avatarJay C Wells

Summary

The Fiction Writer’s Den (TFWD) has updated its submission guidelines to streamline the editing process, clarify rules, and maintain a high standard for its diverse range of fiction content.

Abstract

The Fiction Writer’s Den, a publication born from the merger of Creative Writing 101 and Web Novel Reviews, has seen significant growth since its inception in April 2023. With an influx of submissions and new writers, the volunteer editorial team has introduced updated guidelines to manage the volume of work more effectively. These guidelines include specifications on content types, lengths, and formatting, as well as a strict adherence to Medium's rules and a zero-tolerance policy for inappropriate behavior towards editors. The guidelines aim to ensure that all contributions are in line with TFWD's standards and readership expectations, while also providing a supportive environment for writers to develop their craft.

Opinions

  • The editorial team values the contributions and enthusiasm of the writers and readers, expressing gratitude for the community's growth.
  • The editors emphasize the importance of following the updated guidelines due to the high volume of submissions and the need to maintain the quality of the publication.
  • There is a positive outlook on the recent changes, including the addition of Heather R. Parker to the editing team, which has brought new energy to the publication.
  • The guidelines reflect a commitment to a broad readership by excluding NSFW content and ensuring that all stories comply with Medium's rules.
  • The editors expect high-quality standards for longer pieces and encourage thorough self-editing before submission.
  • The publication supports community engagement and encourages authors to use specific tags to categorize their work effectively.
  • Authors are reminded to respect the volunteer work of the editors, with a clear message that rude or inappropriate behavior will not be tolerated.
  • The guidelines are designed to foster a collaborative editing process, with feedback provided within 72 hours and a structured approach to resolving editorial comments.
  • The publication prioritizes the even spread of story publications throughout the week to maximize views and engagement.
  • Authors are encouraged to join TFWD by demonstrating they have read and understood the submission guidelines.
  • The editors acknowledge the potential for rejection to be disheartening but stress that it is often not a reflection of the writer's ability.

CREATIVE WRITING | SUBMISSION GUIDELINES | AUTHOR SKILLS

The Fiction Writer’s Den — Updated Submission Guidelines

How to contribute to TFWD

“No, I didn’t write this update on a typewriter, but it took me almost as long.” Photo by Markus Winkler on Unsplash

Dear contributors and readers,

The Fiction Writers Den was born from a merger of two pubs — Creative Writing 101 and Web Novel Reviews — in April 2023. The pub’s journey since that fateful day has blown our minds!

The interest in our pub is enormous, and we received many outstanding contributions. Thanks to everyone who enriched our journey! We are currently working on a few upgrades for our pub.

As we are all volunteers, the growing number of submissions and new writers demands much of our time, which also caused changes among the editors. The fantastic Heather R. Parker joined JF Danskin and Jay C Wells (Yes, that’s me) as an editor. Her positive energy and enthusiasm are bliss for our pub.

In the end, the changes affected our editing processes and, as many of you probably noticed, the speed with which new writers were added to TFWD. We aim to streamline our process with our new submission guidelines, clarify our rules, and address some “hiccups” we encountered.

Guidelines for authors

Please read the updated guidelines carefully. Because of the many submissions we receive every week, we will have to reject stories that don’t comply by simply suggesting to “reread the guidelines” in many cases.

Screenshot by the author

What we accept

  1. We host fiction!
  2. Drabbles, short stories, multi-part fiction and web novels are welcome. We accept original, unpublished stories from almost all genres of fiction. A few exceptions are mentioned under “What we don’t accept”.
  3. We welcome stories about fiction writing as a craft (writing prompts, reviews, guidance, and writers’ lifts).
  4. We also host ‘Choose Your Own’ fiction stories. These have their own particular style, so please look at the story below in combination with these general guidelines:

What we don’t accept

  1. Except for the themes mentioned in #3 above, we won’t accept non-fiction, e.g. stories about earning on Medium. We only host new stories and will have to decline if you submit work previously published on Medium.
  2. TFWD aims for a broader readership. Therefore, we exclude so-called NSFW (unsuitable for work) content, like erotica and gory horror. We understand that some stories need a little spice, but if yours includes graphic sexual acts or violence, it is better to publish it elsewhere.
  3. Ask an editor if you need more clarification. You can also always add a content warning.
  4. Your stories must comply with Medium’s rules. Submitting blatant hate speech will result in your immediate removal as a writer.
  5. Please understand that we retain the right to rule what we deem appropriate for our pub.
  6. We will reject your story if it is riddled with mistakes that could have been easily picked up with a spellchecking tool like Grammarly. Always remember that punctuation can save lives:

When do we eat grandma? — vs — When do we eat, grandma?

