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Spilled Ink Issue #4 - April 22nd
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Hello dear reader,
Welcome back to Issue Four of Spilled Ink Newsletter, presented by ScratchThat Magazine!
Another week, another issue of Spilled Ink! This week we have an episode of our Flash Fiction written by our lovely Willow responding to the prompt "Candles."
We have heaps of fantastic opportunities for different writing submissions and events around Brisbane in our What's On section, amazing advice from Grace in our Tip Jar, and as always, our weekly recommendations, which (shocker) still feature some Bridgerton mentions, but also some other cool things.
We told you last week, and we'll tell you again, our ScratchThat Issue #8 launch is on April 29th at The Grove Bar in our QUT Kelvin Grove campus. We hope we see you there!
- Jasmine, Willow, Grace, and Téa.
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Local Events
QUT Literary Salon April - FOLKLORE
When: 26th of April, 5pm @The Grove Bar
Folklore are the stories that have been passed down generation to generation, from one mouth to the next. The salon will be held on Wednesday, April 26th. Starting at 5pm and running until 8pm at the Grove bar located on Kelvin Grove Campus. Please note The Grove Bar is an 18+ only venue. Please bring a government-issued ID and have a valid Covid-19 vaccination certificate for entry.
Ruckus Slam - Royal Show Edition
When: 27th of April, 6:30pm @Lefty's Music Hall
Brisbane's weirdest and loudest poetry slam is back - and this time - we've got showbags, This month you get a poetry slam plus all the best bits of a country fair. Ruckus Slam is an open mic comp, where you get 2 mins 30 on the mic to show us your best original poem, rap, rant, or song lyric, then the crowd judges you, someone wins, we all cheer, oh what a time.
Graeme Simsion Workshop - The Novel Project
When: 28th of April, 6pm @Avid Reader
Join Graeme Simson for this workshop where he outlines his simple approach to writing a novel, memoir or biography. Join Graeme Simson for this workshop where he outlines his simple approach to writing a novel, memoir or biography. The book is included in the price of the workshop so that you can continue to work on your project after the workshop is over. The book is included in the price of the workshop so that you can continue to work on your project after the workshop is over.
Open Submissions
Cordite Poetry Review Issue 107 LIMINAL
Closes: 24th of April
Liminal and Cordite Poetry Review are seeking poems by Asian Australian writers. Send us your single best poem! Poems can be written texts (including micro-fiction); visual, audio or video work; or a combination of forms. In your submission, please include a positionality statement, confirming you are a citizen of, or residing in, so-called Australia, and identify as Asian Australian. We recognise the emotional toll in ‘proving’ one’s identity, but for this project, it is a necessity. We’re trying to avoid a Michael Derrick Hudson incident. Submissions will not be read anonymously, and will be guest edited by Bella Li.
The Suburban Review #26 REVEL
Closes: May 5th
Medusa's letting her hair out and the snakes are going wild, because it's time to REVEL. Lay out your best party clothes and get ready for a righteous carnival of debauchery, fireworks, chocolate fountains and champagne towers. We're looking for a feast of submissions for this issue - send your best, your most ribald, your 3am morsels. What kind of poetry do you read (or write) at a rave? What scenes of glamour does your prose fiction walk through, and does non-fiction join the same party, or leave early for home? How do you picture wildness through photography, illustration, or comics? Come on in and join us–the music's on and we're feeling fine.
Cordite Poetry Review Issue 106 OPEN
Closes: July 3rd
For OPEN, we’re interested in doublings, triplicates etcetera, and/or play and suggestion; we’d love to read poems that open meanings, spaces, possibilities and forms, that take open as their verb and move with it, into and beyond synonyms … poems that bud, unfold, extend, splay, drape, burst; poems that take up space and poems as lacunae: absence made palpable and present. Fundamentally, we’re keen on crafted poems and crafty poems: writing conscious of its own making, unmaking, and making it new, of its contexts and antecedents, but we are obviously – and axiomatically – open to all kinds of apertures.
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WRITING TIP #4
A Crash Course in POV
Point of view is crucial to every story. It provides the reader's 'eye' into the piece, defines their closeness to the main character, and serves to frame your story both thematically and narratively among other things.
