Narratively.com is seeking pitches for epic longform true crime stories. We want to see unique ideas for deeply reported stories that truly surprise and enthrall us with colorful characters and dramatic twists. Pitches shouldn’t feel like an episode of Law & Order we’ve already seen, but instead should hook us with a one-of-a-kind premise and enough detail to show how the story unfolds with a riveting, multi-act structure that feels like a movie we’ve never watched.

We’re particularly interested in stories that spotlight true crime and delayed justice in underrepresented or misunderstood communities. Think: an Egyptian drag queen who uncovers a money-laundering scheme that stretches to the highest levels of government; a Taiwanese grandma taking down a notorious mafia boss; an amateur autistic detective who solves a cold-case murder. We usually prefer crime stories that are fully resolved — with a concrete beginning, middle and end — so period pieces (something set in the ‘70s, ‘80s or ‘90s perhaps) will work particularly well here.

In your pitch, please include a compelling headline, a summary of how this story unfolds, and your plan for how you will report the story and who you will interview. We are open to blended stories that include reporting and first-person storytelling.

Here are a few stories from Narratively that capture what we’re looking for:

• The Gutsy Undercover Cop Who Took Down Chicago P.D.’s Most Crooked Crew: A Black sergeant was the only one willing to take on a risky FBI mission targeting drug-dealer-extorting cops. He reveals how he did it—and why it was shut down before he got to the white guys.
• My High School Girlfriend Became America’s Most Wanted Drug Queenpin: I lost my virginity to the baddest goth girl at theater camp. When I tracked her down fifteen years later I discovered just how dangerous Liz Barrer really was.
• The Man Who Got America High: He chartered the Rolling Stones while smuggling Pablo Escobar’s drugs on the side. After disappearing for decades, Alfred Dellentash finally shares his unbelievable life story.
• A Gilded Age Tale of Murder and Madness: In opulent seaside Newport, a wealthy and beloved Black businessman turns up dead. The prime suspect is his son-in-law, a dashing medical student set to become one of the country’s first Black surgeons. The resulting trial will tear the town in two.

Pitches Due: January 8, 2026

Assignments will be made in early 2026 with drafts due in spring 2026.

Rates: Starting at $1,500, with room to go up for more ambitious reporting.

If you’re a fan of Narratively, you know that we are all about the BIG story. We like an epic narrative that unfolds in several acts and consists of vivid, cinematic scenes. But part of what we like, too, is a unique perspective. We want to be surprised and delighted — we want to not see it coming. And sometimes that looks like one delicious slice of pie rather than the whole thing… 

Enter The Personals. These first-person pieces still meet two of the main criteria for Narratively stories: They’re about something super unique and interesting, and they’re rooted in detailed and colorful scenes. BUT they instead focus on one moment, one day, one week, one summer, etc. (And consequently, they’re much shorter.) We want your best pieces about a surprising moment, a split-second, life-changing decision, an upside-down view of something that we, as a society, are used to looking at head-on. Send us your story about that time you decided at the last second to leave the altar and make a go of it with your unforbidden love instead, the stranger who gave you advice that changed the trajectory of your life forever, that time you confronted your bully 25 years later only to learn about the hardship they were going through at the time. 

What The Personals Is: You can tell us a story on a subject we’ve heard about before, but give us a unique way in. 

What The Personals Isn’t: We love a good internal-based story like everyone else, a writer working out their opinion or recent revelation on the page, but that is not what we’re looking for here. We want active, exciting first-person stories that revolve around dramatic scenes and moments.

A few Personals pieces and stories we’ve done in the past that are good examples of what we’re looking for:

A Freak Accident Brought Me Closer to My Domineering Dad (1,695) 

The Man Who Betrayed Me Was Also the Man Who Loved Me (1,820)

Unburying My Mother’s Secret (2,185)

I Was Taught to Hate My Lesbian Neighbors. They Took Me In Anyway (1,500 words)

I’m Not an Asian Stereotype, But I Play One on TV (1,400 words)

Why I Apologized to My Rapist (1,500 words)

Details: 

Pitches? Drafts? We are only accepting submissions for these at this time. 

Word Count: Ideal length for full drafts is between 1,000 and 1,500 words. Please don’t send anything longer than 2,200 words — longer drafts will not be considered.  

Deadline: We’re considering stories on a rolling basis. 

