Call For Submissions

aroomoftheirown:

The “A Room of Their Own” project is now accepting submissions to the project!

What is “A Room of Their Own”?

“A Room Of Their Own” seeks to explore and document the myriad of ways in which LGBT content creators and fandom participants use fanworks as a celebration of their identities and to force popular mainstream media to reflect their lived experiences. Basically, it seeks to be a collection of essays, comics, and interviews documenting how LGBT members of fandom use their various talents to carve out a space for themselves in mainstream fiction and to explore their identities in a relatively safe space.

“A Room of Their Own” is currently a blog that will accept submissions on a consistent basis, but the eventual goal is to compile a selection of the pieces into a zine or a series of zines, the proceeds of which will go to the Trans Lifeline and The Out History Project.

This project is also a part of my thesis research project in order to receive my M.A. in Educational Foundations at California State University, Los Angeles

Who Can Submit?

Any members of the LGBT community who have experience as fanwork creators or even who have just partaken in fanworks created by others are welcome to contribute! While I do understand that transformative fanworks have also positively impacted non-LGBT people as well, the focus of this project is specifically on LGBT fanwork creators and consumers and how fanworks have given them a space to explore their identities and see themselves represented in popular fiction.

Thesis Submission information:

Minors (under 18), are more than welcome to contribute to the zine and blog, but I will not be using them in my research.

All 18+ people who volunteer to submit will be asked if they would like to have their work used for the thesis. I will only use submissions from those who fully consent.

In the same vein, anyone who submits to the blog or the thesis can be as anonymous as they wish. You can choose to be totally anonymous, use your blog name, use your actual name, etc. It’s entirely up to you.

What Can I Submit?

Pretty much anything! Essays, comics, videos, songs- whatever format allows you to interact with the subject best. If you have any doubts as to whether or not your preferred format fits the project, feel free to send an ask!

The piece you submit should focus on how participating in fandom culture has impacted you in your journey towards self acceptance and discovery, particularly as pertains to your identity as a member of the LGBT community.

How Can I Submit?

Please click here to submit your piece.

While we are accepting submissions on a near-constant basis, we do ask that if you want your work to be included and credited in the first issue of the zine, please send your submission in by July 20, 2018 at 11:55 P.M. PST. (If you are running a little late on your submission, please contact us via ask or email for an extension).

Click here to see the full timeline.

Why Should I Submit?

Most explorations into the world of transformative fanworks have been done by outsiders and more for the sake of morbid curiosity rather than for the purpose of accurately representing LGBT fandom culture. This project seeks to even the balance of who has charge of our narrative by giving LGBT fanwork creators a platform to tell their own stories. So you should submit because you have a story to tell, a story that might help someone else just by being told.

Thank you very much and I hope to hear from you soon!

If you have any questions, please feel free to send an ask or an email at any time.