The office hours are back! Not that it ever left, but we know you had some concerns. We’re going to try and make this a regular thing, the last Tuesday of every month, starting at 7am EST and running throughout the day… or night, depending on where you reside on this little globe of ours. Come and go as you please, no need to linger, since it’s more like an open house of ideas.
In case you’re new here, Office Hours on Fictionistas is an opportunity to meet other fiction writers on Substack, ask and answer questions about writing fiction, and share ideas about how to improve the community. Let’s get this party started with a question for everyone:
When did you first realize you had a thing for writing fiction and what sparked that interest?
When I was young I had an over active imagination and decided to share it. I started writing because a paper and pen was easier and cheaper for a child than, say, making a film. You can read some of my fiction at https://igreviews.substack.com
I've read that talking too much about a written work in progress is a detriment. That simply releasing the ideas to the world gives the same rush as finishing the project, thereby diminishing the creative brain's urgency. Don't know if it's true for everyone but Twitter seems to be littered with people eager to discuss their "WIP" but never discussing a finished product
Interesting. Never have heard that before, but it makes sense. I learned the hard way though. Some years ago I was so thrilled with my "first chapter" I handed it off to a reader friend and became crestfallen when she said nothing... nothing... and then nothing. Finally I asked her if she enjoyed it. "It was interesting thanks." Didn't write another word (of fiction) for five years. Fortunately, there was another story in me and I began to write again... Kept this one to myself until I was sure it was safe to come out. Find it @ https://finlaybeach.substack.com/
I feel this. Still. When I know a friend has read my work and said absolutely nothing it kills me. Do you think it's awful? I'm strange? The content was off-putting? Do you know I don't want to ask you because I put my heart in this? Do you not want to hurt my feelings?
Well, as long we're being vulnerable here. I was once visiting a friend for a couple of days. I handed her one of my works, maybe 5 pages, completed in the sense that I had reached the end, but incomplete in the sense of editing, polishing.
The next morning, she handed me the pages, and walked into the kitchen without a word. It's hard to describe what I felt in that moment, but it was ugly and foul. My stomach hurt and when my visit was over, I never saw her again.
I suspect, although I've not verified, that it's just as crippling for them to give feedback as it is for us to receive none in return. If they really, truly think it's garbage for any number of reasons, how could they say that to a friend? In those cases, I move on to someone else and my skin gets a little thicker. 😁
I also have learned to be selective and found my beta readers show their their commitment quickly. I've been using https://betabooks.co/ and have found it placing me (the writer) in enough control to weed out those who are not worthy... ;)
That's a good part of it. The opinion of someone who is not aligned in the slightest with your vision, while legitimate, is of no value because doesn’t help you stay on your path.
There's no need for someone to say it's garbage if that's their reaction. They can say well, I didn't like it, or I guess it's not for me. One sign of a friend is truth, even if the truth is softened a bit. Cruelty not necessary.
When I lived stateside, I was in a group that I enjoyed, with people I considered friends. We exchanged feedback in positive ways, whether we liked the piece or not. We could say quite clearly I didn't like that and here's why. Or I did and here's why.
Yes, it's different with a group formed for the purpose than one-on-one friend-to-friend, but I think the basic principle can still apply.
I can see that. I was reticent to show my writing to anyone until half of my first novel was written, it was a huge adjustment when I started sharing it with a writing group. But at least the group commitment leads you to complete the project.
I agree. For me, I need to keep the energy inside. A slight mention of an overall is okay, but I don't get into detail about a work in progress. And it's not just the diminished energy that may result, it can also provoke a sense of satisfying an external expectation. I prefer to keep things close until the time comes.
Nah. That's the same argument used by some folx to explain why they can't outline--it diminishes the desire to finish the work. Perhaps for some people, but for a lot of us, talking out details often helps work through difficult patches of worldbuilding or drafting.
Jan 31, 2023Liked by Geoffrey Golden, Chevanne Scordinsky, Alex S. Garcia
The first thing I remember getting praise in school for was writing.
I was the only child of a single mom for my first 7 years and remember making up outlandish lies for babysitters.
Then in high school at a book signing Elmore Leonard encouraged me. Shortly thereafter a legendary Jesuit priest English teacher told the class I was the best writer he ever taught.
Punk rock and acting got in the way, but here I am almost 900 short stories into a Substack career.
I was 7 and wanted to be a writer. My mother and I both have a love of words and language. That’s where it probably came from. I took creative writing classes and met Mark Doty one time. It was an exciting time as a 12 year old. I wrote a movie script... I used to carry pen and paper with me everywhere and had something akin to intrusive thoughts, but for poetry. It was like a faucet I couldn’t shut off until one day I forced it to and it didn’t come back for decades.
I started up again a few years ago and rather than the jealousy I used to feel of other writers, I learn from them.
This is such an important point to share, Chevanne. It's easy to get jealous of others -- I'm guilty at times too -- but since art is truly subjective and publishing is basically a mess as a writer you can't worry about what other people are doing. If you put the focus on your craft you'll improve and position yourself for "success."
As for learning from others, many people worry about "stealing" or being "influenced" by other writers. At a conference I attended a brilliant author said: "That's like saying I play basketball but don't watch LeBron because I don't want to be influenced by him." 🤣🤣🤣
I absolutely want my writing voice to be my own. But I feel that studying the styles of authors I admire educates me. Sometimes I'll copy out, in handwriting, a paragraph that feels especially real to me, to better get the rhythm of the author's sentences, or see how the paragraph progresses from a to b. It enriches me. As long as I'm not unconsciously copying their style.
Sometimes I jot down what exactly I’m learning and keep that in mind. From Conan Doyle, I learn about use of verbs and character description/personality development.
In my experience, those who start blaming other writers for stealing their ideas while workshopping are...not very experienced. Or they haven't been challenged to write their own story from someone's prompt, or else write in a shared world.
Nice. I had a very similar experience. My mom was a writer and had a great home library. I’d pick books off the shelf and try to read them. I started writing poems when I was seven or eight. It went from there!
Jan 31, 2023Liked by Jackie Dana, Chevanne Scordinsky
I've wanted to write fiction from the moment I could hold a pencil in the 1960s. However, life intervened and it was only after spending 12 months in hospital and going through a heart transplant that I chose to focus squarely on producing novels, that was early in 2020. Three years later, I've completed 3. One is currently serialising here at conked.io and the others may go the traditional publishing route, we will see. I've got a fourth I'm reworking and the bare bones of a memoir, plus two poetry collections. Writing is a big part of my recovery from trauma and I appreciate the community I've built and am building around my writing
Fascinating! Not as dramatic, but I have started writing fiction after a serious bone infection a little over four years ago. It has been my therapy replacement (mental health).
I don’t recall ever wanting to become a writer. I might never have started, except about 10 years ago, I had to spend a few days sitting in a hospital bed with electrodes glued to my head for a video EEG, and I had nothing to do but mess around on my laptop. I’d been reading Herodotus and listening to this one song on repeat. The two combusted, and a story was born. I wrote a few scenes daily while waiting for the test to be over. That’s when I started writing fiction. Those first few scenes turned into a historical trilogy. You can read the first book at https://jmelliott.substack.com/p/table-of-contents
Funny how life works that way. What a great non-traditional discovery of your desire to write. I love hearing when writers didn't embrace it early in their childhood and sort of fell into it. Thanks for sharing!
Thanks, Brian! It has definitely been a strange adventure, but also a lot of fun! And I suppose there are worse habits to pick up later in life than writing fiction ;-)
I did technical writing in my job as a consultant and always wanted to write a book about my motorcycle adventures and my challenges with my mother who was addicted to drugs. I completed the book in the fall and now am experimenting with true fiction on my Substack. We will see what happens ...