Length of stories

  1. Usually, 3–7 minutes of read-time stories do best on Medium.
  2. If you are (relatively) new to The Fiction Writers Den, we ask you to stick to stories in line with №1. Once we get to know each other, we can discuss submitting longer stories.
  3. Be aware, please, that we’ll expect high-quality standards for longer pieces and that you self-edit thoroughly before submitting. The longer the story, the more work it is to edit for us … and to revise for you.
  4. Consider breaking longer works into two or more parts. (Also, see below)

Multi-part works

  1. Please send us an excerpt for web novels and other serial fiction to submissions[at]thefictionwritersden.eu [Please remember to add the @ symbol yourself]. We’d like to know your intentions, e.g. how long will the story be? In how many chapters do you plan to split it?
  2. The above guideline also applies to starting new CYOA story arcs.
  3. Will any later instalments include problematic content? Please approach us early. We reserve the right to reject later chapters if they violate our rules.
  4. If you publish a multi-part or serial fiction story with us, we will assign a dedicated editor to guide your story from start to finish.

Tags

  1. Use at least one of the tags: short story, serial fiction, drabble, writing tips, writing prompts, or community. The tag writing tips covers all articles about writing craft and the ‘how to’ of creative writing, while the community tag focuses on writers’ lifts and similar community-oriented stories.

Headline, subhead, kicker

  1. Headlines should be in title case.
  2. You must include a subheading, which should be in sentence case.
  3. You can use Medium’s kicker feature as you see fit.

Photo

  1. Use a featured image after your subheading.
  2. Ensure the source is attributed, or use Unsplash’s automatic attribution.
  3. Add ‘alt text’ to the picture.
  4. You can include images and gifs in your stories, but again, attribute them.

CTA/footer

  1. You are welcome to add some text at the end of your article, such as a ‘call to action’, a Ko-Fi link, a link to subscribe to your emails, etc.
  2. Keep your footer moderately short.

The editing/publishing process

  1. The editing team aims to give feedback on your story within 72 hours.
  2. Please make sure you react to feedback or resolve issues pointed out by your editor via notes. We cannot publish your story if you don’t. Private notes can get lost in the notifications and won't show if you check on your mobile. Sometimes, checking your draft to see if you missed a comment makes sense (and don’t delete notes until we’ve had a chance to see them!).
  3. Once you see the first notification that an editor commented on your story, please do not immediately open it. You will reset their work if you answer a comment or change your story while your editor is still active. That costs your editor an incredible amount of time and nerves.
  4. When an editor is assigned to a story, they will write a private note, introducing themselves and asking you for your patience. Your editor will write a final private note beginning with “DONE!” followed by information on your publishing time or the request to see their comments.
  5. We publish a maximum of four stories daily spread over the following time slots: 21:00 EST/EDT (02:00 BST); 3:00 EST/EDT (08:00 BST); 9:00 EST/EDT (14:00 BST); 15:00 EST/EDT (20:00 BST).
  6. We prioritise spreading stories evenly throughout the week to maximise TFWD’s views, but you are very welcome to indicate a preferred time/date of publication using a private note. We’ll try to accommodate.
  7. As submissions are rising now, we might be able to publish a maximum of one or two chapters of a multi-part or serial fiction weekly in future.

How to join?

  1. Comment on this story and tell us you want to join.
  2. Consider adding info about what you intend to publish with us.
  3. We like to know you read the rules, so please add the first word of every bullet point №1.

Last but not least. Please respect your editors!

  1. We sacrifice our free time to run this pub and help bring your stories out there. That’s time we could spend with our families, our own writing, or a thousand other things.
  2. Helping fiction writers grow and get the most out of their writing is important to us, and so is a high-quality standard.
  3. If we comment on your draft or ask for changes, please take some time to consider them, even if you don’t like or understand them at first. Take a coffee or tea break before you reply if we caused your heart to race or your blood to boil.
  4. We are open to dialogue but will not tolerate rude replies, insults, or trash-talking editors in private notes or publicly. This can, and probably will, get you removed as a writer. We will report inappropriate behaviour to Medium.
  5. In the end, please accept that we retain the right to rule what we deem appropriate for our pub.

“Rejection might sting, but my feeling is that often, it has very little to do with you.” — Robert De Niro

Are you glad you finally reached the end of this long list of rules? If you still like us, consider helping TFWD on Ko-fi. The money will fund our web domain and other expenses for the pub.

The Fiction Writers Den
Submission Guidelines
Creative Writing
Write For Us
Publication
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