Do you have an experience you’d like to share? We’d love to hear it! Stories are published anonymously to protect our contributors’ privacy.
We are looking for stories that highlight how you experience, have experienced, or continue to experience hardship and/or prejudice, and how you live in the world differently from those with power and/or privilege.
The types of stories we are looking for can be summed up in a couple questions:
What kind of things do you have to worry about/think about that other people wouldn’t have to?
What kind of everyday things affect you in ways that don’t affect other people?
If you are interested, please send us your story – or an idea for a story – in the box below. We answer all emails unless it’s spam. If you don’t hear back from us in a few days, it’s probably because something went wrong, so please try again.
Only the approved final product will be shown publicly. The final product and any other material we receive will be the property of Empathize This, but the author is welcome to use them freely once we have published them on our site. We will never share any materials (other than the final product) with anyone outside of Empathize This. Read more in our privacy policy.
If you are more comfortable talking about your experience, rather than writing it, we are open to Skype (or other voip) communication. We want to be as open and inclusive as we can. Just let us know!
* During the editing process, we may edit for length, clarity, spelling, and logic. We will not change the message or the facts of your submission. The final copy including all edits will be sent to you before being published so you can ensure that your story is told appropriately.
Submission FAQs
What if my story is similar to something already posted?
No problem! First off, every story is unique, and no matter what characteristics it may share with another individual’s experience, it will always be different because it is yours. Every nuance is different, and every shade of the experience you share adds to the story.
Secondly, when stories are similar we start to recognize that many of the experiences that might make us feel alone are, in fact, shared in some way by others. This can be empowering and comforting, and at the very least it may serve to build, or add to, a community. This is just as worthy as finding a new narrative or experience. So we invite you to submit!
How do the comics work?
Once you agree to the edits to the written portion of your story, we work on a webcomic style visual with you that will be published alongside your story. We try to faithfully reproduce the core message in the story, taking careful precautions. When the subject matter is traumatic, we refrain from visually reproducing that event – instead, we try to add a visual element to the story in other ways. We then hand the comic idea over to you, and see if the idea captures your story faithfully. If there are no edits and you are happy with it, we send it to our illustrator. If in addition to the story, you have an idea for a comic narrative (or if you want to illustrate it yourself), let us know! We’ll let you know if it’s within our budget/limitations and if there are any changes we’d require, but we will work with you to the best of our ability to make something happen.
I sent a story/email and you never replied…
We answer all emails (unless it’s spam), and we never leave any stories hanging halfway through. If it seems like we haven’t responded, it’s probably because we didn’t get the email for some technological reason…or it got sent to our spam folder. Please send us another email, or try us directly at info@empathizethis.com
Who is your ideal writer?
There is no ideal writer! We want to hear from you!
There are experiences, however, which we are particularly interested to hear about. We are not, for example, interested in stories about how surprisingly hard life is for the socially and physically privileged. While everyone – that demographic included – has struggles and hardships, we are looking for stories about how the world is systemically different for those outside what is unfortunately considered the “norm”.
Having said that, many, if not most people occupy a number of different political spaces (race, religion, orientation, gender, abilities, socioeconomic status, the list goes on) so feeling privileged in one area doesn’t mean you don’t have an experience of disadvantage that others could learn from.
I don’t know if my story fits what you’re looking for.
That’s ok! Get in touch with us with a basic description of the story and we’ll start a conversation with you about it! Generally speaking, we are looking for stories that show how you in some way experience the world differently – whether big or small – because of some part of your identity.
Will my name be published with my story?
No. Many of the stories on this site are extremely personal and we highly respect that it takes a certain kind of bravery to submit your experience to us. It is our policy to preserve anonymity through the process.
How do I submit a story?
You can get in touch with us by emailing us at info@empathizethis.com, or by submitting directly above.
I have a political opinion. Can I include this?
Yes…and No. The purpose of the site is to reveal how the world is lived and experienced differently for marginalized people. Generally speaking, we ask our contributors to refrain from making statements about particular policies or politicians. That being said, in our experience the contributors have been able to make their opinions heard through their stories.
I would like to submit a story but I’m not great with computers.
No problem! We will find a way to work with you, whether over the phone, or by assisting you to navigate email and/or Skype. Just get in touch with us!
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