I can't remember, because it must have been when I was about six years old. :P
I've always been a writer - though I didn't fully embrace it and find a way to be consistently productive until I was in my 30s. Have been writing consistently for about 8 years now, with 3 novels to show for it.
Jan 31, 2023Liked by Geoffrey Golden, Chevanne Scordinsky
I had a writing assignment for Halloween in third or fourth grade. We needed to take a common nursery rhyme and modify it to be Halloween themed. I used Baa Baa Black Sheep and made the sheep a ghost. That was the first time I realized I enjoyed creative writing. I would love to say it was an upward trajectory, but my relationship with writing has since been a rocky road. It wasn't until last year that I decided it was time to focus, and I started a Substack. Soon after I published my first collection of fantasy and science fiction short stories.
I've always enjoyed writing and was always sarcastic and quick with a joke growing up. I gravitated to science and math when I was younger and got sidetracked until I was in my late thirties. By then I'd given up on Academia and Corporate America and realized what really, truly, intrinsically motivated me was writing.
My first ever piece of fiction is my unpublished novel, which is where I cut my teeth and realized -- even though I have plenty to learn and improve upon -- I might have a knack for this.
News, politics, and contemporary culture interest me so my weekly posts gravitate toward satire and dark comedy, but I also periodically intertwine pure fictional elements into my stories.
Right now I'm deep into a second (much better) attempt at a novel and I'm looking to produce more short fiction for my newsletter.
I serialized my 97,000 word novel, A Scattering of Light, on Substack from Aug-Dec 2022. My semi-autobiographical novel tells the story of Paul Gardner, a naive American student who gets caught up in the world of espionage in 1970s London. Serializing my novel on Substack was a great experience and I got tons of helpful feedback. It was like workshopping the book with hundreds of people.
Patrick, with regards to serializing- did you offer the story for free or did you choose to monetize it? Are you considering self-publishing it as a complete novel now?
Hi Lenaleah—I offered the novel for free to workshop it and raise its profile. I’m now looking for an agent and/or publisher, but may self-publish if that doesn’t work out. I self-published a memoir several years ago and did fairly well with it. Getting an agent is hellishly difficult unless you have a personal connection. But you probably already know that. 😊
When I was in 3rd grade, we got an assignment to write a commercial script. I wrote a parody of the song “Grease Lightning” about a fictional car. My teacher loved it and put it up on the board in the hallway (!) to feature it. So I kept writing parody commercials, long after the assignment was done, to amuse the other kids and teachers. I’ve been writing ever since.
This is awesome, Geoffrey! Our love of writing seems to have surfaced in a similar way. Isn't it crazy how simply having our work "showcased" at such a young age can have a significant impact. I remember walking past my Halloween poem every day in the hallway and just feeling so proud.
I was in 4th grade when I contributed an advice column to the class newspaper. Sometimes I'd make up the questions myself, as in: "How can I tell if a boy likes me?" or "How do I make myself wake up in the morning?" I'd consult the experts, i.e., my older brother and my Mom. Hope I didn't do much damage with my answers. I've been writing ever since. I write fantasy fiction at FantasticalFiction.substack.com, currently serializing a story title "Sweet Pea's Spaghetti Shack."
Question for all us writers: what frustrates you about your own writing? For me, it's the struggle to portray fluid states of mind. Virginia Woolf did this beautifully, using stream-of-consciousness monologue, but I feel that I should master a more concrete style. Say, from amused to irritated: "Lenny's eyes crinkled in amusement at first, but gradually he realized that Martha's speech was tainted with bigotry, and a frown wrinkled his brow." How would you put it? BTW I'm not allergic to the carefully-placed adverb. :)
I really struggle to make my characters emotionally relatable. I get very caught up in scenes and backstories and I struggle to make characters that feel real. I am 8 episodes in to a rough public draft of my book and I kind of hate how i started it. Things were just working out for my MC because I wanted to railroad him to the next scene.
It's killed my enthusiasm for the work, but I am determined to finish it so that I can go back and fix it on editing. I always start giving up when I start looking back and so I am going to break that habit here. I am determined to not edit before I am done and fall back in love with my story. I think I know how to do that, just need to write now...
I had to go through a Nanowrimo with the specific goal of killing my internal editor while drafting. Now, I tend to go back over what I wrote the previous day to make corrections, expand, and get rolling on the new words. Nothing more than that, unless I have a continuity issue. But I also build my rough draft editing process into my overall process, which includes using both Scrivener and Word.
NaNoWriMo really helped break me of that internal editor quicksand, and ever since I've been able to draft both fiction and nonfiction a LOT faster. I would recommend it to EVERYONE for that reason alone.
I think it depends on what voice you're trying to achieve. I don't like stream-of-consciousness because it's like communicating in a foreign language and leaves too much open to interpretation. In my own writing, what frustrates me, or in the least, what I'm trying to improve, is the removal of emotive descriptions in favor of physical and actionable descriptions. For example, in the case of "eyes crinkled in amusement" and "frown wrinkled his brow", eyes and frowns are not autonomous beings. "Lenny cracked a smile and crinkled his eyes in amusement before realizing Martha's speech was tainted with bigotry. The amusement quickly soured, and he furrowed his brow in disgust." I'm sure there are a dozen different ways to say it. You could remove 'quickly', but also the entire second sentence. After realizing it was bigotry, I would have Lenny take an action or say something.
What's your POV in that sentence? This almost feels like omniscient, which can be difficult these days. If you're doing deep first, then Lenny isn't the POV character and we wouldn't know what is going on in his head. If Lenny is the POV character, then how does he know what he looks like?
I think the struggle you have here is that you're *telling* us how Lenny is feeling rather than showing his reaction to what Martha is saying. For me, what I would do is center Lenny's reactions to specific things that Martha says. Martha says something that is funny but slightly bigoted. Lenny chuckles. Martha continues, and Lenny gets that sinking sensation in his gut that oh no, she means what she says. Not writing it out because, well, they're your characters and you know how best they would speak.
I came up with that and threw it out here spontaneously, to hear how other writers would re-arrange it. Lenny and Martha don't exist in my work or imagination. I appreciate everyone's replies!
Great question! Probably the biggest issue for me is my prose. I can get it to be functional, but doubt it will ever be beautiful. I also tend to go pretty light on describing things.
Jan 31, 2023·edited Jan 31, 2023Liked by Jackie Dana, Chevanne Scordinsky
"My name is Fin and I'm a fiction writer." It was my first meeting. The judge said I must go. Admitting I'm a fiction writer has been the hardest thing in my life, but it has made all the difference. I told the small circle of new friends, "I have a thing for writing fiction. I started in the seventies when I was just a teenager. My name is Fin and I'm a fiction writer." I tore my eyes off the group and took a puff from my cigarette and added my smoke into the haze. The judge was right, I needed this meeting and these new friends.
Fin- this is exactly how I feel sometimes when someone asks me what I do. I sensed the meeting vibe you were going for- chairs in a circle,  linoleum floor slightly scuffed, lights only on in the side of the room we occupy. Someone coughs as you start speaking. The awkwardness of hearing you voice come out of your mouth and the few seconds where you swear you are out of body. Yeah, love those confessional moments.
I can relate to the judge said I must go. To jail or group. I took group because I'd already tried jail a few times and didn't much care for it. But that's another story. Welcome Fin, the fiction writer!
I've been making stuff up and showing off and trying to make people laugh since birth. Middle child. Need I say more? My first ever fiction success was winning the Young Author's Competition in third grade. Here's a little gem I penned in fourth grade. Seems I had a penchant for satire at a young age. https://stockfiction.substack.com/p/snow-white-my-version
I hit a weird snag in my 20s/30s where I thought I needed to find a "legitimate" career path that was going to set me up financially to raise kids and generally "adult" in the real world. But I found legitimate careers sucky. So, with the support of my underpaid, public school teacher husband, and my family who's been telling me to write for a living since I was seven, I quit my last ever "job" in October of 2021 and hit the ground running. I wrote five novels in my first year. They don't have homes yet, but I hope to serialize one or two on my Substack at some point, as a way to get them seen and gather some feedback. If you haven't heard of me (cue theme music), I write weekly short fiction, inspired by stock photographs, over here: https://stockfiction.substack.com/
What's funny is that's kind of what happened to me last year. It's the only reason I could publish my book of short stories and write every week. I had like 20 years of a backlog in my head.
