Search

by Tatum Bunker Activism is the act of bringing attention to political, environmental, or social causes, but can be hard to get people to be interested about it. One of the most popular ways people bring attention to these causes is through literature. People use their writing skills to advocate for these causes because writing invokes people’s hearts and minds when reading. Writing is able to raise awareness, foster empathy, and even inspire action. Books are known to have had historical and contemporary impacts on societal attitudes and behaviors. In this article, we’ll cover various activists and how they used their writing platforms to write about the causes they believe so strongly in, the different kinds of literary activism, and books that have activist themes. While this is just a brief summary of activism found in literature, I hope this will inspire you to read and write some of your own. When the Thirteen Colonies were struggling with their relationship with Great Britain, Thomas Paine wrote a pamphlet titled Common Sense. Common Sense advocated for independence from Great Britain, encouraging people to rally and fight for freedom. Another example is from the Women’s Suffrage movement in England. Charlotte Brontë wrote Jane Eyre, a book laced with themes of sexism, classism, and feminism. In the late 1800s, reporter Nelly Fly, pretended to be ‘hysterical’ in order to infiltrate a mental asylum to document the horrific treatments of the patients within. After exiting the facility, she wrote about her experience and quickly caused an uproar as many were not aware of these treatments. Other popular books that brought attention to social and political issues include Animal Farm, Lord of the Flies, Of Mice and Men–just to name a few. Animal Farm focuses on the social class struggle, the abuse of power, and the ideas of freedom. It brings awareness to how easily people can become corrupt and warns the readers about totalitarianism. Lord of the Flies is similar in the aspect that it follows totalitarianism and the derogatory effects of power. Of Mice and Men shows the horrible treatment of minorities and the preference of monetary needs over worker’s needs. It’s not just historical fiction that can be activism books either. Books such as The Hunger Games, The Giver, and Ender’s Game are dystopian books that have activist themes as well. These authors write the extremes in order to give us a fictional example of how dangerous these ideals can become situations that happen to us. If you are active in the literary world, you would know that there is a large list of banned books’ across the world. You may recognize some of these well known titles: Harry Potter, To Kill a Mockingbird, The Hate U Give, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, and Looking For Alaska. The books on this list are works that have been banned in different parts of the world either currently or were once banned due to political, social, or environmental aspects. Different political leaders and governments wanted to keep these ideas away from their citizens to ensure they don’t have revolutionary thoughts, hence the totalitarian systems that were mentioned in those novels. Even across the United States, there are school board meetings about the banning of books in certain schools. Concerned parents and other citizens often demand the removal of books that go against their beliefs, hence destroying the ideals of our freedom of speech. Just as people are working to remove certain books from our children’s libraries, others are working to add specific content to public access. As someone who frequents the poetry community, I’ve noticed a large increase of poetry covering current social and political injustices. People are using what they’re good at in order to bring attention to something that means a lot to them. A lot of writers have large social platforms that they use in order to show their followers and mutuals what they believe should change. In order to stand up for what we believe in and to make a change, we can use our skills and interest to advocate. As writers, we have the power to use our writing skills to bring attention to various events and situations that we want to be changed for the better. We are able to educate our readers and show them what they can do to help through writing. Engaging with activist literature and supporting activist authors can promote their works to others who may simply be scrolling through their feeds and introduce them to these issues. Books and other works of literature have such a large potential to inspire meaningful changes in our society and across the world. It’s simple, really. Just start writing. If you’re interested in checking out more activist literature, I would like to direct you to: Split the Rock: a collection of activist poetry Banned Books List: an expanding list of all the books banned across the world Words With Weight: a literary magazine based around social justice Follow Tatum @tatum_tot24601 and at her literary magazine @thelettershomecollection

by Sunny Solaris Featured in our latest interview, we have Sumo, a past contributor to RTS. Their pieces "Schadenfreude" and "Caged spark within" were published in issue iii: kindle the flame and issue vi: dreams of a caged bird respectively. You can check out our previous issues to read their work. Our interviewer Sunny sat down with Sumo to chat about their work, association with RTS, and their goals with respect to writing. Sunny: Hi Sumo! First up, why don't we get  a small introduction from you to start off with? Sumo: So, Hi! I am Sumo! And I am an aspiring author and a poetess from India. I love to write (obviously), write lyrics for songs, play my ukulele and dance (but only when I’m alone in the house🤭). I post my poetry on Instagram quite often, and am soon going to be a published author! I love to submit to magazines as well, like I did to my favourite youth magazine of all time, Rewrite the Stars Review! Oh wow! It feels heart-warming  to know that RTS is your favourite youth magazine. So, what was the experience like, having your work published by us? How did you feel? It was a great experience, largely because it was the first time I had ever submitted to a magazine. It's also why I was also a bit afraid of getting rejected. But the best thing about this magazine is that they respond and care for all their contributors. I submitted two poems and one of them was accepted, but the editors sent a detailed review of the other one! Funnily enough, the piece I thought was better was rejected. The editors gave feedback on how I could improve, which definitely helped me soften the rough edges of my writing. Secondly the designs [of the issues] are so alluring and catchy! Definitely the place I’d want to see my poems published🤩 The issues have been so varied and different. These kinds of themes push you to write about different things and ponder random topics that you never thought you would write poems about. For instance, the next issue is about games! Isn’t that wonderful? We do say that no one rejects you better than we do. What was the process of writing your submission? As I mentioned before, the themes were highly varied, and very fun and deep to think about. They always compelled me to think further than I thought I could. The third issue, for instance, was about fire. And I couldn't think of anything related to it until it hit me, that a fire burns in all of us, and if it is not reflected within the sky of our conscience, it keeps burning and turns into a forest fire. That was something that pushed me to learn more, and I found the word Schadenfreude which inspired my submission. Similarly, I submitted my pieces for many other themes, like Jabberwocky, which was my absolute favourite,  but sadly, that piece wasn't accepted. Recently, I submitted to issue six, (with a literary write-up) about a little spark that ignites and keeps inspiring others. Even though it may not enlighten the whole wide world, it will still reach out to some souls; what more could