Write With Us!

“It is only by writing, not dreaming about it, that we develop our own style.” — P.D. James

If you are interested in submitting to Five-Minute Fiction, you are in the right place.

I originally created this publication as a sort of literary sandbox, where I could work on brevity — making my work shorter and more concise. Since then, I’ve decided to think more about my voice and audience than trying to write a certain way (style and/or form).

Rule #1 — Submissions don’t have to be five minutes or less.

Medium gauges the read time by using the adult average of 265 WPM, meaning “five-minute” fiction would top out at 1325 words. Delivering an impactful story inside of 1325 words is quite difficult, and something I haven’t quite sorted out yet.

Rule #2 — Put your best foot forward and submit quality work.

Maybe some folks don’t know this, but the days of publication editors being paid are behind us. And even then, it was a select few of large, sponsored pubs that had professional editorial staff. The rest of Medium pubs are generally the pet projects of (sometimes) similarly competent people.

Show everyone’s time the same value and respect you place on your own, and ensure your submissions are free of typos, common grammatical errors, and careless mistakes.

Rule #3 — The only other rules are those set forth by Medium.

If you don’t already follow the official Medium account, I suggest it. They don’t post every day, so when they do it is often important information.

For those of you who scroll to the bottom and check “Accept & Continue” without reading the stuff, Medium has done a pretty good job breaking their terms & conditions contract (which we all signed when we created accounts here) into blog posts.

The “Medium Rules” article lays out the section of Medium’s terms of service that pertains to what is allowed in your content.

If Medium is cool with it, I’m cool with it.

A Word About Genre and Quality

Beyond an earnest attempt to write a good story, I don’t care what genre of fiction you send. Make it coherent and arrive at some kind of conclusion, preferably with a twist or a nod back to something foreshadowed in the beginning.

What matters is that you share it at all.

Just remember Medium’s guidelines for erotica — basically, don’t send any pornlit to the publication. Like all things, porn literature has a time and place, the latter of which is not here.

We run a classy joint, ya see?

A few categories that are especially well-suited to short-form fiction:

• Flash fiction (of course)
• Fan-fiction
• Essays & Fictional memoirs
• Series (multi-part stories and longform fiction)
• Graphic novels (simply include your own art between blocks of text)

Personally, I enjoy reading life-experience anecdotes that highlight the comparisons and contrasts between people. Socially, culturally, racially, spiritually — whatever. There are so many levels and layers to individual people, arranged into a beautiful kaleidoscope arrangement of nuance from person to person.

On Acceptance and Rejection to the Publication

Currently, all Medium members requesting to be writers for Five-Minute Fiction will be accepted, giving them access to submit drafts for review.

Given that right now, the publication needs to publish content on a regular basis in order to attract followers, virtually any submission that complies with Medium’s rules will be published.

As the following increases, the need for quality control will necessarily increase. Editorial assistance is provided by volunteers, myself included, and can be made available on an as-needed basis (use the comment tool on your draft).

If your work is submitted clean and ready for print on a regular basis, I don’t mind extending editing privileges. This enables you to publish when you’re ready, as well as work on or approve any work waiting in the hopper. As things grow, this rule will also require amendment, of course.

I’m really excited to finally put some time into FMF and work with storytellers from all walks of life.

So, if you’re interested — click follow and leave a comment with your Medium user tag (@danielfincher), and you will be added to the publication as a writer.

Submit your finished drafts to Five-Minute Fiction and enjoy the prestige of being a published author.

Bring us your daydreams.

Bring us your memories.

Bring us your stories.

Help bring fiction alive on Medium. Follow us, write with us, and share the sign-up link with your fiction-loving friends.