Write for Modern Poetics

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Modern Poetics wants to help writers understand the nuts and bolts behind good stories. No fluff on the artist’s mindset, it’s all about the mechanics.

But that takes a lot of analytical thinking, reading, and the will to learn. If you’re into that, we need you!

Topics we’re looking for:

You can already find fantastic publications on writing with a broad spectrum, so here at Modern Poetics, we want to stick to the hard rules of rhetoric, poetics, and storytelling.

We’re looking for concrete advice for writers based on rules and examples. Think, “Why is it written like that?” not “How is it written?”.

Topics include:

• Examples of rhetorical devices out in the wild: We don’t need another definition of a metaphor. But if you found one in your favorite novel and want to take it apart, you’re in the right place. We’d appreciate you backing your analysis up with sources from rhetoric or poetics to provide further reading, if possible. However, we know that Quintilian didn’t explain Breaking Bad’s finale. So if you want to bring those two together, go for it.
• Mimetic poetics: We prefer stories based on solid research, but we also want to make it fun. So feel free to sprinkle your own fairy dust on a story, as long as it supports the message. Adding your own poetry to an article is acceptable, as long as you add an analytical part. Write an abecedarium about abecedaria. Analyze an allusive alliteration. Try to explain the use of an ellipsis through…
• Scene analyses: From dialogue explanations to scene beats and character motivation — any breakdown of a well-written scene is welcome. Whether you dissect War and Peace scene by scene or compare Game of Thrones to Beowulf, help other writers to understand what makes a story work.
• Technical influences on storytelling: Good writers always observe the market, so we don’t want to be oblivious to those changes, but repeating the new features of some platform won’t cut it. To give you an example: We’re not interested in recent algorithm changes or updates to the Kindle format alone, but if you can explain how a technical change (like a new platform) will influence future writers and storytellers, we’re fascinated!
• New takes on given genres: Literary genres, formats, and media are always evolving. We want to help other writers understand them. Therefore, all stories must be based on examples or research. Want to rant about the decline of the crime novel? — Sorry! Found a modern approach to the haiku? — Now we’re talking!
• Coming up with ideas: This is a tough one. If you can describe how you went from your first idea to the finished product, go ahead and submit your story. Stories on keeping a notebook handy or going for an inspirational walk will probably be rejected.
• Grammar: Since grammar can have a significant influence on scene structure or characterization, this is a gray area, as well. As long as your take on grammar relates to plot, rhetorics, or storytelling, we’d love to hear from you! But there are better places to publish your take on common typos.

In all those cases, your quotes shouldn’t make up more than 20–30 % of the entire story. So please don’t submit a gigantic quote from a movie scene with two lines from yourself.

Where we draw the line:

• Mindset pieces: We get it, mindset is essential. But unless you can explain how mindset relates to writing style or plot decisions, that’s not for us. The same goes for pieces on word count or productivity.
• Writing apps, software, writing gear: Yes, we all use tools to improve our writing. But unless your app helped you realize a common plotting mistake — again, not our jam.
• Interviews: Since most interviews don’t focus on writing techniques or plotting alone, we don’t accept interview transcripts at this moment.
• Stories on your own fiction: If you write fiction as well as non-fiction, you could write a listicle on a type of protagonist or metaphor and include yourself. But please refrain from explaining just your own work.

We prefer locked content. Medium gives you the option to publish content behind the paywall. That way, it is reviewed by Medium’s curators and hopefully delivered to a broader audience through curation. Also, you, as a writer, can earn from your hard research through Medium’s Partner Program.

Before submission

Make sure you comply with all the rules mentioned below before you submit a story to Modern Poetics.

If you repeatedly ignore the submission guidelines, you will be removed as a writer.

1. Medium Rules: Obviously, your story should follow Medium’s Rules, Content Guidelines, Curation Guidelines, and Ad-Free Policy first. We want to ensure your story gets in front of as many eyeballs as possible. So it’s in your best interest to play by those rules, anyway.
2. Complete profile: Before you submit, please make sure you have filled in the most basic information on your profile. It’s okay if you decide to write under a pen name, but we won’t accept contributions from SmartyPants0815.
3. Unpublished drafts only: If you have recently imported your blog post to Medium (and haven’t published it here, yet), you’re welcome to submit it. However, if you’ve already published it, please don’t delete it to submit it afterward. The only option for you that wouldn’t violate Medium’s rule against duplicate content at that point would be to add it to the publication after substantive revising.
4. Titles: All stories must have a descriptive title, preferably a subtitle, as well. This is not the right place to go obscure or poetic. Readers should know what to expect when they read your headline. If you’re uncertain about your headline, give CoSchedule’s headline analyzer a shot.
5. Clear takeaway: Every reader should walk away from your story with a rule, an incentive, or a recipe that can be applied right away. Personal opinions are welcome, but shouldn’t dominate your story. Remember to deliver first.
6. Images: All images should be adequately formatted and referenced. All submissions must contain a cover image that you either have the rights to or that is licensed under CC. We recommend the image feature integrated into Medium’s editor that allows you to source images from Unsplash. Please don’t use more than two images or a plethora of GIFs to illustrate your point.
7. References: If you quote a lot of studies or guides (which we appreciate!), you can either use brackets or footnotes within the story. Make sure to include a section for sources and references at the end.
8. Calls-to-action: We will not accept submissions that focus exclusively on promoting a blog, newsletter, or product. Stories requesting claps or asking for any sort of payment or following will immediately be rejected. We encourage you to include your author bio or a text link at the bottom of the story. Please don’t embed more than two links to stories outside of Modern Poetics.
9. Grammar: Submissions must be free of grammatical and typographical errors. Each story should also be stylistically coherent. Since we respect you as an author, we cannot revise and correct your work. Please make sure your work is finished when you submit.

Formatting

We want to make sure that readers of Modern Poetics find a consistent reading experience. Therefore, all submissions must follow our style guide before submission.

• Titles must be formatted in title case. If you include a subtitle, it should be written in sentence case. Try Capitalize My Title if you struggle with the format. Please use Medium’s own title and subtitle feature to format your headlines.
• You should only use Medium’s quote feature when you’re actually quoting something, not to emphasize a point within your own story.
• Submissions with a kicker will be rejected. The same rule applies to stories that include links within the title or subtitle or unnecessary profanity.
• Since most submissions should be in-depth analyses, we encourage you to split them into sections and use sections headings in sentence case. Please refrain from using headings to emphasize a quote or an argument. You should use only one heading size. If you decide to use both title options for your sub-headings, make sure your headings aline with your story’s outline. Stories that contain the smaller heading option before the large one or unnecessary sub-headings will be rejected.
• Drop caps are not allowed in any submission.

How to submit your story

Once you’re done, you can submit your finished story through this form.

Each request will be handled manually, so it might take a couple of days until you hear from us. Once you’re accepted as a writer, we’ll leave a note to let you know when your story will be published so that you can coordinate it with your own editorial calendar.

If you don’t hear back from us within a week, please assume that we kindly passed on your submission this time. We’ll make sure to leave you some feedback (if possible), so we hope you come back and try again.

We look forward to your work!