Curveball Conspiracy is a collection of unrelated pieces of short fiction, each inspired by a photograph. Image and words are provided by separate individuals, making each piece a collaborative effort by a partnership that may not even know each other. The idea, in its infancy, is to combine the perspectives of a group of diverse and talented people in order to create a terrifying multitude of tiny worlds, each unique in its own peculiar way, and each a sidestep removed from reality.
Photographers: Your mission is to capture images you believe are unusual/interesting/inspiring enough to spark the imagination of the writer who ends up having to work from your vision. There are no limits to the kinds of image you can send, including photos that have been Photoshopped or otherwise altered. Please note that the final photo size will be a maximum of 600 pixels wide. This is not a competition and we do not offer compensation, so have fun with it. Submit the things you see, not things you think will win prizes.
Writers: Slightly more complicated from the writer’s point of view. First, keep the idea of the site in mind when you write your piece. The best word to describe the kind of fiction we want is speculative, but – as that’s already a genre – we’ll have to be a bit more specific. The best thing you can do is read the stories that are already here. There’s a reasonable selection of different styles to give you an idea of what you should be going for. We’re not restricting you in genre, subject matter, language, or anything else, so long as the final product is a sidestep away from reality. That’s a necessarily vague brief, so if you’re still confused, e-mail us at curveball@curveballconspiracy.com.
Submissions need to be limited to 500 words or less. Aside from that, do what you like. A story can be one sentence, as long as it’s a narrative sentence.
How It Works: If you’d like to be a part of this strange conspiracy, you can send an email to curveball@curveballconspiracy.com or you can use our handy contact form. If you’ve never contributed before, please also send a sample of your work or a link to a sample of your work. Your name will then be added to the pool of contributing authors. If you have photos you want to contribute, you can start sending them right away. If you want to write something, you’ll have to wait until we send you a photo that will be the inspiration for your story. All we need for now is your name.
Copyright: All content on Curveball Conspiracy is published under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. We want to make it as easy possible for others to share and enjoy your work.
Finally: We reserve the right to NOT publish your work if it doesn’t meet our standards. We want to publish quality writing, so we also reserve the right to make judicious edits where necessary. In the event of editing, the contributor gets the final say over any changes. We will not edit your work and then publish it without first obtaining the approval of the contributor.
