How to become a writer for Hinged.press
Hinged Submission Guidelines
Publishing the most popular creative writing challenges on Medium
Hinged.press was created to challenge and showcase creative writers and their stories, while offering a network of support and encouragement for writers at every level of development.
Here’s how it works
Each week, prior to publishing our new edition on Saturday, we’ll release a new writing prompt.
The premise is simple but challenging
Use the prompt and your best creative storytelling wiles to spin a story where the prompt/object is sufficiently integrated in your story or poem. Use the prompt as a key plot device to move your story along, or build the central theme around it. Whatever you decide, the prompt must be so well imbedded that to remove it would render your story incomplete. This is the crux of our creative writing exercise.
How do I know if I’ve met the writing challenge?
A good litmus test would be to ask yourself, “If I remove the prompt object, does my story fall apart?”
Sounds fun! I want in. What do I need to do to write for Hinged?
To write for Hinged, first time writers must email us at: hinged.press@gmail.com
In the subject line write: “HINGED WRITER REQUEST”
1. Write your story for the current prompt and include the link to your finished draft in the email so we may review it. You will only email us your first draft. After acceptance you’ll submit through Medium directly to the publication.
2. Include the link to your Medium profile.
3. Upon notification you’ve been added as a writer, submit your unlocked draft story to be included in the upcoming edition.
***Please make sure you have turned on the private notes function on your profile as we’ll communicate any edits or suggestions about your piece this way.***
Now that you’ve been added as a contributing writer for Hinged
As a contributing writer, you may submit one unmetered story set for All Medium Members for each prompt.
After we publish FIVE unmetered stories, you will be invited to meter your submissions from that point on.
However, if you would also like to become a Patron Writer of Hinged.press and leverage the Hinged.press brand and its ever growing audience to earn money for your stories right away, please visit our Patreon page linked above.
We invite you to consider becoming a patron of our publication right away. Patrons may meter their accepted stories as they see fit.
Whatever you decide, we’re thrilled to have you as a contributing writer here at Hinged.press in whatever capacity fits your needs and we wish you abundant success in your writing goals!
How Will My Story Be Evaluated For Publishing?
- The prompt must feature prominently in your story. The challenge is to engage, incorporate and utilize the prompt in an imaginative and creative way. Think of writing a story that would not be the same story if you removed the prompt object.
- Submit your story with ONE image at the very top or just below the title line. Story titles must be properly capitalized ~see reference here for further guidance on titling your story.
- You have 5 tags available to you. Please use the tags: Hinged, and the prompt number. The last three tags are yours to choose.
- Preferred Stories are typically short fiction or poetry typically no longer than 10 minutes reading time, but may also be any genre of writing.
- Story submissions must be previously unpublished and submitted in DRAFT form.
- Stories published in Hinged should not appear in any other Medium publication.
- Deadline: Stories must be submitted by midnight (Central Standard Time in the United States) on Thursdays to be eligible for publishing in Hinged on Saturday morning. We know 6 days is not a lot of time, but that’s part of the writing challenge.
- A Note on Editing: We will not accept story submissions in need of excessive editing. We ask all writers to be diligent in proofreading your work and ensuring it is ready for publishing according to the guidelines once submitted.
- All stories submitted to Hinged remain in our publication; thus, spending some time pillaging the back editions will unearth some real jewels and it’ll give you an idea of the type of stories we look for and our readers enjoy!
An update to these rules.
While we editors are only human, and we might not ourselves pass the Turing Test, we do have to address the elephant on the internet that is AI.
Hinged is about getting writers to express themselves and improve their skills. We do not want AI submissions. We will not accept any submission we can determine to be AI.
We are thrilled to see Hinged.press continue to grow and become home to some of the most inspired, creative writing on Medium. Thank you for your enthusiastic support and participation. Contact us at hinged.press@gmail.com
Your Humble & Dedicated Editors
*Last Revised: 10/31/22