My first spark for writing fiction happened with storytelling for my little brother. Before I started writing fiction, I began telling it in the form of chicken nugget stories created to entertain my brother. I created an entire underground war between living chicken McNuggets and burger king’s Chicken tenders. Most of the showdowns took place in the sewer system and, of course, only the children of the world had any clue this was going on.
My brother and I are still so frustrated that neither of us ever thought of writing it down. Sure, it would have been terrible, but “the rules” of the world would have been documented and the things that seemed awesome to two super young kids would have been captured forever!
I also have a Substack question if anyone knows the answer. For those of us with paid substacks, what happens to our current paying subscribers if we ever raise the price of a subscription -- are they locked in to the price they started at, or do their prices increase at the next billing cycle?
I got a BFA in illustration and work as a designer and creative director. So, every day I'm visually telling other peoples stories. I've always been an avid reader and it occurred to me one day that I might want to tell my own. One day, over a margarita and a burrito I started writing a story on my phone. I challenged myself to write 500 words a day, every day to see if I really enjoyed writing. Turns out that I do!
I've always been better at writing than speaking. When I was a kid and I was mad at my parents I would write them angry letters and leave them in their room. Growing up with the advent of the digital age, most of my relationships became mediated through the likes of AOL Instant Messenger and message boards (before facebook came around). I always enjoyed reading Ray Bradbury's short stories and would try periodically to emulate him, but I don't think I caught the bug for writing until I published a short piece in my highschool literary magazine. It put the idea in my head that I had the ability.
I always had ideas and always enjoyed trying to put the ideas in my head into other people's heads, and it wasn't until substack and the encouragement from my wife that I decided to try and take some of these ideas and turn them into a real book.
So Gibberish (https://gibberish.substack.com/) is my current attempt at that. It will host world building notes and episodes from the book I am trying to write, but every week I post writing exercises which I am giving clever names, based on writing prompts I come up with or which I find online. A "Crunch" Is a short story of 250 words, you can read my latest Crunch here, based on the prompt to "Write about the end of the world...of Atlantis": https://gibberish.substack.com/p/crunch-the-wrong-side-of-the-bed
Looking forward to checking out all the great fiction writers I see here!
I’ve always been telling stories with my siblings (mostly it was playing outside and acting out our imaginative adventures!), but I don’t think it was until the 6th grade when my literature teacher had us create a book of poems to explore all the different kinds of poetry styles. I looooved that assignment. Afterwards, I would request if, for every writing assignment from then on (including biographical essays and book reports etc), I could do it in rhyming poem format. LOL
Oh! And then I became obsessed with creating treasure hunts for my siblings. We lived on five acres and I would make rhyming mysterious treasure hunts for them whenever it was someone’s birthday or Christmas so we could hide the presents. So fun!
Jan 31, 2023·edited Jan 31, 2023Liked by Jackie Dana
I've enjoyed writing odd stories for most of my life, although I've also written poetry, essays, and a whole bunch of technical articles for the big beast in Redmond. I can handle a variety, but prefer my fiction.
In university long ago, we studied creative writing and literature. Some profs were pretty cool with my way of expressing, which has always had a very tenuous relationship with mainstream. Others not so understanding or supportive, but still a good source of learning, or perhaps I should say anti-learning.
Now I'm hanging on on Substack with Dynamic Creed, doing my own genre evocative creative fiction, enjoying the many reads I find here, appreciating the community, and thankful that my spirit is still spinning.
Victor, I read a little of your stuff just now. Very daring and you've got a way of inserting killer lines into your prose. Nicely done: I mean, "My beliefs are real, he says. Made of emeralds, just like yours." beautiful and edgy grammar to boot! Nice.
Many thanks Finlay. I appreciate your support. My work is sort an eclectic mixed bag, I seem to have different moods. Well, don't we all. :) I hope you enjoy more that's up there, and/or coming your way in the upcoming weeks. All the best!
I was in grade school when we got our first computer. I was ALWAYS reading, so sitting down and creating stories felt like second nature. I think it was part escape, part exploration of possibility, and part exercise- not just for my imagination, but of practicing outcomes and trying on other lives. #typeAcreativepartyofone
I've been imagining stories for a long time, as long as I could remember. My siblings and I would make up stories for games that didn't seem to have them, like Super Smash Bros Melee. Then I found fanfic online and was inspired by that.
What approach do people use for images with their fiction, like with the thumbnail image? I've been using my substack logo, but I'm looking into creating a sort of cover for my fiction. Don't like the idea of using photos, or grabbing a different picture for each chapter. I know some people have been using AI art.
Hey William, I've found that for images, a single consistent image works just fine. I've never received any negative feedback because my short stories all have the same image, which is similar, but different to my Dear Reader section image. I shy away from AI generated because it still has some negative stigma, but I can use that excuse because I'm able to create my own art.
Eh, I use photos and usually the same one for each chapter segment (my chapters run to about 4000-6000 words so I don't put them up all at once). It's easy and I don't have to worry about AI art.
I use some images I find on Unsplash (or similar sites), some of my own pics from around town, and AI. They all have their place, but I try not to get too overly involved with the image because time/writing, but it's fun to put something.
I like the images they've used here on Fictionistas, pretty nice.
Which reminds me. A few times, I've wanted to re-read an article here or on another stack, but I couldn't remember the title. I've scrolled down the article list looking for the thumbnail because that stuck with me.
I started my off-and-on writing career in elementary school when I wrote a series of horse books that I wanted to read--featuring girl protagonists who were actually *doing something* rather than being the protagonist's girlfriend. Huh. Guess I started my rebellious course early.
Then I started submitting short stories in high school. The one thing I would change from that era is that I would have told the editors that I was in high school--I didn't do that, and I probably should have.
Dipped in and out of the writing world for the next few decades, finally settled down and got serious about it in my late forties. I've been a Writers of the Future semifinalist, a Self Published Fantasy Blog Off semifinalist, and a couple of other things. I have several book series to my credit, and am now working on a Kindle Vella project (which will be published in its own right this summer) and a new Martiniere Stories book (basically, multiverse fanfiction of my own books--in this case, the Martiniere Legacy four books).
You could call me the "perpetual midlister" because that would probably be where I fall if I were traditionally published these days. Not the award-winner, not the bestseller. Just the reliable old writer churning out more books every year. 20+ right now. Hope to achieve what my mentor has, who is working on book 50 in her seventies.
Howdy! My first post here. I was a middle school, high school, college, and professional journalist before writing a couple thousand speeches. I wrote a couple nonfiction books even as I realized what I had to say would be better expressed through characters with a plot. For several years I thought I'd write plays, but then realized novels would be best. Started my first novel in 2019, finished my first novel this past September, and launched on Substack in December. Definitely looking forward to learning from those of you who've been writing fiction much longer.
I've got a question for everyone! On Fictionistas, we don't seem to get the little anchor link beside subheaders, but it shows up on my own Substacks. This is true both for new, unpublished posts and existing ones if I go back to edit.
Is anyone else having this same issue, and is there a setting or something that I can change to make it work here?
The problem is that they are woefully misaligned to the actual header. I just checked my drafts. I have a header right at the start of a draft newsletter, and the link shows up next to my author name.
A ways down, my second header, the link shows up two paragraphs above where the header actually is.
