Good to see you hitting the ground running in 2025, Winston. Looking forward to these speculative seasonal cycles. It's like you've invented a special planet!
I got a little confused over the word count limit and minimum. The latter seems greater than the former? Also, will there be prompts for each genre round?
Thanks, Johnathan! For now, stories under 7500 words and over 1000 to land within “short story” territory. Future prompts are likely but will be seasonal so that the book can remain consistent.
I don't normally participate but might have to this time around. I'm thinking I'll have to submit maybe two of my Lachlan stories for the fantasy and horror contests.
This is all very exciting! And I think I like this new format. And I definitely love the idea of publishing the anthology at the end. That's a real motivation, that one - and of course it fulfils part of the purpose of Lunar Awards, about discovering new talent and suchlike.
I have a few clarification questions though. 1/ Submissions can be published stories on Substack at any date? I think this point needs a lot of clarity - does it mean any story at any time in the past on an entrant's Substack? Because if so that seems a little unfair, and it may well be better to in fact limit it to a time window. i.e. corresponding to the round, so e.g. the first round this year would be any story published on Substack in January or February. That would make more sense to me. And it would also motivate people to write a new story.
2/ One submission per writer per round - that's easy enough to understand of course (and would even encourage people to try their hand at different genres); but then you say 'up to three per event'. So I'm guessing that means out of the six rounds in total we can choose three maximum to submit to? If so that's sort of ok, because most people do probably focus on one genre more than others (I know I do), but maybe it could be 4 rounds instead of 3? That way, for example, one could submit for the two in one's main genre, but then have a chance at trying out one or both of the other genres, if you see what I mean?
Anyway - those are a few thoughts.
I really like the extra word limit though - 7,500 gives a lot more space to work with.
So overall - I am really excited, thank you for organising all of this, and I wish you (and everyone else!) all the best for this year!
Hey Evelyn, thank you for your support and constructive feedback. This information is helpful for me as I'm trying to gauge what writers want.
For #1: Yes, I intend to open up for stories published at any date in the past (for now). Many LA members wanted the publication window requirement changed, so I decided to go with that for now. The good thing is that we can gauge how these first three rounds go and then adjust for the season's second half if we need to. We could limit it to the past year to highlight more timely work. I'm open to ideas.
For #2: The confusion with the submission limitations is entirely my fault due to the wording/terminology I chose. The 'events,' in this context, are the two halves of the season. Therefore, I should have left it at 'one submission per writer per round.' So, it allows writers up to 6 chances to win per year.
Great points! I look forward to hearing and reading more from you in the near future.
That definitely clears #2 up! And that is great actually, because it will almost certainly motivate me to try my paw at a little fantasy and a little horror.
For #1, I think what I was trying to say was that if, for example as you say, we could submit something we've written in the last year (2024 in this instance), then a lot of people would obviously choose their best stories from last year. Whilst that would undoubtedly elevate the standard (and make your judging a lot harder!), I just get the feeling it's a bit cheaty, sort of thing. And might also make people less inclined to write something new. Yes, people do write new stuff all the time of course and would always put the effort in, but still, it just feels a bit, I don't know what the word is actually! I could probably find quite a few good stories I've already written and just submit them I mean.
Still - I like what you said about seeing how things go for the first three rounds. Maybe rather than a year, limit it to previous six months? That would definitely work as a compromise I reckon, especially as for the second half of the year that means stories newly written this year - which is kind of what I'm getting at. That also means that the final published anthology is composed of relatively new work.
Anyhow - I shall definitely be writing new stories, so perhaps this is a moot point!
A follow up thought - if you do limit the story publications to those published within each window, then perhaps the reward for completing the prompt quests can be submitting that story for the next relevant round even if it's outside the window?
Will there be 3 prompts from now on then? One in each genre I mean? That would be cool!
This is really neat. I'm working on whether to incorporate the other events into the season or keep them separate. But this would be a neat perk that might drive the prompts' significance. The main thing I need to consider with the prompts will be to decide whether they affect the overall theme of the final book or not. If it doesn't, we can easily implement this concept; if it does, we'll have to keep the prompts similar across genres to maintain a theme for the year. Open to discussing this more!
Of course, if you're thinking in terms of themes for the final book, there's always the possibility of a second book using stories from the prompts! (or a third and fourth by genre - then it gets a bit heavy though!).
Thanks for the question, Joshua. I still need some time to figure out how novels/serials will fit into the new structure. For now, I’m focusing on short stories with the hope of expanding as we go.
Okay. I’m guessing you read the email I sent you in November, so I won’t reiterate any of that here. I note the max word count is up to 7,500 words, and I think that’s a big step in the right direction.
This sounds like a fantastic plan, and a wonderful opportunity for writers to get their work seen by new readers. I'm definitely hoping to take part at some point. Thanks for organising it all... 😎
I love the new plans, Mr Malone. I will keep on submitting micro fictions to Lunar Awards, win or lose. It gives me hope! ha ha ha
DOUBLE PLUS GOOD
Good to see you hitting the ground running in 2025, Winston. Looking forward to these speculative seasonal cycles. It's like you've invented a special planet!
I got a little confused over the word count limit and minimum. The latter seems greater than the former? Also, will there be prompts for each genre round?
Thanks, Johnathan! For now, stories under 7500 words and over 1000 to land within “short story” territory. Future prompts are likely but will be seasonal so that the book can remain consistent.