a writer desire? These themes are so well thought out; they always lead me down thought-rabbit-holes that inspire me to write about my feelings. With some editing and more thinking, we have a poem ready at our disposal! Why did you choose to submit to Rewrite the Stars Magazine? I am a great fan of [the founder and Editor-in-Chief], Smrithi and so I viewed the magazine’s work; I was mesmerised by its design and the feel of it. I loved it immediately and when I saw I could submit my work there, I decided to do it right away and yay! I am so glad I did! Do you have any tips for people who want to submit to literary magazines? That's a tough question, because I haven't had much experience. I only have submitted to RTS, and to some other (magazines), from where I’ve been rejected. But still, my advice would be to keep doing it. Even though you are still learning how to write, and the magazines might want something more mature, still, keep submitting and trying! That's what I am doing and it keeps me busy and engaged! Of course! You should never give up,  I am pretty sure I’m not the only one to appreciate such a persevering and optimistic attitude. While we are on the topic of never giving up, do tell us if  you were expecting to get chosen the second time you submitted to our magazine ? I didn't. I thought the poem was too vague, and doubted whether I articulated the message enough for the reader to understand. But I was so happy when I was selected again! Coming to your pieces, I have a question about Schadenfreude – what was your inspiration for that piece? What made you specifically choose this word? I was so curious about the feeling of unrequited love: they can't feel anything sour about the intended person. The feeling really lured me in and I strove to know more about it. When I start to write about something, it clears up the confusion in my head. It's like there's a curled-up woollen ball-like idea in my head and to string it out, I have to turn it into poetry. I don’t know if I am the only one who feels like that, but I wanted to write about this feeling to understand it better. I then learnt more about the psychological perspective since I am in that field. I kept this word as the core of the poem and hence, it became the title. This kind of love is not always romantic, it may even spring in different kinds of human relationships. For instance, when one longs for love and appreciation from their loved one, but it is not reciprocated. It kills them but they let it. I saw in your introduction that you’re a songwriter. Yes! Or at least, I’m learning to be one. I mostly write songs in Hindi (a whole album is also in preparation! I only need to find good musicians to compose them). I am learning songwriting from masterclasses and online courses. Maybe I can become a lyricist - fingers crossed! Do you find that writing poems often helps with songwriting? It’s always been the opposite for me, so I’m curious to see how others find it. Definitely! Lyrics are, in a way, poems that are set in rhythm and written keeping the beats and structure in mind. Maybe you are more well-versed in musical ability,  than writing, which is amazing!! I have struggled with songwriting, because I tend to write in open verses. Songs need to be in a specific structure and a lot needs to be said in very little amount of words, so that's a bit difficult for me. Yes, definitely. People do say some of the best lyricists are poets. Well, you mentioned that you will be a published author soon. Would you like to divulge about your upcoming book, maybe entice readers with some details? I would love to! I am so bad at marketing my work, but yeah I would want to market it as much as I can so as to bring the poems to the intended niche. Well, you have the opportunity now! You can go ahead, we are all ears! So my book's name is 'Little, Oh Little', and it's a poetry collection about all the little things that matter in life. We see them, yet unsee them. 'The magic is in the little things' is what I believe and so I want to spread that message through the little poems I have woven, in a little effort for the spark to fly! Sounds interesting, I am sure that everyone is looking forward to reading it as much as I am. Thank you so much for taking time to sit down and have such a delightful chat with us! Thank you so much too! It was so much fun talking to you! I’m looking forward to more conversations like this :)

by Prisha When you think about flowers, what is the first thought that comes to mind? Throughout history and literature, flowers have been strongly associated with symbolic meanings. As Ophelia’s speech in Hamlet accentuates the symbolism of various types of flowers. “There's rosemary, that's for remembrance; pray you, love, remember. And there is pansies, that's for thoughts. ... There's fennel for you, and columbines. There's rue for you; and here's some for me. We may call it herb of grace o' Sundays. Oh, you must wear your rue with a difference. There's a daisy. I would give you some violets, but they wither'd all when my father died." A more rueful example would be in novels like “The Bell Jar” or poems like  “Why I Like the Hospital”, that illustrate how flowers that are given with so much love and hope are so callously disposed of, in a waste basket that resembles a coffin.The ignorance of life, where you get more flowers at your funeral then you ever did alive. When each petal falls it symbolises our short life, each withering petal resembling a part of us that we just give away to people never to be spoken to again, dying a slow death everyday. Anemones are perceived as the ‘flower of death’ in Persia and Egypt and their literal meaning being ‘forsaken’. There are various mythological tales that are entwined with anemones, one being that in Greek mythology, it means “daughter of the wind” as a beautiful nymph got caught up in a love tangle. A wind god called Zephyr fell in love with her, but when his wife found out she banished the nymph from their court and turned her into a flower. Another wind god called Boreas fell in love with her, in her flower form. After being rejected by her every spring he angrily blows open her petals, fading them prematurely. Another myth has anemones springing up from where Venus wept over the body of her lover, Adonis, as he lay bleeding to death from a boar wound. Venus cursed love itself, and it is said the body of Adonis melted like vapour leaving behind drops of blood that is said to give some anemones their red colour. Similar to the language of flowers, Hanahaki is a mythical disease in which the victim coughs up flower petals when suffering from unrequited love. The petals and flowers of the plant grow in the victim’s lungs, and eventually grow large enough to render breathing impossible. Hanahaki can be cured through surgical removal of the plants' roots, but this excision also has the effect of removing the patient's capacity for romantic love. It may also erase the patient's feelings for and memories of the enamoured. It can also be cured by the reciprocation of the victim's feelings. These feelings cannot be feelings of friendship but must be feelings of genuine love. The victim may also develop Hanahaki Disease if they ‘believe’ the love to be one-sided but once the enamoured returns the feelings, they will be cured. In some literature other symptoms can be fever, uncontrollable shaking, loss of appetite, low body temperature, and hallucinations. Even after curing, with or without surgery, there can be irreversible damage to the lungs and, although very rare, in some cases the disease cannot be cured. Flowers, which are often perceived as a symbol of love, happiness, prosperity, have now turned into something so hauntingly beautiful, symbolising the ‘beginning of death’. It kills so beautifully that one does not even realise what is happening, taking dying for you to another level. The power of something so fragile, so mesmerising, leaving a trail of petals in the crimson stains. Follow the author Prisha @prishaaa_m on Instagram for more!

