Submit to 🧠The Brain is a Noodle🍜!

The Brain is a Noodle is inviting writers like you to submit your pieces!

(ps, check the announcement archive to see any changes/ new updates!)

We’re looking for any pieces that are bite-sized!

• poetry
• medium shortform

We’re now accepting submissions for longform pieces *only* for responses to prompts!

Longform pieces include various forms (e.g., listicles, essays, etc.). We are now accepting longform pieces only for prompt responses from this publication.

For a longform piece to be eligible for submission, it must include the original link to the prompt (or, if you prefer not to link back to the original piece, including a private note to the editor specifying the prompt).

We’re hearing that these prompts are taking writers beyond the confines of poetry and shortform (<150 words), and would love to support longform pieces that come from these initial questions.

We are not accepting longform pieces that are unrelated to existing prompts.

If your prompt is related to a prompt, be sure to clearly indicate this in the kicker or signature/ footer of your piece, with a link to the original prompt.

Other places to submit non-prompt essays include Age of Empathy and Illumination. Feel free to tag me @ / ramyeonjpg so that I can share your piece on Twitter!

More information available here:

Poetry 🍜

Let’s not only support and read our fellow writer’s poems but also challenge them to step out of their usual writing style with poetry prompts!

You can submit under the “Poetry” and/or the “Poetry Prompt” tags.

Formatting shenanigans:

• Have you written your piece in a way that will preserve verses once published? Options include [1] tight-knit formatting using “SHIFT+ENTER” for each new line and “ENTER” for each new verse; or [2] sparse formatting using “ENTER” for each new line and page break “CTRL+ENTER”/ “CMD+ENTER” for each new verse. For a full description on this new requirement:

• Do you have a title (big T) and a subtitle (little T)? Kickers are optional, but keep them under 10 words wherever possible.
• Do you have a cover photo? Is it properly credited? Websites like Pixabay and Unsplash are my favourite stock photo websites, although adding your own photos as Amy Marley [example] and James G Brennan[example] often do add an additional personal touch that readers remember and connect to! If you include your own photo, make sure to indicate it by saying something along the lines of “photo by author”. Photos must not be AI-generated.
• Are there any grammar mistakes or typos? Using a simple app like Grammarly to help highlight these will help! I will highlight/ leave a note on any drafts where there are typos/ grammar mistakes. If they are intentional or artistic, feel free to pre-emptively leave a note in the piece.
• Are you submitting a draft or an already published piece? We prefer housing draft pieces to make sure that any new submissions get placed on the top of the reader queue, but we also welcome any published pieces that are still looking for a home!
• Have you tagged your pieces with a publication tag? Please tag your submissions under each of the following categories: poetry or shortform!
• Have you tagged your pieces with curatable and niche tags? For the other four tags, here’s a formula for a good set of tags: 2 curatable tags (see full list here) and 2 niche tags (<500 pieces within the tag)

Shortform (new!) 🥟

Nicknamed 燒賣s (after the delectable classic bite-sized dim sum: shumai), we’re now accepting shortform pieces!

We accept pieces on any topic, but here’s the twist — the content must be digestible and valuable to the average reader. Feel free to introduce readers to the depths of a niche passion or interest you have but be sure to:

• Explain the concepts at a level comprehensible at an eighth-grade reading level.
• Explain why a casual reader who is outside of the field or hobby would be interested.

What’s needed:

• Do you have a title (big T) and a subtitle (little T)? Kickers are optional, but keep them under 10 words wherever possible.
• Do you have a cover photo? Is it properly credited? Websites like Pixabay and Unsplash are my favourite stock photo websites, although adding your own photos as Amy Marley [example] and James G Brennan[example] often do add an additional personal touch that readers remember and connect to! If you include your own photo, make sure to indicate it by saying something along the lines of “photo by author”. Photos must not be AI generated.
• Bold your first sentence! Make this your main take-home point, to contextualize your further elaboration in the rest of the post.
• Keep the piece within 150 words! “Ctrl+A” or “CMD + A” should show you your current word count at the top left. So does selecting a portion of your writing.
• (Not included in the 150 words) In your signature/ author bio, amplify a) a piece from yourself and b) a piece from another writer you think deserve more attention! See “Support the Community” for the full format and story behind this new guideline.
• Are there any grammar mistakes or typos? Using a simple app like Grammarly to help highlight these will help! I will highlight/ leave a note on any drafts where there are typos/ grammar mistakes. If they are intentional or artistic, feel free to pre-emptively leave a note in the piece.
• Are you submitting a draft or an already published piece? We prefer housing draft pieces to make sure that any new submissions get placed on the top of the reader queue, but we also welcome any published pieces that are still looking for a home!
• Have you tagged your pieces with a publication tag? Please tag your submissions under this category as #shortform!
• Have you tagged your pieces with curatable and niche tags? For the other four tags, here’s a formula for a good set of tags: 2 curatable tags (see full list here) and 2 niche tags (<500 pieces within the tag)

Topics we’re looking for!

This is not an exhaustive list but perhaps a starting point for anyone interested in joining in!

Poetry: food, relationships, fictional poetry, etc.

Shortform: A new perspective on an old post, commentary on recent news, life hacks, etc. The only limit is that these have to be communicated to be relevant to the audience, as noted here.

Restrictions on topics

Sexually explicit content: This is not a publication centered around erotica. Since there may sometimes be some overlap between poetry on relationships / love that may have sensual tones, or shortform topics that discuss topics like sexual education from a health or political perspective, feel free to pitch your piece or draft and we can discuss on whether it fits the theme of the publication. If it’s erotica-centered it’ll likely do much better in an audience expecting that content with another publication.

