An Emphasis on the (Extra)Ordinary
Established in 2025, The Paremphasis Magazine is a digital literary magazine of fiction, poetry, and visual art, created to feature the complex stories hidden in plain sight. We publish issues biannually and look for work from both emerging and established writers that showcases the way our everyday experiences, trauma, or relationships manifest in realistic and/or surrealistic ways. We love all things peculiar, supernatural, and quietly unsettling.
The Meaning Behind Our Name:
Paremphasis| Parentheses & Emphasis
The Importance of Parentheses
At The Paremphasis Magazine, we have a serious love and appreciation for the parenthetical.
What some may view as a stylistic choice, we see as the most important aspect of the sentence.
According to grammar rules, when parentheses are removed, the sentence should remain intact and in most cases, be clearer than before.
But what happens to all the additional information that is removed for the sake of clarity? Where does it go? What does the sentence lose, even when it gains readability?
The Power of the ‘Omittable’
This ties in to a more metaphorical form of parentheses: the mundane.
Often, the routine moments we experience every day are viewed as insignificant when it comes to writing.
How does a trip to the laundromat make good fiction?
Who would want to read a poem with a speaker who works at a local CVS?
But at Paremphasis, we urge you to consider the same question posed before. What happens between those parentheses? During those mundane moments?
“I can never be all the people I want and live al the lives I want. And why do I want? I want to live and feel all the shades, tones and variations of mental and physical experience possible in life.”
-Sylvia Plath
Issue One: Paremphasis
We are currently accepting submissions for our first issue, which is set to be published online this winter.
This issue is our debut, and as such, we encourage new and established writers alike to submit their work. We can’t wait to read what you have been working on :))
Note: Any submissions must be previously unpublished and submitted to our email by November 1st, following the guidelines below.
FAQs
How do I submit?
Simple! First, make sure your work is a good fit for our journal by reading the information above. Then, send your previously unpublished work to our email: paremphasismagazine@gmail.com, following the guidelines on our “Submit” page.
Do you accept work that has already been published?
To ensure we uphold the standards of other literary journals, we only accept previously unpublished work. We allow simultaneous submissions, provided we are notified if your submitted piece(s) have been accepted elsewhere before the release of our issue. This will ensure we can withdraw the piece and avoid interference with other publications.
Can I submit my work to other journals if it has been published with Paremphasis?
Upon publication in our magazine, writers retain the rights to their work and can submit wherever, so long as the future publication allows previously published work. A lot of journals only accept unpublished work, so make sure to read their submission guidelines before sending out anything. If your work is accepted elsewhere, we just ask that you mention the piece(s) were first published in The Paremphasis Magazine.
How long until I hear back about my submission?
We promise to notify you within 4-8 weeks of the final submission deadline (for Issue One, that is, November 1st). Response time may be sooner depending on the number of submissions we receive for a given issue, but 8 weeks is the longest it should take.
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