Story Submission Tips

Tips to Get Your Story on That Story Show

That Story Show is all about sharing your hilarious real-life stories. It’s what we do.

We want your story to make the cut and here are the things that will set your submission up to be chosen for an upcoming episode.

Generally clean? – We’re clean for ages 13 and up. We don’t swear and we don’t share explicate content. Gross, painful, stupid, and juvenile we’re good with.
Well written? – Did you do your best? Some errors are fine but if you don’t put in the effort we won’t either.
Short enough to be read in 3-5 mins? – Don’t send us a “wall of words”. We can’t use your story if it’s too long no matter how funny it is.
True? – Don’t grab a story off Reddit. Don’t make something up. We’ll know. You can tell a story that your Dad told you and stuff like that but it needs to be something that happened to you or someone you know.
Funny? – Any story can be funny, it’s all about how you tell it. Don’t be afraid to exaggerate. Share how you felt in the moment. Wrap it up with a morale: a lesson you learned. All of these things will make your story better.

Submit only one story per week – We’ll never read more than one story per person per week. If you have more than one story to share, share one per week. Otherwise they’ll get passed over in our system.
Tell the whole story – Every story has a beginning, a middle, and and an end. If you fall down and bust your head open, that’s the middle of the story. The end is what happened after that.
Don’t write a Middle School Drama version – Write how you write. We’ll decide who’s worthy of the Middle School Drama designation.
Don’t submit your story more than once – If it’s been a while and your story hasn’t been used there’s a reason. Some aren’t funny, some will be used on our listener-only podcast “Stuff That Didn’t Fit on the Show”. Several are too long and more are in line waiting their turn. Submitting the same story will not improve your chances.

When will you read my story? – If your story is selected we’ll read it when it’s time comes. It could be a month or more.
How will I know when you read my story? – If your story is chosen for the show we will send a message to the email you submitted to let you know.
Can I ask why my story wasn’t chosen? – No. We’re not out to hurt people’s feelings. We try to use every story we get, trust me. If it didn’t get read it’s because of one of the issues above.
Will you help me write my story? – No. We just don’t have the time. If you do your best work and it just needs a little help, we will sometimes edit a story to make it a better fit for the show.
Still have questions? – Email James