Try scrolling so that the header you want to see is at the bottom of your screen, and see if a link icon appears somewhere above it, not where it should be.
Thanks for the suggestion, but after trying it, I still don't see the link icon. It's so weird that it only seems to happen on Fictionistas and I can't for the life of me figure out why!
I started "writing" fiction when I was a grade schooler. At first it was telling elaborate stories with my Barbies and on the playground. Lots of playacting and pretend. Then in 6th grade I was trying to get into a private school and wrote a TERRIBLE essay on the application (I mean, come on, I had never written a personal essay in my life!). The school wanted to see more examples of my writing, so I was taken out of class for an afternoon and asked to write samples. I don't know what else I wrote, but I somehow came up with a short story about hillbillies selling lemonade, with dialog in hillbilly dialect. Honestly, I have no idea where that idea came from and I wish I still had it somewhere because it is probably hilariously bad.
After that, I started writing stories for myself throughout jr high and high school, and took a couple classes my senior year that required me to write short stories. I remember when my epically long short story for one class completely filled up that 5 1/2 inch floppy disk (I want to say it was somewhere between 10-20 pages). By the time I graduated from HS I had already started a fantasy story that would decades later become my first novel - with most of it vastly different, but with the country name and map, and one character + backstory, surviving to the final version.
My realization for writing fiction hit me a year ago. I have dabbled with it in the past for my own amusement but mostly in 2022 when I was introduced to Substack. I felt that it would be a good place to start sharing the various stories I have fluttering around inside of my head. I find that it has given me good practice and by gaining readers it has given me more drive to dive deeper into writing as a hopeful career.
Hey everyone! I've been writing since before I could actually write, or so my mom tells me. Real stories hit me in elementary school, and I would ask to skip recess in order to stay in and write with one of my friends. I've always enjoyed writing, but for me it always goes in stages of writing a lot for a year or two, then nothing for a few years, then getting the itch to go again. I've always wanted to write a novel, but struggle with that task immensely, so short fiction has become my thing. I posted short stories and flash fiction on Instagram for about 3 years before deciding to jump ship. I landed here and love it so far!
I honestly couldn't say. I've wanted to be a writer as far back as I remember. I just fell in love with words when I was a child and I'll do anything with them--short stories, novels, poems, song lyrics, translations... Telling stories is what I enjoy the most, though. I'm not sure why. Maybe because they come to me unbidden and they request to be told ;)
I decided I wanted to write historical fiction by the time I was twelve, with a series of books about the period between WWI and WWII by Kate Seredy having been my favorite books since I was 5, and my new exposure to the Regency romances of Georgette Heyer. Interviewed a local historical fiction author (advice was make sure you have a day job), when I was 13, wrote a short story along lines of Heyer when I was 16. I made being a historian (PhD) my day job, but never gave up the dream of becoming a published author, which I did when I was 60. Have now sold over 300,000 ebooks most of them historical fiction in my Victorian San Francisco Mystery series (smile.)
Hi Mary. My first novel was set in 1927 and 1928 with flashbacks to World War I. Victorian mysteries, eh? You probably have a complex and nuanced view of Sherlock Holmes.
He hasn't so far, but a friend who writes in the same period has a whole short novel, the Imaginary Emperor with him as the subject. My mystery series comes from my dissertation research on women who work in 19th century San Francisco, focusing each mystery around certain female occupations, so those real historical figures that do show up, tend to be women. Unlike my daughter who loves horror, I tend to go for a more cozy tone, although my second book Uneasy Spirits is the closest I get to supernatural elements. Thanks for saying hello!
I dabbled a lot as a kid, but didn't really get into it until right after I graduated from college in the late aughts. Then came a lot of flailing around and having no idea what I was doing for about 10 years or so. I don't know if I'll ever be at the point where I'm *completely* confident in my skill as writer, but I'm starting to think writers are much more prone to doubt than other people. I guess it must come with the territory.
I wrote and told stories as a kid, but the first short story I ever “truly” wrote was for my eleventh grade English class. The students were tasked with selecting a topic, exploring it in-depth, and then presenting our projects to parents and community members. I focused on religious extremists in the Middle East. The project brought me down some dark paths and opened my eyes in many ways. One component of the project was creative in nature, so I chose to write a short story about a suicide bomber carrying out his mission. My teacher trusted my vision and gave me the green light.
After I wrote the story and we gave our presentations science-fair-style, my teacher encouraged me to send my story in to a local writing contest at the Utica Public Library. I ended up winning the thing and earning my first payment as a writer, fifty bucks.
My teacher was absolutely thrilled, and I think I was more excited about the fact that I’d found something I truly loved. I had written the story in one sitting and remember getting into the flow state/losing track of time. It was beyond wild when I realized five or six hours had passed, and my imagination had brought me down such strange roads in unfamiliar territory.
I’ll never forget what my teacher told me after the fact: “You can make a career out of this, Deming.” The line has stuck with me. In a way, I suppose I have made a career out of it, since I am a teacher now, and can use my love to try to inspire kids. With this said, being able to write fiction for a living is still my dream.
Mrs. C’s words continue to motivate me to this day!
Thanks, Brian! It was a bit of a bizarre gateway into the world of fiction writing. I haven’t thought about the story or the experience in quite some time, so thank you for posing the question. 😀
That indeed is a great story Justin, and a daring story you took on. And it's interesting how one good teacher like Mrs. C. can make a difference. Wonderful that you and her were together at the right time.
Victor, thank you so much for reading. At the time I was still struggling to make sense of 9/11 and wanted to do some digging of my own. Teachers really do have the power to inspire young minds or, sadly, the opposite. I feel very lucky to have had Mrs. C as my teacher!
I was much younger when I started writing, and was encouraged to continue but I didn't keep up with it. My attention turned to music. On Substack, I started with non-fiction though I've posted a 4-part fictional piece, "A Hank Williams Story". Please stop by and give it a listen as you read along. I have another multi-part fiction story "In Gold Country" to follow in a couple of weeks. Thank you all for getting me thinking!
My third-grade teacher believed reading and writing were the most important parts of education. Every day we had to make up and write a “long” story. It was creative writing boot camp. And I was only 8! I suppose that was my start. But I didn’t really pursue writing after school. Music was a stronger passion. Then in my late 50s, I took up writing again and really enjoyed it. Mainly because of reader responses.
When I was young I had an over active imagination and decided to share it. I started writing because a paper and pen was easier and cheaper for a child than, say, making a film. You can read some of my fiction at https://igreviews.substack.com
Oooh love this idea! I’ll mark my calendar. I’m just starting a new novel so it will be fun to talk ideas out!!
I've read that talking too much about a written work in progress is a detriment. That simply releasing the ideas to the world gives the same rush as finishing the project, thereby diminishing the creative brain's urgency. Don't know if it's true for everyone but Twitter seems to be littered with people eager to discuss their "WIP" but never discussing a finished product
Interesting. Never have heard that before, but it makes sense. I learned the hard way though. Some years ago I was so thrilled with my "first chapter" I handed it off to a reader friend and became crestfallen when she said nothing... nothing... and then nothing. Finally I asked her if she enjoyed it. "It was interesting thanks." Didn't write another word (of fiction) for five years. Fortunately, there was another story in me and I began to write again... Kept this one to myself until I was sure it was safe to come out. Find it @ https://finlaybeach.substack.com/
I feel this. Still. When I know a friend has read my work and said absolutely nothing it kills me. Do you think it's awful? I'm strange? The content was off-putting? Do you know I don't want to ask you because I put my heart in this? Do you not want to hurt my feelings?
Well, as long we're being vulnerable here. I was once visiting a friend for a couple of days. I handed her one of my works, maybe 5 pages, completed in the sense that I had reached the end, but incomplete in the sense of editing, polishing.
The next morning, she handed me the pages, and walked into the kitchen without a word. It's hard to describe what I felt in that moment, but it was ugly and foul. My stomach hurt and when my visit was over, I never saw her again.
