Old Scratch Press is curating the INSTANT NOODLES LITERARY MAGAZINE!
Submissions for 2025 are open through 11.2.25.
The Old Scratch Press team asks that all fiction/non-fiction pieces adhere to a word count of 1,000 words or less.
2025 Themes and Topics
GRAVY is our 2025 winter holiday theme. Give us your best holiday gravy fails, mishaps, riduculous gravy encounters (any December holiday, from Hannukah, to Solstice, to NYE, etc.) or your best funny work about gravy, in general. The point of the end-of-year issue is always to be light-hearted to downright silly. Submissions for GRAVY are open through NOVEMBER 2, 2025; the issue will publish on DECEMBER 1, 2025. Please CLICK HERE to submit.
CURRENT What ideas does the word current evoke for you? Are you thinking about being hip, cool and up on “current” events or are you traveling on an air “current.” Where does the word take you? Try writing a story about yourself, something you observed, or something entirely imaginary. Create a video, a picture, even combine two mediums. Submissions for CURRENT closed on MARCH 16, 2025; the issue published on MAY 1, 2025.
SANCTUARY What ideas does the word sanctuary evoke for you? Are you thinking about being rescued, or offering rescue? Where do you find sanctuary? Where does the word take you? Try writing a story about yourself, something you observed, or something entirely imaginary. Create a video, a picture, even combine two mediums. Submissions for SANCTUARY closed on MAY 18, 2025; the issue published on AUGUST 1, 2025.
INSTANT NOODLES IS CURATED BY THE MEMBERS OF THE OLD SCRATCH PRESS COLLECTIVE
Covers designed by David Yurkovich and Dianne Pearce of Current Words Publishing.
About Instant Noodles
INSTANT NOODLES is an online literary magazine sponsored by CURRENT WORDS PUBLISHING and curated by OLD SCRATCH PRESS (OSP).
VISION
To expand the opportunities available to authors by providing a digital platform to showcase short works of fiction/flash fiction, memoir, creative non-fiction, visual art, media art, and poetry.
MISSION
To support creators in their publishing journey, whether they are new established by offering a quality place to be published that is free to submit to and free to read/view.
Submission Guidelines
Please note:
Profanity should appear in the piece because it adds to the impact or authenticity of the piece.
No hate: nothing that disparages people for things they cannot help like weight, gender, sexual orientation, pronouns, etc. This is not the place to complain that you don’t like something, and we will not publish anything that does that.
If your piece is off-topic it will not be accepted no matter how wonderful it is. Please be mindful of the themes. Same goes for length. Please be mindful of word counts/length for videos, etc. as they are indicated in the call.
We do not discuss why pieces are, or are not, accepted. If your piece is not chosen we simply state: This is not the piece we are looking for at this time.
Know your publication: you will do better submitting to Instant Noodles if you have read a recent issue.
INSTANT NOODLES is always FREE to read and to submit. Many people volunteer their time to put it together, and those chosen are not paid for their submissions, but we do submit to Pushcart and Best of the Net awards annually.
Submissions must adhere to the following guidelines: All work must be original and must belong to the author. Works that have been previously published will not be considered. Stories must be complete and self-contained (i.e., do not submit chapters of a larger work). NOTE: Accepted works will be published as submitted without editing; as such, in addition to the originality of the work itself, we are looking for manuscripts that are clean and press ready. Be sure to review your grammar, spelling, tenses, proper punctuation, and other general rules of the written word before hitting “Send.” Work should be submitted through Duotrope as a Microsoft Word file (when it is poetry, drama, NF or fiction) as 12-point New Times Roman, double-spaced (single-spaced for poetry submissions). All other types of work have details as to their file types on the Duotrope page.
OSP will notify authors approximately 1 month prior to the scheduled publication date as to whether their submission will be published.
If Your Work Is Not Selected…
- INSTANT NOODLES is produced by a collaborative publishing crew. We believe a rising tide lifts all boats. Often we will mention an author’s publications, or awards, in one of our blogs or newsletters, even if the work was not published by us. Authors who are unwilling to have us talk about them or reference their work, or authors who refuse to acknowledge us as their publisher, will not be published by us.
- Other reasons for not being chosen may include:
- The piece was off-topic (this is the #1 reason work is dismissed)
- The piece was inconsistent with our values (anti-LGBTQI+, anti-woman, racist, bigoted, etc.)
- The piece had inappropriate content for this magazine (violence or x-rated material that the editor, in her wisdom, or the group editors, in their wisdom, felt was gratuitous)
- The piece was poorly edited or proofread
- The piece was previously published
- The piece contains song lyrics that you did not write or images that you did not create, or other stuff that does not belong to, was not created by, you
- The piece was too similar to a piece that had already been selected
- The piece was not especially fresh, interesting, or surprising writing: the IN editor has a wealth of reading experience and is looking for writing that has that something special….
We love to nominate our authors from INSTANT NOODLES for Pushcart and Best of the Net!
INSTANT NOODLES: Free for authors. Free for readers.
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