by Carina For years, there has been a debate over whether audiobooks and e-books are as good as physical copies. I believe audiobooks and e-books are just as good as physical books, and in some situations even better. In this article, I will explain why I believe this and address some conflicting arguments. First of all, let’s talk about audiobooks. Two of the biggest reasons for reading a book are to absorb information or be entertained. Audiobooks do both of these things and often make it easier. For example, some people don’t have the time to take hours and read a book. But with audiobooks, they can enjoy a book while performing their daily tasks, much like listening to music while you work. Studies show audiobooks can even aid with comprehension. Additionally, audiobooks can help you imagine and understand what’s happening using tone and speech patterns. Audiobooks are also a great resource for visually impaired and blind people, who wouldn’t be able to read a physical or e-book. Finally, audiobooks help the environment by providing a resource for readers that avoids using excess paper. Now, let’s discuss e-books. One of the largest benefits of e-books is how convenient they are. Because e-books are digital, they never run out of stock. Furthermore, e-books take up much less space than paperback books because they can all be saved onto one device. Another great benefit of e-books is that they’re typically less expensive than physical copies. E-books even have some similarities to physical copies. For example, you can annotate most e-books like you would with a normal book. Additionally, e-books typically give you the ability to change the font size and style, which can help those who would have trouble reading paperback books. Similarly to audiobooks, e-books can be beneficial to the environment because they don’t use excess paper. Some say you can’t share audiobooks and e-books like you could with a physical copy. Although it can be more difficult, many resources offer family and joint accounts. For example, Amazon offers a Household Library which allows you to share audiobooks across devices with another person. Some resources also offer share options so you can enjoy your digital books with family and friends. This method of sharing can also be beneficial to those who aren’t able to share books in person. Another popular argument is that reading digitally causes eye strain. But for some, both e-books and physical books can cause eye strain. However, e-books can even prevent eye strain when they allow you to adjust font sizes and styles. Audiobooks also prevent eye strain, because you are listening to a story instead of reading it! One more point others make is that audiobooks and e-books don’t give you the same experience of feeling and interacting with a book that paperback books do. Some people have solved this problem by reading a physical book or e-book while listening to an audiobook. This allows you to annotate and interact with the book, while having all the benefits of an audiobook. Additionally, many e-books let you turn pages and annotate like a physical copy. In some cases, interacting with e-books can even be better than paperbacks, because of all their extra features. In conclusion, audiobooks and e-books are just as good, and sometimes even better than paperback books. They even have some similarities that can provide solutions to conflicting arguments and concerns. I hope this article has shown you how beneficial digital books can be, and has convinced you to invest in them. References Bradshaw, Janssen. “Two Studies about the Benefits of Audiobooks.” Everyday Reading, 26 June 2020, everyday-reading.com/benefits-of-audiobooks/. Accessed Mar. 2024. Mcmaken, Linda. “E-Books vs. Print Books: Which Should You Choose?” Investopedia, 30 Dec. 2023, www.investopedia.com/financial-edge/0812/e-books-vs.-print-books.aspx#. Accessed Mar. 2024. Harman, Mike. “EBooks vs. Printed Books: Which Is Better?” Kitaboo, 8 Mar. 2024, kitaboo.com/ebooks-vs-printed-books-which-is-better/. Accessed Mar. 2024. “Reading vs. Listening to Books - Is One Really Better?” Headway, 4 Jan. 2023, makeheadway.com/blog/audiobooks-vs-reading/. Accessed Mar. 2023.

by Milica Filipovic As a teen writer nearing the end of her current work in progress, I begin to think about where I want my work to go and how I want to push it out into the world. One way or another, my train of thought always seems to end up at publishing. For those of you who aren’t aware, publishing is usually split into two categories: traditional and self. It is crucial for each writer — especially young and new additions to the industry — to know the difference between the two and how to choose which direction to take your work towards. Traditional Publishing This type of publishing is most likely one you are familiar with. In short, traditional publishing is the process of collaborating with a mainstream publisher to promote and sell your writing. This process is lengthy and usually requires a literary agent to distribute your work to potential publishers. A literary agent is a key component of getting published traditionally. While you will be getting a lower percentage of royalties (pay) when working with a publisher to market your work, there are additional benefits. For instance, the majority of expenses are handled by the publisher. This includes the placement of your work, professional editors, and designers. Sometimes, publishing houses may provide a marketing team to promote your writing to audiences. It is important to note that you will have less rights to your work if you choose this path of publishing, as it is normal for publishers to make decisions regarding your work. The schedule for your book’s release is also often determined by the publisher and can take up to 2 years. A Quick Guide Finding an Agent First, you must research an agent that suits your work’s genre and target audience. Next, make a list of agents you would like to query. When making your list, be sure to refer back to their previous clients to find which agent best resonates with your goals. Finally, write a query letter, which is essentially an introduction to who you are as an author and what your work consists of. These letters should be formatted with a hook, synopsis of your work, your writing background and credentials, your work’s selling points, and a personalized note. It is vital that each letter’s note is unique to the agent you are writing to. Some agent’s submission guidelines may differ, so be careful with checking the information on their online pages. These guidelines might also state how long a reply may take. Once you get accepted by an agent, you will work on editing the book with your agent. After this, you are ready to begin looking for potential publishers. The agent will pitch your manuscript to potential editors in publishing houses to acquire your work. This may take some time, but after your work is acquired, you will then begin the process of polishing your manuscript with the editorial team. While traditional publishing has some negative aspects, most authors choose this path because it provides a more solid foundation for becoming a bestseller. Self-Publishing Self-publishing is the process of pushing your work into the world without the