Month: June 2021

Welcome to The Power of Social Media (Neurotic Writers’ Edition)

We neurotic writers welcome you. And now we will go run along and hide, if you will kindly excuse us.

Chicken Scratch

Neurotic Writers. So, I know aspiring writers. Lots and lots of them, actually.

You probably do, too. There are lots of people with a manuscript out there … somewhere. Perhaps it is just in a hard drive. Or maybe it has been uploaded to a fiction site. Or perhaps it has gotten a little exposure by having a chapter or a tantalizing fragment tossed onto a forums site.

It might take the form of a blog (Gee, I wonder if I am doing that …?). There are some that are typed (Remember that?). Others are only in long hand. And still others are locked away in brain form only.

Attention Monsters, All

Whatever form it has taken, there is one thing I have learned about aspiring writers. And this includes fan fiction writers, by the way. But do not dis ’em. They care about what they do, too! This may also be true of established writers as well.

Although I am not even so sure where “established” starts happening.

If it starts when you have gotten a check for writing, then count me in the established camp. If not, well, then it might be that I am still waiting for my established writer card. But I digress. What have I learned about aspiring writers?

It is more that we are all attention monsters.

We all crave attention. But it is more than just “Look at me! Look at me!” Instead, it is more like, “Please oh please oh please read my stuff and leave detailed feedback so I know you really read it and never, ever forget to tell me how kick-bun awesome I am!”

Er, yeah.

Now, pretty much everyone on the planet adores hugs and positive attention and love and happiness. For aspiring writers, though, it is all poured onto a page.

The soul is naked, for all to poke at.

Erm, that was not meant to evoke an NC-17 image. Shame on you for thinking so. And now that is all you can think of, am I right?

It is scary and it is daunting. And it is exhilarating when you get even a scrap of positive feedback.

Enter Social Media

For aspiring writers with a backbone and a somewhat thicker skin, social media can be a way to get some of that craved feedback.

But how?

The first and probably most obvious method is to have a Twitter stream dedicated to your writing. I doubt that most people want to read about writer’s block, so you need to have something going on.

Perhaps you could write about inspirations, or earlier works, or how things fit together in your universe.

Hence I am also talking about a blog. You can blog about writing. The creative process can be fascinating for people who are into it. Maybe you would like to review your own work, and comment on what you have learned, and how you have grown as an author.

Put both of these together, and you have a pretty dynamic combination. You write, you blog about it and then you tweet or skeet about your blog posts and your writing.

Plus writing begets writing. Even blog writing (which is a rather different animal from book writing) can help keep writer’s block at bay. It helps to exercise these muscles fairly regularly.

Is There Another Option for Us Neurotic Writers?

Post on social sites. Hence for fan fiction, there are sites like Fanfiction.net. And for purely original stories, they have a sister site, Fiction Press. Or you could try Wattpad. In addition, plenty of more specialized fiction and fan fiction sites exist. Google is your friend!

But be aware of scams; they do exist. Furthermore, putting your work out there does not guarantee that you retain full rights to it. And this is despite the laws in your own country. In addition, understand there is a lot of plagiarism and downright theft out there.

And that does not even get into issues with AI.

So remain as cautious as with any other information you put online.

I honestly cannot stress that last one enough.

Understand, too, that if you neurotic writers are going to submit to a traditional publisher, they often do not want you to have posted your story elsewhere beforehand. Because this has to do with the full rights to your product.

Hence you might want to put out your smaller or less important works, and save your really big one, if you are ever planning to submit to a traditional publishing house.

Competitions

Yet another option is competitions. Here are some. Because the inspiration from this blog post came from learning that a friend had a story in an old (now offline) competition. The competition ran as a pure social media experiment.

Hence, while good storytelling and story-crafting matter, so does publicity.

Like with any other social media site, “likes”, comments and popularity all play a role. For my friend, and for others trying to make it, putting the link onto Facebook or X or Bluesky or the like is essential to getting the word out.

Even this blog post is helpful. At least, I like to think that it is. FYI, and just for the record, this post is my own idea and she did not request or suggest it.

Let’s Head on Over to the Reader End of Things

The community of aspiring writers is, truly, a community. And that means give and take. But what kind of give and take? The kind that goes along with reviews and comments.

Because for those who are trying to write for a living, commenting and reviewing should be a part of that. Readily and cheerfully provide constructive criticism, if desired. Writers depend on your kind honesty!

Aspiring neurotic writers write for exposure. And often they get exposure from fellow aspirants. What better way to forge a sense of community than to read one another’s works, and comment thereon?

The Upshot of It All for Neurotic Writers Just Like Me (and Maybe Even You?)

For those of us neurotic writers who put it out there every day, who bare ourselves and our souls with prose or poetry, fiction or nonfiction, fan or wholly original, short story or multi-novel series, we all have a major issue in common – we want recognition.

We do not even necessarily want to be famous, but we want to be the one at the fireside who spins a yarn as others sit, enraptured. And with social media, we hope, there just might be some people listening.

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Want More About Social Media?

If my experiences with non-platform-specific social media resonate with you, then check out my other articles about navigating our social media obsessed world.

Social Media for Neurotic Writers

† Social Media and Writing
• Also, Social Media and Writing Part 2
† Social Media and Writing Part 3
• Are You Promoting Your Writing With Social Media?

Social media platforms, the next blog post