Lucent Dreaming

Submission Guidelines for Lucent Dreaming

Lucent Dreaming Issue 14 Submission Guidelines:

We will be open for issue 14 submissions from new and emerging writers only between 17th December 2023 – 15th February 2024. We consider a new/emerging writer someone who has been published in 15 or fewer publications in the past 5 years, and has not published a book or full collection. If you have published more prolifically, or are established, we ask that you do not submit work to us and instead share our call-out with new writers. Our next open submission call (for both new and established writers) will be for issue 15.

Submissions are free, but we ask that you read a recent issue before submitting work to the magazine. You can purchase an issue from as little as £3 or subscribe to the magazine from as little as £10 from our online shop at lucentdreaming.com/shop 

If you do not have access to a copy of Lucent Dreaming via your library, and have no or very low income, please email dreaminglucent@gmail.com to receive a free digital copy. This will help you get a feel for the kind of writing we enjoy and give you the best chance. 

Language: English

Short Story Word Limit: 1500-3999 words

Short Story Pay Rate: Fixed £80, digital subscription and a free print contributor copy. (If you are already subscribed to Lucent Dreaming, you will receive the value of the digital subscription.) 

Flash Fiction Word Limit: 250-750 words

Flash Fiction Pay Rate: Fixed £30, digital subscription and a free print contributor copy. (If you are already subscribed to Lucent Dreaming, you will receive the value of the digital subscription.)

Poetry Line Limit: Maximum 56 lines including line spacing 

Poetry Pay Rate: Fixed £30, digital subscription and a free print contributor copy. (If you are already subscribed to Lucent Dreaming, you will receive the value of the digital subscription.)

Artwork Dimensions: A5 Portrait, 300dpi artwork of any style with 3mm bleed (151x213mm) or A4 Landscape, 300dpi artwork of any style with 3mm bleed. We accept reprints. 

Artwork Payment: Fixed £20, digital subscription and a contributor copy of Lucent Dreaming. (If you are already subscribed to Lucent Dreaming, you will receive the value of the digital subscription.) 

We enjoy beautifully written fiction, especially writing that embraces and explores inner lives. We are excited by fiction with characters we can root for and care about, and longer fiction where we see character development. 

We prefer beautifully written and crafted poems that explore themes of identity, inner-lives and society; prose poetry; surreal poems that tell a story, and poems or make us think and feel. 

For an easier time, avoid:

• Zombies, vampires, werewolves, especially sexy ones

• Elves, dwarves, and other fantasy scenarios that come across as LOTR fan fiction

• Fanfiction based on non-public domain texts

• Gratuitous gore/torture and other violence for the sake of violence

• Erotica

Submissions Process:

Artwork

Please email submissions to submissions@lucentdreaming.com with ART: NAME OF ARTWORK in the subject line.

Include your name and a cover letter. Your cover letter should contain any relevant history, and anything about yourself you feel is relevant.

Submissions should be submitted as a .jpeg, .jpeg2000 or .png file.

Please allow up to 3 weeks for a response before inquiring about the status of your submission.

Please only submit one piece at a time. Wait until you’ve been accepted or rejected before sending us another.

Please don’t send anything that is currently submitted elsewhere (simultaneous submissions).

Upon acceptance the Lucent Dreaming team will request:

• the right to electronically publish on this website, and

• the right to republish this art in or in connection with Lucent Dreaming, including electronic, audio, video, and hard copy promotional material and printed compilations, provided that authorial credit is given in every instance of reproduction.

Lucent Dreaming licenses its published content (when modified, edited, presented, or formatted by Lucent Dreaming, i.e. our version of your work) as CC-BY-NC. If you have any questions relating to CC licensing, please contact us at dreaminglucent@gmail.com

Fiction and Poetry

Please use our submission forms to upload your submission. We are currently trialling Moksha submission manager. 

Short Story Submissions Form

Flash Fiction Submissions Form

Poetry Submissions Form

Submissions should be unpublished stories submitted as a .doc/.docx file and in standard manuscript format. Please don’t submit stories that have been previously published in English, including stories you have published yourself, be it on your blog, or anywhere else.

We accept two fiction and two poetry submissions per submission window per author. If we’ve rejected a piece of writing previously, please don’t submit it again, even if it’s been fixed up based on our suggestions. 

We accept simultaneous submissions. Please withdraw immediately if accepted elsewhere.  

Please allow up to 4 weeks after the submission window ends for a response before inquiring about the status of your submission.

Upon acceptance, the Lucent Dreaming team will send a contract for you to sign asking for the exclusive first rights to publish the story in print, the exclusive first rights to electronically publish the story on this website and the right to republish the story in or in connection with Lucent Dreaming, including electronic, audio, video, and hard copy promotional material and printed compilations, provided that authorial credit is given in every instance of reproduction. We will ask that you do not republish your work within six months of your piece being published by us online. Copyright remains with the author. 

Lucent Dreaming licenses its published content (when modified, edited, presented, or formatted by Lucent Dreaming, i.e. our version of your work) as CC-BY-NC. If you have any questions relating to CC licensing, please contact us at dreaminglucent@gmail.com

Use of AI:

We do not accept writing or artworks created (in whole or in part) by artificial intelligence. Our focus is on meaningfully developing and showcasing the work of human authors. We believe in the importance of human expression, our individual voices, creativity and connections. We do not have any interest in stories or art created by AI. If we find that any writing or artwork submitted to us was created by AI, it will be rejected and we will not consider further work from that submitter in the future.