support of a publishing house behind you. It is also viewed by some as less than or easier to do than traditional publishing since it does not require an agent or rejection process. This is a controversial opinion that doesn’t acknowledge the efforts put into publishing your writing all on your own.The costs of publishing and manufacturing and editing your work will either have to be done by yourself or paid for straight from your pockets. While this can be stressful and hard to organize, there are additional positive aspects of releasing your own work. As a start, every decision will be yours to make. You will get to choose where, when, and how your work will be published. There is no one holding you down to a deadline or schedule, so there is no expectation to meet other than those you set for yourself. According to self-publishing platform PublishDrive, when self-publishing, you make around 60-70% profit in royalties for each sale and the rest of the money goes to the distributor of your novels, whether it be a local bookstore or online shop. The Main Takeaway There is much more to take into consideration such as the type of work you’re looking to publish (book, novella, poetry, non-fiction, genre, etc.) and where you’re publishing from. However, knowing this basic information about both types is a great start to learning more about the industries and how they functions. Make sure to pick your method of publishing based on what most suits your needs and ensures that you’re comfortable in your craft. There is no right or wrong, simply what works best for you and might not work best for someone else. If you’d like to know more about this topic, consider visiting the following resources: Tips for Indie Authors Part 1 by MG Tips for Indie Authors Part 2 by MG On The Write Track (Podcast) - Hosted by two debut authors that discuss the behind the scenes of getting traditionally published Publishing Rodeo: The Good, the Bad, and the Bloody Ugly (Podcast) - Two authors that debuted their novels at the same time, with the same genre and publisher, and had very different outcomes look into how the industry works and how these things happen Manuscript Wishlist (Website) - A resource where editors and agents post their ideal submissions and writers can find agents that align dreams with their work @laurenkaywrites (Youtube Channel and Instagram) - A published author that aspires to aid writers in publishing their work through tips and tricks from an insider @alyssamatesic (Youtube Channel) - A professional editor that provides insights for writers into the editing process and industry tips Citations: Mădălina, Amalia. “Self-Publishing vs. Traditional Publishing: Which One Is the Best for You?” Publish Drive, 25 November 2022, https://publishdrive.com/self-publishing-vs-traditional-publishing.html. Accessed 16 March 2024. Lauber, Rick. “17 Pros and Cons of Traditional Publishing vs. Self-Publishing.” Writer's Digest, 26 October 2021, https://www.writersdigest.com/getting-published/17-pros-and-cons-of-traditional-publishing-vs-self-publishing. Accessed 16 March 2024. Bransford, Nathan. “Traditional publishing vs. self-publishing. Which should you choose?” Nathan Bransford, 6 November 2023, https://nathanbransford.com/blog/2023/11/should-you-self-publish-or. Accessed 16 March 2024. “How to Find a Literary Agent (+ List of Directories).” Reedsy Blog, 13 March 2024, https://blog.reedsy.com/guide/literary-agent/how-to-find/. Accessed 21 March 2024. On the Write Track Podcast, https://on-the-write-track-podcast.simplecast.com/. Accessed 21 March 2024. Publishing Rodeo Podcast – the good, the bad, and the bloody ugly, https://publishingrodeo.wordpress.com/. Accessed 21 March 2024. “About MSWL – The Official Manuscript Wish List Website.” Manuscript Wish List, https://www.manuscriptwishlist.com/about/. Accessed 21 March 2024. Lauren Kay: Author & Guide, https://www.laurenkaywrites.com/. Accessed 21 March 2024. Alyssa Matesic | Professional Book and Novel Editing, https://www.alyssamatesic.com/. Accessed 21 March 2024. Follow Milica on Instagram @the.writers.guide

by Jason Oftentimes, many writers share their work through sites like AO3, Tumblr, or Wattpad. But some writers have dreams for their works outside of only writing, such as seeing their creation come to life through animation. In many cases, these aspirations are those that would require the skills of more than one person. This is where studios come in. Many writers and those who share those same aspirations have grouped themselves together into studios to be able to work together to make those dreams come true. Here are some studios that would effectively help writers make dreams turn into a reality. Birdhouse Animation Studios A studio for those wanting to learn screenwriting, art, animation, film, music, and any other creative skills used to work in animation, Birdhouse Animation Studios gives an opportunity to learn, grow, and develop new skills from both firsthand experience and one-on-one tutoring by others. Built by aspiring artists and for aspiring artists, the studio is beginner-friendly and focuses on the growth of its teams. Although they are not currently offering paid positions, they are constantly ready to accept the help of volunteers waiting to assist on its production teams. If this sounds like something you are interested in, the studio is currently taking applications to apply for its team at the beginning of each month! Birdhouse Studios runs on a system of team member inspired works, where individual team members can propose an idea to be animated, and should it pass the proposal stage, it can go from idea to a reality with the help of Birdhouse Animation Studios. Birdhouse Studios Discord Server: https://discord.gg/F9ebdD8cGY Black Mond Productions Black Mond Productions is a volunteer driven group that specializes in original fan made projects and aims to produce a variety of content that are all member generated ideas. Inclusive to everyone no matter their skill level, Black Mond Productions is a place to grow and develop. With an active and vibrant community, it’s easy to find friends to voice chat with. Black Mond Studios Discord Server: https://discord.gg/e9VecZcnn5 Kyoshin Studios Kyoshin Studios is a volunteer driven group of those passionate about Soul Tide, a video game created by Lemcnsun Entertainment. Kyoshin Studios is a very driven community, striving to create works based off of Soul Tide. They specialize in the creation of fanfiction, comics, webtoons, and even D&D campaigns. If you want to contribute to a growing community of soul tide fans, or want to contribute to a small studio, be sure to check out Kyoshin Studios! Kyoshin Studios Discord Server: https://discord.gg/WKYJjtaTKP The Opening Of Opportunity Many writers are capable of doing amazing things, but some lack the opportunity to make such realities happen. What these studios have to offer is the availability for such experiences to occur, and to allow writers to do things they alone could not have accomplished. It’s the idea that with a team of passionate people and the ideas of a writer, you can create amazing works! With that being said, may those who write scribe a path continue towards their own success! Follow Jason on Instagram @writer_jasonwu for more!

