This week, Wakefield’s talented typesetter Jesse Pollard tells us about The Inkwell, a community of writers who support each other throughout the publishing process, and also produce a monthly anthology called The Inkwell presents.

Post written by Jesse Pollard

For the past year, I’ve been writing short stories for a community called The Inkwell. It’s an international collective of talented writers – both beginners and experts alike – who join together over Discord to workshop their writing, ask questions about the publishing process, and showcase their own projects. It’s managed by published authors who help writers all the way through the writing process, from drafting to the final touches.

One of the ongoing projects The Inkwell manages is the publication of its own monthly anthology of short stories and poetry. Titled The Inkwell presents, the goal is to help up-and-coming writers establish a name for themselves in the market, as well as become familiar with the expectations of the publishing process. Submissions are open to anyone who wants to try their hand at it, though they do need to join the community to take part.

The end results can be found on Smashwords here.

The process is streamlined and as transparent as possible, so anyone can join in. Some time towards the end of each month, the staff announce a vote for a new writing prompt, with the options provided by the staff or proposed by the community. Once the prompt is chosen, people have until the 25th of the month to write and submit a piece. During that time, their submission goes through an open editing phase, where members are encouraged to read and provide feedback until the digital proof of the anthology is ready to be checked.

Because of the constantly changing prompts, there are always new opportunities to jump in and get started. Next month we’re announcing our ‘final call’ for anyone who was unable to submit their piece in time for one of the deadlines. We’re also allowing anyone who wants to write for any of this year’s prompts to join in (and we’ve had some fantastic ones that might interest you!).

I promote the project as often as I can because not only do we have some incredible works to showcase, but because I believe its mission to help writers who have no idea about where to start is an important one. Without communities like The Inkwell, I’m not sure I would have ever found my footing or drive to improve one of my favourite hobbies.

You can find us on Discord and Twitter.

Jesse Pollard is a community moderator of The Inkwell, and enjoys helping writers understand how the publishing process works. They have written for ‘The Inkwell presents’ anthology since November 2022.