Mixed Fruit

At Mixed Fruit, we know writers are always under a lot of pressure to write something “literary.” We’re writers too, and we know that sting of having work rejected for not falling into certain modes of “serious” aesthetics. As we’ve always said, when you live life in the fast lane, you can expect to be pulled over for not wearing any pants.

Our dedicated readers know that we’re suckers for risks and experiments. Naturally, we get a lot of submissions where the experiment ultimately fails on some level, and on this basis we turn away many pieces, more than you’d think. We decided that for our next issue we’re going to right some wrongs. Mixed Fruit is pleased to announce the first ever B-Movie Edition, to be released on October 15.

We are challenging you to produce something truly bad for our next issue, and we mean “bad” in every sense of the word—interpret it as you will. Your submission(s) might utilize bad techniques as evidenced in films such as The Room, Crocodile, Death Bed: The Bed That Eats, or to hit closer to home for you bookish folks out there, 50 Shades of Grey. On a more advanced level, we’re very open to well-done satires that only seem awful to those who don’t understand them–think Jonathan Swift’s “A Modest Proposal.” Or your work might be bad in that it is laughably vulgar, cliché, bawdry, mawkish, raunchy, overdone, or undercooked. You might send us something that’s been derided as cheesy, campy, or kitsch. Your submissions might not fit into any of these categories, and in that case, we still want to see them. No holds barred.

With The B-Movie Edition, Mixed Fruit hopes to give all you artistic rogues a platform to get nasty and reckless. If you’ve been sitting on a piece in fear that no one could possibly want it—now’s the time to give it the audience it deserves. But we challenge you to produce something with this issue in mind. It may be harder than you think.

It’s easy to write something very mediocre. But we think intentionally bad material has the potential to be particularly interesting and thought-provoking. What is bad work critiquing? What tropes are being satirized or responded to? What does the nature of “bad” material offer a publishing environment that affirms a pretty clear and consistent definition of what “good” work looks like?

The trick here is to send something that is intelligent enough to know how bad it is, yet still be interesting. But honestly, we don’t know how this little experiment is going to turn out. We’re equally afraid and excited to see how you will respond.

Without further ado, Mixed Fruit invites you to take place in the monumental literary event of this century by sending us your best “bad” pieces, whatever that means to you. One lucky contributor will be granted the Editor’s Choice Award. The prize for this award is Dragon NaturallySpeaking 10, voice recognition software that allows you to dictate your next masterpiece while your computer types it up for you.  Three honorable mentions will receive their own prizes that are, we think, appropriate for a contest such as this.

We guarantee this issue is going to be one hell of a fun read.

To send us the best of your bad work, visit our submissions manager. All other categories will still be open at this time, so if you’re not interested in being a part of this issue, please feel free to keep sending us your best good work.