Fiction | Writing | Submission Guidelines | Fascinate Me Fiction
Submission Guidelines — Write for FMF
There’s only one way in: Fascinate me with your best stories!
LAST UPDATED: July 18, 2024
Editor’s Note: Thank you all for your interest in writing for Fascinate Me Fiction. For you, this article is the essential key to unlocking membership into our little publication. Reading in full is a must so you are able to follow any instructions within. Stories written without respect to the guidelines will be rejected.
Another Note: Improvements at Fascinate Me Fiction are ongoing, and any changes to this article will reflect that. Come back periodically to check for changes. For quick reference, if I make significant updates I will change the picture under the title and the date it was updated.
Carry on!
Don’t you just love coming to the end of a good short story, with an ending so satisfying and evocative, you gaze off into the great unknown for hours wondering how indeed the universe can be so endless and full of amazing things?
These are the stories I aspire to write, and these are the stories I love to read.
This is my invitation to Medium’s fiction writers looking for a new challenge, and all new writers who have a story to tell. This is the publication for you.
So without further ado, here are the submission rules, guidelines, and how to be added as an author:
Please read carefully and completely.
Story Length
Fascinate me with flash fiction and short stories! I’m not picky on length.
I accept 100-word drabbles up to around 2500 words. If you’re not sure your story is an appropriate length, submit it anyway. Write enough to finish your story and get your intentions across intelligibly. Length is a secondary concern.
Some advice though: a 3–7 min read time per story, between 600–1800 words, seems to pick up a more consistent readership on Medium. This is a rough parameter, and currently I have an 11 minute story (a little over 2600 words) on the pub that is doing better than most of my other stories I’ve written, so take that (and any) advice with a grain of salt. There are always exceptions.
If your story exceeds the mentioned word counts, ask yourself: would this idea be better as a series? Read below under The Basics for more information on what we do with a series here. Again if you aren’t sure, just submit your story. I’ll advise if I think it would work better on the pub as more than one story.
Genre and Subject Matter
It’s in the title: FMF is open to many sub-categories of genre, but FICTION only. Many flavors of fictional stories will be accepted.
However, I personally prefer to read: speculative and sci-fi, historical, mystery, fantasy, horror, insightful literary fiction and genre mashups.
That being said, it’s really about the way the story is presented: cleverly, with a fascinating edge. That could mean a lot of different things: Weird twist? Ambiguous ending? Unconventional plot device? Play with your sense of creativity. Try to surprise me.
I manage this publication for fun, so make it fun for me.
Bottom line: if I enjoy reading your story, I will accept it.
Using Story Prompts
Your story’s subject matter is whatever you want it to be. Fascinate Me Fiction posts monthly prompts, but by no means do you have to follow them. Or you can follow someone else’s prompts. Get inspired somehow and write.
If you do follow prompts (FMF’s or someone else’s), please tag or include a link to the prompt page at the end of your story. Just copy and paste the prompt page URL to the bottom of your story, then press ENTER.
This is important because it helps spread publication visibility.
The Basics
1. Submissions must be a work of short fiction.
For best results, aim for a 3–7 minute read time per story.
2. New stories will be featured on the home page after acceptance.
3. Submit all stories as a draft, preferably.
However, works that have already been published to your own page are fine, as long as they haven’t been published in another Medium publication.
4. Proofread!
Mistakes happen, but don’t be lazy. As editor of the pub, I reserve the right to make minor adjustments to your story, but please make an effort to get spelling and grammar — especially any inconsistent tense issues — fixed before submitting to FMF.
5. Include Title, Subheading, and Picture.
I will decline a story for not including the Big 3: Title, Subheading, and Picture. Kickers are nice, but optional.
Sometimes I add kickers during special occasions, like for a contest or other writing event. However, if you have already added a kicker, I will leave it alone or I will private note you first if I need to modify it.
- Please follow Medium’s citation rules for pictures.
- Subheadings can be simple and to the point — like “Short Story” or “A Work of Fiction” if you can’t think of anything more specific. Read others’ stories for ideas. It might seem meaningless, but it does help with visibility for your story and the publication.
- If you have further questions about Title, Subheadings, and Kickers, read this extremely helpful article I found when I had questions about this topic:
7. Story Tags/Topics
- Story tags are not optional. Make sure to include the tags Fiction and Fascinate Me Fiction, as well as any other tags relevant to the genre and subject matter of your story.
- Use ALL 5 topic tags available to you. Two of them are already decided, so the other three should be genre tags or descriptors. This improves visibility — for you and for us!
- Sometimes we use special tags for different areas of the pub. Keep an eye out for that. For example, be sure to include 10-minute flash fiction as your tag, if you write a 10-minute flash fiction story. It will not show up in the correct spot of the pub otherwise.
