Submission Guidelines

Summary

Fiction Shorts is a Medium publication seeking submissions from writers who adhere to their guidelines, which include following the publication, allowing private messaging, adhering to word limits, and crediting images properly.

Abstract

Fiction Shorts is an inclusive Medium publication that encourages writers to submit their short fiction stories, particularly those written in response to challenge prompts that will be provided at least several times a month. Submitted stories are organized chronologically, with older pieces not appearing at the top due to Medium's platform constraints. The guidelines for submission are straightforward: writers must follow the publication and editors, enable private messaging, keep stories to a maximum of 1000 words, understand specific challenge guidelines if participating, adhere to the Fiction Shorts Style Guide, maintain basic human decency, use grammar tools like Grammarly or Hemingway, credit images according to Medium's Image Guidelines, and comply with Medium's rules. The editors, who are also writers, prefer to focus on writing rather than editing, and they invite interested writers to comment on the post with their Medium handle and links to two writing samples if they have not worked together before.

Opinions

The publication values inclusivity and community among writers.
The editors emphasize the importance of following guidelines to ensure a smooth submission process.
While there is some flexibility with word count, the preference is for concise stories.
The use of grammar-checking tools is highly recommended to maintain the quality of submissions.
The editors prioritize writing over editing, suggesting a preference for well-prepared submissions.
There is an effort to distinguish human writers from automated bots through a vetting process involving the submission of writing samples.

Writing for Fiction Shorts

Image Credit: Author created in Canva Pro

Are you looking for a welcoming community in which to share your short fiction stories? Fiction Shorts is the publication for you! We are an inclusive community of writers excited to share our stories.

This publication grew out of a burgeoning love for writing short fiction in response to challenge prompts. We can’t guarantee daily prompts, but there will, at minimum, be several each month.

Our stories will appear in chronological order based on when they were published. If you include an older piece it will not appear at the top. (That’s Medium … we haven’t any control over that.)

Guidelines are simple:

Follow our publication and editors.

You must allow private messaging and understand how it works. (Please don’t delete a note, even after you’ve replied. The editors will do that.)

Stories should be 1000 words or less. (It’s not like we’ll toss you out for submitting longer ones, but they might be put in a different section.)

If you’re in the Drabble Challenge, familiarize yourself with their specific guidelines.

Read and follow the Fiction Shorts Style Guide.

Be a decent human being.

Get Grammarly free, or run your copy through Hemingway.

Read Medium’s Image Guidelines and credit each image accordingly.

Follow Medium’s rules. Medium Rules / policy.medium.com

The editors are writers as well and would prefer to spend our time writing instead of editing. ;)

If you’d like to be a writer for Fiction Shorts, comment on this post, with your Medium handle. It can take up to four weeks to be notified of your acceptance.

In an effort to avoid the bots, if you aren’t a writer I’ve worked with before, include links to two examples of your work.