Get to Know Sonderful Writings: The Safe Space Every Young Writer Needs

For many young creatives, rejection is no mere stranger- in fact, it's one of the many things that holds them back. It is an undesired guest that bangs loudly on the door, toppling over everything including your confidence. While rejection is inevitable, the feeling of getting rejected (or even the thought of it) is frustrating. And when you’re as young as a growing sprout, it can feel like the end of the world.

More often than not, when it comes to publication writers are often rejected with a plain ‘no’ but are rarely told how to improve. Rejection shouldn’t be a barricade towards sharing your voice, your story. And that is the principle of Sonderful Writings. A literary magazine that serves as a foundation and safe space for growth with its ‘Feedback before Rejection Policy’ Today, we had the privilege of interviewing the founders, Ananya and Anshi to talk about their journey as well as what’s next for them. 

First, let’s start from the very beginning— what was the inspiration behind Sonderful Writings? Was there a moment when you knew this was something the literary space needed?

 Ananya and I founded Sonderful in 2023, our freshman year of high school. We shared the vision of creating a space where writers who wanted to share their voices felt welcomed and understood, and were also able to be published in a manner that didn’t feel so discouraging or hard to achieve. We bonded over our experiences facing rejection from litmags and publications across the board and decided to create Sonderful to help boost the confidence of writers like ourselves. After starting this initiative, we were met with an enthusiastic response from writers all over the world. It was then that we truly realized how important our platform could be for so many young people searching for an outlet or a space where their voices would be appreciated. At a Global Youth Writing Convention, we presented our literary magazine and its mission to students attending from multiple time zones. They shared stories similar to ours and confided in us when we offered to edit their creative works. From those early beginnings, we faced many setbacks that tested our patience but overall we could not be more grateful for our literary community. Our past selves would not believe how far Sonderful has come and we have so much left to pursue. 

Your main policy, “Feedback before rejection” is such a unique and compassionate approach to the editorial process. Why was it important for you to implement this policy? How has it impacted your relationship with contributors?

 Our feedback before rejections policy comes from our desire to make sure that all writers have their voices heard. The policy is designed to give our writers feedback on their work before we publish it and work with them to ensure that it is its best version when we go to publish our issue. As young writers trying to make ourselves known on the creative stage, we experienced countless rejections firsthand. The process of attempting to publish your work professionally is tedious and can be extremely disheartening. We wanted to make sure that young writers didn’t feel discouraged by giving them an outlet and safe space to share their work knowing that they wouldn’t receive a point-blank rejection. The policy is the most unique aspect of our literary magazine’s platform, and we attribute much of our success to how open we are to all voices.

Contributors see our mission statement and take it as an open invitation to submit any work they are proud of knowing that it will fall into good hands.

 Since launching Sonderful Writings, what challenges did you face, and how have these affected the growth of the magazine?

 One of the biggest challenges we’ve faced over the years is the issue of how to get our mission across to people. We knew that Sonderful’s ideas were important, but as two teenagers with busy lives and minimal experience in leading an organization, we faced many setbacks in promoting our mission. From teaching ourselves graphic design and website building to experiencing the stress of building our team, founding Sonderful was a learning process. The two of us also had to learn to take losses. We were just starting out, so accepting that we needed to grow in popularity before achieving our dreams of outreach to people across the world. The first issue we published was a result of a lot of grit and hard work as well as our own big dreams for what we wanted to achieve. We also wanted to register as a non-profit organization and file for 501(c)(3) status but ended up not going forward with it due to the price of registering and the complex process. This set us back in our goals of becoming more reputable but we realized we didn’t need the status to get submissions and accomplish our mission. 

Your organization’s mission statement is to be a foundation for aspiring writers, helping them to grow and continue their writing journey instead of being discouraged by rejections. What would you say to someone who’s unsure if their story is “good enough” to be heard? 

Your voice is your story, and all stories deserve a space where they can flourish and be expressed. At Sonderful, our editors aspire to provide feedback that allows all writers to make progress rather than fear the unpredictable chaos involved in editing that often becomes the bane of our existence as writers plagued by imposter syndrome. The world’s instability is difficult to wrap our heads around, especially because we are young people who have so much to say but are ignored or suppressed. Words have been and always will be a source of unity, power, and direction. 

Stories remind us of our humanity, and growing these skills should never feel like a burden or a rigged system that promotes limits rather than possibilities. Yes, rejections are an unavoidable byproduct of entering the publishing world, but there is so much more than automated emails and query trenches during this journey. 

The humanities are discredited and undervalued in today’s society, but they are an essential part in what fosters connection and spurs social change. Today, we encourage you to not call yourself an ‘aspiring’ writer – if you have the courage to start a project, you are a writer. And bonus! If you are looking for some fun writing inspiration, read ‘Letters to a Young Poet’. 

Can you share a moment or a story that made you realize, Sonderful Writings was making an impact? Something that really stuck with you? 

When publishing our first issue, the two of us anxiously refreshed our spreadsheet of submissions each day, waiting on each new one. We were so nervous at what we were actually going to achieve with Sonderful and watched as our friends and classmates submitted their work. Each submission was valuable and important, but they were all from within our small area of the world. Then, one day, we noticed a submission from all the way in Trinidad, a Caribbean island that neither of us had been to. This submission changed the way we saw our organization. We realized that all the hard work we’d poured into making Sonderful well known had paid off. Someone had noticed us from a completely different part of the world and believed in their heart that submitting their work to us was worth it. This moment is cemented in our minds as the first time we realized that we were actually making a difference. Our mission inspired people and made them excited to share their work. Since then, we’ve never doubted the integrity of our organization and mission. 

Aside from your current writing contest and issue 4, are there any other projects that you are excited to pursue? 

Yes! Currently, we are seeking to expand our initiatives for a wider audience in the literary community. We started a podcast where we are interviewing established authors and creators on their journeys. In the future, we hope to host an in-person open mic with both experienced and newer young writers. Our largest project by far is going to be a summer collaboration with Novelly Publications, where we are compiling an exclusive collection of student writing from 20+ literary magazines. The issue will be published in summer 2025 and celebrate Youth Authors’ Week.

Sonderful Writings’ mission is evident in the fact that rejection is not a barrier to greatness. Ananya and Anshi have worked their way through to build Sonderful Writings into what it is today. And as Sonderful Writings continue to deliver their mission, it wouldn’t be a surprise when more young writers will realize that rejection is not the end of the road but rather the beginning of something even greater.