of the illustrious magician Camir is to be married to Lillian Sandino who belongs to one of the richest families in Cantaville. It is actually Zoyka’s principles to be married off just like that, but she would have given in if it wasn’t for a mysterious and horrifying force that is turning the rich and mighty of the city into dolls, one by one. Naturally, Zoyka has to look into this and together with Lillian, her brother Olivier and Cynthian, an enigmatic quick-change artist who can turn into anything within seconds. 

They see no other possibilities than asking the lower classes for help, a thing that is frowned upon by the high society of Cantaville and do not only risk death but also something that is undoubtedly worse: to be seen as outcasts for the rest of their lives. 

• StyleWriter 4 is fantastic. It’s an add-on for Microsoft word and has a 14-day trial period. It goes through your text, picks out “glue words”, misspellings, long sentences, homonyms, passive tense, shows your reading grade level, and more.
• Editminion *FREE* checks for adverbs, weak words, passive voice, cliches, and homonyms among other things.
• Pro Writing Aid is another online editor. It is mostly free, but offers more features if you pay.
• AutoCrit offers free analysis for under 500 words, otherwise you have to pay for more text and more editing features.
• Paper Rater offers a free service for editing, but it is designed for essays.

• Under the paragraph option, change the special indentation to first line at .5”. Change to document to double spaced.
• There should be no spaces between paragraphs.
• When showing a scene break, center # on a blank line.
• Font should be easy to read. Courier New and Times New Roman are preferred at size 12.
• All margins should be 1”.
• Start chapters on a new page and put the chapter title 1/3 down the page. Write the chapter like so: CHAPTER ONE - CHAPTER TITLE. Press return 4 - 6 times before starting the text of the chapter.
• For the header, put YOUR NAME/BOOK TITLE/PAGE NUMBER in the upper right-hand corner. Start this header on the first page of the first chapter.
• The cover page of your manuscript should have your name, word count, and contact information in the upper left-hand corner.
• The title on the cover page should be in all caps. Your name should be underneath in all caps. If you use a pen name, write YOUR REAL NAME (WRITING AS PEN NAME).
• At the end of the manuscript, start a new page and write END.

• If you are using Microsoft word for your word processor, use the spell check. After that, go through the manuscript line by line to make sure everything is spelled right. You may have used “form” instead of “from” and skipped it because Microsoft word did not see it as misspelled.
• Printing out your work or viewing it in another way (such as a pdf on an ereader) helps find these mistakes.
• Beta readers can find what you missed as well.
• Use editing software to check homonyms or look up a list of homonyms and find them in your document using ctrl + f. Check these words to make sure you used the right spelling.

• First use Microsoft word’s grammar checker, but be aware that it is not always right. Check grammar girl if you are unsure.
• For dialogue, you can always pick up a professionally published book and look at how the dialogue tags are used, where commas are placed, and when other punctuation is used.
• If you’re in school and your English teacher isn’t too busy, have them take a look at it.
• Look out for prepositions. Most of the time, you can omit these words and the sentence will still make sense. Beginner writers use a lot of these in their writing and it slows the flow.
• Check for adverbs. You’d be surprised at how many you use in your writing, sometimes up to five a page. Using a few in narration is okay, but only a few. Delete adverbs you find, especially those that end in “-ly”, and rewrite the sentences in necessary.
• Delete gerunds and forms of “to be” if writing in past tense. Instead of “were running”, write “ran”.
• Check subject-verb agreement.
• Use correct dialogue tags. People don’t bark their words. They shout.
• Two digit numbers should be written as words (twenty-seven) while numbers with more than two digits should be written with numbers (123).
• Avoid passive verbs.
• Vary sentence length.
• Show with the five senses rather than telling.
• Most of the time, you can delete the word “that”.
• Avoid using “unique” or “significant” words too often.

• Make sure all your font is the same size and type.
• Make sure you have no plot holes. Use the comment feature in Microsoft Word to track these plots.
• Make sure your time line is consistent.
• The tone should fit the scene.
• There should be one POV per scene. Unless you’re a brilliant writer and can pull off third person omniscient.
• Verb tense should be consistent.
• Keep track of the details you release of people, places, and things. The reader will remember if in one chapter you say your protagonist has blue eyes and in another you say green.

• The whole book should flow in and out of fast paced scenes to keep your reader interested and slow scenes to give them a break.
• The middle should not “sag”.
• Sentences should flow smoothly.