Ooof. I guess as writers we have to be able to bleed on the page and be willing to have our hearts stomped on. It's a gruesome business.
Indeed!
A true tale of of non-fiction horror. Well said.
What is it that the kids say today? Yep, that's it, "Silence is Violence."
Yeah, I guess they do say that. It rhymes, sounds edgy and cool, and completely ignores the inconvenient fact that words have actual meanings.
Yep, I cannot stand the phrase; "Its all good." They need to walk in someone else's shoes for a while.
I suspect, although I've not verified, that it's just as crippling for them to give feedback as it is for us to receive none in return. If they really, truly think it's garbage for any number of reasons, how could they say that to a friend? In those cases, I move on to someone else and my skin gets a little thicker. 😁
That's why I don't randomly share work with friends, unless it's a writer friend doing a beta read.
I also have learned to be selective and found my beta readers show their their commitment quickly. I've been using https://betabooks.co/ and have found it placing me (the writer) in enough control to weed out those who are not worthy... ;)
That's a good part of it. The opinion of someone who is not aligned in the slightest with your vision, while legitimate, is of no value because doesn’t help you stay on your path.
It is the conundrum of our trade. I'm a thick skinned cripple.
There's no need for someone to say it's garbage if that's their reaction. They can say well, I didn't like it, or I guess it's not for me. One sign of a friend is truth, even if the truth is softened a bit. Cruelty not necessary.
When I lived stateside, I was in a group that I enjoyed, with people I considered friends. We exchanged feedback in positive ways, whether we liked the piece or not. We could say quite clearly I didn't like that and here's why. Or I did and here's why.
Yes, it's different with a group formed for the purpose than one-on-one friend-to-friend, but I think the basic principle can still apply.
I can see that. I was reticent to show my writing to anyone until half of my first novel was written, it was a huge adjustment when I started sharing it with a writing group. But at least the group commitment leads you to complete the project.
I agree. For me, I need to keep the energy inside. A slight mention of an overall is okay, but I don't get into detail about a work in progress. And it's not just the diminished energy that may result, it can also provoke a sense of satisfying an external expectation. I prefer to keep things close until the time comes.
Nah. That's the same argument used by some folx to explain why they can't outline--it diminishes the desire to finish the work. Perhaps for some people, but for a lot of us, talking out details often helps work through difficult patches of worldbuilding or drafting.
You are blessed.
Hey, I write about a variety of different things. I also do a podcast. arianna922.substack.com
There are two fiction stories with part two of the peoms story coming soon. They are like so old.
When I’d already lived most of my life doing other things and realized that time was nigh. Ticks of the clock became deafening.
I have something of that, too.
Me too.
The first thing I remember getting praise in school for was writing.
I was the only child of a single mom for my first 7 years and remember making up outlandish lies for babysitters.
Then in high school at a book signing Elmore Leonard encouraged me. Shortly thereafter a legendary Jesuit priest English teacher told the class I was the best writer he ever taught.
Punk rock and acting got in the way, but here I am almost 900 short stories into a Substack career.
Ha!! We writers can lie well 😎
I was 7 and wanted to be a writer. My mother and I both have a love of words and language. That’s where it probably came from. I took creative writing classes and met Mark Doty one time. It was an exciting time as a 12 year old. I wrote a movie script... I used to carry pen and paper with me everywhere and had something akin to intrusive thoughts, but for poetry. It was like a faucet I couldn’t shut off until one day I forced it to and it didn’t come back for decades.
I started up again a few years ago and rather than the jealousy I used to feel of other writers, I learn from them.
This is such an important point to share, Chevanne. It's easy to get jealous of others -- I'm guilty at times too -- but since art is truly subjective and publishing is basically a mess as a writer you can't worry about what other people are doing. If you put the focus on your craft you'll improve and position yourself for "success."
As for learning from others, many people worry about "stealing" or being "influenced" by other writers. At a conference I attended a brilliant author said: "That's like saying I play basketball but don't watch LeBron because I don't want to be influenced by him." 🤣🤣🤣
I absolutely want my writing voice to be my own. But I feel that studying the styles of authors I admire educates me. Sometimes I'll copy out, in handwriting, a paragraph that feels especially real to me, to better get the rhythm of the author's sentences, or see how the paragraph progresses from a to b. It enriches me. As long as I'm not unconsciously copying their style.
Sometimes I jot down what exactly I’m learning and keep that in mind. From Conan Doyle, I learn about use of verbs and character description/personality development.
In my experience, those who start blaming other writers for stealing their ideas while workshopping are...not very experienced. Or they haven't been challenged to write their own story from someone's prompt, or else write in a shared world.
There’s a lot of good writers whose work is instructional and it very beneficial to teaching me principles. I wouldn’t be able to copy!
Not being jealous this time (as opposed to my preteens) is because I know myself better now. I appreciate who I am and appreciate others.
Perfectly put.
Every artist steals.
Nice. I had a very similar experience. My mom was a writer and had a great home library. I’d pick books off the shelf and try to read them. I started writing poems when I was seven or eight. It went from there!
All in the family. 🙂
Exactly
I've wanted to write fiction from the moment I could hold a pencil in the 1960s. However, life intervened and it was only after spending 12 months in hospital and going through a heart transplant that I chose to focus squarely on producing novels, that was early in 2020. Three years later, I've completed 3. One is currently serialising here at conked.io and the others may go the traditional publishing route, we will see. I've got a fourth I'm reworking and the bare bones of a memoir, plus two poetry collections. Writing is a big part of my recovery from trauma and I appreciate the community I've built and am building around my writing
Fascinating! Not as dramatic, but I have started writing fiction after a serious bone infection a little over four years ago. It has been my therapy replacement (mental health).
Interesting
Yeah!! It’s in our DNA! 🔥🤘❤️
I don’t recall ever wanting to become a writer. I might never have started, except about 10 years ago, I had to spend a few days sitting in a hospital bed with electrodes glued to my head for a video EEG, and I had nothing to do but mess around on my laptop. I’d been reading Herodotus and listening to this one song on repeat. The two combusted, and a story was born. I wrote a few scenes daily while waiting for the test to be over. That’s when I started writing fiction. Those first few scenes turned into a historical trilogy. You can read the first book at https://jmelliott.substack.com/p/table-of-contents
Funny how life works that way. What a great non-traditional discovery of your desire to write. I love hearing when writers didn't embrace it early in their childhood and sort of fell into it. Thanks for sharing!
Thanks, Brian! It has definitely been a strange adventure, but also a lot of fun! And I suppose there are worse habits to pick up later in life than writing fiction ;-)
Nice to see how you put out your fist book on Substack. I'll check it out. Thanks!
I did technical writing in my job as a consultant and always wanted to write a book about my motorcycle adventures and my challenges with my mother who was addicted to drugs. I completed the book in the fall and now am experimenting with true fiction on my Substack. We will see what happens ...
I can't remember, because it must have been when I was about six years old. :P
I've always been a writer - though I didn't fully embrace it and find a way to be consistently productive until I was in my 30s. Have been writing consistently for about 8 years now, with 3 novels to show for it.
❤️❤️🤘
I had a writing assignment for Halloween in third or fourth grade. We needed to take a common nursery rhyme and modify it to be Halloween themed. I used Baa Baa Black Sheep and made the sheep a ghost. That was the first time I realized I enjoyed creative writing. I would love to say it was an upward trajectory, but my relationship with writing has since been a rocky road. It wasn't until last year that I decided it was time to focus, and I started a Substack. Soon after I published my first collection of fantasy and science fiction short stories.
I've always enjoyed writing and was always sarcastic and quick with a joke growing up. I gravitated to science and math when I was younger and got sidetracked until I was in my late thirties. By then I'd given up on Academia and Corporate America and realized what really, truly, intrinsically motivated me was writing.
