Endings and Beginnings
It’s irresistible, the urge to take stock this time of year! My sense of rhythm with the cycles and seasons demands it, particularly as I’ve just finished serial posting my first book, The Hanged Man.
I’ve been thinking a lot about Substack, and writing in general. I’ve been thinking about how I choose to spend my time. More accurately, I think about my default patterns of behavior and how I don’t mindfully choose to spend my time.
I’ve been reading quite a bit lately from other Substackers on the efficacy of this platform for long fiction readers and writers. One of the many things I appreciate about Substack is the dynamism of the community.
My books are long. The first one took 98 serial posts to complete, each post about 10 pages long. The length of my work is one reason I’m disqualified from traditional publishing, in spite of feedback from a professional editor ($$!) indicating it does not need to be cut; every page is essential to the sprawling story I’m telling.
At the end of the day, I write what and how I write. Which makes me traditionally unpublishable. Life is full of these stony little realities. Given the state of the world, the nation, the culture, legacy media, and publishing in particular, I choose to be flattered rather than offended. I’d rather read Bari Weiss at
than NYT any day, and she’s right here with the rest of us who have no interest in playing the current political and social games or adhering to the rules of the ideology police.
However, I digress … I was saying my books are long. In the two years I’ve been on Substack, I’ve had the pleasure of reading some extraordinary writers and discovering wonderful artists. I’ve subscribed, and subscribed, and subscribed … I want to support everyone, especially those who support me.
I’ve never been on social media, so it took me awhile to recognize the experience of being manipulated by algorithms. The more I read, the more the algorithms suggest other things I might like to read – and I do! At this point my Inbox is out of control. As I’m a fiction fan and I generally read more long fiction than short, I’m always reading several serials concurrently.
This is where problems begin to arise, problems I’m certainly conscious of as a writer as well as a reader. It’s difficult to keep the serials straight when reading one chunk at a time once a week. I’ve found so many I like!
(Nathan Slake at
, S.E. Reid at , , Michael Chandler at , at The Crow’s Nest, Toni Binns at, Daniel W. Davison at , Gina Hogan Edwards at , L.C. Marino at , to name a few.)Recognizing the nearly infinite pool of people I would undoubtedly enjoy reading, connecting with, and getting to know, I’ve had to make some choices about boundaries. Time spent reading on Substack is time not spent writing my own material. I simply cannot do it all. Like you, I’m living a life here, with a job, relationships, and responsibilities. Unsubscribing from people is a bummer. I hate the way it feels, even though I know I have to do it and I’m relieved as my Inbox shrinks back to manageable proportions.
I need a whole separate life to do nothing but read books. I need a whole separate life to do nothing but read and interact on Substack. I need a whole separate life to write. I need a whole separate life to garden…
As I’ve posted my own work, one of the things I’ve chosen to do is republish each part in its entirety as I finish the last serial post of that particular part. In this way, readers are notified when an entire part goes up, and they can read without interruption. As of last week, one can read the whole book without interruption, going from part to part.
Another thing I’ve done is build a directory. I’ve seen several directories/tables of contents on Substack, and it’s a good idea for the kind of writing I do, involving lots of characters, long, and complex. I was particularly inspired by Gina Hogan Edwards’ directory for her Kent Creek Chronicles. My directory for the first book went up with the last post of the book, which makes me giggle a bit. Better late than never. However, I’ll post a directory for the second book first. Let it not be said I can’t learn!
As I read suggestions and discussions about how to improve Substack for long fiction readers and writers, two ideas spring to mind. How would it be if, as writers of long fiction finish a book, we send out a post to our subscribers stating that, loud and clear? In that way, serial readers could read serially as usual. Readers like me, however, could hold their horses until the work is done and then read the whole thing in its entirety. I don’t mind going through serial posts, one by one, if I can read the whole thing at once. I’d be better able to comment productively, too, because the flow of the work wouldn’t be interrupted for me.
Another thought I had is perhaps we need a clearinghouse specifically for long fiction serials. Several writers and publications do something like this,
and S.E. Reid on Talebones with her weekly posts, for example. If we started a publication along the lines of The Library where writers could submit their finished serials, subscribers would have a kind of master list of finished serials to explore. We could look for our favorite writers and find some new ones. Maybe The Library, as it’s already established, could add more specific sections to their newsletter, separating works in progress from finished serials.I believe one of the things contributing to the strength of Substack is our differences as writers and readers.
just posted a wonderful question that sparked a lot of interesting conversation highlighting this. Some writers are here to hold themselves accountable and serial publish as they write. Some are looking for beta readers to help them refine their material. Some are publishing already written material. Some are floating ideas to their audience to get feedback. Many people put fully published material behind a paywall; a choice I certainly understand but which adds urgency to reading serially rather than waiting for the whole work to be posted. Many writers here are published in other formats, including traditionally.Writing can be a lonely business. It’s the most important part of my life, yet, with the exception of one, my closest friends and people who inhabit my physical community know almost nothing about me as a writer. We don’t talk about it. I can’t adequately share how I inhabit the world and live my life, always taking notes, listening, watching. Sometimes I feel acutely lonely and … odd. A familiar feeling. Here on Substack, though, many of us feel that way, and many are open about longing for a community of writers who understand the tension, the challenges, the obstacles, the joys, and the loneliness.
I’ve learned so much from you all. Thank you for that.
In any case, I have a plan to see me through the end of the year while I prepare to post my second book and work on the third. I’m interested to see what next year brings to those of us on Substack, whether as readers, writers, or both.
I don't use notes, either. I did download the app, but then discovered you can't delete from it, which renders it unusable for me. I want to deal with things and then delete them; otherwise I'm disorganized, overwhelmed, and I waste a lot of time searching through things I've already read. Part of why I loathe social media is this aspect of infinitude. I was quite disappointed Substack used the same model. I even wrote them about my frustration, but received no reply. Ongoing tension between making money and usability for humans who are not cash cows. It's the world we live in, but I don't have to participate. In any case, I'd rather dive deeply and thoughtfully into relationships with a few than keep up with many superficial contacts. I wish I could read and subscribe to everyone, and it's not realistic. Hard choices. The Sorcerer's Apprentice is exactly my experience! Wonderful metaphor. I'm sure we're not alone in this push-pull between our own work and the lure of what others are up to.
I liked the honesty of your article. I sympathize with your plight. I’ve been on the platform for just over a year and my Substack feed has started to make me feel like the sorcerer’s apprentice coping with all the multiplying brooms. I’m not a fan of Notes, because it feels too much like social media, which I abandoned, swam in the dark, and then felt so relieved to land on Substack’s balmy shores. And I think it’s unfortunate that the app defaults to the Notes view. It makes the experience distracting, but I guess dialoguing on Notes is the real moneymaker for the platform, so I get it.