There are three primary points of view;
First Person; In first person a character, usually the protagonist, is narrating the story, signalled through use of first person pronouns ('I' 'me' 'we'). First person can provide a very intimate and biased story, your reader is simultaneously confined to the knowledge of only that character but also privy to the entirety of their inner workings.
Second Person; Unlike first person, second person relies on 'you' pronouns. It allows you to draw your reader into the story, is if they themselves are apart of or experiencing the action. It is uncommon for this to be used over long periods of time, though I must admit it's one of my favourites for short fiction.
Third Person; The bread and butter of fiction writing third person relies on third person pronouns ('he' 'she' 'they') and has two main variations. Third person omniscient knows all, and is usually a narrator who exists outside of the story's cast. Providing a god's eye view. Third person limited, however, sticks closely to one character and, while still using third person pronouns, provides the reader with their inner thoughts and feelings.
Point of view can define so much about a story and your reader's relationship with the characters. If you're struggling with finding the right POV for your work I'd recommend experimenting with all of them and doing some research and reading within your chosen genre to see what's most popular. Done well, point of view can be an amazing tool to add depth and originality ot your work.
- Grace
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Willow
Reading: I'm still reading Kingdom of Ash by Sarah J. Maas because it's THICK.
Listening: Hello My Old Heart by The Oh Hellos.
Viewing: I'm up to the last episode of my Outer Banks rewatch, but luckily I'll have Heartstopper to fill the void after this.
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Jasmine
Reading: I FINALLY got my Bridgerton books y'all!
Listening: I'm back in my Harry Styles era (but I suppose I never really left).
Viewing: Moon Knight on Disney+ is a recent fave!
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Téa
Reading: I'm still on my recommendation for last week, so this week I'm just going to give a shout out to one of my favourites - Atonement by Ian McEwan.
Listening: Eric Clapton's MTV Unplugged version of Layla has been on repeat for me this week.
Viewing: This week I have commenced rewatching Supernatural just to feel something again.
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Grace
Reading: I've been busy reading the April Submissions for the QUT Lit Salon.
Listening: Currently obsessed with As It Was by Harry Styles.
Viewing: Perpetual re-watching yet again, Mandalorian on Disney+ this time.
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This issue's flash fiction prompt is...
CANDLES
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The following piece of flash fiction has mature themes. Read with caution.
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Little Evie Taylor (248 words)
"Smothered beneath a mass grave of takeout menus and red-stamped bills, a box of birthday candles sat unopened. Wicks unravished by flame. Townies claimed it was the biggest scandal since Bill Clark sold the cannery to a city-dweller back in ’05.
Little Evie Taylor took the brunt of the blame. Lack of family etiquette, they said. No regard for her poor daddy. Leaving his wandering hands with nothing but an empty wallet. Cigarette-singed floors, scuffed up walls, nail-polish-covered scratch marks on her bedposts.
Evie had grown accustomed to mouths of men and boys, what they’d say, what they’d do. She had a reputation for getting around, though she’d dated the same boy since Freshman year. The adults would gush, calling them childhood sweethearts. Calling it romantic. Evie wasn’t sure what she and Caleb had, but she was pretty certain it wasn’t romance. And when he’d have his way in the back of his dad’s pickup, she’d think about that little fishing town, and how desperately she wished to see it shrivel in a rear-view mirror.
The news broke the morning after, on her seventeenth birthday. Missing cash, missing pickup, missing girl. Caleb always hated when she’d hijack his console, only to abide by the road rules on Grand Theft Auto. The night she disappeared, he hovered nearby as his father recited the license plate to the police. Forty-four miles away, security cameras churned out grainy footage of the depot, a lone traveller grinning as she boarded her bus."
— Willow
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Guidelines
Our submission guidelines are as follows:
Word limit between 100-250 for prose (and poetry) We ask for submissions to be in a Word Doc, Times New Roman, 12pt and 1.5 spaced.
Please make sure your name and the prompt you are responding to is in the submission file document title.
Submissions for ALL prompts close May 23rd.
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