Calling all poets & writers!!

Do you absolutely love spooky season? Does the thrill, mystery, and frightful fates of the season inspire you as a writer? La Bella Journeys is looking for 15 short stories & 15 poems to be featured during the month of October. Rules:

  • Pick (1) of the visual or written prompts featured at the end of this post. You may pick (2) if submitting both a poem & a short story.
  • Only (1) poem and/or (1) short story submission per person. Short stories must be no more than 3,000 words in length. Poems must be no more than 30 lines in length. There is no style requirement for poems. Submissions are free.
  • Send submissions to labellajourneys@gmail.com. You will need to include your author name, chosen prompt, and links to your website and any of your social media that you would like your feature to link back to. Any of this included information in the email may be published to this website with your entry, with the exception of private contact information such as your email & phone number.
  • Deadline: Monday Sept 25th, 2023, 11:59pm EST

By submitting you agree to the following terms:

  • La Bella Journeys // Bella L. will respond via email to your submission within 5 business days. The earlier you submit, the better chance you have of being featured! All submissions will be reviewed by La Bella Journeys // Bella L., and are being submitted for the chance to be featured.
  • All submissions must be the original work of the individual person submitting it, must be written in English, and must not infringe on copyrights or intellectual properties of a 3rd party. The submitter holds all responsibility and any liability.
  • You grant La Bella Journeys // Bella L. the right to publish your submission on the La Bella Journeys website indefinitely, while also retaining all the rights to your entry. You may only publish/alter/continue the entry elsewhere after it has been published for a minimum of 90 days on La Bella Journeys. No compensation is owed to the submitter.
  • La Bella Journeys // Bella L. is not liable for any damages, loss, or disappointment that are associated with the submission; and will not be held responsible for any positive or negative commentary, feedback, or public discourse associated with it. There will be no compensation to the submitter or a third party.

A few friendly reminders:

While the content on this site is largely geared towards 18+ and submissions are accepted widely across genres, extremely graphic sexual and violent content will not be permitted or published. All submissions will be reviewed by La Bella Journeys // Bella L., and all submissions will be rejected, approved, and removed at their discretion. With that being said, La Bella Journeys // Bella L., reserves the right to close submissions at any point.
While not a required part of writing for Spooktober Submissions, all submitters are encouraged to remember the tagline of La Bella Journeys, “Another Chance To Change”. Any additional tie in with your submission in this area is a fun easter egg for our readers to find and is encouraged.

Spooktober Submission Prompts:

3 Written prompts:
1. Write from the perspective of someone long dead.
2. Begin and end your piece with a black cat.
3. Use the phrase, “the sickly sweet smell of the living”.

4 Visual prompts provided by bbqaiart via starryai: