I quite enjoyed reading this! It is most helpful to think about (and bothersome that the industry expects people to fit into one category, more or less). I don't really know if there is a pattern in what age group/ genre/subject I like to write about, especially as now I am learning a bunch of interesting history stuff and THAT could be fun to write about, but apparently my brother has noticed a pattern. Once, when he was pretty little, he told me, "all your stories are the same. They're all like, 'once upon a time Abraham Lincoln came back to life and threw grilled onions at Donald Trump.'"
Those were his exact words. Okay, I've never written a story EXACTLY like that (with grilled onions + Abraham Lincoln coming back to life + Donald Trump, precisely), but now that I think about, he's sort of right.
When I am thinking of a random story just for fun/to bug people and not taking it too seriously, it usually involves some combination of some bizarre eccentric thing that would never happen in real life, plus grumpy middle aged people getting on each other's nerves and/or getting overly wound about about the previously mentioned bizarre eccentric thing that would never happen in real life, plus something to do with vegetables and/or 1960's Jello salad. Except I haven't really thought about if this is for adults or children or what genre it is or what.
Also, please keep having this newsletter be "all over the place." One of the things I quite like about it is its wide range of various writing things to think about.
It's been a while since I've had a chance to sit and write. I'm now catching up on reading your posts and this one particularly caught my eye. In the "more questions" section. you wrote/asked many valid questions, some that I had not thought of such as, do I have an age group or genre that draws me in and I hadn't thought about it, I don't think I do have a particular age group or genre. I am learning that the commonalities are there without intention and that would be sci-fi, fantasy, and fiction in general because I still don't know how to break down contemporary fiction and other "fiction" and memoir.
By the way, I'm super scared to share my memoir. I hear so many bases have to be covered to publish it without having someone come after you for using their names, etc. I worry STILL about where to post, how often, how can I protect my writing, and whether they will like my stories.
Then, at the end, you asked, "For you, which comes first: your readers? or your writing?". Great question, I believe my writing comes first and readers second. I think there are pros and cons there no? I need my readers to know that I'm writing well, but I also want to keep writing passionately, uninhibitedly, and without doubts.
Lastly, I really like what you wrote, "Gifts are hard to ignore.", this is just fantastic and so true. I hope to have the courage to post my short stories soon. I lost the courage when I didn't win a short story contest and had no feedback.
Tara’s question is probably something most bloggers need to answer early on. The good thing about blogging is that it doesn’t require you to stick to a single topic or theme, although it might be a good idea to give your blog a fairly general name. For example, don’t call it Journal of Salt and Pepper Shaker Collectors unless that’s the extent of your interest.
I can think of at least three risks in targeting too narrowly: you might lose interest, you might find that you’re repeating yourself, and your readers might lose interest.
It’s hard to predict what readers will respond to, anyway, so don’t worry about that at first. In 2015 I wrote a piece about a 2007 Korean romantic-comedy series called Coffee Prince. It’s still one of my most frequently viewed postings. I never would have predicted that. I suppose there’s a link to it out there somewhere where fans of the show gather. The nature of the Internet means that anyone in the world who reads English, for example, is a potential reader.
A tip about blog names: If you start your blog’s name with a numeral or the letter A, it will tend to appear near the top of any alphabetical listing. That might be important if you’re reviewing books or movies, for example, and readers will have lots of other reviewers to choose from (eg, on IMDb). An old trick that plumbers and the like have used for years (hence why so many companies are named Ajax, etc.).
Oh,….talk about ‘all over the place’ My writing started simply to please myself plus trying to answer big questions of ‘What if…….?’ I’m aim to weave realistic (not fantasy or sci-fi) speculative fiction with memoirs from a 90 year old …I need to see some similar fiction. I work better from seeing samples/models.
Lotta wisdom here. Good advice. With traditional publishing I think finding a niche is important. For Substack it‘s less clear. When I started my stack in August 2022 I had a specific theme, but over time that has expanded and evolved, and now I write about everything under the Sun, including memoir, fiction, personal essay, thoughts on politics, culture, writing, etc. My subscriber base has been growing pretty steadily, both free and paid. What I’ve learned is: If you’re passionate about what you write on, and write consistently and well, you’ll likely attract an audience. Guts, vulnerability, and confidence help a lot too.
The idea of being stuck in a rut or pigeonholed is scary for me. Like an actor, I don't want to be typecast. In order to keep the creative juices flowing and not get stagnant, I think writers need to try different genres, age groups and styles of writing. I have just self-published a collection of short stories about growing up on the Canadian prairies in the 50s and 60s. I don't want to be known only as the author of the Amanda books. I love the diversity of your writing, Alison.
