Submissions for the 100 Word Project from Manawaker Studio are open January thru May and July thru November.
The 100 Word Project is an ongoing project focused on 100 word stories which will be published as a monthly, themed online journal and in a yearly print anthology. Each month (except for June and December) will bring a new prompt, and on the first half of the next month nine of the submitted drabbles for that prompt will be posted in the public-facing section of the Manawaker Patreon alongside one drabble from Manawaker EiC, CB Droege. At the end of the year, the ten stories from each of the ten prompts will be assembled into the next volume of the 100 x 100 series. The project is curated and edited by CB Droege. 100 x 100 is published by Manawaker Studio as part of their regular line of anthologies.
The Prompt for January 2025 is ‘Sun‘.
The only restrictions are that the stories are 100 words long (granting small leeway for different methods of counting, and not including the title (you don’t have to have a title, but we do like them)), previously unpublished, and written entirely by a person (We know it’s particularly tempting to get a generative AI to help meet the wordcount more precisely, but it’s totally against the spirit of our project.) The idea is that each contributor is writing a brand new story for each prompt as they are announced, but if you happen to have an unpublished drabble that already fits the theme, that works too. There are no genre requirements, but please keep content family friendly (No gore, no explicit sex, use profanity sparingly. General guideline: Would you feel uncomfortable reading the story to a group that includes at least one 12 year old child? If so, maybe it’s not right for us).
As with all Manawaker projects, we will request only non-exclusive publishing rights after acceptance (we will ask nicely for exclusivity until a year after the print publication, but we don’t want any contributors to turn down a good sale of a reprint work.)
Original creators will retain all other copyrights.
It’s worth repeating: Do not send any work which was written or assisted by generative AI.
If you’d like to see how it all will fit together, take a look at the previous volumes here.
Note that because the goal of the project is to curate, not just a bunch of drabbles, but a community of regular drabble contributors, some preference will be given to submissions from previous contributors.
Compensation for inclusion in the project will be a token payment of 1$/story, and an electronic copy of the 100 x 100 volume it appears in. Payments will be made in December for the previous year’s stories (Since we are expecting, and encouraging, repeat contributors, this will save a few PayPal transactions). Contributors may also choose to instead have Manawaker donate their payment to Manawaker’s favored charity, Child’s Play, which provides games to children’s hospitals
Contributors may also order the physical book at a discounted price, so that they may resell it at signings, readings, and shows without having to bump the cost above the MSRP.
If your work is accepted, you’ll be asked to agree to this contract. Feel free to review it in advance.
The deadline for each prompt is the last day of the month it applies to.
Please no simultaneous submissions on this project. The turn around is just too short.
Only submit one drabble per prompt.
We prefer text pasted in the email, but will also accept files, as long as they open in MS Office.
All submissions should be sent to submissions@manawaker.com with ‘100wp submission’, your last name, and the prompt in the subject line. No need for a cover letter, but please include:
If you don’t get a submission confirmation message within a few days please query, as something may have gone astray.
All drabbles should get a response within a few days of the deadline.
Any questions about the project or these guidelines (or any queries after submissions) should be sent to contact@manawaker.com