My first ever piece of fiction is my unpublished novel, which is where I cut my teeth and realized -- even though I have plenty to learn and improve upon -- I might have a knack for this.
News, politics, and contemporary culture interest me so my weekly posts gravitate toward satire and dark comedy, but I also periodically intertwine pure fictional elements into my stories.
Right now I'm deep into a second (much better) attempt at a novel and I'm looking to produce more short fiction for my newsletter.
“ I've always enjoyed writing and was always sarcastic and quick with a joke growing up.”
Are you me???!
Ditto 🤘
Good morning Fictionistas--I love this group!
I serialized my 97,000 word novel, A Scattering of Light, on Substack from Aug-Dec 2022. My semi-autobiographical novel tells the story of Paul Gardner, a naive American student who gets caught up in the world of espionage in 1970s London. Serializing my novel on Substack was a great experience and I got tons of helpful feedback. It was like workshopping the book with hundreds of people.
Thanks to all who helped. If you didn't catch it last year, here's a link. Let me know what you think! https://patrickyoungblood2021.substack.com/p/a-scattering-of-light
Thanks again. Please link me to your work if you'd like my feedback!
Patrick, with regards to serializing- did you offer the story for free or did you choose to monetize it? Are you considering self-publishing it as a complete novel now?
Hi Lenaleah—I offered the novel for free to workshop it and raise its profile. I’m now looking for an agent and/or publisher, but may self-publish if that doesn’t work out. I self-published a memoir several years ago and did fairly well with it. Getting an agent is hellishly difficult unless you have a personal connection. But you probably already know that. 😊
When I was in 3rd grade, we got an assignment to write a commercial script. I wrote a parody of the song “Grease Lightning” about a fictional car. My teacher loved it and put it up on the board in the hallway (!) to feature it. So I kept writing parody commercials, long after the assignment was done, to amuse the other kids and teachers. I’ve been writing ever since.
This is awesome, Geoffrey! Our love of writing seems to have surfaced in a similar way. Isn't it crazy how simply having our work "showcased" at such a young age can have a significant impact. I remember walking past my Halloween poem every day in the hallway and just feeling so proud.
It’s true! I think I was predisposed to having that feeling, since my whole family was in the theater.
I was in 4th grade when I contributed an advice column to the class newspaper. Sometimes I'd make up the questions myself, as in: "How can I tell if a boy likes me?" or "How do I make myself wake up in the morning?" I'd consult the experts, i.e., my older brother and my Mom. Hope I didn't do much damage with my answers. I've been writing ever since. I write fantasy fiction at FantasticalFiction.substack.com, currently serializing a story title "Sweet Pea's Spaghetti Shack."
Question for all us writers: what frustrates you about your own writing? For me, it's the struggle to portray fluid states of mind. Virginia Woolf did this beautifully, using stream-of-consciousness monologue, but I feel that I should master a more concrete style. Say, from amused to irritated: "Lenny's eyes crinkled in amusement at first, but gradually he realized that Martha's speech was tainted with bigotry, and a frown wrinkled his brow." How would you put it? BTW I'm not allergic to the carefully-placed adverb. :)
I really struggle to make my characters emotionally relatable. I get very caught up in scenes and backstories and I struggle to make characters that feel real. I am 8 episodes in to a rough public draft of my book and I kind of hate how i started it. Things were just working out for my MC because I wanted to railroad him to the next scene.
It's killed my enthusiasm for the work, but I am determined to finish it so that I can go back and fix it on editing. I always start giving up when I start looking back and so I am going to break that habit here. I am determined to not edit before I am done and fall back in love with my story. I think I know how to do that, just need to write now...
I had to go through a Nanowrimo with the specific goal of killing my internal editor while drafting. Now, I tend to go back over what I wrote the previous day to make corrections, expand, and get rolling on the new words. Nothing more than that, unless I have a continuity issue. But I also build my rough draft editing process into my overall process, which includes using both Scrivener and Word.
NaNoWriMo really helped break me of that internal editor quicksand, and ever since I've been able to draft both fiction and nonfiction a LOT faster. I would recommend it to EVERYONE for that reason alone.
I think it depends on what voice you're trying to achieve. I don't like stream-of-consciousness because it's like communicating in a foreign language and leaves too much open to interpretation. In my own writing, what frustrates me, or in the least, what I'm trying to improve, is the removal of emotive descriptions in favor of physical and actionable descriptions. For example, in the case of "eyes crinkled in amusement" and "frown wrinkled his brow", eyes and frowns are not autonomous beings. "Lenny cracked a smile and crinkled his eyes in amusement before realizing Martha's speech was tainted with bigotry. The amusement quickly soured, and he furrowed his brow in disgust." I'm sure there are a dozen different ways to say it. You could remove 'quickly', but also the entire second sentence. After realizing it was bigotry, I would have Lenny take an action or say something.
What's your POV in that sentence? This almost feels like omniscient, which can be difficult these days. If you're doing deep first, then Lenny isn't the POV character and we wouldn't know what is going on in his head. If Lenny is the POV character, then how does he know what he looks like?
I think the struggle you have here is that you're *telling* us how Lenny is feeling rather than showing his reaction to what Martha is saying. For me, what I would do is center Lenny's reactions to specific things that Martha says. Martha says something that is funny but slightly bigoted. Lenny chuckles. Martha continues, and Lenny gets that sinking sensation in his gut that oh no, she means what she says. Not writing it out because, well, they're your characters and you know how best they would speak.
I came up with that and threw it out here spontaneously, to hear how other writers would re-arrange it. Lenny and Martha don't exist in my work or imagination. I appreciate everyone's replies!
Yes, exactly. I think if you interweave what Martha says with how Lenny reacts, it will make the whole thing read more naturally.
Great question! Probably the biggest issue for me is my prose. I can get it to be functional, but doubt it will ever be beautiful. I also tend to go pretty light on describing things.
Must prose be beautiful? I doubt mine is.
Probably not, but it would be nice. ,🙃
"My name is Fin and I'm a fiction writer." It was my first meeting. The judge said I must go. Admitting I'm a fiction writer has been the hardest thing in my life, but it has made all the difference. I told the small circle of new friends, "I have a thing for writing fiction. I started in the seventies when I was just a teenager. My name is Fin and I'm a fiction writer." I tore my eyes off the group and took a puff from my cigarette and added my smoke into the haze. The judge was right, I needed this meeting and these new friends.
Fin- this is exactly how I feel sometimes when someone asks me what I do. I sensed the meeting vibe you were going for- chairs in a circle,  linoleum floor slightly scuffed, lights only on in the side of the room we occupy. Someone coughs as you start speaking. The awkwardness of hearing you voice come out of your mouth and the few seconds where you swear you are out of body. Yeah, love those confessional moments.
words are fun!
Love it: Fiction Writers Anonymous
Man that would be such a great Fictionistas column.... (hint hint)
I can relate to the judge said I must go. To jail or group. I took group because I'd already tried jail a few times and didn't much care for it. But that's another story. Welcome Fin, the fiction writer!
I've been making stuff up and showing off and trying to make people laugh since birth. Middle child. Need I say more? My first ever fiction success was winning the Young Author's Competition in third grade. Here's a little gem I penned in fourth grade. Seems I had a penchant for satire at a young age. https://stockfiction.substack.com/p/snow-white-my-version
I hit a weird snag in my 20s/30s where I thought I needed to find a "legitimate" career path that was going to set me up financially to raise kids and generally "adult" in the real world. But I found legitimate careers sucky. So, with the support of my underpaid, public school teacher husband, and my family who's been telling me to write for a living since I was seven, I quit my last ever "job" in October of 2021 and hit the ground running. I wrote five novels in my first year. They don't have homes yet, but I hope to serialize one or two on my Substack at some point, as a way to get them seen and gather some feedback. If you haven't heard of me (cue theme music), I write weekly short fiction, inspired by stock photographs, over here: https://stockfiction.substack.com/
Five novels! My goodness, Meg, leave some words for the rest of us 😉
I was hemorrhaging teen angst, Brian! What was I supposed to do?! 😂😂😂
What's funny is that's kind of what happened to me last year. It's the only reason I could publish my book of short stories and write every week. I had like 20 years of a backlog in my head.
