Each month, The Coil presents an ekphrastic challenge (photo prompt) for writers and lovers of history: We feature a different public domain historical photograph or illustration, and ask writers to respond to it. There is no wrong answer, and no set style guidelines. Poetry, prose, hybrid, fiction or nonfiction, experimental — anything goes that has a history bent. The best responses will be published on The Coil after the challenge ends. See all past challenges and responses.
We present to you: DaguerreoTyped #24! Go write!
GUIDELINES:
1.) Write a piece about or evoked by the photo above.
2.) The piece can be any style or genre. Poetry, hybrid, and all sorts of prose are welcome, including flash, short stories, essays, or creative nonfiction. Soft word limit of 2,000 words.
3.) The piece should have a history bent to it. Use the historical nature, setting, and atmosphere of the photo to evoke the sense of history in your piece. If we can’t find anything historical about it, we won’t accept it. But that doesn’t mean it has to be stodgy. Surprise us. Wow us. Make us laugh. Make us cry. Make an alternative history. Be bold. Be clever. Think outside the box. Make history vivid. Take risks.
4.) Deadline for #24: October 31, 2019.
5.) Submit your piece(s) HERE. All pieces should be submitted incognito (no identifying marks of any sort inside the file).
6.) You may submit as many pieces as you’d like, but you must submit them all at once, in one submission, with only one free submission per month. Do not submit through any free category to our press more than once per month (all free categories combined). If you mess up on your submission, please request to edit; do not withdraw or resubmit.
7.) If we like your piece, it will be printed on The Coil alongside the photo. All pieces published on The Coil receive a tiny token payment.
8.) We reserve the right not to pick any winner and not to print any pieces if there aren’t any that grab us; likewise, we may also choose more than one.
9.) Being familiar with what we publish increases your chances of winning and being considered for print. You can read past finalists and winners of the Charter Oak Award for Best Historical online, or you can support our press by purchasing print or ebook copies of our current history journals, Footnote #1 and #2. We promise you will not be disappointed.
10.) Please share on social media! Use the hashtag #DaguerreoTyped. (Make sure you spell it correctly, or we won’t find it!)
