TALES FROM THE NARC SIDE — WRITER’S CALL — WRITER’S GUIDE — Turn Your Relationship Pain Into Gain!!
Have you suffered through narcissistic abuse? Did you have a toxic relationship? Write for us.
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RELATIONSHIP NIGHTMARES
We all have relationship stories. Some are good, some are bad.
And some are nightmares.
NARCISSISTS, TOXIC ABUSERS, CHEATERS, LIARS, ETC.
If you currently write about or would like to try your hand at writing about narcissism, narcissistic abuse, toxic relationships, terrible boyfriends, horrible girlfriends, cheating partners, past relationships gone wrong, someone you still can’t get over, partners who devalued or diminished you, partners who gaslit you, let you down, cheated on you or ghosted you — write for us.
WHAT CAN I SUBMIT?
The story should be about a relationship between two or more humans. The relationship can be of any variety — romantic, marital, familial, boss/worker, — and at some point, it turned toxic for you.
VICTIM/SURVIVOR STORIES
We are writing victim/survivor stories here. Stories should be raw, honest first-person accounts and have something of value for the reader — if only to serve as object lessons in what to avoid.
STAND-ALONE STORIES
They should be able to “stand alone”. For instance, an out-of-context story about a bad relationship might be interesting to you but might not make for a good read with a general audience.
WHAT WILL BE CONSIDERED
That being said, you can always submit whatever you choose. We aren’t all that into rules here (we had enough of that with our narcissists) and anything you submit will always be considered.
We are Tales From The Narc Side. You can check us out here.
Anything surrounding relationships will be considered.
ALTERNATIVE VOICES
Non-cis and non-binary voices are encouraged. We encouraged all submissions from marginalized groups and people of color. Immigrants, first or second-generation, are encouraged to submit to our publication.
BE BRAVE
We are still forming our voice here, so be brave. Anything goes as long as it’s about a relationship problem, toxic relationship or narcissism. Narcissism can be familial as well as relationship-oriented.
HOW TO APPLY TO BECOME A WRITER
SEND US AN EMAIL
EMAIL: roadsidenamaste@gmail.com
Send us an email with your name, the best email to contact you, your Medium @username, and a link to your Medium profile.
IN THE SUBJECT LINE PUT: DATE/YOUR NAME/@ username
In the body tell us why you’d like to write for us.
We will generally let you know within 48 hours. We accept most writers who apply — but then it’s up to you to write stories that will be accepted by the editors.
ONCE YOU’VE BEEN ACCEPTED AS A WRITER:
1. MEDIUM RULES
If you want to know the Medium Rules, this should help:
Please read through all the rules before you write if you haven’t done so. Follow all Medium rules and format your story as Medium recommends.
2. BOOSTED STORIES
If you want to know how to get your story boosted, this should help.
GETTING YOUR STORY BOOSTED ON MEDIUM
3. YOUR FIRST STORY
If you’ve never written before on Medium, this should help:
WRITING AND PUBLISHING YOUR FIRST STORY ON MEDIUM
4. SUBMITTING A DRAFT
If you’ve never submitted a draft before to a publication, this should help:
HOW TO SUBMIT A DRAFT TO A PUBLICATION — MEDIUM
5. LENGTH OF YOUR STORIES
There’s no limit on length but initial offerings should be 4–5 minutes in read time. Over 10 minutes probably won’t be accepted. We will accept poetry as long as it’s about relationships — it can be as little as one minute in read time.
6. PROOFREAD AND EDIT YOUR WORK
We are editors, but we aren’t going to spend a lot of time doing simple edits on your writing. Significant or substantive edits aren’t within the scope of our job. Proofread and submit a clean copy of your well-written work or it will be returned to you with a friendly suggestion to try again.
Grammarly — the browser extension — can be your best friend.
7. ART, PICS, AND OTHER SOURCES OF IMAGES
Medium has its own picture source. You’ve probably already discovered how easy it is to import a picture. As AI has become more prolific, more pics are originating through Meta, Dalle, etc. This is fine. Your AI image is legally yours in most cases. Meta has a completely free image generator at image.meta.com that creates fabulous pics of people. Dalle3 is now built-in to the paid version of ChatGPT. When you attribute, you can put “by author via…Dalle, Meta” or “By Myla Mornginstar, via Meta”. Either way works fine. I strongly encourage you to play with these new tools, especially Meta’s, as it’s completely free and a lot of fun.
