The Learned Fangirl is looking for feature (1500 words and up) articles for our new TLF Seminar Series, starting in 2016. We will publish longform writing around a different broad topic each month. We are looking for critical and accessible articles and essays about popular culture, fan studies, and online culture.
What we are interested in:
We are interested in articles that reference scholarly research/writing: critical media theory, Comparative Studies, American, Studies, Law, Feminist Theory. We are aiming for a scholarly but accessible tone, think of what Anne Helen Petersen is doing on Buzzfeed. We want articles that place pop culture issues/events in a broader historical and socio-cultural context. We also welcome in-depth interviews with writers, artists, fan creators. We will give extra consideration to submissions that focus on gender/race issues or from those in underrepresented groups: women of color, gender non-conforming, queer, and disabled writers.
What we are not looking for:
No hot takes, listicles, or recaps.
No sponsored content (WE REPEAT, no sponsored content!).
Nothing shorter than 1500 words (at least for this series!).
We’re not saying “no” to first-person pieces, but we’d prefer a different approach.
What we pay:
$200 per article, and like a college seminar series, we’ll post one new longform article every Friday, starting in January 2016.
Topics:
The prompts below are a guide, but feel free to interpret broadly! Send your pitches to thelearnedfangirl@gmail.com
July: Movement/Movements
(Prompts: Development of dance videos on YouTube; Vogueing from the beginning to now; Hashtag activism)
August: History
(Prompts: Whose stories aren’t being told as “Important Stories” in movies/TV (Oscar bait or similar); Accurate depictions of history in YA fiction
September: Illness, disability, and pop culture
(Prompts: How chronic illness and disability are portrayed in pop culture. superheroes, disability, “special” abilities, soap opera and illness tropes, movie awards and illness/”triumph of the human spirit” narratives.)
October: Crossing Cultures/Code-Switching
(Prompts: cross cultural and international fandom, Marketing of pop culture in different countries Use of language in Jane the Virgin and Fresh off the Boat, when something doesn’t mean the same thing from different pop cultural perspectives)
November: Oscar Bait: The Movie Issue
(Prompts: Movie fandom, Book to movie adaptation, Diversity in film)
December: Kids
(Prompts: Critical looks at children’s/young adult lit and kids TV/music, pieces on pop culture penned by under 18 writers)
Image credit: Bigstockphoto
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