Blog | Polyphony Lit

Apr 9, 20216 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...

Feb 10, 20213 min read

Maintaining a Positive Tone in Feedback

By Anika Mukker Your computer pings with the sound of an email bringing you your next forwarded submission. While logging into...

Feb 10, 20212 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, 20214 min read

Tips for Writing Short Pieces

By Ishita Shah, Kate-Yeonjae Jeong You've just finished a masterpiece. One that will be remembered for the next millennia to come; that...

Dec 5, 20207 min read

Incorporating Descriptions Into Writing

By Shelly Bhagat & Hannah Ramsey Shelly Bhagat: You’re cruising along, writing that story you can't wait to submit until you decide to...

Dec 5, 20204 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, 20203 min read

What shapes a writer more, acceptance or rejection?

By Brooke Nind, Nithya Ramcharan, Grace Zhang, and Neeraja Kumar Brooke Nind: Rejection is redirection. I know it’s cheesy and you’ve...

Dec 5, 20202 min read

Editing Twist Endings

By Pauline Paranikas As you read your most recent Polyphony Lit submission, you find yourself growing increasingly confused. Something...

Oct 30, 20204 min read

Q&A - What has your greatest struggle with editing been?

By Brooke Nind, Anika Mukker, Eva Zheng and Daniel Boyko Brooke Nind My greatest struggle with editing has been crafting general...

Oct 30, 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 30, 20207 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....

Sep 30, 20206 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, 20202 min read

Implementing Editorial Feedback

By Pauline Paranikas, Jessica Kim, and Daniel Boyko One of the most beneficial aspects of the Polyphony experience is receiving feedback...

Sep 30, 20208 min read

Writing Three-Dimensional Characters

By Ishita Shah, Julia Zacharski, Suhanee Mitragotri, and Pelumi Sholagbade Perhaps the most remarkable feature of the human species is...

Sep 1, 20203 min read

Poet Misreads Instructions; Accidentally Submits Piece Containing Only Personally Identifying Inform

By Yong-Yu Huang, Eva Zheng, and Neeraja Kumar WARNING: This piece is a work of fiction. Please do not include identifying information if...

Sep 1, 20208 min read

Writing To Make a Difference

By Alex Baker, Shelly Bhagat, Daniel Boyko, and Anika Mukker Alex Baker: How many of you out there know the feeling of writing something...

Sep 1, 20209 min read

Getting Published as a Teen Part Two

By Ishita Shah, Lara Katz, Daniel Boyko, and Zoha Arif Last month, we covered the key difference between writers and authors, what...

Sep 1, 20204 min read

Q&A - What do you do to inspire/overcome writer’s block?

By Kate-Yeonjae Jeong, Brooke Nind, Grace Zhang, Shelly Bhagat, and Daniel Boyko Kate-Yeonjae Jeong: As a writer, there always comes a...

Jul 29, 20203 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, 20208 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...