Announcing a new anthology from the 2 Rules of Writing Community.
Call for Submissions:
The Beautician’s Guide to the Resistance
Exploring the “what if?” of a society where the male gaze inflates the value of a woman? What’s your story when your body and image could finally be yours to control… but it’s not up to you? What measures would you go through to see yourself reflected on the outside as you feel on the inside? How do you cope when the patriarchy is coming from inside the house? And what is with all these mushrooms?
The premise is a science fiction satire in which AFAB and women’s bodies are subjected to body modification via forced feminization surgery that can be endlessly adjusted by third parties to satisfy your man’s gaze.
We invite all gender minorities to build this what-if-style criticism of contemporary beauty standards.
Guidelines:
Your story should include the following:
- 7,000 words max
- A modern-forward timeline
- You must include the symbolism of mushrooms. How you do it is up to you, but they must appear somewhere in your story.
- Submit your story in 12pt Times New Roman or Garamond, Single Spaced
Our preference is for stories exploring the impacts of:
- Classism
- Queer culture
- Counter culture
- Resistance
- Sex work as an industry
- Secondhand mod-swapping
- Flash fiction, novellas, short stories, all stories welcome
AI may not be used in the drafting process but may be used in the editing process.
Looking for ideas?
We want your imagination to go wherever it takes you in these stories. Some themes you might consider exploring in your own work:
- Temporary mods to make it easier to get “better men”
- Societal pressure to conform
- Virginity-on-demand
- Beauty standards that become increasingly distorted
- How would refugee and immigrant communities be affected?
- Cultural beauty standards and how they play a role
- Rebellion against forced feminization
- Has STEM become “women’s work”?
Recommended Media:
You may want to refer to these sources for ideas for inspiration, and to better understand the themes we want to explore. But what we want is your vision. This is an opportunity for your unique perspective on how the value of AFAB and women’s bodies might be experienced in this speculative world.
We encourage you to support independent bookstores by purchasing through Bookshop.org whenever possible.
Books
“The Electric Forest” by Tanith Lee Find it at Bookshop Find it at Amazon.com
The Uglies series by Scott Westerfield Find it at Bookshop Find it at Amazon.com
“Chicks Ahoy” by Esther Friesner Find it at Bookshop Find it at Amazon
Videos
YouTube
Brandon Sanderson’s Creative Writing Lecture Series on Writing Science Fiction and Fantasy
Kara by Quantic Dreams
TikTok
C.W. for language when naming problematic behaviors that show up in systemic oppression
This video from Tiktok user Atilla The Pun is a good first-in dive on research re: impacts of testosterone on social hierarchy and how that shows up in interpersonal dynamics. It may be useful writing conflict on multiple scales.
Documentary
Fantastic Fungi by Louise Schwarzburg available on Netflix or through the Fantastic Fungi website.
Still have questions? Email us at [email protected] and make sure your subject line includes “Beautician’s Guide”
Ready to submit?
Make sure your story meets these criteria:
- 7,000 words max
- A modern-forward timeline
- You must include the symbolism of mushrooms. How you do it is up to you, but they must appear somewhere in your story.
- Submit your story in 12pt Times New Roman or Garamond, Single Spaced
- Every piece submitted to us receives individualized feedback. There is a $5 (minimum) donation with each submission which helps us to pay to host and maintain our website. Click here to pay your fee. . We function on the honor system and if you cannot afford to donate, your submission will still be read and receive the same attention and feedback as paid submissions. All of our submissions are read blind.