Exactly! I probably won't write another one until I'm 60.
My thoughts too! Great determination is motivating. Thanks Meg.
My first spark for writing fiction happened with storytelling for my little brother. Before I started writing fiction, I began telling it in the form of chicken nugget stories created to entertain my brother. I created an entire underground war between living chicken McNuggets and burger king’s Chicken tenders. Most of the showdowns took place in the sewer system and, of course, only the children of the world had any clue this was going on.
LMAO this is hilariously awesome
My brother and I are still so frustrated that neither of us ever thought of writing it down. Sure, it would have been terrible, but “the rules” of the world would have been documented and the things that seemed awesome to two super young kids would have been captured forever!
It's never too late—until you're dead. SO DO IT!
Even though I have heard longer versions of this story, it never ceases to crack me up.
😂😂🤘
I also have a Substack question if anyone knows the answer. For those of us with paid substacks, what happens to our current paying subscribers if we ever raise the price of a subscription -- are they locked in to the price they started at, or do their prices increase at the next billing cycle?
https://support.substack.com/hc/en-us/articles/360037829591-Can-I-change-the-price-of-my-subscription-after-launch-
Excellent. You rock. This is what I was thinking/hoping, but I wasn’t sure that was the case!
This is what I thought (and told Nicole) but was too lazy to look up to confirm. Clearly you win today's Substack trivia challenge!
I had the URL memorized. Just typed it right out 😉
If that's true, I'm going to give you even more work to do. :D
I got a BFA in illustration and work as a designer and creative director. So, every day I'm visually telling other peoples stories. I've always been an avid reader and it occurred to me one day that I might want to tell my own. One day, over a margarita and a burrito I started writing a story on my phone. I challenged myself to write 500 words a day, every day to see if I really enjoyed writing. Turns out that I do!
I've always been better at writing than speaking. When I was a kid and I was mad at my parents I would write them angry letters and leave them in their room. Growing up with the advent of the digital age, most of my relationships became mediated through the likes of AOL Instant Messenger and message boards (before facebook came around). I always enjoyed reading Ray Bradbury's short stories and would try periodically to emulate him, but I don't think I caught the bug for writing until I published a short piece in my highschool literary magazine. It put the idea in my head that I had the ability.
I always had ideas and always enjoyed trying to put the ideas in my head into other people's heads, and it wasn't until substack and the encouragement from my wife that I decided to try and take some of these ideas and turn them into a real book.
So Gibberish (https://gibberish.substack.com/) is my current attempt at that. It will host world building notes and episodes from the book I am trying to write, but every week I post writing exercises which I am giving clever names, based on writing prompts I come up with or which I find online. A "Crunch" Is a short story of 250 words, you can read my latest Crunch here, based on the prompt to "Write about the end of the world...of Atlantis": https://gibberish.substack.com/p/crunch-the-wrong-side-of-the-bed
Looking forward to checking out all the great fiction writers I see here!
Just imagining those letters seriously cracked me up. I wish I had thought of that!
Now I'm thinking this would be a great basis for a short story...
Wish i’d thought of that first!
Gibberish looks great! I do a lot of prompt based writing and flash fiction writing, so count me in!
Always looking for inspiration and more prompt ideas. I like your recent “need for speed” story!
I’ve always been telling stories with my siblings (mostly it was playing outside and acting out our imaginative adventures!), but I don’t think it was until the 6th grade when my literature teacher had us create a book of poems to explore all the different kinds of poetry styles. I looooved that assignment. Afterwards, I would request if, for every writing assignment from then on (including biographical essays and book reports etc), I could do it in rhyming poem format. LOL
Oh! And then I became obsessed with creating treasure hunts for my siblings. We lived on five acres and I would make rhyming mysterious treasure hunts for them whenever it was someone’s birthday or Christmas so we could hide the presents. So fun!
I've enjoyed writing odd stories for most of my life, although I've also written poetry, essays, and a whole bunch of technical articles for the big beast in Redmond. I can handle a variety, but prefer my fiction.
In university long ago, we studied creative writing and literature. Some profs were pretty cool with my way of expressing, which has always had a very tenuous relationship with mainstream. Others not so understanding or supportive, but still a good source of learning, or perhaps I should say anti-learning.
Now I'm hanging on on Substack with Dynamic Creed, doing my own genre evocative creative fiction, enjoying the many reads I find here, appreciating the community, and thankful that my spirit is still spinning.
https://dcreed.substack.com/
Victor, I read a little of your stuff just now. Very daring and you've got a way of inserting killer lines into your prose. Nicely done: I mean, "My beliefs are real, he says. Made of emeralds, just like yours." beautiful and edgy grammar to boot! Nice.
Many thanks Finlay. I appreciate your support. My work is sort an eclectic mixed bag, I seem to have different moods. Well, don't we all. :) I hope you enjoy more that's up there, and/or coming your way in the upcoming weeks. All the best!
I was in grade school when we got our first computer. I was ALWAYS reading, so sitting down and creating stories felt like second nature. I think it was part escape, part exploration of possibility, and part exercise- not just for my imagination, but of practicing outcomes and trying on other lives. #typeAcreativepartyofone
I've been imagining stories for a long time, as long as I could remember. My siblings and I would make up stories for games that didn't seem to have them, like Super Smash Bros Melee. Then I found fanfic online and was inspired by that.
What approach do people use for images with their fiction, like with the thumbnail image? I've been using my substack logo, but I'm looking into creating a sort of cover for my fiction. Don't like the idea of using photos, or grabbing a different picture for each chapter. I know some people have been using AI art.
Hey William, I've found that for images, a single consistent image works just fine. I've never received any negative feedback because my short stories all have the same image, which is similar, but different to my Dear Reader section image. I shy away from AI generated because it still has some negative stigma, but I can use that excuse because I'm able to create my own art.
Eh, I use photos and usually the same one for each chapter segment (my chapters run to about 4000-6000 words so I don't put them up all at once). It's easy and I don't have to worry about AI art.
For the cover image I either use a stock photo or lately, something I create in Midjourney (please no haters!). I think Midjourney did a fantastic job for this one in particular: https://storycauldron.substack.com/p/what-big-claws-you-have
I use some images I find on Unsplash (or similar sites), some of my own pics from around town, and AI. They all have their place, but I try not to get too overly involved with the image because time/writing, but it's fun to put something.
I like the images they've used here on Fictionistas, pretty nice.
Which reminds me. A few times, I've wanted to re-read an article here or on another stack, but I couldn't remember the title. I've scrolled down the article list looking for the thumbnail because that stuck with me.
I started my off-and-on writing career in elementary school when I wrote a series of horse books that I wanted to read--featuring girl protagonists who were actually *doing something* rather than being the protagonist's girlfriend. Huh. Guess I started my rebellious course early.
Then I started submitting short stories in high school. The one thing I would change from that era is that I would have told the editors that I was in high school--I didn't do that, and I probably should have.
Dipped in and out of the writing world for the next few decades, finally settled down and got serious about it in my late forties. I've been a Writers of the Future semifinalist, a Self Published Fantasy Blog Off semifinalist, and a couple of other things. I have several book series to my credit, and am now working on a Kindle Vella project (which will be published in its own right this summer) and a new Martiniere Stories book (basically, multiverse fanfiction of my own books--in this case, the Martiniere Legacy four books).
