Prepare Your Writing Portfolio for The James Franco Review

Here's a novel idea! After noticing the sheer quantity of doors that swing open for the heartthrob actor and accomplished writer James Franco, a team of writers and editors in Seattle banded together to found The James Franco Review: a journal that invites writers NOT to submit writing ABOUT James Franco, but, rather, to produce and submit writing AS THOUGH they ARE James Franco and can write in any way that they'd like. It's all about creating a space for writers to be bold. More to the story at Jacket Copy:

It had to happen sooner or later: A writer in Seattle has started “The James Franco Review.” But wait — the journal is not devoted to the study of James Franco, or to publishing his so-called literary work. The idea, instead, is to create a space for writers to be bold, to operate “as if our work was already worthy of an editor’s attention” — to channel their inner James Franco, in other words.

“Years ago,” writes founding editor Corinne Manning, “my friend Erin and I joked that we should submit some fiction under a boy’s name. Aaron and Carl. A younger professor told us, solemnly, that wasn’t such a bad idea. Neither of us had the guts to do it. But when we started seeing James Franco’s name in magazines, and then saw his book of poetry from Graywolf, we joked again: Let’s submit some fiction under James Franco’s name and see what happens.”

There is, to be sure, a bit of the tongue-in-cheek to Manning’s comments, although “The James Franco Review” is not meant as a joke. Rather, the intent is to encourage writers to stake out their own sense of privilege — if only the privilege to be heard.

Continue at Jacket Copy.