• Keep track of all your plots and sub-plots. Readers will remember them.
• There should be a beginning, middle, and end.
• Is the initial problem at the beginning of the manuscript?
• There should be at least one antagonist. This does no have to be a person.
• Is there enough conflict?
• There should be a resolution.
• All scenes should have something to do with plot.
• The climax should be the most exciting part.

• The protagonist should change by the end of the book.
• Make sure all characters who come in contact with one another have some kind of relationship, whether good or bad.
• Characters must have motivation for everything.
• The protagonist must want something right from the start of the conflict.
• The protagonist needs to be captivating. The readers wants to root for the protagonist. This does not mean the protagonist needs to be likable all the time.
• The readers likes to relate to characters. Make sure your characters are diverse enough that readers can identify with one.
• Know who your protagonist is. The main character is not always the same. For example, Nick in The Great Gatsby is the main character, but Jay Gatsby is the protagonist. This is important to know while writing your query letter.
• If you can delete a minor character from a scene and nothing changes, then delete that character.
• Sometimes you can make two minor characters one without losing any essential parts of the story. If you can, do this.
• All characters react and act.
• Each character has his or her own life.

• Dialogue should be believable. Read it out loud.
• Don’t go overboard with phonetic spelling if a character has an accent.
• Dialogue should be informal and natural. It does not have to be grammatically correct.

• Avoid purple prose. I’ve never met anyone with “emerald eyes” or “hair of fire” (except for the Flame Princess).
• Don’t use too many adjectives.
• Avoid cliches.

• Don’t info dump. Pace information through dialogue and narration.
• The first sentence should spark interest, or at least the first three. If it does, the first paragraph should be the same. And the first 250 words. The goal is to get the reader past the first page.
• Let your story rest. When you’re ready to edit, start at the end. Writers tend to get lazy at the end of their story whether they are writing it for the first time or revising it after revising the rest of the story.
• Make sure your manuscript is within range for your genre’s word count.

• On “Overthinking” Writing Characters of Color
• On White Authors “Getting it Right”
• On White Writers Writing Characters of Color (I, II, III)
• Researching PoC + Supporting Writers of Color 
• So You Want To Save The World From Bad Representation
• Writing POC with Little Experience
• Writing Authentically From Your Own Experiences

• Diversity Exists in the Real World by shiraglassman
• How to Write WOC and MOC if you are White by kaylapocalypse
• “I feel pressured to be inclusive in my writing!” by nimblesnotebook 
• On White Fear & Creating Diverse Transformative Works by saathi1013

• Diversity vs. Exploiting Cultures
• Diversifying a Predominately-White Cast
• On “Diversity Quotas”
• On Excluding Diversity Out of Fear
• Different Heritage POV’s in a Story
• Including Realistic Diversity Naturally
• “Normalizing” Protagonists of Color
• Villains of Color
• White-Dominant Rural Areas and Diversity
• White Privilege, Publishing, and Diversity Quotas
• Writing: Making Efforts in Diversity 

• Character Creation: Culture or Character first?
• Character Design and Assigning Race and Ethnicity
• Characters’ Races Added Last During Development 
• Determining your Characters’ Race and/or Ethnicity
• More on Assigning Race after Writing

• A Discussion on Culture and Erasure
• “Culturing” Culturally-disengaged PoC
• Characters of Color with “No Culture”
• Mixed Race + Disconnect from Culture
• Stereotyped vs Nuanced & Audience Perception
• Tradition and Culture vs. Stereotype
• Western Neutral Characters
• ‘Whitewashed’ Character of Color?

• Defining Coding (& Islam-coded Fantasy)
• Denoting Race in Fantasy Setting
• Fantasy Races Based off of People of Color
• Naming People and Places, Avoiding Explicit Coding
• Racially-coding Aliens
• Real Religions in a Fantasy World
• Religion in Fiction & Fantasy
• South Asian-Coded Fantasy Caste System
• Whitewashing in a Fantasy Setting
• Including Racism in Fantasy
• World-building: A Fantasy World without Racism

• Do I Need Permission to Write About Marginalized People?
• Writing a Genocide to which you have No Personal Connection
• On Outsider-Written Stories About Issues Of Another Group
• Outsider-Written Stories, Issues of other Groups, Speculative Situation
• Writing about Prejudice between People of Color
• Reclaiming negative, dehumanizing stereotypes outside the group
• Representing yourself when “yourself” isn’t white