Was Ist Verboten?
There’s a little Deutsch for you. Fun fact about me: I’m a decade-long student of German, and I like to practice sometimes.
Any stories containing anything listed below will not be accepted. Writers who repeatedly break these rules will no longer be FMF writers.
- Hate speech — You know, like racial slurs, misogyny, or any other divisive language. No references to American politics or international conflicts. No religious — or anti-religious — diatribes.
- Violence — Fight scenes are okay, but be tactful. No graphic descriptions of blood and gore. Absolutely no sexual violence. We’re all here to have fun, not be traumatized.
- Graphic sexual content — Elements of sexiness, sensuality, or subtle suggestive content is totally fine. If some sexy content is a crucial plot device to your story, I’ll be more lenient during review. Be tactful: FMF is not the home for explicit erotica or smut. I reserve the right to decide where the line is.
- Child abuse — Duh. Who wants to read that?
- Excessive links —Limit one or two links that will take people to your own profile or another place where you write things, and limit to your own writing endeavors. You can include a relevant call to action, and please paste it to the bottom of your story. Do not plug other publications and do not use affiliate links or try to sell to readers.
Special FMF Stuff
Serial works are good
- In addition to being featured on the home page, Fascinate Me Fiction hosts a special area just for serials! Stories identified as a series (so at least two installments in existence) will be manually gathered together under the tab Find a Series. Series will be labeled ongoing or completed. If your series is complete, just let me know. Read more under Communications below about contacting the editor.
- Installments can only be included within the tabbed section if they were published on Fascinate Me Fiction. However, if you started a series somewhere else (like I did with this one), it’s fine to link the previous installment inside your latest story.
- Including your series in the tab is optional. I just think it makes it easier for our audience to find what they want to read, and it’s a good feeling to see all your stories together like that. Anthologizing your work in a dedicated list on your profile is another great way to keep your stories together. You can link that series list in all your subsequent stories.
Contests
We have contests sometimes. Each contest has its own set of rules. Make sure you read those rules thoroughly before submitting to a contest. We have a dedicated tab on the homepage if you want to know whether we’re in a contest submission period.
10-Minute Flash Fiction
Another dedicated tab situation. There is an article discussing 10-Minute Flash Fiction, so if you’re interested in learning more about what I’m talking about, read that.
The main thing I want you to be aware of if you’re participating in 10-Minute Flash Fiction is that you MUST use the topic 10-Minute Flash Fiction as a story tag. Otherwise it will not make it to the correct section. It’s also the signal for me — the editor — that you intend for your story to be classified as such.
Communications
Communication flows both directions here, and is essential to a creative space like this one.
1. Follow Fascinate Me Fiction
If you’re a writer here, why would you not want to follow?
2. Comment Here
Questions? Suggestions? Of any kind, for any reason? Comment on this article.
3. News and Updates
I will notify my writers about changes and happenings when things change or happen within FMF by posting articles in a dedicated section at the top of the homepage. If you see a new one, please read it.
My updates might not always be the most important, but they are always relevant to FMF. To stay in-the-know, read the updates. Thanks!
It is my express desire to not be annoying, so if news and updates ever get to that point, please leave me a comment telling me so under a news and updates post that I wrote.
4. Allow Private Notes
This is a box you tick in your personal settings (Settings> Publishing> just under Manage Publications at the top of the screen) and the quickest, easiest way for an editor to communicate with writers.
I will use private notes if I see an issue with your writing when I don’t think it’s ethical for me to just change it myself, to give suggestions, or to communicate a reason why your story was not accepted.
Similarly, you can leave me — the editor — notes on your own work, if you have a question or concern. You can also leave me private notes on my published work as well. When you highlight a word or sentence in someone’s story, if they have private notes turned on, you can click the icon that features a text bubble with a lock in the middle to leave a note.
Notes can only be seen by the writer of the note and the receiver. Notes can also be seen during the submission process by all editors involved. Right now, I’m the only FMF editor, though. You can dismiss them at any time (but please don’t dismiss until your story has been published or rejected).
5. Discord
Fascinate Me Fiction now has a Discord server! If you want to join, just read the article below to find out how.
Opening a Discord server was an FMF writers’ suggestion. There we can chat casually, ask and answer questions, and promote new ideas. After you become a writer, stop on in and introduce yourself! Come help plan the future of FMF.
To be added as an author, just comment on this article with “I promise to fascinate you”, include your URL tag (your @name), and follow Fascinate Me Fiction.
I can’t wait to be fascinated by your stories!
Fascinate Me Fiction is a Medium publication created and edited by me, Meghan E. Gattignolo. For more, follow me on Medium, as well as this pub. I also write for The Customs House Museum & Cultural Center, and you can find me on X and Instagram as Meggiebeth_Writes.
