Literary Journal Proposal
This is a proposal I made for an assignment in my “Craft of the Literary Magazine” class. We were instructed to imagine and create a proposal for a hypothetical literary magazine and this is what I came up with: amorphous.
Please note the artwork in the two example covers and on the mood board are not my work and I do not intend to take credit for them; I appropriated them (with text) for this assignment and give full credit to the original artists for their artwork.
A description of the journal
Mission: The mission of amorphous is to serve as a source of inspiration for people who encounter our magazine. We want to inspire writers, artists, or really anybody who seeks to create and we hope to build a creative community and space shaped by those who choose to be apart of it.
In order to achieve this mission, we publish three kinds of issues, one of each every year
A thematic issue with a theme chosen by me (editor-in-chief)
A guest issue - either directed by a guest editor or an artist that works in tandem with someone else handling the literary aspect if they so please
A surprise issue - either a miscellaneous issue that contains pieces that don’t fall under a specific theme or a themed issue created out of pieces that happen to go well together
By having themed issues, we hope to spark ideas for writers and artists to create work that they may have not otherwise. Working in the other direction, work that writers and artists submit may inspire one of our themes, creating a wonderful and welcome feedback loop of inspiration and creativity!
With our guest issues, amorphous provides an opportunity for those with a vision to execute it and practice creative direction. If you come up with a concept for an issue that aligns with our values and can clearly articulate your vision, our journal will help you make this issue come to life. We also pay for acceptances and those who guest edit issues.
Why it’s necessary: Being in the creative field can be challenging and intimidating. Our journal aims to inspire, reduce barriers to entry into the creative space, and give people the opportunity to make something they feel proud of and may not be able to do with the resources at their disposal.
Aesthetic: We are open to a wide variety of work including all genres, but for some broad guidelines, we aim to produce and publish work that is playful, wonder-inducing, diverse, and most of all makes you think about your own humanity and induces a feeling of “beginner’s mind,” that is a feeling of witnessing or experiencing something for the first time.
Example themes for issues:
Wonder - featuring works that induce wonder or a feeling of beginner’s mind
Whimsey - whimsical and fantastical stories
Conversation - only works that depict conversations
Incognito - mystery short stories
Photograph - pick a photograph from one of the ones listed on the website and write an accompanying story
Emotions - works that epitomize the complexity of human emotion
A plan for the journal
I think the audience for amorphous would definitely be younger writers and artists and people who identify as creative or aesthetically-inclined. Ideally, I would like for the magazine to exist in print and digitally. I would try to get the ball rolling by soliciting contributions from people pertaining to a theme I come up with. After and while publishing this first issue, I would try to grow a social media presence and overall try to get word out there about amorphous. I would also inquire about if anybody would be interested in editing/curating their own issue. I would likely publish one or two more issues based on my own concepts in order to show people what’s possible and to generate further interest. Hopefully after publishing two or three issues, at least one person would express interest in guest editing and I’d pick someone to collaborate with and execute their vision, assuming it is in line with amorphous’ aestehtic and values.
From there, I imagine one issue a year would be based on a concept I come up with and then at least one additional issue that year based on a guest editor’s concept (possibly more than one additional issue based on interest). There would also be another issue each year curated from submissions unrelated to the themes - this issue might end up being themed or more of a miscellaneous mish-mash. I would also love for there to be at least one interview in each issue.
I imagine that many aspects of the editing process will be similar to those of The Spectacle - reading and rating on submittable. The amorphous website would have an easily accessible link to submittable, where submissions would be collated and accepted. Writers would be welcome to submit work that doesn’t align with the theme, but we would ask that they note it as such and understand that it may be published at a later time.
The roles that I imagine would be necessary are as follows: an editor-in-chief, someone to read applications for guest positions (if not done by the editor-in-chief), editors, designers, guest editors, guest designers, contributing artists, a web developer, and someone who knows how to make a print version of a magazine. In this hypothetical world, I think I would be the Editor-In-Chief although I would be open to eventually relinquishing this role in favor of a guest editor who’s creative vision heavily resonates with my own. Initially, I think I would be doing a majority of the work, but over time I would fill positions based on those who I work with well and feel have a grip on what amorphous is all about. As for artistic contributors, I know a lot of artists on social media that I would love to collaborate with. My hope is that enough people would get involved that the magazine would in a way become self-sustaining. In terms of inclusion and accessibility, I would be mindful about hiring people of diverse backgrounds and doing so in a way that is representative. My hope is that having a staff of diverse backgrounds would ingrain inclusion in amorphous’ DNA.
As for facets of amorphous outside the lit mag, we would initially mostly be focused on having a social media presence, particularly for generating interest in the the magazine, but I would be open to having a podcast at some point and also listening to ideas of people within the amorphous community.
Example texts
Potentially all in a wonder-themed issue:
“Genie” by Joe Baumann
“Let it Enfold in You” by Charles Bukowski - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9je_XpT1wQ
“#dontloseyourheart” by Karla Hirsch
“Welcome to my Happy Place” and/or “Unspoken Bonds” (experts from memoir) by Connor Franta - https://www.amazon.com/Note-Self-Connor-Franta/dp/1501158015 (if you click “look inside” you can read the beginning)
“The Cows” by Dane Farris - https://luckyjefferson.com/the-cows/