• Everyday Racism, Friendship and White Allies
• Incorporating Micro-Aggressions in Writing
• Racist Characters + Including Racism in Stories Not “About” Racism
• The Pitfalls of Racist Character Redemption Arcs
• PoC Educating White Privileged Friend (Context: Black Characters)

• Resources For Creating Characters
• Resources For Describing Characters
• Resources For Writing The Mafia
• Resources For Writing Royalty
• Commentary on Social Issues In Writing

• Guide to Character Development
• How To Fit Character Development Into Your Story
• Tips on Character Consistency
• Designing A Character From Scratch
• Making characters for your world
• Characters First, Story Second Method

• Tips on Character Motivations
• 31 Days of Character Development : May 2018 Writing Challenge
• How To Analyze A Character
• Alternative Method of Character Creation
• Connecting To Your Own Characters
• Interview As Your Characters
• Flipping Character Traits On Their Head 
• Character Driven vs. Plot Driven Stories

• Tips On Writing About Mental Illness
• Giving Your Protagonists Negative Traits
• Giving Characters Distinct Voices in Dialogue
• Giving Characters Flaws
• Making Characters More Unique
• Keeping Characters Realistic

• Writing Good Villains
• Creating Villains
• Guide to Writing The Hero
• Positive Character Development Without Romanticizing Toxic Behavior
• Tips on Writing Cold & Distant Characters
• Balancing Multiple Main Characters
• Creating Diverse Otherworld Characters
• Foreshadowing The Villain

to lead in a wrong direction or into a mistaken action or belief often by deliberate deceit

to lead astray: give a wrong impression

• A great place to do it is during a fight, since it’s usually fast-paced and the readers’ attention will naturally be on the fight and its outcome. 
• (It can be any kind of fight, an argument, a physical fight, an escape, a political debate, etc.)
• You can do it literally whenever (though if you do it after the plot twist or what the clues lead to… I don’t know how you could manage it)
• Let’s say, for example, one of the clues is an object, you could mention this object and make another one seem more important (by giving more details on it, like its appearance, its use(s), etc.) in the scene where the clue (here, the object) is introduced, so the reader will think the object which is “more important” is the clue

• You don’t need red herrings to mislead your reader, but it’s a cool thing to add
• So, let’s take my example with the object. Elaborating it, the object (the clue) is a bottle with red liquid, and the other object which seems more important is a knife. One of the characters is fated to die by one of the objects in the room. The characters think it’s the knife, obviously, which is the red herring. 
• Long story short, the characters destroy the knife and later that day, the character fated to die drinks red wine, which came from that bottle with red liquid, which really was poison. 
• This is a simple example, but you can see how the reader would’ve probably thought the bottle with red liquid was harmless and the knife was harmful, turning out to be a red herring. (I don’t actually expect a reader to fall for this, since it was very simple, but you get my point)

• Show up the clues in different ways, different forms (words, objects, characters, etc.) BUT mention them multiple times so the reader will remember it
• (Again, it takes an average of three times for the reader to remember, even though it can vary depending on the length of your story)
• Again, you don’t need red herrings, but they are a great tool
• Show the reader, maybe even tell them, how the clues are relevant (when the time is right)

• Lie. I will repeat this forever: don’t lie to your reader. Ever. 
• A betrayed reader is an angry reader.
• When I say lying, I mean not telling stuff to the reader, not telling them the clues that would’ve been useful
• Another thing you shouldn’t do: try your best to not confuse your reader. Don’t give them too many misdirections, red herrings, or whatever. 
• Imagine being the reader and discovering that a red herring is a dead end (something a reader thought they saw coming, but it’s not true) when you didn’t even remember it existed. 

“Typical,” Pathogen spat, shifting forward to struggle to his feet. “We’re fated enemies, and they still don’t tell you the truth.”

“What–”

“Heroes just want to place the blame, don’t they? It’s always so much easier when you can vilify someone–even when they’re the real victim,” Pathogen whispered, voice crackling through the vocoder. “You think I wanted to be a villain? Do you think I was born this way?”

Chiron’s chest tightened, eyes widening in understanding.

“I never asked to be a hero,” he whispered back.

Pathogen only laughed. “At least you have a choice.”