Diving For Pearls
Online writers' resources by Ingrid Bruck
Ingrid Bruck is an editor at Between These Shores. She was a featured writer in BTSA Issue #2. Her column is devoted to online writer resources. She found her own writer support community online. Writing this column is one way of "paying it forward".
Diving for Pearls: Online Writers Resources
BTS Books strives to be a writers resource. Toward that end, we invite writers to share their information, link, and news of interest for the literary community.
Email your pearls of resources for writers to:
Ingrid Bruck, Network and Resource Editor
October 2020
Literary Venues for Humor
Humor makes a good hook to capture a reader’s attention. Writer and reader laugh together at themselves and each other. The humor writer expresses his/her vulnerability and trusts the reader to be kind. A writer who dares to laugh at him/herself is likable. Because the reader cares about you, they will cheer for you and want to read more. There’s nothing better than a good belly laugh.
Another plus for writing humor: good humor possesses healing properties. Even a stoic like me has a crevasse of healing humor buried inside. It can emerge as satire. Or parody. Or irony. Or surrealism. When I excavate humor, it livens and lightens my writing. These are reasons why I sometimes write humorous pieces. Individuals employ humor in their work for different reasons and personal needs.
I recommend reading Anita Gill’s article: This is No Joke: Humor Journals Worthy of Your Submissions Her article was published by WWS: Women Who Submit, November 19, 2015. It contains good information about why people write humor and places that accept it. Anita lists many good resources that are not on my list. Check them out.
In “This is no joke”, Anita refers to another fine article about writing humor: “Plight of the Funny Female: Why people tend to appreciate men’s humor so much more than women’s”, by Olga Khazan, The Atlantic, November 19, 2015. https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2015/11/plight-of-the-funny-female/416559/. Khazan’s piece is another good read on the subject of writing humor, especially for women authors.
What venues publish humor writing? My writer group discussed favorite places to send humor pieces. The list below contains journals recommended by my writer friends because they published their work.
Some Journals with a Panache for Humor:
3. detritus
4. The Five-Two (crime poem focus, but they publish humorous and satirical
5. Rat's Ass Review (RAR accepts some humor)
7. Better Than Starbuck's (dedicated section of the magazine for light hearted formal poems)
8. The Satirist
10. The Drabble. (The Drabble accepts some humor)
11. Ariel Chart (Ariel Chart accepts some humor)
Please note that each publisher has style and content preferences. Be sure to seek a good match for your unique style of humor.
I thank Karlo Silverio Sevilla for compiling this list.
And Don't Forget...
High Quality Journals (No Fee to Submit)
Between These Shores Annual- Open: January 1 - June 30, 2020
https://www.betweentheseshoresbooks.com/call-for-submissions-2018
Gold Dust Magazine - two editions per year, in June and December. They don't accept simultaneous submissions and recommend you submit two to three months prior to the publication dates. http://www.golddustmagazine.co.uk/Writers.htm
Poetry Breakfast- Subscribe for a daily poem in your inbox. Submission Guideline:
https://poetrybreakfast.com/submission-guidelines-2/
Rat’s Ass Review- Open: Aug. 1-Sept. 30, 2019 Those published receive an invitation from Editor Roderick Bates to join a fine workshopping site.
http://ratsassreview.net/?page_id=81
Verse-Virtual— supportive poetry’s community that accepts submissions the first ten days of the month. https://www.verse-virtual.com/submit.html
General Information About Where to Submit (Fee & Free to Submit)
Submishmash Weekly by Submittable- subscribe to receive the posts
Entropy Magazine: Where to Submit: June, July & August 2019
https://entropymag.org/category/where-to-submit/
Erika Dreifus- subscribe to Practicing Writing Blog
https://www.erikadreifus.com/blogs/practicing-writing/\
Trisch Hopkinson- subscribe to her writer’s blog - Trisch emails weekly blasts of information about writer opportunities https://trishhopkinson.com
NewPages - subscribe to receive information about writer opportunities and places to submit https://npofficespace.com/newpages-newsletter/