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The Writing They Don't Teach You in School
By Claire Yang Art by Julian Riccobon Art by Julian Riccobon How do you become a better writer? This is an essential question that...
Apr 84 min read


Novels In Nature: An Unprecedented Approach to Combat Illiteracy
Photos by Jayden Cao Introduction by Julian Riccobon As Polyphony Lit continues to expand on a global scale, we regularly receive...
Jun 10, 20243 min read


Editing Taylor Swift Lyrics Using Polyphony Guidelines
By Rishi Janakiraman It’s 6th-period Trig class when I overhear a group of girls erupt in laughter, their chairs leaning back while our...
Mar 15, 20247 min read


How Creative Writing and College Essays are More Similar Than You Might Think
By Nicole Liao The college application process—half a year of extremely stressful grueling work—is, sadly, something all of us have to...
Dec 18, 20233 min read


Submitting to Writing Contests
By Grace Zhang Beads of sweat dripping down my neck, I slowly moved the cursor to the bottom of the screen to login. An explosion of...
Aug 14, 20233 min read


The Time Traveller's Guide to Parallel Narratives
By Renee Chen Though only recently popularized in filmmaking by Hollywood directors, parallel storylines have long been used by novelists...
Jul 31, 20233 min read

Seven Reasons Why Writing Listicles Are Stupid
By Giancarlo Riccobon Hands-down, a literary listicle is the laziest, most derivative, most cynical thing that a web publication can...
Apr 9, 20216 min read

Q&A - How important are writing programs to an author/editor's abilities?
By Brooke Nind and Melanie Van Peenen Brooke Nind Writing programs are a wonderful experience and an opportunity for young writers to...
Feb 10, 20212 min read

Editor Replaces Every Word in their Commentary With Longer Synonym
By Ishita Shah and Nithya Ramcharan It’s Friday evening, and you’re spending the night at home. There are no after-school commitments or...
Dec 5, 20204 min read

Editing Pieces with Poorly Planned Plots
By Melanie Van Peenen Perhaps Rudolf Clausius was wrong about entropy, or disorder, being the natural state of the universe. For...
Oct 31, 20204 min read

Writing Prompts and How to Best Use Them
By Ishita Shah, Manal Nadeem, and Kyra Chiller I’ll go out on a limb here and predict that your creative process is anything but linear....
Oct 31, 20207 min read

Genre Editor Q&A
By Pauline Paranikas, Daniel Boyko, Danielle Sherman, and Lara Katz We recently received the following questions from a writer: What...
Sep 30, 20206 min read

Q&A - Have there been any awkward moments in your Polyphony career?
By Pauline Paranikas, Yong-Yu Huang, Nithya Ramcharan, Brooke Nind, and Neeraja Kumar Pauline Paranikas: I don’t know if this necessarily...
Jul 29, 20203 min read

Getting Published as a Teen Part One
By Ishita Shah, Lara Katz, Daniel Boyko, and Zoha Arif Sometimes I have a feeling that the geniuses who birthed the English language got...
Jul 29, 20208 min read

Daily Struggles of a Nitpicky Editor
By Julia Zacharski, Zoha Arif, Yong-Yu Huang, and Grace Zhang Your grandmother may have told you that perfection is like honey on a...
Jul 29, 20206 min read

Editing a Piece That Seems Really Personal
By Daniel Boyko, Yong-Yu Huang, and Zoha Arif March 24, 2020. A wild Tuesday. Scattered rain. Afternoon: mildly cloudy. I wish for the...
Apr 28, 20205 min read

The Nature of Editorial Feedback
By Anya Chabria and Daniel Boyko If you work for Polyphony Lit, you’re more than familiar with this message from Billy: “With Polyphony...
Apr 28, 20206 min read

Movie Review: The Kindergarten Teacher (2018, Maggie Gyllenhaal):What to do with a gifted child poet
By Maya Nalawade The Kindergarten Teacher, a 2018 film starring Maggie Gyllenhaal, brings up an essential question for any parent,...
Mar 30, 20202 min read

Q&A - Why should people join Polyphony?
By Daniel Boyko, Hannah Ramsey, Yong-Yu Huang, and Lara Katz Yong-Yu Huang: Polyphony gives you the chance not only to read brilliant...
Mar 26, 20204 min read

Writing for the Quarantine
So… Life is weird right now. If you’re like us, school has been cancelled and you’re sitting at home working through whatever online...
Mar 24, 20203 min read
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