Oh yes, I am constantly learning from my potter daughter, someone who isn't afraid to try something new. (Maybe that's why we have kids, so we can learn from them one day!) My latest book is called You Can Take The Girl From The Prairie. It is on all Amazon sites right now. My first venture into self publishing. https://www.amazon.ca/You-Can-Take-Girl-Prairie-ebook/dp/B0C399MHZP/
I tend to follow my curiosity - plays, film scripts, musings - and I have the same problem of ‘not bringing a readership with me’ across them all. I do feel like not being ‘the person you go to for x’ hampers the ability of potential collaborators etc to come to me - but I also find it super useful when I go to other people to ask ‘hey would you like to do this’ - like I’m working with a convent of nuns on a public reading of a medieval work by Julian of Norwich. V happy they didnt ask for my nun-engaging credentials. But the tension between satisfying my curiosity - the engine of my writing - and paying rent basically means I’ve chosen to find other ways of making money after a good decade of only writing. I think it’s freeing me up in good ways, but I’ve had to swallow a bit of pride. I hope it turns out worth it!
Thanks so much Alison for the very extended take on my question! I appreciate how thorough you are here, and your question about narrowing in on what you are prioritizing with your writing - yourself or your readers - is super valuable/helpful for me. I would definitely say for me at least, it would be to satisfy myself/provide myself with a creative outlet. I would hope my readership would grow organically vs trying to scale up an audience by deliberately choosing my subject matter/spinning my writing a particular way, etc. as I am not the type to easily be able to write something unless I am genuinely interested in/"feeling it".
Count me among the curious and expansive! I do think this broad approach limits my reach, because when does Substack ever feature those of us who can't easily be cataloged? If I have a theme, it's realistic optimism, which turned up verbatim in today's short post (https://elizabethbeggins.substack.com/p/see-for-yourself). I know enough about food and farming to lean entirely into those topics, but I took up writing to *help me* process so much more than that. I don't know if that's selfish, a la Maurice Sendak, or smart, but I don't think I could do this any other way.
Great text! I've so many interests, sometimes I think I just want to write, anything, any story. When I was little I've always wanted to become a writer, and that's it. To touch people, make they emotional with my stories. I'm still discovering what kind of writer I'm going to be.
I quite enjoyed reading this! It is most helpful to think about (and bothersome that the industry expects people to fit into one category, more or less). I don't really know if there is a pattern in what age group/ genre/subject I like to write about, especially as now I am learning a bunch of interesting history stuff and THAT could be fun to write about, but apparently my brother has noticed a pattern. Once, when he was pretty little, he told me, "all your stories are the same. They're all like, 'once upon a time Abraham Lincoln came back to life and threw grilled onions at Donald Trump.'"
Those were his exact words. Okay, I've never written a story EXACTLY like that (with grilled onions + Abraham Lincoln coming back to life + Donald Trump, precisely), but now that I think about, he's sort of right.
When I am thinking of a random story just for fun/to bug people and not taking it too seriously, it usually involves some combination of some bizarre eccentric thing that would never happen in real life, plus grumpy middle aged people getting on each other's nerves and/or getting overly wound about about the previously mentioned bizarre eccentric thing that would never happen in real life, plus something to do with vegetables and/or 1960's Jello salad. Except I haven't really thought about if this is for adults or children or what genre it is or what.
Also, please keep having this newsletter be "all over the place." One of the things I quite like about it is its wide range of various writing things to think about.
It's been a while since I've had a chance to sit and write. I'm now catching up on reading your posts and this one particularly caught my eye. In the "more questions" section. you wrote/asked many valid questions, some that I had not thought of such as, do I have an age group or genre that draws me in and I hadn't thought about it, I don't think I do have a particular age group or genre. I am learning that the commonalities are there without intention and that would be sci-fi, fantasy, and fiction in general because I still don't know how to break down contemporary fiction and other "fiction" and memoir.
By the way, I'm super scared to share my memoir. I hear so many bases have to be covered to publish it without having someone come after you for using their names, etc. I worry STILL about where to post, how often, how can I protect my writing, and whether they will like my stories.
Then, at the end, you asked, "For you, which comes first: your readers? or your writing?". Great question, I believe my writing comes first and readers second. I think there are pros and cons there no? I need my readers to know that I'm writing well, but I also want to keep writing passionately, uninhibitedly, and without doubts.
Lastly, I really like what you wrote, "Gifts are hard to ignore.", this is just fantastic and so true. I hope to have the courage to post my short stories soon. I lost the courage when I didn't win a short story contest and had no feedback.
Thank you for this piece. I am also an all-over-the-map person and writer. This essay made me feel validated.
Tara’s question is probably something most bloggers need to answer early on. The good thing about blogging is that it doesn’t require you to stick to a single topic or theme, although it might be a good idea to give your blog a fairly general name. For example, don’t call it Journal of Salt and Pepper Shaker Collectors unless that’s the extent of your interest.
