Quibble, an online & print lit mag for prose, poetry, and art, is excited to open submissions for PASTEL: Volume VI of Quibble Lit!
Check out the website to get a sense of the publication.
Selected submissions will be published online at Quibblelit.com and promoted across our platforms. They will also appear in print in PASTEL – Volume VI of Quibble Lit, to be published in late November/December 2025. Contributing authors will receive a complimentary copy.
By submitting, you consent to publication online and in print. You retain all rights to your work—Quibble only wishes to share your writing, not own or profit from it.
Theme: PEOPLE
This volume’s theme is PEOPLE—a word stretching across countless stories, identities, communities, contradictions, and constellations of connection. We invite you to explore it broadly or intimately: portraits, crowds, strangers, ancestors, avatars, alter-egos, lovers, enemies, neighbors, selves.
Submission Guidelines
- Prose: Submit a single work of no more than 2,000 words.
- Poetry & Art: Submit up to 3 pieces.
- Include a short personal bio (third person).
Document Specifications
- File type: .doc or .docx only
- Format: single-spaced, 12pt, standard readable typeface (Times New Roman, Georgia, etc.)
Simultaneous submissions are welcome—please notify us promptly if your work is accepted elsewhere.
Compensation
At the moment, we can only afford to offer complimentary copies to our authors for agreement to share their work online and in print.
While we wish the compensation were greater, we will take whatever measure we can to help share your story and promote you or your brand on social media, email, and any other channels.
The Quibble Editorial Review provides constructive, personalized feedback from two editors—one from the Quibble team and one guest editor—to help writers strengthen their work and better understand their craft.
- Fee: $40 flat
- Turnaround: Within 4 weeks
- Scope: Up to 2,000 words of prose (one or two excerpts) or up to 4 poems
- Editors: Garrett Souliere + a rotating second editor from the Quibble Lit team
This service is separate from Quibble's publication cycle. It exists to offer writers honest, encouraging feedback while supporting Quibble's mission to make writing mean more.
"You don’t have to do it alone. Constructive feedback can make all the difference in the life of your poem, if you know who to ask. I recommend Quibble because they didn’t try to re-write my poetry to make it sound like their own. Instead, they gave me a few thoughtful insights and suggestions that I felt helped move my poems gently in the direction that they already wanted to go. Great service!”
- Mathieu Sogaren, tailored feedback client
What You Receive
Each submission receives:
- TWO distinct perspectives: Feedback from both a Quibble editor and a guest editor—providing complementary insights into your work.
- Individual editorial letters: Each editor writes 200–250 words (roughly one short page) of feedback. Combined, you receive 400–500 words of thoughtful, tailored response.
- Craft-based evaluation: Commentary on structure, tone, clarity, cohesion, and emotional resonance.
- Actionable suggestions: Guidance on next steps for revision, submission, or experimentation.
- Encouragement and direction: Notes focused on your strengths, growth, and writing goals.
- Professional editorial tone: Feedback that is honest, respectful, and supportive.
- Reasonable timeline: Receive all notes within 4 weeks of submission.
Receive professional, affordable insight, while supporting a mission of community-centered artists and their editors.
Quibble is a modern literary collective that makes writing more meaningful by connecting risk-taking writers with an everyday readership.
Theme: JUNGLE
This volume’s theme is JUNGLE—a word that can mean lushness, danger, heat, hunger, overgrowth, and the beautiful chaos of systems that refuse to stay orderly.
We invite prose that explores jungle as:
- place (real, imagined, mythic, sci-fi, urban)
- state (sensory overload, obsession, survival, ferality, desire)
- system (ecosystems, social hierarchies, bureaucracy, the “concrete jungle”)
- metaphor (entanglement, inheritance, violence, wonder, transformation)
Send us stories where something grows unchecked—where the path disappears, where language gets sweaty, where characters get lost (or found) in the thick of it.
As always, our theme is a creative prompt, not a requirement. The guidelines below are required.
Submission Guidelines — Prose
- Submit one piece of fiction, nonfiction, or hybrid prose, up to 2,000 words.
- Simultaneous submissions are welcome—please notify us promptly if your work is accepted elsewhere.
- Include a short third-person author bio in your document or submission form.
Publication, Rights, & Contributor Copy
Work selected for JUNGLE will be published online at QuibbleLit.com, shared across our platforms, and collected in our print edition, scheduled for release in late spring / early summer. Contributing authors receive a complimentary print copy.
At Quibble, you retain all rights to your work. We never ask for exclusivity or ownership—only the chance to celebrate your writing and share it with our readers (while respecting other publishers’ agreements).
Document Specifications
- File types: .doc or .docx
- Formatting: single-spaced, 12 pt, readable standard typeface (Times New Roman, Georgia, Garamond, etc.)
- File name: LastName_Title (or similar clear labeling)