by Tatum Bunker Most people now frequent social media platforms, which makes their attention spans shorter. This poses a new challenge for writers: How do you gain more attention for my creative works on social media? Since more and more people have been obtaining a shorter attention span due to the shortened length of videos and reels on social media, most viewers expect a video between thirty seconds to a minute. I would even argue that you have about ten seconds before the average viewer swipes away. You need to be able to optimize your short time well. We’ll start with how to gain an interest for your content and ideas. Keywords Instagram, TikTok, and other social media platforms use hashtags and descriptions as a way to send content to certain algorithms. If you want romance fans to find your account, you may want to use tags such as ‘#lovenovel’ or ‘#romance’. Naturally, your works will have specific tropes and scenarios that people will want to find, such as ‘#foundfamily’ or ‘#onebed’. But video descriptions, while typically being fairly short, are just as important. It can direct people to your bio or a link, describe what your content is and who you are, it may even help convince viewers to follow! Content Short videos are the most common form of social media sharing nowadays. It is crucial that anyone posting about their works has a basic understanding of video editing. Using trending audios will always give you a little boost in the algorithm. Finding videos or pictures that fit the aesthetic of your works to include will always attract fans of that particular aesthetic. While many authors include voice overs and videos of themselves, this  is not a requirement. You can post about individual characters, snippets from scenes, answer questions about the plot, talk about your inspiration for your works, give a general overview of your works, or even show what outfits you think your characters would look hot in. Everyone tends to have different tastes and preferences when scrolling, but do try to avoid using anything that could potentially be offensive, inaccurate, or misleading. People like honesty and accurate information. They like videos that are interesting, creative, and fun. Interaction Eventually, you’ll end up with a decent amount of those interested in your ideas. I strongly recommend adding links into your bio for them to click on and explore. Linktree is a platform used by many authors to keep all their links in one place. These links may take them to your personal website, publications places, or other social media platforms. You can also include polls on your posts and answer their questions in other posts. While follower interaction is important, I would also recommend interacting with others who make similar content. You can use their accounts as a blueprint for your own, providing you with ideas as to what kind of content you should be making. Keep in mind that you should only be taking inspiration from these creators. Plagiarism is never something you want to do, it eliminates your creative thinking and steals work from other creators. Collaboration Similarly to interacting with fellow content creators, you should build a small community with other content creators. You can do this through social media, advice columns, and Discord servers where you can share advice, opportunities, and promotions. Sure, you can view them as competitors, but why do that when you could duet videos and posts, chat through DMs, and make friends? You should make sure to follow and interact with their posts. It’ll boost their engagement and chances are, they’ll do the same for you! With these tips in mind, let’s pretend you are a writer trying to hype up your writing. You have a small following on Instagram that includes other writers and readers. The first thing for you to do is to make a short video about the plot, but you don’t want your face or voice to be in the video. This could be for many reasons; you want to keep your personal life separate from your online presence, you may not want your family or friends to find this account, or it’s just easier for you to edit. After scrolling through Pinterest, you find a couple of photos that match your books’ aesthetic. Using a trending audio, these images, and overlaying a quick summary of your book’s plot, you finish the video. You use eleven hashtags and write more clarifying information in your video’s description. Let’s say that after about a few weeks or so, you post some more videos and your account has gained some traction! It’s helped that you have reached out to other creators who have reposted and interacted with your posts. You are even part of a small group chat with some creators! You have noticed that a certain reel trend has been popular with your mutuals, so you make a similar reel (but NO plagiarism) and get more interactions! With a handful more subscribers, you notice that the links you put in your bio have been getting clicked on a lot more. Thankfully, you added a link to your personal website so those interested can find out more about you and your works. Following these simple steps, you can grow your audience and interest toward your works. Gaining traction on social media takes time; if only it was with a snap of one’s fingers that one could have 1K followers. Just know that you are not alone in your journey to promote your creative works and ideas. Even the most popular writers started with 0 followers. With time, dedication, and post editing, you can slowly climb the ranks. To clarify, you can’t just post one picture and two videos and expect to get popular. You should make a post schedule for yourself. Maybe post one non-video post on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday and one video post on Tuesday and Saturday. This makes your posts more likely in people’s feeds and they can see what exactly you will post. To wrap this up (before you scroll away), there are more than a few ways to boost interest towards your creative works. Social media is the best way to promote yourself and can be fairly easy using the tips I gave you. I hope that these tips were able to help inspire and motivate you to go boost your account and creative pieces! Follow Tatum @tatum_tot24601 and at her literary magazine @thelettershomecollection

by Smrithi Senthilnathan As founder and editor-in-chief, I’ve been running this literary magazine for about a year and a half now, and it has been the most rewarding experience! We constantly have new people joining our community though, so I figured it would be a good idea to make a list of our likes and dislikes — both for new writers and artists who want to be published in our issues and blog, and for familiar faces who want to orient themselves with our process. Let us know if you have any questions in the comments! Likes Unique Take On Theme Our themes usually tend to be broad overarching themes that can be interpreted through a lot of different lenses. To give you an example, our most recent theme was “dreams of a caged bird”. Some people chose to interpret this literally, and wrote about caged birds of various kinds. Others approached it from a more figurative perspective and spoke of societal restrictions and trapped desires through the metaphor of a caged bird. Our published issues have a good mix of both of these kinds of submissions, but so do the pile of pieces we did not choose to publish. However, our chosen pieces stood out in the fact that each of the pieces had a unique take on a simple theme. We had pieces about closeted queers and pieces about the constraints of choosing socially acceptable careers. A lot of the pieces we don’t publish in our issues tend to be direct and generic and although the writing is excellent, we’re looking for unique pieces that stop us in our tracks and make us rethink the theme we have set (in a positive way!). On this note, please also don’t title your pieces as the theme itself. For example, if you’re submitting to issue vi: dreams of a caged bird, don’t title your piece “dreams