You could call me the "perpetual midlister" because that would probably be where I fall if I were traditionally published these days. Not the award-winner, not the bestseller. Just the reliable old writer churning out more books every year. 20+ right now. Hope to achieve what my mentor has, who is working on book 50 in her seventies.
Howdy! My first post here. I was a middle school, high school, college, and professional journalist before writing a couple thousand speeches. I wrote a couple nonfiction books even as I realized what I had to say would be better expressed through characters with a plot. For several years I thought I'd write plays, but then realized novels would be best. Started my first novel in 2019, finished my first novel this past September, and launched on Substack in December. Definitely looking forward to learning from those of you who've been writing fiction much longer.
Welcome, Mike! Glad you're here at Fictionistas.
Thanks, Brian.
Welcome aboard! I hope to see you around! :)
I've got a question for everyone! On Fictionistas, we don't seem to get the little anchor link beside subheaders, but it shows up on my own Substacks. This is true both for new, unpublished posts and existing ones if I go back to edit.
Is anyone else having this same issue, and is there a setting or something that I can change to make it work here?
The problem is that they are woefully misaligned to the actual header. I just checked my drafts. I have a header right at the start of a draft newsletter, and the link shows up next to my author name.
A ways down, my second header, the link shows up two paragraphs above where the header actually is.
Try scrolling so that the header you want to see is at the bottom of your screen, and see if a link icon appears somewhere above it, not where it should be.
Thanks for the suggestion, but after trying it, I still don't see the link icon. It's so weird that it only seems to happen on Fictionistas and I can't for the life of me figure out why!
I started "writing" fiction when I was a grade schooler. At first it was telling elaborate stories with my Barbies and on the playground. Lots of playacting and pretend. Then in 6th grade I was trying to get into a private school and wrote a TERRIBLE essay on the application (I mean, come on, I had never written a personal essay in my life!). The school wanted to see more examples of my writing, so I was taken out of class for an afternoon and asked to write samples. I don't know what else I wrote, but I somehow came up with a short story about hillbillies selling lemonade, with dialog in hillbilly dialect. Honestly, I have no idea where that idea came from and I wish I still had it somewhere because it is probably hilariously bad.
After that, I started writing stories for myself throughout jr high and high school, and took a couple classes my senior year that required me to write short stories. I remember when my epically long short story for one class completely filled up that 5 1/2 inch floppy disk (I want to say it was somewhere between 10-20 pages). By the time I graduated from HS I had already started a fantasy story that would decades later become my first novel - with most of it vastly different, but with the country name and map, and one character + backstory, surviving to the final version.
Nice!
My realization for writing fiction hit me a year ago. I have dabbled with it in the past for my own amusement but mostly in 2022 when I was introduced to Substack. I felt that it would be a good place to start sharing the various stories I have fluttering around inside of my head. I find that it has given me good practice and by gaining readers it has given me more drive to dive deeper into writing as a hopeful career.
Hey everyone! I've been writing since before I could actually write, or so my mom tells me. Real stories hit me in elementary school, and I would ask to skip recess in order to stay in and write with one of my friends. I've always enjoyed writing, but for me it always goes in stages of writing a lot for a year or two, then nothing for a few years, then getting the itch to go again. I've always wanted to write a novel, but struggle with that task immensely, so short fiction has become my thing. I posted short stories and flash fiction on Instagram for about 3 years before deciding to jump ship. I landed here and love it so far!
I honestly couldn't say. I've wanted to be a writer as far back as I remember. I just fell in love with words when I was a child and I'll do anything with them--short stories, novels, poems, song lyrics, translations... Telling stories is what I enjoy the most, though. I'm not sure why. Maybe because they come to me unbidden and they request to be told ;)
Ditto
I decided I wanted to write historical fiction by the time I was twelve, with a series of books about the period between WWI and WWII by Kate Seredy having been my favorite books since I was 5, and my new exposure to the Regency romances of Georgette Heyer. Interviewed a local historical fiction author (advice was make sure you have a day job), when I was 13, wrote a short story along lines of Heyer when I was 16. I made being a historian (PhD) my day job, but never gave up the dream of becoming a published author, which I did when I was 60. Have now sold over 300,000 ebooks most of them historical fiction in my Victorian San Francisco Mystery series (smile.)
Hi Mary. My first novel was set in 1927 and 1928 with flashbacks to World War I. Victorian mysteries, eh? You probably have a complex and nuanced view of Sherlock Holmes.
Hello, fellow historical fiction writer! Victorian San Francisco sounds like a really fun setting. Does Emperor Norton make an appearance?
He hasn't so far, but a friend who writes in the same period has a whole short novel, the Imaginary Emperor with him as the subject. My mystery series comes from my dissertation research on women who work in 19th century San Francisco, focusing each mystery around certain female occupations, so those real historical figures that do show up, tend to be women. Unlike my daughter who loves horror, I tend to go for a more cozy tone, although my second book Uneasy Spirits is the closest I get to supernatural elements. Thanks for saying hello!
I dabbled a lot as a kid, but didn't really get into it until right after I graduated from college in the late aughts. Then came a lot of flailing around and having no idea what I was doing for about 10 years or so. I don't know if I'll ever be at the point where I'm *completely* confident in my skill as writer, but I'm starting to think writers are much more prone to doubt than other people. I guess it must come with the territory.
I wrote and told stories as a kid, but the first short story I ever “truly” wrote was for my eleventh grade English class. The students were tasked with selecting a topic, exploring it in-depth, and then presenting our projects to parents and community members. I focused on religious extremists in the Middle East. The project brought me down some dark paths and opened my eyes in many ways. One component of the project was creative in nature, so I chose to write a short story about a suicide bomber carrying out his mission. My teacher trusted my vision and gave me the green light.
After I wrote the story and we gave our presentations science-fair-style, my teacher encouraged me to send my story in to a local writing contest at the Utica Public Library. I ended up winning the thing and earning my first payment as a writer, fifty bucks.
My teacher was absolutely thrilled, and I think I was more excited about the fact that I’d found something I truly loved. I had written the story in one sitting and remember getting into the flow state/losing track of time. It was beyond wild when I realized five or six hours had passed, and my imagination had brought me down such strange roads in unfamiliar territory.
I’ll never forget what my teacher told me after the fact: “You can make a career out of this, Deming.” The line has stuck with me. In a way, I suppose I have made a career out of it, since I am a teacher now, and can use my love to try to inspire kids. With this said, being able to write fiction for a living is still my dream.
Mrs. C’s words continue to motivate me to this day!
What a cool story, Justin! I had never heard you tell that anywhere else, and first place to boot, wow, that's amazing. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks, Brian! It was a bit of a bizarre gateway into the world of fiction writing. I haven’t thought about the story or the experience in quite some time, so thank you for posing the question. 😀
That indeed is a great story Justin, and a daring story you took on. And it's interesting how one good teacher like Mrs. C. can make a difference. Wonderful that you and her were together at the right time.
Victor, thank you so much for reading. At the time I was still struggling to make sense of 9/11 and wanted to do some digging of my own. Teachers really do have the power to inspire young minds or, sadly, the opposite. I feel very lucky to have had Mrs. C as my teacher!
I was much younger when I started writing, and was encouraged to continue but I didn't keep up with it. My attention turned to music. On Substack, I started with non-fiction though I've posted a 4-part fictional piece, "A Hank Williams Story". Please stop by and give it a listen as you read along. I have another multi-part fiction story "In Gold Country" to follow in a couple of weeks. Thank you all for getting me thinking!
My third-grade teacher believed reading and writing were the most important parts of education. Every day we had to make up and write a “long” story. It was creative writing boot camp. And I was only 8! I suppose that was my start. But I didn’t really pursue writing after school. Music was a stronger passion. Then in my late 50s, I took up writing again and really enjoyed it. Mainly because of reader responses.