Robert Edeson talks writing with Underground Writers’ Jess Gately “I don’t know a lot about how people write, I’ve just always enjoyed living in my own imagination and that’s where these books come from.” It is an unusually cold and wet day in Perth when Robert Edeson and I meet at Subiaco’s Café Café….
Category: Announcements
Jess Rae’s TBR list
I feel like asking a writer and avid reader what they want to read next is like asking an artist what they want to paint next; the answer is everything. However due to the amount space I have allocated I can’t simply write a list of every book written in the fiction world so here…
5 Faux Pas That Will Prevent You Getting Published
5 Faux Pas That Will Prevent You Getting Published By Jess Gately At Underground, we deal with a lot of emerging writers, who are submitting their work for publication for the first time. This means that we’re generally pretty forgiving when it comes to some of the faux pas that new writers make when they…
Issue 19: The List is here!
Issue 19: The List has arrived! Featuring a book review by our own Shelley Timms, poetry from Eileen Chong, Genevieve Deeds-Page, Kristin Martin, Anna Jacobson, and Pat Tompkins, an album review by Nick Crameri, and short stories from Ian Adams, Edward Palumbo, Angela Hooks, and Meesh Feraud. Also featuring our June Writing Challenge winning entry: The Road…
July’s review: Portable Curiosities
July’s Review is here! Portable Curiosities by Julie Koh A review by Editor-in-Chief Jemimah Halbert Julie Koh’s first full-length collection of short stories, Portable Curiosities, is a strange journey through an unsettling landscape of curious characters in familiar but altered settings. A young girl’s third eye, located in her navel, sees the undetectable and impolite…
Interview: Rory J. Cole, writer & editor
An interview with professional writer and editor Rory J. Cole, by Underground editor Shelley Timms Firstly, tell us about your experiences in editing manuscripts, and your experiences with having your own work edited. I’ll begin with an experience of being edited, which I think has shaped the way I work with clients and their manuscripts….
Jess G.’s TBR list
At present, my TBR list sits at 16 books and counting so choosing just a few to write about in this list was difficult. It’s always been this way for me. I’m always buying books faster than I can read them, and with a Facebook feed full of recommendations, a Goodreads app that is always…
How to Write the Beginning of a Story, by Kate Lomas Glendenning
How to Write the Beginning of a Story by editor Kate Lomas Glendenning 6 Things to Consider in your Beginning “How do I write the beginning of a story” is nestled within every writer’s Google history. It is almost a shameful struggle, to have an amazing plot in your mind thick with action and…
Writing Opportunities for July
Opportunities for July City of Rockingham Short Fiction Awards “Authors can submit up to three stories. Entered stories must be inspired by, drawn upon, or use the theme of the artwork “Arts Centre Cafe” by Daniela Selir (1994), which can be found on the entry form.” Pieces must be between 1,000 and 4,000 words, categories in Touth,…
Dylan’s TBR List
In this series we are sharing each of our To Be Read booklists, why we’re looking forward to reading them, and why we picked up those books in the first place. Read on to discover editor Dylan Dartnell’s next three books To Be Read! Murder on the Orient Express Agatha Christie I have a nasty…
8 Tips for Starting a Blog, by Jessica Rae Wilson-Smith
8 Tips for Starting a Blog by editor Jessica Rae Wilson-Smith Last month, in an effort to build my freelance business, I started writing a beauty blog. If anything it’s become a creative outlet of mine and I have been enjoying it so far. However, the Internet is forever, and with so many blogs out…
June’s Review: A Court of Wings & Ruin
June’s review is here! A Court of Wings and Ruin, by Sarah J. Maas, A review by editor Jessica Rae Wilson-Smith “It’s a rare person to face who they are and not run from it- not be broken by it.” A Court of Wings and Ruin is the third and last installment of Sarah J….
Writing Challenge Day 7
Writing Challenge Day 7 *Here is a list of story genres: romance, horror, sci-fi, fantasy, children’s book, comedy, murder mystery, western. Feel free to add any others that you like to the list.* Look at a story you’ve written this week and re-write it in the above styles. How does changing the style change your…
Writing Challenge Day 6
Writing Challenge Day 6 *write a list of your favourite characters/historical figures/celebrities.* You invite them all to dinner. What is the dinner conversation like?
Writing Challenge Day 5
Writing Challenge Day 5 *Google “weird news”. Write a list of the kooky headlines that come up.”* Imagine you wake up one day in an alternative universe where those headlines are normal. What is this alternative world like? You discover that you know one of the people involved in one of the news stories. How…
Writing Challenge Day 4
Writing Challenge Day 4 *Following on from yesterday’s challenge, write a list of places you or your character want to go.* Why do you/your character want to go to each place? What do those places have in common? How would you get to each place? What do you think would happen at each place?
Writing Challenge Day 3
Writing Challenge Day 3 *Write a list of places you or your character have been. They can be as far ranging as countries or as close to home as the local shops.* Try to link these places. What does each place say about you/your character? What did you learn in each place? What happened in…
Writing Challenge Day 2
Writing Challenge Day 2 *Look at a person that you’ve never met before. Write a list of things you notice about them.* What do these things tell you about this person’s personality? What do they do for work? What is happening in their life write now? Use your list to write a story about this…
Writing Challenge: Day 1
Writing Challenge Day 1 *write a list of things that are around you right now (objects, people, weather, sounds, smells…)* Write a story that incorporates them all. How far out of your space can you make those objects reach? How different can you make the space around you become?