of a caged bird”. For you, it may be a unique title, but for us it’s the 10th person who has used the same title. A title can convey so much about a piece, especially because we use titles to tease excerpts on our social media accounts, and intriguing titles hook readers and lead them to download our issues. Try to think outside of the box for your titles, and give your piece a title that would make anyone want to immediately read the issue right away. Humor Humor is not something that comes naturally to everybody and we definitely don’t want you to force it! This is especially true because some of our most wonderful writing comes from the most vulnerable places, and humor can be out of place in a raw emotional piece birthed from your darkest times. However, some of our themes are specifically geared towards a more light-hearted and humorous side (like issue v: jabberwocky, and our current theme games and are meant to solicit humorous works! We’d love it if you used these themes to bring out your writing ability through humorous work. Although we will still accept more serious work for these kinds of themes, we definitely lean towards light hearted work that makes us keel over laughing and brings tears to our eyes from laughing so hard. We also are intrigued by morose and dark humor in pieces for our more serious themes, however be careful about how this is being used. Personal connection to theme Your story is wonderful simply because nobody else can tell that story the exact way that you can. Nobody has lived your life and gone through your experiences, and thus nobody can reproduce your stories like you can. We want to see this personal aspect in your stories. For instance, one of our authors wrote about cooking success and being a chef for issue iii’s theme, “kindle the flame”. At first glance, this may seem unconnected to the theme, but the author explained to us in a note that their parents owned a small bakery which inspired the piece and a passion (or flame) for cooking. This added another layer of depth to the piece that we enjoyed seeing. We want to see your humanity and your personality shine through your pieces! People Who Use Our Submission Form Judiciously Our submission form is quite comprehensive and definitely longer than what you’d see at other magazines! We apologize for this, but we believe that all the questions asked are helpful for us to decide whether your piece is a good fit for our magazine and issue. A lot of the questions are optional but we love people who respond to them. There’s one mandatory question that asks “How does your piece relate to the theme?” and then there are two optional questions that ask “Tell us more about the creation of this piece” and “Tell us a random fact”. The mandatory questions help us understand your piece’s connection to the piece, especially if it isn’t immediately obvious. I do know that some magazines and authors believe that “the piece speaks for itself” and while this is definitely true, since we have a group of different editors with different perspectives, the author’s responses to these questions help contextualize the piece! If the author expanded on their personal connection to the piece and the process of creation, this helps us understand how the work was born and the behind the scenes process of it. Adding to this, we also LOVE when authors type up individual paragraphs for when they submit multiple pieces. Give each piece the respect it deserves, instead of lumping the theme for them all into one sentence. We also adore it when people respond to our optional fact question, because that just helps endear them to us more. Give us all your random facts! Dislikes Not Adhering to Submission Guidelines This is something implicit that all submitters would follow but it baffles me how few people actually do follow it. Our submission guidelines are quite easy to follow and are available on our Submit page. These guidelines are set to ensure uniformity and ease of reviewing submissions for our editors. The next time you submit to any magazine, please look into their formatting guidelines, accepted number of pieces, and the kind of work they publish. Please don’t submit fiction to our non-fiction blog. Please don’t submit 3 poems to a feature when we specify one piece per artist. Please don’t send us work in a cryptic font even the greatest cryptographer of all time wouldn’t be able to decipher. We want to publish your work; please do what you can to make it easy on us. We do have a warning and blacklist system for people who don’t follow guidelines, but we’d really prefer not to enforce it! Not Replying to Emails Our policy at RTS is to respond to all our emails (except unsolicited promotions). Whether we choose to accept or pass on your piece, you will get an email from us when we choose to release decisions. If we choose to accept your piece, we’ll follow up with a lot of communication regarding the layout of your piece, edits if necessary, the issue release party, and how to download the issue once it’s out. We really really appreciate it if you can take the time to acknowledge these emails, since we’ve had cases of contributors wanting to change things in their submission after the issue has been published. We took time to review your piece, so we’d appreciate it if you could take the time to help us publish your work! Even a one word email with “Ok” could work; we just want to make sure you’re in the loop. Pieces That Barely Connect to Theme We understand that as submitters, you submit to a lot of different magazines and that not a lot of magazines have similar themes. It’s okay if you didn’t write your piece specifically for our theme. However, we want to publish pieces in our issue that correlate to our theme. But we do provide a box for you to detail how your piece relates to our theme. Even if it’s not a direct connection, please use this box. We also sometimes get submissions where the responses in this box have no relation to the piece itself. Please try to base your piece around our theme, and tell us your thought process of how it relates! Use of AI We do not condone the use of AI to write your pieces at all. Using it to help with finding synonyms or generating prompts is fine, but please don’t use it to write any of the pieces themselves (due to the newness surrounding AI, we’ll be reviewing submissions that involve AI on a case-by-case basis). We also often see people use AI to fill the questions about how the piece relates to the theme. This is less severe than using AI for the actual work, but it still immediately turns us off. We’ve seen pieces that were splendid, but the connection to the theme part was AI-generated. You guys are writers. We know you can write. Even if it’s 2 sentences, we’d prefer if you wrote it yourselves than sending us a two paragraph AI-generated copy-paste. Do better, guys. To summarize, please go through the submission guidelines on our website, and read our past issues to get a sense of who we are. This goes for any magazine that you submit to, and not just RTS. We may be teenagers trying our best, but we still have a standard we strive to maintain and we’d like for our submitters to respect this as well. Some of the points here are things that don't necessarily make us discard pieces entirely (like not adhering to the theme) but they don't help your case either. Others (like not respecting submission guidelines) will cause us to discard your piece and issue a warning—and it also gives us a bad vibe from you. That being said, if you’ve done any of these in the past, it’s alright. This isn’t a call-out post; we understand people make mistakes. We only ask for accountability and more diligence in the future. At the end of the day, it’s all about uplifting young and upcoming authors, and promoting a love for literature and art. Respect our process so we can respect your work. Thank you for all your continued love and support, we can’t wait to see what the next issue will bring <3 Follow the Smrithi @theunwrittenstories101 for more!