8. AI GENERATED CONTENT
AI Generated pics are fine with attribution. THIS NEXT PART IS FROM MEDIUM: AI Content can still be used with attribution on Medium as long as you do not monetize any story with AI written content. You cannot place a story with AI written content behind the “paywall.” As far as Tales From The Narc Side is concerned, you can use AI for research, title ideas, story ideas, structuring your story, but not for the actual writing of your story. AI could proofread your story, but it shouldn’t be writing it. As far as Medium goes, anyone found to have placed AI Generated content behind the paywall could have their account suspended or banned by Medium. Keep that in mind. Write your own words. They’re your stories.
SUBMITTING TO TALES FROM THE NARC SIDE:
1. PUBLICATION REQUIREMENTS
Make sure you read through all the Medium regs and the publication requirements.
2. NOTIFY ME BY EMAIL
roadsidenamaste@gmail.com
Please send me an email when you submit something for publication (the Medium notification system allows things to get buried easily). In the subject line of the email put DATE/STORY SUBMISSION/TITLE/YOUR NAME
Here’s an example:
12.15.23/STORY SUBMISSION/NARCS SUCK/MYLA MORNINGSTAR
This helps me streamline the process and get to you in a timely fashion.
3. ONLY IN DRAFT FORM
Please submit only in draft form. If you have any questions about how to do this, let us know.
4. WHY ONLY DRAFTS ARE ALLOWED
LATEST RELEASE DATE
The reason we require your story to be in draft form is to ensure that your story gets the best chance to be seen and read by as many readers as possible. Medium doesn’t allow duplicate stories on the site — the story will show up in your feed and our publication’s feed but there will still only be one instance of your story. Since stories are automatically listed by date of release on Medium, you want the latest release date possible.
5. FOLLOW THE PUBLICATION
Please make sure to follow the publication if you haven’t! If you aren’t willing to support the publication by following us, why ask us to publish your story?
6. SIGN UP TO GET OUR NEWSLETTER
Please make sure you have signed up for our monthly newsletter. We send out information that is important and may affect you as a writer.
7. HAVE AN EMAIL ON FILE
All writers must have an email on file with the editors for Tales From The Narc Side. Sometimes it’s the only way to reach a writer.
8. TAGGING YOUR STORY — IT MATTERS
Always tag your story with these two tags for our publication:
narcissism AND talesfromthenarcside (all lower case and all run together — it matters).
Please select at least ONE tag from the following:
life, life lessons, love, relationships, mental health, relationships and love, love and relationships, psychology, health, relationships
Your remaining two tags are up to you, but here are some suggestions:
abuse, domestic abuse, toxic relationships, culture, women, feminism, marriage
If you tag incorrectly, I will change it for you.
These tags will make sure your story shows up in our feed. If you don’t tag your story correctly, we will correct it for you.
THE EDITING PROCESS
We will be doing edits to make sure submissions keep to the standards we’ve set for the publication. The editors will contact you by placing a private note on your submission. They will introduce themselves and explain what the process will be. You will then work with the assigned editor to make any edits they feel are necessary — through private messages left on your story. These private note notifications will show up on your Medium notifications and will be routed to the email of your Medium account.
We reserve the right to unilaterally make any changes we feel are necessary to maintain the standards of the publication.
However, we won’t usually make substantive edits without your approval. Editing is a process and very much a two-way street.
There may, however, be times that we make a judgment call and change something without your pre-approval. You have the right to withdraw your piece from our publication if you feel that any edits are unacceptable to you. It’s always your writing and you always have the right to remove it from our publication for any reason. Good communication on these issues is paramount.
We edit for spelling and grammar but please submit your piece in its final form.
The editors of this publication retain the right to change anything in a story in order to meet editorial standards. Although they generally try to work with you and notify you of major changes, this isn’t always the case and it’s not always possible. By submitting to the publication, you give the editors the right to change anything they need to change to adhere to our standards and guidelines,
SUGGESTIONS BEYOND EDITS
Editors may leave suggestions for changes that may enhance your piece. You can take these suggestions or not, if they’re labeled as such. Please be courteous and respectful to editors, and please do not delete private notes (only you and the editors can see them). Editors are instructed to leave all private notes intact, in case there is a question on them later.
Remember, editors are not paid, they volunteer their time and energy. We will do our best to get your story published within 24 hours of its submission.
PUBLICATION SCHEDULE
We publish twice daily, once between 7 am-9 am PST, and again between 3-pm and 5 pm PST. Therefore, if you don’t get your story in before 2 PM PST, it probably won’t be published until the next day.
THANKS AND WELCOME
Thanks so much and welcome to Tales From The Narc Side! Myla
IF YOU DON’T WANT TO WRITE, PLEASE FOLLOW US:
WELCOME TO TALES FROM THE NARC SIDE!!
CONTACT ME:
To contact Myla Morningstar directly email me at or roadsidenamaste@gmail.com
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