Statement of Intent

Photo by Paulius Dragunas on Unsplash

1. The Crystal Palace is the place to cast doubt on society’s certainties. Marriage and babies are good, right? We should all own our own house, preferably in the suburbs and have a good pension. We should all have a nice job, and commute back to a healthy home cooked meal in the evening. Or should we. What if that’s not right for you? What if you want to do it all differently? Tell us about it.
2. The place to write about characters who hate their kids. Some things are taboo. You must love your children, for example, they must be your life’s work and make you fulfilled. But what if they don’t? There are plenty of other examples like this, we’re interested in them. We’re interested in good writing and ideas which will make our readers think, whatever they may be. You don’t need to stick to a certain genre here, or ‘try to fit in’.
3. We’re all different. Our ideas of what is taboo are all different. We welcome that. However we’re not interested in torture porn or incest fantasies.
4. We want our readers to be challenged, to look at the truths that other people shy away from. Stories should be different, should take a different view point. Take us inside the heads of the characters, even the horrific ones, and make us understand why they do what they do.
5. We want our writers to surprise us. Give us new takes the world, and make us question our own glass houses! We have our own glass houses, we want you to shine a light on them please. Make us question ourselves too.

So sit back, and start reading. You never know what you might find. but don’t always expect a happy ending!