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Call for Hal-Con 2024 Zine & Writing Prompts

The Writers’ Federation of Nova Scotia (WFNS) will be exhibiting at this year’s Hal-Con Sci-Fi & Fantasy Convention (Halifax Convention Centre, Nov 8 to 10, 2024). Our table will

  • highlight the Charles R. Saunders Prize and Charles’s legacy as the father of the sword-and-soul genre;
  • promote upcoming speculative writing workshops led by members of our Writers’ Council;
  • distribute a free zine of Nova Scotian speculative writing; and
  • distribute free, individually sealed “emergency” writing prompts by Nova Scotian speculative writers.

WFNS invites submissions for the Hal-Con zine and Hal-Con writing prompts from Nova Scotian writers of speculative genres (including but not limited to sci-fi, fantasy, and horror) who are 19 years of age or older. Previously published works and excerpts are welcome.

  • Hal-Con zine: Submit one piece/excerpt of unpublished or published speculative prose (up to 500 words) or poetry (up to 30 lines, including stanza breaks).
    • If excerpting from a longer work, please add a very brief introduction (up to 50 words) that includes the title of the longer work.
    • If excerpting from a published book, please include its publisher and publication year in the very brief introduction; please also ensure (a) your publication agreement permits re-printing of this length or (b) your publisher has granted permission for this re-print should you be selected.
  • Hal-Con writing prompts: Submit any number of original, unpublished, speculative-focused prompts (up to 50 words) to inspire, challenge, and/or bust writing blocks.

Compensation: Each selected zine and prompt contributor will see their name, website, and short bio published alongside their contribution(s) and will receive five printed copies of WFNS’s Hal-Con zine; a contributor-exclusive complete list of the selected writing prompts; and a free 2025 General Membership in the Writers’ Federation of Nova Scotia (a $65 value).

Submissions closed on Oct 31 (11:59pm Atlantic)

For inclusion in WFNS’s Hal-Con 2024 zine & writing prompts

Submission form

Please enter the name you commonly use or publish under. This name will be published alongside any zine contribution or writing prompt.
This bio will be published alongside any zine contribution or writing prompt. It may be edited for clarity, brevity, or formatting (e.g., italicization of book titles).
Please enter a URL where readers can find more information about you, more of your writing, or a social media profile. This URL will be published alongside any zine contribution or writing prompt.
For office use only.
Must include city/town, province, and postal code. For office use only.
Click or drag a file to this area to upload.
Upload a single submission, of no more than 500 words (prose) or 30 lines (poetry) excluding title, as a single .DOC or .PDF file.

If excerpting from a longer work, add a very brief introduction (up to 50 words) that includes the title of the longer work.

If excerpting from a published work, include its publisher and publication year in the introduction.
Click or drag a file to this area to upload.
Upload any number of original, unpublished, speculative-focused writing prompts, each no more than 50 words, in a single .DOC or .PDF file.
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Simultaneous Submissions

The Writers’ Federation of Nova Scotia (WFNS) administers some programs (and special projects) that involve print and/or digital publication of ‘selected’ or ‘winning’ entries. In most cases, writing submitted to these programs and projects must not be previously published and must not be simultaneously under consideration for publication by another organization. Why? Because our assessment and selection processes depends on all submitted writing being available for first publication. If writing selected for publication by WFNS has already been published or is published by another organization first, copyright issues will likely make it impossible for WFNS to (re-)publish that writing.

When simultaneous submissions to a WFNS program are not permitted, it means the following:

  • You may not submit writing that has been accepted for future publication by another organization.
  • You may not submit writing that is currently being considered for publication by another organization—or for another prize that includes publication.
  • The writing submitted to WFNS may not be submitted for publication to another organization until the WFNS program results are communicated. Results will be communicated directly to you by email and often also through the public announcement of a shortlist or list of winners. Once your writing is no longer being considered for the WFNS program, you are free to submit it elsewhere.
    • If you wish to submit your entry elsewhere before WFNS program results have been announced, you must first contact WFNS to withdraw your entry. Any entry fee cannot be refunded.

Prohibitions on simultaneous submission do not apply to multiple WFNS programs. You are always permitted to submit the same unpublished writing to multiple WFNS programs (and special projects) at the same time, such as the Alistair MacLeod Mentorship Program, the Emerging Writers Prizes, the Jampolis Cottage Residency Program, the Message on a Bottle contest, the Nova Writes Competition, and any WFNS projects involving one-time or recurring special publications.

Recommended Experience Levels

The Writers’ Federation of Nova Scotia (WFNS) recommends that participants in any given workshop have similar levels of creative writing and / or publication experience. This ensures that each participant gets value from the workshop⁠ and is presented with information, strategies, and skills that suit their career stage. The “Recommended experience level” section of each workshop description refers to the following definitions used by WFNS.

  • New writers: those with less than two years’ creative writing experience and/or no short-form publications (e.g., short stories, personal essays, or poems in literary magazines, journals, anthologies, or chapbooks).
  • Emerging writers: those with more than two years’ creative writing experience and/or numerous short-form publications.
  • Early-career authors: those with 1 or 2 book-length publications or the equivalent in book-length and short-form publications.
  • Established authors: those with 3 or 4 book-length publications.
  • Professional authors: those with 5 or more book-length publications.

Please keep in mind that each form of creative writing (fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and writing for children and young adults) provides you with a unique set of experiences and skills, so you might consider yourself an ‘established author’ in one form but a ‘new writer’ in another.

For “intensive” and “masterclass” creative writing workshops, which provide more opportunities for peer-to-peer feedback, the recommended experience level should be followed closely.

For all other workshops, the recommended experience level is just that—a recommendation—and we encourage potential participants to follow their own judgment when registering.

If you’re uncertain of your experience level with regard to any particular workshop, please feel free to contact us at communications@writers.ns.ca