FAQ – Arabian Stories

What inherent traits must I possess to be able to submit a story to Arabian Stories?

Be of Arabic origin, as in born and raised in the Arab world, although not necessarily still living in it, and have Arabic as a mother tongue.
Be in possession of a vivid imagination.
Be somewhere between the age of achieving reason and the age of losing it again. (No worries, we will be lax in applying this last criterion if the candidate knows how to convincingly compensate for this attribute that has perhaps slightly gone awry with the substitution of the second characteristic.)

What commandments must submitted stories adhere to in order to be accepted by the team and published on the website?

The stories shall be no shorter than 300 words and no longer than 500 words.
The stories shall be written in Modern Standard Arabic (authors may add some colloquial expressions embedded in the overall Modern Standard Arabic text).
The stories shall be related to a specific location found in the Arabic world and identifiable on a map.
The stories shall be unpublished.
The stories shall be submitted together with the geographic coordinates of the location referenced in the story and a few clear pictures of the place, capturing the way it looks today or the way it looked in the past, regardless of its current appearance. The author may also include a short author bio in a separate document, which will be published alongside the story.
The stories shall number one, and only one, per author.

What does “related to a specific location” mean?

Something happened there (to you, to someone/something you know or have heard about, or related to something you presume is still about to happen).
Something was supposed to happen there but didn’t.
Something wasn’t supposed to happen there but did.
You made a great deal of what actually happened or didn’t happen there.
Nothing has happened or happens there, but you still find the location relevant for other reasons or precisely because of that fact.

You can come up with a different solution, just send us a story!

Do the pictures have to be many and merry?

No, the number of images can range from one to ten. The picture, regardless of other possible components (your face or your granny’s included), has to showcase the place, the one you tell us about in your story. Lastly, the image quality has to be reasonably high, namely, at least, 1200×800 pixels.

Do the stories have to be kid-friendly?

You got yourself a resounding no. They can be, but they don’t have to be. And that goes for the complexity of the language in play, the intricacy of the narrative maze, the hypothetical decision to dispense with the moral of the story, and finally, the inappropriateness of the strategically chosen words or phrases the story may comprise. We are not scared of swearing; we are scared of finding ourselves mute in the face of the unspeakable.

Will the Arabian Stories team translate into English and Spanish and publish all the submitted stories? And if not, what does the selection process for a story entail prior to its successful publication on the site?

No, we will indeed not publish all the stories we receive. First, we will ignore those stories that do not meet the submission requirements listed above and therefore are not within the scope of this project. If you want your story to be chosen for translation and publication, we suggest you read several of the stories that have already been published, because we are looking for stories that make us think and don’t look like remakes of what we have seen previously.

Is Arabian Stories financed or sponsored by any government agency?

No, we are not. And the situation is meant to stay this way because it allows us to guarantee that the submitted stories will not be subject to government censorship of any kind. Nevertheless, if this topic worries you, we strongly advise you to exercise a hint of caution coupled with the artful and intelligent use of literature’s nooks and crannies.

Do I need to sign my story and share details about myself?

This is completely up to you. We are happy to recognize authorship and serve as a platform to showcase an author’s talent, but also understand if someone prefers to use a pseudonym for privacy reasons. In short, you can sign your story however you like and we will only publish as much information about you as you want us to.

Do you have more questions? Feel free to ask here.