Age of Empathy Submission Guidelines

Creative nonfiction & freelance writing and creative writing advice

**{Edited April 11, 2022: Readers, please see our updated Submission Guidelines}**

At Age of Empathy, we are seeking high-quality creative nonfiction, personal essays and writing about writing — from the experts.

With the creative nonfiction, hit us in the feels. Please send us your best work. See the following paragraph for an example of the type of descriptive writing we savor.

When I was a little girl, my mom would open a jar of marmalade as a special treat. We’d sit together at the 1950s round retro kitchen table, in our mint green swivel chairs, and chat as she prepared the snack. Toast the bread. Butter the toast. Spread the marmalade. Cut the toast on a diagonal. We’d chew and savor the tart and sweet — the sugar and citrus rinds creating flavor bursts in our mouths. Such simple sweet moments often came from sharing food.

Please read Aimée Gramblin’s article on writing Creative Nonfiction:

We know every outlet states this, but it’s true: Read our recent content to get a feeling of what we publish. That’s the first step before deciding to submit your work to AoE. Here are some examples of outstanding creative nonfiction:

By AoE writer Hogan Torah:

By AoE writer Sarah Paris

By AoE Co-Editor Shanna Loga

By AoE Editor-in-Chief Aimée Gramblin

By Allison

The Details

We consider lyric essays and creative nonfiction. We’re after creative nonfiction (personal essays) and lyric essays that make us feel deeper emotions and think about your life in relation to our life experiences. We want you to make us feel something. We want you to engage our senses. When your article is so well-written that we come back to a phrase to savor it, that’s a success. We want your essay to make readers think about their own lives in a different way.

In creative nonfiction, there’s tension from the writer’s struggle and then some kind of resolution/universal lesson that applies outside the scope of the writer’s individual experience. Good creative nonfiction doesn’t spell this all out for the reader. Our readers are intelligent and will figure it out or connect with you in the comments. It’s something the reader figures out on their own.

A word on dialogue — using dialogue is a great creative device in personal essays. We aren’t expecting a factual 100% accurate account of who said what. Recreate dialogue with the original intent behind the speaker’s words to the best of your ability. We have creative license in retelling our stories. Good dialogue helps break up the monotony of prose and move a story forward. Here’s a good example of someone who wrote a personal essay with strong use of dialogue. Notice how the writer’s story almost reads like a work of fiction in places. This is by Doug Keeports:

There’s a bit of a dance in writing about yourself and making it pertinent to the reader, too. When you revise your first draft, consider where your creative nonfiction lacks in either area. Go back and make it more robust.

We want you to engage our senses.

Hit us in the feels.

Writing Advice is a new experiment for 2022. There should be absolutely NO MEDIUM META. We want writing advice from freelancing writing professionals. A few who come to mind from this platform are Corrie Who Writes, Kelly Eden, and Tracy Stengel.

• Tags: All submissions must use the “Nonfiction” tag. For Creative Nonfiction, use “Nonfiction” for your primary tag and tags such as “This Happened to Me,” “Creative Nonfiction,” “Memoir,” and other fitting tags for your secondary tags. For the Better Writing tab, use both “Nonfiction” and “Writing” for your primary tags. For secondary tags, consider “Freelancing,” “Writing Advice,” and “Work.”
• Time Limit: Most readers prefer reads between 5–7 minutes. We will reject work that is longer than a 10-minute read. Reads 3 minutes or under will be rejected. In other words, submit essays that are 4–10 minutes in read time.
• Titles/Headlines: Please read this article by Ash Jurberg. It will help you create better headlines.
• Writer/Reader Engagement: We expect our writers to engage in that comments section. It’s part of being an online presence.
• 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. Galit Birk, PhD’s publication Being Known and Lindsay Soberano-Wilson’s publication Put it to Rest are good publications to explore for submitting your work regarding trauma.
• Publishing Schedule: We take up to 2 business days to review submissions from current writers. We then work with writers through the editorial process as quickly as possible. If we think your article will need substantial improvement or changes, we will likely not accept it. Age of Empathy publishes one personal essay per day by the same writer. Please submit only one article per day.
• 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.
• Rejections: We pride ourselves on publishing the very best nonfiction here on Medium, but we are busy humans with full lives. If we feel your submission needs considerable work or isn’t the right fit, we’ll leave a short note and send it back to you. But that doesn’t mean we don't look forward to your next piece! Most often, we feel another pub would give you better exposure, i.e. more reads. If there is a blatant disregard of the guidelines, the draft will be rejected with no note attached.
• Editorial Team: Aimée Gramblin, Danielle Loewen, Nia Simone McLeod, and Dayon Cotton.

Social Media: Join the Age of Empathy Facebook group here. Follow Age of Empathy on Twitter here.

• New Writer Submissions: Currently Open. This review can take up to 7 business days. We try to be quicker than that, but sometimes get overwhelmed. Please be patient with us. We appreciate your understanding. All new writers must fill out the following form with a link to their draft submission.

If you’re new to the platform, you need to learn some specific details about formatting. Check out Shanna Loga’s detailed style guide here:

We’re looking forward to reading your submissions and working with you!

~Aimée Gramblin, Danielle Loewen, Nia Simone McLeod, and Dayon Cotton.