by Prisha Creativity is not easily defined; it cannot be put into boxes of ‘right’ and ‘wrong’. It completely depends on a person’s perspective. If creativity is taken as a spectrum, a person could roam back and forth, or stay on the same spot their whole life. The perspective that inspires creativity is unique to every individual. In pieces of literature and art, knowing the perspective and story behind a piece helps us understand and appreciate the piece, as well as the author’s or artist’s creativity. Oftentimes creativity's catalyst is madness. There are long-standing notions that creativity and madness are intertwined in literature and art. Prominent authors such as Sylvia Path, Frank Kafka, Agatha Christie, Ernest Hemingway, Lewis Carol, and many more went through mental or psychological struggles, like depression, bipolar disorder, PTSD, schizophrenia etc. throughout the course of their life. Each author has suffered something different, and their books highlight their unique perspective on the world. Sylvia Path's "The Bell Jar'' talks about the dangers and repercussions of conforming to societal norms of identity, mental health, and personal autonomy. Oftentimes, readers have thought of it as semi-autobiographical and reflects her own experiences with mental illness. Edgar Allen Poe, the master of gothic and macabre tales, suffered from depression, as seen in stories like "The Tell-Tale Heart", where the protagonist suffers from psychosis or paranoia. "The Fall of the House of Usher " elucidates one of the most haunting stories, highlighting the inherited madness and isolation that may have been a reflection of the author's mental health. J.R.R. Tolkien, the author of “The Lord of the Rings”, which revolves around wrong themes of fellowship, corruption and most importantly corruption of war. The author himself was a soldier in World War I. A famous war expression is “The thousand yard stare” which is a pensive or vacant look in the soldier’s eye, due to the corpus amounts of bloodshed and cruelty they have witnessed. This is greatly reflected in the author’s books. The war may not have left physical scars but numerous mental ones. These mental or psychological struggles may also heighten creativity and help one to see the world from a completely different perspective. The effect of this on creativity increases vulnerability and sensitivity that lets you explore your emotions and lets you reflect in more profound and creative emotions. Unconventional thinking includes divergent perspectives and attitudes to shift over time, from understanding your narrative to being able to sympathise and trying to put forward your unique perspective. This expression of creativity would be a means of catharsis for the authors and artists. Yet the vice versa of these struggles can dampen creativity. Lack of focus, excessive emotional turmoil, and emotional exhaustion can be adverse as any creative process uses a range of emotions and may prove to be a hinderance rather than an asset. These hindrances highlight self-doubt and lead to a lack of motivation. All these factors may lead to isolation and withdrawal from social interaction that once may have been a source of inspiration. Sometimes the medication prescribed to those who need it affects them drastically and may impact cognitive functions or dampen the intensity of emotions. It cannot be said that creativity is dependent on their mental health, neurological or psychological issues that seems to heighten emotions and pave a path for creativity. People who may have been victim to any struggle during their lifetime may not have a creative flair, these struggles are in no form the root of creativity but merely a catalyst for what is present. In the same breath, anyone who is going through mental health issues of any type should please seek help from elders or specialists. Please take care, self-love is the best form of love. If you need to take time out, please do, slowly yet steadily work out any problems that you have, communication is key. Do not let anything stop you, you can overcome all types of obstacles and keep creating. "You may encounter many defeats, but you must not be defeated. In fact, it may be necessary to encounter the defeats, so you can know who you are, what you can rise from, how you can still come out of it." - Maya Angelou Follow the author Prisha on Instagram @prishaaa_m

by Car As usual, I will be providing a list of quotes to inspire your writing for our latest issue. In this issue, we want to hear about your point of view on games. We want to read about what games symbolize to you. You could write about the relationships you form and strengthen while playing games, or the challenges the games exhibit. Although this theme is open to submissions that are serious, sad, silly, joyful, and everything in between, it can still be difficult to find writing inspiration. So, I hope these quotes will help to spark your creative mind! “I’m afraid that sometimes you’ll play lonely games too. Games you can’t win ‘cause you’ll play against you.” - Dr. Seuss “Game night: The night that brings out the most excitement!” - Metromag “Don’t play games if you can’t afford to lose.” - Germony Kent “Life is more fun if you play games.” - Roald Dahl “You have to learn the rules of the game. And then you have to play better than anyone else.” - Albert Einstein “It’s your game; make up your own rules.” - Barbara Corcoran “She remembered who she was and then the game changed.” - Lalah Delia “I think the reason that I like so many different games is because I like the way my brain works when I’m playing games. It’s more fun.” - John Romeo “Life is like a game of cards. The hand you are dealt is determinism, the way you play it is free will.”  - Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru “Never let the fear of striking out keep you from playing the game.” - Babe Ruth “We should always be strategizing our next move. Chess. Never checkers. Unfortunately, some of us are still playing connect four.” - Tola Lawal “The score never interested me, only the game.” - Mae West “Some people play the game, others change it. Which are you?” - Anonymous “I think the worst time to have a heart attack is during a game of charades.” - Demetri Martin “We didn’t lose the game; we just ran out of time.” - Vince Lombardi “Good teams become great ones when the members trust each other enough to surrender the me for the we.” - Phil Jackson “The key is not the will to win. Everybody has that. It is the will to prepare to win that is important.” - Bobby Knight “Gaming brings people together.” - Lisa Su “If you’re playing a poker game and you look around the table and can’t tell who the sucker is, it’s you.” - Paul Newman “A delayed game is eventually good, but a rushed game is forever bad.” - Shigeru Miyamoto “Half the game is mental; the other half is being mental.” - Jim Mckenny “Avoid the crowd. Do your own thinking independently. Be the chess player, not the chess piece.” - Ralph Charell “Neon lights and joysticks, that’s where I belong.” - Unknown “I think it’s wrong that only one company makes the game Monopoly.” - Steven Wright “It’s not how you play the game, it’s how you place the blame.” - Don Simpson “We don’t stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing.” - George Bernard Shaw “Do you know what my favorite part of the game is?” The opportunity to play.” - Mike Singletary “It’s not so important who starts the game but who finishes it.” - John Wooden “Just be patient. Let the game come to you. Don’t rush. Be quick, but don’t hurry.” - Earl Monroe “Arcades, where dreams are born one quarter at a time.” - Unknown “Playing games is the best time of your life, and the more games you get, the better it is.” Ole Gunnar Solskjaer “Games shouldn’t only be fun. They should teach or spark an interest in other things.” - Hideo Kojima “Games are all about taking risks.” - James Altucher “I can’t play your game because I’m always ahead of it.” - Sissy Gavrilaki “The important thing is to learn a lesson every time you lose.” - John Mcenroe “If you’re not prepared to lose every friend you have over a board game, you’re not playing hard enough.” - Unknown “Life is the only game in which the object of the game is to learn the rules.” - Ashleigh Brilliant Hopefully these quotes will help inspire your writing for Issue VII, and any other projects you may be working on! Submissions will be open from March 1st - April 1st. More updates and information can be found on our Instagram, @rewritethestarsreview. Follow @rewritethestarsreview for more!