No hateful content: Discriminatory or hateful content will not be allowed (e.g., use of slurs).

Should you be writing about this topic?

If you’re choosing to write about a marginalized community, reflect on your social location, the context, your choice of words and whether you’re speaking over the community or speaking to amplify their voices.

Reflect on whether you should be monetizing that content (think about whether you are monetizing someone else’s pain for your gain) under the MPP. Make plans to be transparent, if you are, on where that money will be going (e.g., donated to charity).

Expectations on communications with the editor

Pieces will be reviewed and published on Sunday for a weekly weekend edition.

This means that if you submit on Monday, it may take up to six days to review your piece. Saturday or even Sunday morning submissions, depending on your timezones, may seem like they’re being reviewed and published quicker. This is because rather than committing to a timeframe since submission (i.e., 24h — 48h), I’m committing a regular Sunday timeslot to edit, publish and promote!

Cordial and professional communication is expected.

Harassment will not be tolerated and will result in the removal from the publication immediately and perhaps blocked/ muted, depending on the severity of the harassment.

Private notes will be the avenue to discuss edits and submissions.

Please be sure to have notifications for private notes on so that we can communicate.

Please do not leave responses on my pieces as a means of communication (as Medium only selectively pushes notifications for responses but notifies for all private notes left).

Please do not direct message me on other social media platforms for questions specific to your piece because I likely do not have your piece handy while checking social media out and about. I can only answer more generic questions via mentions.

All private notes will be responded to within 1 week (by Saturday/Sunday).

It’s so amazing that you’re excited and wanted to follow up and I appreciate that! It’s just sometimes ironic that I actually spend more time responding to everyone’s “have you seen my piece yet” than actually reading, editing, publishing, and promoting pieces.

Please respond to private notes within 1 week.

This is significantly longer than many other publications that ask for responses within 24h to 48h and intentionally in place because I know, as writers, life can be hectic.

If you need longer than a week, please leave an update via private notes so I can make a note of it. Otherwise, your piece will be returned to you (so that it’s no longer in our workflow queue) for organizational purposes. Feel free to resubmit whenever you are ready.

Support the community!

I continually find it silly to let an algorithm dictate who we read and whose pieces are amplified. While it often brings to our attention important pieces that should be consumed, often those pieces are ones that are inflammatory or tug at your emotions, without care for the craft and message within those articles.

That’s why I wanted to take the time to build a community of writers and readers to discover other writers and pieces that the algorithm may not pick up.

This is why I’m including this new guideline so that I’m encouraging writers to not only unashamedly amplify their own past work (yes! sometimes we need to self-promote!), but also to promote others' work.

I’m encouraging all to give special thought to amplifying the voices of individuals whose voices are buried not only by the algorithm but also are systemically buried due to the “norm” that we live within.

Consider amplifying the voices of writers along any or all of these dimensions of diversity: cultural diversity, racial diversity, religious diversity, age diversity, sex/ gender diversity, sexual orientation, disability.

Example #1: minimalist

For more related readings, consider one of these two pieces:

Example #2: the one I use in my pieces

What’s your next adventure? 🌌🐰

• 🔁 hop down this rabbit hole: Kintsugi (a poem)
• 🔊 a voice to amplify: Why am I hearing less and less about Black Lives Matter? by Rebecca Stevens A.

How to sign up to be a writer

Complete this form so I make sure your response doesn’t get buried in my notifications!

Other miscellaneous notes

• As of May 27, 2021: Medium automatically adds a small note that says “Thank you to xxx for edits (hide)” if I’ve left a private note of any sort (which may include edit suggestions, or a reminder to include captions). This is not manually added by me and you can choose to hide this if you’d like.

Announcements Archive!

October 21, 2023: The Brain is a Noodle is shifting Saturday review + publication schedule to Sunday review + publication schedule. You can continue to submit any day you’d like, but pieces will be reviewed, published and promoted on Sunday.

April 7, 2023: The Brain is a Noodle will not be accepting AI-generated content.

Sep 10, 2022: Pieces will be published every Saturday/Sunday, and private notes will be returned on the same timeframe.

no edits, just a statement on my commitment to this pub to being a supportive editor (Dec 13, 2021):

edited Aug 15, 2021: removing the suggestion of tagging others in daily poetry prompt responses to tackle tag bombing, and providing context and statistics for existing tagging mechanism to be transparent about intentions.

edited Aug 2, 2021: launching the newest book club prompt series!

edits June 22, 2021: longform pieces are now being accepted if they directly respond to publication prompts!

edits June 2, 2021: the two kinds of poetry formatting that don’t get messed up by Medium’s auto-formatting

edits May 27, 2021: on automatic attributions and on plagiarism

edits April 21, 2021: This is how I support you as a writer here at TBIN!

edits April 14, 2021: Announcing the launch of #OngoingAdventure, a collaborative fiction series!

edits on Feb 4, 2021: editing back up and running, but some potential pauses!

edits on Feb 3, 2021: editing hiatus until further notice !

edits on January 21: delineating the themes allowed for shortform!

• You can still submit any theme for shortform posts, but with two key guidelines:
• [1] must be digestible to the average reader
• [2] be clear on why someone unfamiliar with your topic might be interested

edits on December 25: introducing the shortform!

• TBIN now accepts shortform articles in addition to poetry!

edits on November 29: in preparation for winter break

• only accepting poetry pieces until Jan 10, 2021
• response times will still average 24h but may take up to 72h — please hold off on private notes and check-ins until after the 72h point!