How to Write for Divided
What we publish and how to become a writer
At Divided, we love welcoming new writers with diverse viewpoints and exciting content. If you have an area of expertise or just a new way of looking at something, chances are we’d love to have you. For simplicity, we’ve broken this page down into what we publish, what we won’t accept, how to increase the chances of getting your piece accepted, and how to become a writer.
What we love
It’s in the name; we publish pieces that highlight a divided view point. This can be in a variety of different topics. For example:
- scientific advancements
- lifestyle
- food combinations
- morality
- unsolved mysteries
- and more!
How you go about describing your controversy is up to you, but there are two things you should keep in mind. First of all you DON’T need to have a conclusion that picks the “right” side. If you want to include your viewpoint, go ahead, just remember that at Divided we are giving the audience information to form their own opinions and NOT telling them what to think. Second, we prefer pieces that cite their sources. This isn’t always necessary, depending on your writing style or the topic you’ve chosen. But if you mention scientific studies or talk about information that isn’t common knowledge, we’d highly recommend it. This has the added benefit of letting readers learn more and do their own research if they want to.
What we won’t accept
There are some pieces that just don’t fit our publication.
- Anything that DOESN’T have a split argument (If the topic isn’t divided, it doesn’t belong in Divided)
- Content that persuades the reader into believing or thinking a certain way
- Fiction (poetry, short stories etc.)
- Hateful, bigoted, or derogatory content
The last one is especially important. A publication full of controversial arguments is obviously at risk of causing harm. Please keep this in mind when writing your pieces and avoid judging or condemning the views of others. A fair critique that may offend is very different from one that puts people at risk. Obviously, underrepresented groups are more at risk (such as those of underrepresented races and ethnicities and the LGBTQ+ community), so take extra caution when covering these topics especially if you don’t know much about them. In other words, just be respectful!
Before you submit/formatting
Double check this list before you submit anything to us:
- Titles should be in title case and subtitles in sentence case. Headings should also be in sentence case and be formatted using medium’s inbuilt heading format tool.
- Feature images should always sit below the title and subtitle. Please properly caption them.
- Please ensure work is laid out and presented in a way to visually attract readers. Avoid big chunks of text and place with space and sentence length.
- Give your piece a once over in a tool like Grammarly.
- Tag your work with one of these headings — Science, Ethics, Humor
- Please ensure your private note setting is on as this is how we will communicate with you.
For more in-depth information about formatting, refer to these articles:
- General formatting guide — The Best Medium Article Formatting Guide
- Pull and block quotes — The Definitive Guide to Medium’s Quotation Feature
- Title case for titles — Capital and Lowercase Letters in Titles (Title Case)
- Sentence case for subtitles and headlines — Using Sentence Case for Titles, Headings, and Headlines
- Image captioning — Medium Image Caption
How to submit
If you’re already a writer, go to your draft and click the three dots in the top righthand corner. Scroll to Divided and click submit. If you’ve ticked the “meter my story so it is eligible to earn money” button, any views on your piece will earn you a small amount of money.
Submissions will be reviewed from Monday to Friday and will be published within about 48 hours. If we don’t think a piece is ready to be published, or it needs a few edits, we will add a note to your piece. Please check for any notes first before contacting us to follow up!
We can’t guarantee we will always publish your content. If we don’t think it fits at Divided, we will reject it. This isn’t about the quality of the piece, just about keeping Divided true to its name!
How to become a writer
If you want to write for us, please send an email to our editor sonora.nmhills@gmail.com. Include your medium username or a link to your medium page. You can either include a draft to a potential piece for us in the email, or just briefly explain the kind of content you want to publish at Divided. If all goes well, you should be added as a writer within 48 hours.
For any other questions, feel free to comment on this post or email sonora.nmhills@gmail.com.