I can think of at least three risks in targeting too narrowly: you might lose interest, you might find that you’re repeating yourself, and your readers might lose interest.
It’s hard to predict what readers will respond to, anyway, so don’t worry about that at first. In 2015 I wrote a piece about a 2007 Korean romantic-comedy series called Coffee Prince. It’s still one of my most frequently viewed postings. I never would have predicted that. I suppose there’s a link to it out there somewhere where fans of the show gather. The nature of the Internet means that anyone in the world who reads English, for example, is a potential reader.
A tip about blog names: If you start your blog’s name with a numeral or the letter A, it will tend to appear near the top of any alphabetical listing. That might be important if you’re reviewing books or movies, for example, and readers will have lots of other reviewers to choose from (eg, on IMDb). An old trick that plumbers and the like have used for years (hence why so many companies are named Ajax, etc.).
Alison, I would like to see you presenting at the Sechelt Writers Fest……any chance of this?
Oh,….talk about ‘all over the place’ My writing started simply to please myself plus trying to answer big questions of ‘What if…….?’ I’m aim to weave realistic (not fantasy or sci-fi) speculative fiction with memoirs from a 90 year old …I need to see some similar fiction. I work better from seeing samples/models.
Lotta wisdom here. Good advice. With traditional publishing I think finding a niche is important. For Substack it‘s less clear. When I started my stack in August 2022 I had a specific theme, but over time that has expanded and evolved, and now I write about everything under the Sun, including memoir, fiction, personal essay, thoughts on politics, culture, writing, etc. My subscriber base has been growing pretty steadily, both free and paid. What I’ve learned is: If you’re passionate about what you write on, and write consistently and well, you’ll likely attract an audience. Guts, vulnerability, and confidence help a lot too.
Michael Mohr
‘Sincere American Writing’
https://michaelmohr.substack.com/
The idea of being stuck in a rut or pigeonholed is scary for me. Like an actor, I don't want to be typecast. In order to keep the creative juices flowing and not get stagnant, I think writers need to try different genres, age groups and styles of writing. I have just self-published a collection of short stories about growing up on the Canadian prairies in the 50s and 60s. I don't want to be known only as the author of the Amanda books. I love the diversity of your writing, Alison.
Oh yes, I am constantly learning from my potter daughter, someone who isn't afraid to try something new. (Maybe that's why we have kids, so we can learn from them one day!) My latest book is called You Can Take The Girl From The Prairie. It is on all Amazon sites right now. My first venture into self publishing. https://www.amazon.ca/You-Can-Take-Girl-Prairie-ebook/dp/B0C399MHZP/
I tend to follow my curiosity - plays, film scripts, musings - and I have the same problem of ‘not bringing a readership with me’ across them all. I do feel like not being ‘the person you go to for x’ hampers the ability of potential collaborators etc to come to me - but I also find it super useful when I go to other people to ask ‘hey would you like to do this’ - like I’m working with a convent of nuns on a public reading of a medieval work by Julian of Norwich. V happy they didnt ask for my nun-engaging credentials. But the tension between satisfying my curiosity - the engine of my writing - and paying rent basically means I’ve chosen to find other ways of making money after a good decade of only writing. I think it’s freeing me up in good ways, but I’ve had to swallow a bit of pride. I hope it turns out worth it!
Thanks so much Alison for the very extended take on my question! I appreciate how thorough you are here, and your question about narrowing in on what you are prioritizing with your writing - yourself or your readers - is super valuable/helpful for me. I would definitely say for me at least, it would be to satisfy myself/provide myself with a creative outlet. I would hope my readership would grow organically vs trying to scale up an audience by deliberately choosing my subject matter/spinning my writing a particular way, etc. as I am not the type to easily be able to write something unless I am genuinely interested in/"feeling it".
Count me among the curious and expansive! I do think this broad approach limits my reach, because when does Substack ever feature those of us who can't easily be cataloged? If I have a theme, it's realistic optimism, which turned up verbatim in today's short post (https://elizabethbeggins.substack.com/p/see-for-yourself). I know enough about food and farming to lean entirely into those topics, but I took up writing to *help me* process so much more than that. I don't know if that's selfish, a la Maurice Sendak, or smart, but I don't think I could do this any other way.
Oh, and by the way, I found you because of your recent comment on "On Substack" about leaving Twitter. https://on.substack.com/p/reliable/comments. Thanks for that!
Great text! I've so many interests, sometimes I think I just want to write, anything, any story. When I was little I've always wanted to become a writer, and that's it. To touch people, make they emotional with my stories. I'm still discovering what kind of writer I'm going to be.