The Q&A Queer Zine publishes poems, flash fiction (250-1,000 words), short stories (1,000-2500 words), and art work. Read the complete guidelines here.
SQF: Why did you start this magazine?
Cloe Di Flumeri: We started the Q&A as undergrad students at Widener University. Christina and I didn't know each other well outside of the publication we both were readers for, The Blue Route. I remember going through one of the packets we had received and realizing that our university had no defined platform of expression for queerness. Two good friends of mine were students at Boston College at the time, and had been working for their publication, The Laughing Medusa—which spotlights the work of women and nonbinary artists. I remember having a lightbulb moment where I realized, THAT'S what we're missing. It came at a time when I was also taking a classics class and asking all sorts of questions like—why do we teach what we teach, whose voices are missing or silenced... think the Iliad and the Epic of Gilgamesh, two texts with an abundance of queerness which has historically been filtered by heterosexism-- as well as gender violence that goes largely uncriticized when such texts are taught in the classroom.
SQF: What are the top three things you look for in a submission and why?
CDF: In no particular order- Authenticity, technical skill, thematic novelty. To me, this is the trinity of ingredients I look for in a submission-- and which come up frequently in our reading meetings. As a writer, I know it is hard to find a balance between the three and that works embodying these traits are a demonstration of skill and attention to craft. I do believe the thematic novelty piece can be harder to sus out because if you are unfamiliar with a magazine and haven't done your reading, you might not know what stories they are telling in their issues. I will say we get an overabundance of coming-of-age stories, and we assess those stories differently because we know we have to limit the amount we publish. I love receiving speculative fiction pieces which build entire worlds for us to explore, or poems that reflect on unconventional aspects of the queer experience. This is not to say any one story is more important or better because of what I like, but we do need to consider including a multiplicity of topics to ensure that we aren't telling "one" queer story—which could be easy if we published ALL of our lovely coming of age tales (there are A LOT!)
SQF: What most often turns you off to a submission?
CDF: THANK YOU FOR ASKING THIS QUESTION—NOT READING OUR SUBMISSION GUIDELINES! People have submitted works and retracted them when finding out that we do not offer compensation, people have sent us works previously published, people have sent us works that were pages upon pages longer than our word count. Ignoring or not engaging with submission guidelines is a dead giveaway that you do not truly value our time or consideration. Works ignoring our guidelines are not considered and are removed from the pool.
SQF: What do you look for in the opening paragraph(s)/stanza(s) of a submission?
Christina Giska: I'm looking for something that grabs your attention as a reader. Any piece will have stronger and weaker parts to it, and while we want to minimize the weaker parts overall, the opening is definitely not where you want the weak parts to remain.
SQF: Are there particular topics/genre you’d like to see addressed more (or less) in the submissions you receive?
CC: I love pieces that are a little more out there and explore unusual paths, but I know there are others on the masthead who don't. As a queer zine, we get a lot of pieces centered around love and sex, and while I love them, I also enjoy pieces that explore other aspects of the queer experience and queer community.
SQF: What one question on this topic do you wish I'd asked that I didn't? And how would you answer it?
CC: What are your goals for the zine?
I want the zine to be a place where people feel comfortable. We're a small, volunteer-run zine and to me, the whole point of the zine was to have a place where people felt like they could be themselves and be respected. If the zine makes even one person feel more secure or happy, then I'm glad the zine was created.
Thank you Cloē and Christina. We all appreciate your taking time from your busy schedule to participate in this project.
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