Can you get by with Fiction, or is it all just about Self-Help?
Trying to be a better writer takes time and practice, the first 99% of what we create understandably is probably garbage. I haven’t been writing on Medium for long, I discovered the platform in March of 2021, I was frantic with excitement because I finally found a place to truly be myself, I could write without paying attention to followers, or niches, and I could write whatever I desired. It ended up being a bit of a short lived experience as Medium decided to change everything — followers are more important now, publications are totally overrun or have been bought out, and being a beginner writer is even harder than ever.
Despite the constant changes, and the scarcity of views I still write. Am I a good writer? Probably not, I’ve only been in this game for 2 ½ months, and my goals for my writing lean more towards fiction and world building. This is why I write, I write because I can pull things out of my mind and spin stories, as well as articles in whichever way I like. I can write in any style, dabbling in language, and playing with the keys in which I type with.
But what chances are there for a start-up fictional writer on medium?
Writing helps me build my skills; understandably I am in no way at a level where I could sit and write an entire novel, but Medium helps me to just write — I can flex my fingers and my mind, by just sitting and typing. I don’t have to stick to a specific way or theme and therefore I can adjust my own personal style accordingly. Basically it’s a great way to practice.
I have also taken up reading, something that I had put aside for a long time;
‘If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot’.
Stephen King
Medium has reconnected my love affair with writing, and through it I’ve rekindled a relationship with books and reading; immersing myself within pages long forgotten, which in turn helps me to create my own works; building vocabulary and an understanding of many different types of writing.
I stick to what I love to write, I write how and what I feel at the time, seeking out new ways to say things, experimenting with each article I post.
The way I write doesn’t get me far in terms of views or curation, I have very little followers and I can only manage to write once a week, I’m not connected to any publications and get a few cents a month for what I produce. But I still write.
Writing is more than just getting paid, I realise I may not be playing the Medium game the way I should, and this part of the platform is what’s been bugging me the most about it lately.
What’s happening to Medium?
Recently I’ve found Medium a little difficult to enjoy; my homepage now saturated with ‘get rich quick’ content, top tips, bitcoin, self help and how to make Medium work for you by selling your soul.
Basically Medium has become one big pot of constantly bettering oneself in order to make more money. And it’s easy to get sucked into it all, I have caught myself scrolling through Medium tips, looking at ways I can earn $3000 per month, checking the trending lists for more ideas, and inevitably feeling burnt out, as I can’t bring myself to force out an article that isn’t fully where my interests lie.
Mediums biggest stories are based around self help and money making — and well, I had been living in poverty up until a couple of months ago, and so I don't have great tips surrounding either of those subject matters, this makes it exceptionally difficult to be anyone on Medium at this current time. I fully appreciate that Medium readers are after a quick pick-me-up, not a fully conducted piece of fiction, but I’m not willing to drop my aspirations nor my voice for a successful month on Medium.
I feel like the ceaseless array of quick articles that are trying to make us better at practically everything, is becoming incessant. I came to Medium believing that there’d be real writers posting real content, about everything and anything — and there are, I don’t disbelieve that, however, the articles that seem to get pushed to the top are all about the same thing: money.
Will I stop writing on Medium? No, absolutely not, I consider it to still be a great outlet for mine and others works, allowing me personally to hone in on my skills, but also read from other like minded people. I just wish there was more variety in content that Medium itself curates and makes trending.
I do feel like writing pure fiction is doable; quality writing and diversity are what makes this platform great, and I hope in time more genres of writing will be more widely accepted, I do know of some writers doing very well with their fiction, and post entire, completed novels onto Medium. I also feel like short stories could be a potential outlet, trialling ideas for longer stories in the making.
So in conclusion I feel like I’m at the start of a long road with Medium, I haven’t seen much success with the platform in terms of making money or getting a lot of exposure, but it hasn’t deterred me from writing, or writing the kinds of articles I’m most interested in. It’s not a get rich quick platform unless your willing to write trending posts, so if you are feeling frustrated by what’s going on at the moment, then you need to ask yourself;
Why do you write?
