Westlook PressWestlook Press

Fell Swoops: Submissions

Fell Swoops is an online literary and arts journal published by Westlook Press. We welcome work that opens a door and leads us somewhere we didn’t expect to go.

We seek a range of voices, forms, and approaches. Surprise us with your original images or language.

Bring us work that feels considered and distinctly your own—work that is ready to find its readers.

What we’re looking for

  • Poetry
  • Flash fiction
  • Short fiction
  • Visual art (JPEG)

Please note that due to online formatting constraints, we are unable to accept work that relies heavily on spatial arrangement, concrete forms, or elaborate visual structure.

General Guidelines

  • Please submit only original, unpublished, human-created work.
  • Simultaneous submissions are welcome; please notify us if your work is accepted elsewhere.
  • Submit all written work in a single submission.
  • Submit visual work as separate JPEG submissions.

We’re especially drawn to work that feels thoughtful, alive to the world, and quietly surprising. We’re generally less drawn to graphic violence or work that relies on shock for its primary effect.

Poetry

  • Please submit up to 4 poems.
  • We may publish one or more poems from a submission.
  • Submissions from a single project or a selection of individual poems are equally welcome.

Prose

  • Fiction in all its forms is welcome, including flash fiction.
  • Lyrical creative nonfiction is warmly invited.
  • Please submit work up to 4,000 words.

Visual Art

  • Please submit up to 4 images as JPEG files.
  • Images should be sized for web (maximum 2000px on the longest side, under 2 MB each).
  • We may request higher-resolution files upon acceptance.

Name, Cover Letter & Bio

Please include:

  • Your name — including pen name, if applicable.
  • A brief cover letter (a short introduction and note about the work is enough; if you’d like, you may also share a sentence or two about why the work feels suited to Fell Swoops).
  • A short third-person bio (2–4 sentences; this will be published with your work, if accepted).

Response Time

We aim to respond within 4–8 weeks. Thank you for your patience.

Rights

If your work is accepted, we request first online publication rights. All rights revert to the author upon publication. We ask that you credit Fell Swoops as the original place of publication if the work appears elsewhere.

How to Submit

Please fill in the following form and upload your submission(s). Thank you for trusting us with your work.

Tell us the name you'd like us to use for correspondence and (if accepted) for publication.

A short introduction and a note about the work is enough. If you like, share a sentence or two about why the work feels suited to Fell Swoops. (Kept private to the editors.)

A short third-person bio (2–4 sentences). This will be published with your work if accepted. You may include social handles or a website.

Enter the title of each submitted piece. Leave unused lines blank.

For written submissions, DOC or DOCX is preferred because it preserves formatting more cleanly during editorial preparation. A PDF is also welcome if that’s what you have.

  • Poetry: Upload up to 4 poems in a single document. Begin each poem on a new page. Name your file with your name and the number of poems (e.g., Jay Davis_4 Poems).
  • Prose: Upload one work of flash fiction or short fiction up to 4,000 words (occasionally longer). Name your file with your name and the title of the work (e.g., Jay Davis_The Tigers).
  • Artwork: Upload up to 4 JPEG image files sized for web (maximum 2000px on the longest side and under 2 MB each). Name each file with your name and the title of the piece (e.g., Jay Davis_Untitled I).