by Milica Filipovic By definition, fanfiction is a form of literature that derives its characters and other aspects of the storyline from pre-existing published works. For most readers, fanfiction has become a cure for the heartache of finishing a good story. It gives writers and readers alike an opportunity to follow the characters they’ve grown attached to as they explore new adventures from different writing styles. While fanfiction often cannot be published, it has many benefits for struggling writers. So, how can indulging in fanfiction benefit your own writing? Here’s a few good reasons to pick up this hobby. 1. Instant writer’s block cure: Not having to do all the work Coming up with a world of your own is a challenge to say the least. To go through the process of creating characters and relationships and settings can drain the energy from any hard working writer. Wouldn’t it be so much easier to start with characters and backstories already prepped for you? Well… I think you know where this is headed. When writing fanfiction, you’re simply building off already established characters and placing them in new plotlines. Many writers take this approach to get through rough patches of their WIP. When your main project seems too daunting and puts too much pressure on you to write, fanfiction could be an alternative to get your brain thinking. Additionally, writing fanfiction means you cannot publish any work you create (unless you change the details to avoid plagiarism claims) and it won’t encourage you to abandon your WIP. Some popular novels that started out as fan fiction are the Lunar Chronicles series by Marissa Meyer and The Mortal Instruments series by Cassandra Clare. In short, if you’ve got a bad case of writer’s block you should sit down and write a new story set in a universe that’s already created. 2. Reconnecting with your writing While fanfiction is considered “not a real form of writing” by some authors, it has a reputation for taking root in readers’ hearts. Writing fanfiction can be an emotional experience for yourself and anyone you choose to share your work with. For readers, fanfiction lets them connect with characters they love on a deeper level. A well known beloved fanfic that had readers brought to tears is “All The Young Dudes” which can be found on an online nonprofit for fanworks. The story was written in the Harry Potter universe during the time of the marauders and has since grown a large following. This example is one of the ways readers have renewed their admiration for their childhood novels all through the help of fanfiction. However, for writers, fanfiction stems to a greater extent from a longing for more content. Writers have the unique ability to pick up a story from where it left off and make it their own. This type of literature forms personal connections between the creators of fanfics and the stories they’ve adapted. Many writers find joy in reconnecting with the books they cherished when they were younger. It’s a reminiscent feeling to look back on these characters with a new perspective and take them on new journeys. Not only can writing fanfiction help you connect with your childhood novels, it can also help you revive your love for your WIP. By exploring other author’s characters in depth, you are bound to find some similarities to your own characters. Fanfiction can help you dig deeper into your characters’ and make them more 3D for your audience to truly understand their actions. 3. Perfecting your craft The same way writers do exercises or short stories or prompts to enhance their skills, fanfiction can serve the same purpose. If you’re looking to brush up on your skills and style, writing fanfiction could be a fun and creative approach to this goal. A few examples of skills you could practice while writing are descriptive imagery, plot development, and in general, letting your personal style flourish. By taking the pressure off your conscience that your story needs to be amazing, you can freely nurture your hobby and build confidence in your writing without the added risks of failure. While writing fanfiction won’t necessarily make you famous, it can and will benefit you as a writer in many other ways. If you’ve got writer’s block or are just looking for something new to try out, why not fanfiction? We sure think it’s a great idea! References: Sutton, Jandra. “3 Reasons Why I Love (And Write) Fanfiction | by Jandra Sutton.” Medium, 8 February 2017, https://medium.com/@jandralee/3-reasons-why-i-love-and-write-fanfiction-d15c0a140e6e. Accessed 24 February 2024. “Fanfiction: Why Every Novelist Should Write It.” The Novel Smithy, 26 February 2019, https://thenovelsmithy.com/why-write-fanfiction/. Accessed 24 February 2024. McMinn, Jessica A. “5 Benefits Of Writing Fan Fiction (And Why You Shouldn't Dismiss It) – Writer's Edit.” Writer's Edit, https://writersedit.com/fiction-writing/5-benefits-of-writing-fan-fiction-and-why-you-shouldnt-dismiss-it/. Accessed 24 February 2024. “The Benefits of Reading Fanfiction for Students' Writing Skills.” The Baltic Times, 11 April 2023,https://www.baltictimes.com/the_benefits_of_reading_fanfiction_for_students__writing_skills/. Accessed 24 February 2024.

by Madhusree and Jason Wu. Oftentimes, we perceive art to be purely instinctual –a writer slaving over his desk while the inspiration strikes its bells, leaving his nights bereft of dreams and flesh devoid of sustenance. We love imagining a poet transcending her body and soul, becoming one with Goddess Saraswati (Hindu goddess of knowledge, music, flowing water, abundance, wealth, art, speech, wisdom, and learning), as she pens down the verses from heart. In essence, the romantic notion of artistic creation is shrouded in purple prose –the darker the hue, the better to encapsulate the artist. The romanticized image of the tormented artist before the canvas, deep in the cups and fuelled by divine inspiration is a narrative deeply ingrained in our cultural perception of art. And while this sentiment is certainly a very romantic one, it often belies the messy affair, that is art. Makers of Works Artists –be it authors, painters or musicians– are often portrayed as lonely figures in the dark, engaged in an intense ritual with their muses and demons. Even in real life, such artists do often engage in intense rituals, of pleading with their landlords for rent pardon. While the affluent can afford to be 'true' to their voice and embrace a "daring" approach in their pursuit of greatness, the majority are more likely to be in a pursuit for actual sustenance, than for perfection. When survival becomes more pressing than being a part of some transcendental revelation, the common folks are often required to turn towards more “commercial” forms of art, i.e. art that is guaranteed to sell moderately well, and not cause much trouble or upheaval with the general public. Necessity is not necessarily the mother of invention, especially when said necessity is leading to unfed mouths and unpaid debts. Creativity Of The Works Creativity is not a divine gift bestowed upon a chosen few. When we turn our noses down at an artist because their art is lacking originality, being “lazy” or not being “serious” enough, we forget that art is not fast fashion. Even paintings clearly made to be hung in living rooms instead of galleries, or stories which faithfully follow an age-old formula, demand considerable acumen and artistry than we realize. “Constructing” art is no easy feat - it often involves being in a staring match with a blank page, grappling with the absence of even inspiration, and wrestling with the challenge of translating thoughts into words. It is a veritable feat in technique to be able to express yourself when you don’t feel the need. Constructing art sometimes involves the generation of entirely new concepts unknown to the world, which in itself, is an incredible feat on its own. The flowy, purple prose that often accompanies panel discussions of great art may satiate the panelist’s imagination, but it is this gritty, unglamorous reality of the creative process that truly defines many of the phases in an artist's journey. Finale The processes that occur behind the works that creators make have many hardships and challenges. It’s often ignored when viewers see the work as they only get the final version. They don’t see the many drafts and mistakes overshadowed by the glamorous finale of the complete work. But as spectators of the works, we need to take in the work as a whole, including its past. The slow process of constructing art is truly what makes it precious. Follow @writer_jasonwu on Instagram for more!