SUBMISSION GUIDELINES
2022 Submission Guidelines
All the things you need to know
The Narrative Collective publishes personal and humorous essays as well as expert pieces on the profession of writing. Our goals are:
- To provide relatable, riveting content for our readers — writing that makes us think, connect, and grow.
- To provide a supportive community to writers interested in intelligent, heartfelt work with a true purpose.
- To create the best forum for the personal essay genre on the Medium platform.
Considerations
- If you want to submit a memoir — a narrative story from your past — please consider our sister publication The Memoirist instead.
- Absolutely no Meta Medium articles. We understand they’re popular, but we don’t wish to publish any posts about Medium at The Narrative. We aren’t going to do anything Medium-related, tech-related, data-related, etc., etc. here.
- Please do not submit more than one piece a day.
- PLEASE follow the publication and our newsletter. I respectfully ask all writers to please follow our publication on Medium as well as on our social media platforms. We will be cross-promoting published pieces and will be utilizing our Facebook Group as an internal community for networking, calls for content, contests, and more. Join our Facebook group here. Follow us on Twitter here.
Special Requirements
- Tags: All submissions must use the “Nonfiction” tag. For the On Writing tab, use both “Nonfiction” and “Writing” for your primary tags. For the Humor Essay tab, please add “Humor” as a tag. We reserve the right to replace your last tag with a custom-made tag for the publication. This will allow your posts to appear on our featured pages.
- Time Limit: Essays must be between 4–10 minutes in read time.
- Trauma/CW (Content Warning) Content: As humans, we often experience varying levels of trauma. We are willing to consider essays addressing trauma but they must not be explicit. They should also come with an appropriate Content Warning italicized at the top of the essay addressing what the trauma concerns.
- Box Links: You may include up to two box links at the end of your story. Be judicious with self-promotion. It’s an important part of the platform, but posting too much will turn many readers away. We think a short bio/blurb about you plus 2 box links will allow sufficient self-promo.
A Few Notes About Style
- We follow AP style for title and header capitalization. Title Case Converter can be a great tool for this.
- Use sentence-case for your subtitle; make sure your subtitle is not PART of your title. Your title should stand alone.
- You see this one everywhere, but we still have to ask it: make sure you have a proper header image with photo credit. Try Unsplash, Pexels, Pixaby, Wikiart, or other free-use image websites for your front image.
I’m a writer here, so NOW what?:
- Submit your drafts directly to the publication and wait with great anticipation. :-P
- Please make sure all photos are credited — even your own!
- We try to turn around pieces as quickly as possible, but due to the number of submissions, we may take up to 2 business days to review submissions from current writers.
- Please proofread your work and ensure you’re following the rules of the Medium Gods. We work with writers through the editorial process as quickly as possible. We may fix any glaring spelling errors or grammatical errors and may get back to you with suggested edits or feedback prior to publishing or let you know if your particular piece isn’t right at this time.
- If we do not accept your submission, please do not take it personally! Rejected submissions have been vetted through our editing team for a majority decision; In most cases, the piece is simply not a good fit for the publication at this time, does not fit any of the above guidelines, or may be in need of more refinement.
- Engage! It’s important to our team that we continue building TNC into a supportive community. We hope all Narrative writers will actively participate in the growth of our publication. We can do that by doing all the things we need to do to show our appreciation for the good work of others…clapping, highlighting, commenting, reading, and supporting!
- Follow! Click on the links below to follow our sister publications The Memoirist — a fine place to share your memorable experiences — and QuickTalk — the go-to spot for writing tips, pub info, discussions, and interviews.
Just for Clarity…What Is a Personal Essay?
I really liked how this grammarly article summed it up:
In a personal essay, your focus is on something that has impacted you personally. It could be an event from your past, a situation you’re currently facing, or a broader look at how different experiences and circumstances shaped you into who you are today.
A humorous essay could be a personal essay that recounts a funny event in the author’s life, but it can also be a political essay that uses satire to comment on current events. As long as it’s funny and an essay, it counts as a humorous essay.
Humorous essays generally use the same techniques that other essays use, often leaning more into the techniques found in narrative writing like descriptive language and metaphors. Often, humorous essays are pieces of descriptive writing, using hyperbolic, irreverent, or whimsical language to express a funny take on the subject covered.
If you’re just reaching the bottom and have realized you’re not a Narrative writer yet, see this post:
