Guidelines

Submissions DOs:

  • Listen to our podcast so you know what kinds of stories we’re looking for. Here are some episodes we love. Click to listen: Episode 144: When Is a Gift More Than a Gift? Episode 142: Beginnings and Endings. Episode 139: This is What Mania Looks Like.

  • Submit your story in a Word document attached to your email pitch to info@writingclassradio.com

  • In your email pitch, tell us in two sentences what your story is about.

  • Write Submission in the subject line of your email.

  • Send a story that is 1,000 words or fewer. (A story only you can tell)

  • Use Times New Roman, 12 point font, and double space.

  • Put your name and word count at the top of your story.

  • Title the story.

  • Send us a true story that has NOT been previously published. (We no longer accept previously published essays.)

  • Write a story about YOU.

  • Write about something eventful, the kind of thing that happened where you rushed home to tell someone. But it’s not just enough to have a remarkable situation; your submission should also be a story, which means, you have to find meaning to the thing that happened.

  • Write about something different. Don’t tell us the story about how your lover cheated on you. Tell us about how you were the cheater.

  • Be vulnerable. Be evil. Be real. Sometimes the main character is the villain.

  • Take us inside a world we don’t know or haven’t seen.

  • Be yourself. Let us hear your voice in the piece. Show us your personality—sarcastic, sweet, jerk. However you are in your story, own it.

  • Be casual. Writing Class Radio is not a reading, it’s storytelling. Tell the story the way you would tell it to a friend.

  • Figure out what your story is about. Are there stakes? Why do we care?

  • Read Media Release (attached at bottom). Your submission is confirmation that you accept the terms of the media release.


Submission DON’Ts:


  • Don’t send us your first draft, or your fifth. Make sure you’ve read and re-read your story, given it to a friend to read, then made sure you know what your story is about.

  • Don’t send us a pitch. We only accept full stories.

  • Don’t sweat the grammar. Still, do a spell and grammar check prior to sending. We judge submissions based on the quality of the story, more than the quality of the grammar.

  • Don’t be overly literary. Storytelling is a humble art. Of course, a good story will have metaphors and lyrical writing, but remember that people will be listening to your story out loud, not reading it. Subtlety does not work out loud as well as it does on the page. The ear can only retain so much information, and you want to be clear so the audience can follow your story.

  • Don’t write too broadly. Less is more. You only have 1,000 words (less is more). Zeroing in on a moment can help focus your story.

  • Don’t write a rant! We want stories, not political commentary.

  • Don’t send an excerpt from your book. EVEN if your book is a memoir.

  • Don’t send us a previously published essay. Your essay MUST be original and never published even on your blog or social.

  • Don’t send us a link to your essay, multiple essays, or website.

  • Don’t send us an anecdote (this crazy thing happened to me). You need to bring meaning to the situation and show a change in the narrator.

Of course, the best way to get a sense of the kinds of stories we look for is to hear the stories for yourself. Listen to our podcast.


*We DO NOT air previously published stories.

Storytellers on the podcast will receive $100 for an original essay.

 

MEDIA RELEASE

Upon submitting your essay for consideration, it is assumed you agree to the below media release unless otherwise specified.

 
 

Everyone has a story. What's yours?