Write interactive stories with Storytwigs

We are looking for pitches! Our goal is to create and publish interactive stories featuring a variety of perspectives. Here is a link to our pitch form, if you’re already ready to pitch something, and you can read about our process below.

We currently do not have the ability to pay writers who are featured on Storytwigs, but we will not put ads inside your stories or place them behind a paywall, and you retain full rights to the stories we host on our site. We hope to pay writers in the future and are working on securing funding for writers.

What kinds of stories do we select?

We are looking to feature fiction that is around 1000-5000 words long. Remember, since the story is nonlinear, the actual part the player reads will be shorter, since there will be unseen paths on each play through (scenes from choices that weren’t selected). Your piece doesn’t need to be anywhere near complete to pitch it to us—we just need an idea and a few other things you can find on our pitch form.

We are most interested in stories that feature unique or underrepresented viewpoints—but we also don't want writers to feel pigeonholed or tokenized. Write about what is relevant to you, something that you care about. This could be very rooted in your personal experience, but it doesn't have to be. For example, one of our upcoming stories is about a Cheese Troll. We also want you to have fun writing your story, even if the story isn't about a fun topic. All genres are accepted, but humor is a plus.

We are looking for stories that are focused on meaningful choices. The choices that the characters make should have weight, tell us something about the characters, or both. Just because something is interactive doesn’t mean that it’s interesting—and the interactivity should be woven into the story as a storytelling tool, not just a gimmick. For example, choosing what drink someone orders at a bar might sound like good interactivity, but it doesn’t tell us anything about them or have any series consequences. Picking between on time for a date or finishing up this last task at work, however, has clear stakes. If selected, we can help you with this throughout the outlining and editing process, but it’s good to think about this from the get go.

What we don’t want: We don’t want stories that are offensive, overly violent, or sexually explicit. We want stories to be 100% original, not revivals or takes on other people’s work (interactive versions of classic literature, etc.). Also, don’t think that interactivity alone makes your story unique. If your story focuses on a cliche like first dates, starting a new job, murder mysteries, etc., make sure that you’re bringing something new to the table.

What happens if we select your story

  1. We will reach out and let you know that we’d like to work together on your piece

  2. We will schedule a kick-off meeting to go over the story, interactivity, and next steps

  3. You’ll create an outline of each scene and choice, and we will you structure the interactive outline of the story

  4. Once the outline is locked, you’ll finish writing, and we will provide notes on drafts

  5. Once we lock the text of the story, we will place it into an interactive layout (a self-contained web page/”game” page)

  6. We’ll work with you to package the piece in something that looks good (and add credits, menus/sidebars, external links, etc)

  7. We will host the story on our site and provide you with the story files so you can host it on your own site as well

While you will own the rights to the story, you grant us permission to host the story on Storytwigs and publish pieces of it on our social media.

We currently do not have the ability to pay writers who are featured on Storytwigs, but we will not put ads inside your stories or place them behind a paywall, and you retain full rights to the stories we host on our site. We hope to pay writers in the future and are working on securing funding for writers.

How to pitch your story

Fill out this form to pitch your story. We ask that you only submit up to three at a time before hearing back from us.

In the form, we ask for a brief synopsis of your story, a 100-250 word excerpt, and some information about you.