What kind of story should I submit For Stories in the Springtime?

We're looking for some original stories from Scribblers of growth born from struggle to feature on May 14th at Town Hall Collaborative. There’s space for two (possibly three) shorter stories (< 750 words) and one longer story (< 1950 words).

These stories can be poems, essays, samples of fiction, microfiction…even plays or screenplays! Tell your story however it needs to be told—as long as it’s your original work and submitted by midnight (Mountain Time) on April 3rd, we’ll consider it.

Defining Growth Through Struggle

From a human perspective, growth might mean adding height to your chart, improving in some area of life, or even just the straightforward, visual growth of a houseplant. We experience intense moments of change that can produce growth and tend to go through seasons of birth, death, rebirth, and everything in between.

All of that is to say—most growth could be defined as being born through struggle. So what makes the stories at this event different from your generic feel-good narrative?

I want the gory details of examining your own guts and forcing yourself to change, even when it meant stitching up your wounds as you went. I want to hear the nails scraping against the chalkboard, warning your characters they have to change—or else. I want that taste of blood in the mouth from jogging too early on a cold morning and pushing through it.

These stories don’t have to be pretty. In my opinion, growth rarely is. And talking about it isn’t pretty either.