Rate: $300

We’re so excited about our next series: a collection of true, deeply human stories about the moments, memories, and turning points that unfold in the outdoor spaces we tend, share, and live alongside — the backyards, fields, parks, and small patches of green that quietly shape our lives and communities.

This is a collaboration with our new partner ScottsMiracle-Gro, North America’s leading lawn and garden company, whose core belief is that “good can grow anywhere.”

Together, we’re seeking real stories, to be published this spring at Narratively.com and scottsmiraclegro.com, about how nature and green spaces bring people together, deepen connection, and shape identity, creativity, wellbeing, safety, and a sense of belonging.

We’re especially interested in narratives where time outdoors serves as a catalyst for something meaningful: a childhood shaped by a particular place; a relationship or family ritual deepened through shared time outside; a moment of healing or reinvention sparked by being in nature; or a group of people strengthened by tending, restoring, or reimagining an environment that matters to them.

What We’re Looking For

We’re seeking cinematic, narrative-driven pieces — primarily first-person and memoir, though we’re open to great reported stories if the narrative is strong and the characters are vivid.

These stories should be rooted in lived experience and tied to a specific outdoor environment — not as the subject of the piece, but as an element that strengthens or propels the human story at its center.

We’re especially interested in stories that explore:

• Family, memory, and belonging —

How a backyard, green space or an outdoor space becomes part of someone’s inner landscape — shaping childhood, identity, or relationships.

i.e. the old, sprawling oak tree under which you and your childhood best friend would lie in the grass and create a vivid imaginary world, sharing your deepest secrets.

• Community, Culture & Expression —

How shared outdoor spaces reflect who people are and bring communities to life — shaping traditions, creativity, belonging, and connection at a local level.

i.e. the immigrant family whose small front lawn became both a classroom and a bridge between generations, or the courtyard that functioned as a town square in miniature, where neighbors who disagreed on everything else still showed up with picnic blankets and food.

• Sports, Healing & Wellbeing —

Stories from the fields where play, confidence, resilience, and community take shape.

i.e. the soccer pitch where you pushed through the toughest season and found moments of calm or strength you didn’t know you were looking for.

• Climate, water, and adaptation —

How people adjust as the environments they rely on shift — and what those changes reveal about care, resilience, and home.

i.e. the coastal family watching the encroaching tide year after year — a slow erosion of both land and memory that they’ve found a way to preserve naturally.

• Curiosity and discovery —

The small wonders and unexpected insights that come from truly noticing the world outside our doors.

i.e. the neighbor who stopped mowing as often “just to see what would happen,” and found an unexpected ecosystem unfolding — clover inviting bees, soft patches drawing kids to play, and a lawn transforming into a small, living community of its own.

Examples of the Tone and Depth We’re Seeking

Below are a few previously published Narratively pieces that reflect the kind of depth, intimacy, and sense of place we’re after. Your story doesn’t need to resemble these in content, but should match their emotional clarity, reporting quality, or sense of transformation:

Yes, New York City Does Have Trees. I’m on a Quest to See All the Best Ones.

A personal journey through the city’s overlooked green spaces, revealing the people who nurture them and the meaning found in seeking them out.

The New Sisterhood of Black Female Homesteaders

A powerful look at women reconnecting with land as a source of identity, resilience, and healing.

Risking Life and Limb to Catalog the World’s Plants

A story driven by scientific passion, adventure, and the human drive to protect nature — told through vivid scenes and personal stakes.

The Vegan Who Bought Her Husband’s Cattle Ranch

A narrative about family, transformation, land stewardship, and reimagining what a piece of property can represent.

Chasing London’s Mysterious Flock of Feral Birds

A curious, community-centered exploration of urban nature and the bonds formed through paying attention to a shared environment.

These pieces demonstrate the range we’re open to: personal journeys, deeply reported stories, unexpected subcultures, scientific or environmental discovery, and narratives driven by identity and place. Your story can be quieter or more intimate — as long as it feels real, grounded, and human.

Again: the lawn or green space is a meaningful setting — not the point of the story.

Format & Payment

We’re commissioning 15 stories in a mix of formats:

First-person or reported narratives

Shortreads (up to 1,000 words)

Longform features (1,000–3,000 words)

Pay starts at $750, with potential for higher rates for ambitious or heavily reported pieces.

Deadline

Submissions (for memoir) and pitches (for reported stories) are due Friday, January 23, 2026, but will be accepted on a rolling basis until then over a 6-week period. 