Ah, gotcha. I assumed second number was the upper limit and saw 10k in my head! 😵💫
I don't normally participate but might have to this time around. I'm thinking I'll have to submit maybe two of my Lachlan stories for the fantasy and horror contests.
Fascinating idea. I'm looking forward to see how it pans out.
Good to see you starting off with a bang. I like these proposals.
Incredible! TLA are in good hands!
Thank you!! It’s very exciting.
Some really exciting stuff! Thanks so much for the update!
This sounds great. Looking forward to taking part.
This is all very exciting! And I think I like this new format. And I definitely love the idea of publishing the anthology at the end. That's a real motivation, that one - and of course it fulfils part of the purpose of Lunar Awards, about discovering new talent and suchlike.
I have a few clarification questions though. 1/ Submissions can be published stories on Substack at any date? I think this point needs a lot of clarity - does it mean any story at any time in the past on an entrant's Substack? Because if so that seems a little unfair, and it may well be better to in fact limit it to a time window. i.e. corresponding to the round, so e.g. the first round this year would be any story published on Substack in January or February. That would make more sense to me. And it would also motivate people to write a new story.
2/ One submission per writer per round - that's easy enough to understand of course (and would even encourage people to try their hand at different genres); but then you say 'up to three per event'. So I'm guessing that means out of the six rounds in total we can choose three maximum to submit to? If so that's sort of ok, because most people do probably focus on one genre more than others (I know I do), but maybe it could be 4 rounds instead of 3? That way, for example, one could submit for the two in one's main genre, but then have a chance at trying out one or both of the other genres, if you see what I mean?
Anyway - those are a few thoughts.
I really like the extra word limit though - 7,500 gives a lot more space to work with.
So overall - I am really excited, thank you for organising all of this, and I wish you (and everyone else!) all the best for this year!
Hey Evelyn, thank you for your support and constructive feedback. This information is helpful for me as I'm trying to gauge what writers want.
For #1: Yes, I intend to open up for stories published at any date in the past (for now). Many LA members wanted the publication window requirement changed, so I decided to go with that for now. The good thing is that we can gauge how these first three rounds go and then adjust for the season's second half if we need to. We could limit it to the past year to highlight more timely work. I'm open to ideas.
For #2: The confusion with the submission limitations is entirely my fault due to the wording/terminology I chose. The 'events,' in this context, are the two halves of the season. Therefore, I should have left it at 'one submission per writer per round.' So, it allows writers up to 6 chances to win per year.
Great points! I look forward to hearing and reading more from you in the near future.
Happy writing ahead!
That definitely clears #2 up! And that is great actually, because it will almost certainly motivate me to try my paw at a little fantasy and a little horror.
For #1, I think what I was trying to say was that if, for example as you say, we could submit something we've written in the last year (2024 in this instance), then a lot of people would obviously choose their best stories from last year. Whilst that would undoubtedly elevate the standard (and make your judging a lot harder!), I just get the feeling it's a bit cheaty, sort of thing. And might also make people less inclined to write something new. Yes, people do write new stuff all the time of course and would always put the effort in, but still, it just feels a bit, I don't know what the word is actually! I could probably find quite a few good stories I've already written and just submit them I mean.
Still - I like what you said about seeing how things go for the first three rounds. Maybe rather than a year, limit it to previous six months? That would definitely work as a compromise I reckon, especially as for the second half of the year that means stories newly written this year - which is kind of what I'm getting at. That also means that the final published anthology is composed of relatively new work.
Anyhow - I shall definitely be writing new stories, so perhaps this is a moot point!
A follow up thought - if you do limit the story publications to those published within each window, then perhaps the reward for completing the prompt quests can be submitting that story for the next relevant round even if it's outside the window?
Will there be 3 prompts from now on then? One in each genre I mean? That would be cool!
This is really neat. I'm working on whether to incorporate the other events into the season or keep them separate. But this would be a neat perk that might drive the prompts' significance. The main thing I need to consider with the prompts will be to decide whether they affect the overall theme of the final book or not. If it doesn't, we can easily implement this concept; if it does, we'll have to keep the prompts similar across genres to maintain a theme for the year. Open to discussing this more!
Of course, if you're thinking in terms of themes for the final book, there's always the possibility of a second book using stories from the prompts! (or a third and fourth by genre - then it gets a bit heavy though!).
I was wondering the same about the prompt quests, unless Brian is still doing them?
Thanks for the update on the new rules! Are long-form writers, e.g. novelists, still limited to submitting only the first chapter of novels / serials?
Thanks for the question, Joshua. I still need some time to figure out how novels/serials will fit into the new structure. For now, I’m focusing on short stories with the hope of expanding as we go.
Okay. I’m guessing you read the email I sent you in November, so I won’t reiterate any of that here. I note the max word count is up to 7,500 words, and I think that’s a big step in the right direction.
Very exciting. Thanks for the update. Looking forward to submitting this year.
Thanks, Andrew! Happy to hear you’ll be submitting.
I do love a good system.
Also, good publishing experiences in the past with Mr. Malone.
Thanks, Randall. Ditto!
This sounds really exciting. I can't wait to see what the awards will do this year
Looks promising but what if your story is cross genre? Sci-fi with fantasy elements?
That’s fine. There will be a rubric for the judges to follow that go beyond the genre guideline.
This sounds like a fantastic plan, and a wonderful opportunity for writers to get their work seen by new readers. I'm definitely hoping to take part at some point. Thanks for organising it all... 😎