Writing Challenge June 2017
Underground is proud to present the 2017 mid year writing challenge! In honour of upcoming issue, The List, this challenge utilises lists to help us develop settings, characters, plots and style. The rules are simple. Each day this week (Monday 12th – Sunday 18th June) at 5am (AWST) we’ll post the day’s list challenge. You’ll…
Writing Opportunities for June
Writing Opportunities for June 2017 Grieve Writing Competition In honour of Grief Awareness month (August), the Hunter Writers Centre is seeking submissions of short stories, up to 500 words, or poetry, up to 36 lines. For writers over 18 years, theme is to express grief and loss. Closing 9th June. hunterwriterscentre.org/grieve-project.html Overland special winter issue…
3 Ways I Trick Myself Into Writing More, by Jemimah Halbert
3 Ways I Trick Myself Into Writing More By Editor-in-Chief Jemimah Halbert If you haven’t already read last month’s blog post I suggest you read it now. It covers the basics of defining where and how you write, and without knowing those elements it will be difficult to make any of the following tricks work. All…
May’s Review: Rubik
May’s Review is here! Rubik, by Elizabeth Tan A review by editor Jessica Gately I was lucky enough to be introduced to this book at its launch at Beaufort Street Books in Mt Lawley. I joined a throng of other local literature lovers as store reps served wine and nibbles and Tan signed copies of…
Interview: Marianna Shek, author of The Stolen Button
This Month we talk to author Marianna Shek about her picture book for adults The Stolen Button, which Marianna is currently funding for self-publication through Kickstarter. You can donate to her fund here. Hearts are stolen every day, but a stolen belly button- well, that has consequences! When willful Mei Ling wheedles her mother Lady Lin…
Kate’s TBR list
In this series we will be sharing each of our TBR books, why we’re looking forward to reading them, and why we picked up those books in the first place. Read on to discover editor Kate’s next three books To Be Read! One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey I confess I started to…
Issue 18: Black Hole is here!
Issue 18: Black Hole is here! Featuring a review by our very own Jessica Gately, poems from Anthea Yang and Jan Price, and short stories from Carmenn Alexander King Kocznur, Nerissa Marcon, Mai Nguyen, and our feature piece from Fleur Brown-Beeby, as well as the usual monthly round-up of writing opportunities. Also revealing the theme for…
3 Simple Ways To Get Your Writing Started, by Jemimah Halbert
3 Simple Ways To Get Your Writing Started By Editor-in-Chief Jemimah Halbert I’ve been an avid reader and regular writer for most of my life. I have kept diaries, journals, date books, notebooks, Word docs and blogs as ways to keep up regular writing, although there have been long stretches when I didn’t write much…
Shelley’s TBR list
The Underground editors are sharing their To Be Read lists: the books they have on their bedside tables just waiting to be read! In this new series we will be sharing each of our TBR books, why we’re looking forward to reading them, and why we picked up those books in the first place. Read…
We are seeking an illustrator for issue 18!
Underground is searching for artists to illustrate issue 18 “Black Hole”. If you’d like to submit your idea for our cover, send a mock up to submissions@underground-writers.org by Sunday 16th April. We pay the same rates for artists as we do our writers. If we choose your idea we will need a final product by…
January Writing Opportunity Round-up
Every month we will be doing a round-up of opportunities for writers. Read on for motivation! Local Opportunities Opportunities in Australasia and New Zealand Kat Muscat Fellowship An annual fellowship that offers professional development up to the value of $3,000 for an editorial project or work of writing by a young female-identifying or non-binary conforming…
Again, the Pozible campaign
The campaign ends To all of our supporters, Our campaign ended last night, and unfortunately we did not reach our target amount. I would like to thank everyone who pledged to us, and say that although we have been unsuccessful in reaching our monetary goal, we have achieved our goal of reaching more writers and…
Our Big Plan
All of the books, plays, movies and albums reviewed by Underground’s editors up to 2016! Underground is undergoing some big changes in 2017! The first change is that Jessica G., one of the original and founding members of Underground, has returned to us and, much like Gavin Kavanagh in The Boat That Rocked, is ready to…
The Pozible Campaign
We have just launched our very first venture into crowdfunding with a Pozible campaign, which can be found here. You can read more about it on the campaign page, but basically Underground has always run on the generosity of passionate creatives, and now we are asking for a different kind of generosity: monetary generosity! We…
Submissions for issue 16 are now open!
Submissions for issue 16 of Underground are open! We accept poetry, short fiction, flash fiction and reviews, and as always the theme is open and submission is free! For an idea of what we publish, and to learn more about us, you can download our older issues for free on the Issues page. For specs on…
Issue 15 submissions are now closed
Submissions for issue 15 of Underground are now closed. Thank you to everyone who submitted; issue 15 will be released in the next few weeks!
The official Underground Goodreads page is here!
Underground now has its very own Goodreads page! Find us on Goodreads at Underground Writers and you’ll see our collection of monthly reviews. Subscribe to our feed and you’ll be notified every time a new review is released. Find our Goodreads page here
Submissions for issue 15 are open!
Submissions for issue 15 of Underground are open! We accept poetry, short fiction, flash fiction and reviews, and as usual the theme is open and submission is free! For an idea of what we publish, and to learn more about us, you can download our older issues for free on the Issues page. For specs…
Issue 14 submissions are now closed
Submissions for issue 14 of Underground closed on 20th March, thank you to everyone who submitted. Issue 14 will be released on Sunday the 10th of April; watch this space!
Submissions open for issue 14!
Submissions are open for issue 14 of Underground! Send us your best poetry, short fiction, flash fiction and reviews, and you could see your work in our next issue, due out in April. Consult our Submissions page for what we accept and how to get it to us!
Submissions for issue 13 closed
2nd January, 2016 The first news of 2016 is that submissions for issue 13 are now closed! A hearty thank you to everyone who sent us their surviving darlings! We’ve had a lot of submissions for this issue and it is partly due to you, our lovely readers and writers, spreading the word to your…