We’re so excited about our next series: a collection of true, deeply human stories about the moments, memories, and turning points that unfold in the outdoor spaces we tend, share, and live alongside — the backyards, fields, parks, and small patches of green that quietly shape our lives and communities.

This is a collaboration with our new partner ScottsMiracle-Gro, North America’s leading lawn and garden company, whose core belief is that “good can grow anywhere.”

Together, we’re seeking real stories, to be published this spring at Narratively.com and scottsmiraclegro.com, about how nature and green spaces bring people together, deepen connection, and shape identity, creativity, wellbeing, safety, and a sense of belonging.

We’re especially interested in narratives where time outdoors serves as a catalyst for something meaningful: a childhood shaped by a particular place; a relationship or family ritual deepened through shared time outside; a moment of healing or reinvention sparked by being in nature; or a group of people strengthened by tending, restoring, or reimagining an environment that matters to them.

What We’re Looking For

We’re seeking cinematic, narrative-driven pieces — primarily first-person and memoir, though we’re open to great reported stories if the narrative is strong and the characters are vivid.

These stories should be rooted in lived experience and tied to a specific outdoor environment — not as the subject of the piece, but as an element that strengthens or propels the human story at its center.

We’re especially interested in stories that explore:

• Family, memory, and belonging —

How a backyard, green space or an outdoor space becomes part of someone’s inner landscape — shaping childhood, identity, or relationships.

i.e. the old, sprawling oak tree under which you and your childhood best friend would lie in the grass and create a vivid imaginary world, sharing your deepest secrets.

• Community, Culture & Expression —

How shared outdoor spaces reflect who people are and bring communities to life — shaping traditions, creativity, belonging, and connection at a local level.

i.e. the immigrant family whose small front lawn became both a classroom and a bridge between generations, or the courtyard that functioned as a town square in miniature, where neighbors who disagreed on everything else still showed up with picnic blankets and food.

• Sports, Healing & Wellbeing —

Stories from the fields where play, confidence, resilience, and community take shape.

i.e. the soccer pitch where you pushed through the toughest season and found moments of calm or strength you didn’t know you were looking for.

• Climate, water, and adaptation —

How people adjust as the environments they rely on shift — and what those changes reveal about care, resilience, and home.

i.e. the coastal family watching the encroaching tide year after year — a slow erosion of both land and memory that they’ve found a way to preserve naturally.

• Curiosity and discovery —

The small wonders and unexpected insights that come from truly noticing the world outside our doors.

i.e. the neighbor who stopped mowing as often “just to see what would happen,” and found an unexpected ecosystem unfolding — clover inviting bees, soft patches drawing kids to play, and a lawn transforming into a small, living community of its own.

Examples of the Tone and Depth We’re Seeking

Below are a few previously published Narratively pieces that reflect the kind of depth, intimacy, and sense of place we’re after. Your story doesn’t need to resemble these in content, but should match their emotional clarity, reporting quality, or sense of transformation:

Yes, New York City Does Have Trees. I’m on a Quest to See All the Best Ones.

A personal journey through the city’s overlooked green spaces, revealing the people who nurture them and the meaning found in seeking them out.

The New Sisterhood of Black Female Homesteaders

A powerful look at women reconnecting with land as a source of identity, resilience, and healing.

Risking Life and Limb to Catalog the World’s Plants

A story driven by scientific passion, adventure, and the human drive to protect nature — told through vivid scenes and personal stakes.

The Vegan Who Bought Her Husband’s Cattle Ranch

A narrative about family, transformation, land stewardship, and reimagining what a piece of property can represent.

Chasing London’s Mysterious Flock of Feral Birds

A curious, community-centered exploration of urban nature and the bonds formed through paying attention to a shared environment.

These pieces demonstrate the range we’re open to: personal journeys, deeply reported stories, unexpected subcultures, scientific or environmental discovery, and narratives driven by identity and place. Your story can be quieter or more intimate — as long as it feels real, grounded, and human.

Again: the lawn or green space is a meaningful setting — not the point of the story.

Format & Payment

We’re commissioning 15 stories in a mix of formats:

First-person or reported narratives

Shortreads (up to 1,000 words)

Longform features (1,000–3,000 words)

Pay starts at $750, with potential for higher rates for ambitious or heavily reported pieces.

Deadline

Submissions (for memoir) and pitches (for reported stories) are due Friday, January 23, 2026, but will be accepted on a rolling basis until then over a 6-week period.