#Advanced Writing on Substack

[mehmetyildizmelbourne-blog]

What Is ILLUMINATION Writing Academy?

 I prepared a video to introduce our first public publication on Substack Happy May, dear Readers and Writers, Recently, our chief editor Dr Mehmet Yildiz announced the establishment of our first publication publication on Substack. It is called ILLUMINATION Writing Academy. He also shared the submission guidelines which I link below if you haven’t seen it: ILLUMINATION Writing Academy:…

[strangebiology]

Success is Dependent on Secret Information

A lot of career success depends on you and the work you put into it, as well as luck beyond your control, but sadly, it also depends on secret information, magic words, and stupid little tricks.

That's not fair. I don't like it, but we can help by sharing that secret information--which is the antidote to gate-keeping. That's why I recently wrote this in my Authors of Nonfiction Books in Progress substack:

It can be really disheartening to realize that, when you thought you failed at something because you didn't do well enough, other people had the magic words. For instance, some injustices I've witnessed (that may or may not always be the case, or maybe not anymore!) include:

A good athletic score doesn't get you into a college sport--having a coach or parent talk to the college coach is mandatory

Many school-sponsored scholarships are often not tightly linked to grades, test scores, or financial need, but whether the student said the right words ("I can't afford that") to the right person (presumably some financial office person.)

Apparently, some aspects of some degrees are cheated on by most students (if that's the case, we should tell all students that it's ok to cheat on that so they don't waste their time on something that apparently wasn't important anyway, or worse, fail out just for being ethical.)

Especially related to books: Few people will mention that you can get grants! Not my agent, not my publisher, not the 1 zillion "pros and cons of trad publishing" articles out there mentioned grants (Grant eligibility is a HUGE benefit of trad publishing.) I got more money from grants than my entire book advance!

Let me know what magic words/secret knowledge you've learned, that you wish you knew sooner. Or: the widespread understanding of what information would make a field more fair?

And please share ANBIP with anyone writing, publishing, or seriously about to start writing, a nonfiction non-memoir book, especially if they're interested in the more practical side (I share more about resources and strategy than craft.)

[drdemonprince]

"I do think someone with advanced dementia is a different person than they once were. What, then, do we do with a patient who made an advance request but now that they've lost the capacity to decide otherwise (but meets the criteria) appears to be enjoying listening to music and eating their meals? What I worry about here is what others have already discussed: the elevation of critical interests over experiential interests. This advance request to be killed is a critical interest. Other critical interests are someone's hope to be a good father, brother, son, mechanic, citizen, etc., to build a table, to run a marathon, etc. Not everyone can form critical interests. People with dementia could have done so at one time, but others, like those born with severe intellectual disabilities, never had the capacity to do so. Experiential interests are focused on sensations. Most of us have an experiential interest in slaking thirst, satisfying hunger, avoiding pain, etc. Even people with severe dementia can continue to have experiential interests. So, when you have someone who has forgotten they made an advance decision based on a critical decision, but are living their life oriented around experiential interests, if you honor that previously expressed wish you're going to elevate critical interests above experiential interests, suggesting that one is more valuable than the other. This is step closer to, if not an embrace of, the belief that some lives are not worth living because of their rational capacities. It is the judgment that builds a culture that points at someone with dementia and says, "We never want to live like that," when, in fact, the person with dementia might not have any qualms about continuing to live now."

Some really fantastic writing on dementia, assisted suicide, and the ableism of equating the worthiness of someone's life with their cognitive capacity.

Here's a great common the piece from a substack moot of mine, who works in elder care:

[violetsandshrikes]

I’m considering starting a substack where once or twice a week I write up about lesser known species, advances in zoology, new behavioural studies that come out, etc but idkkkk

[betweendoctorsanddetectives]

hello! this week i have had to spend quite a lot of money on restocking medical supplies for my disability that aren't provided for by the nhs. this includes alcohol wipes and medical adhesive remover which is getting more and more expensive in the couple of years i have been needing it, and my only option is to bulk order multiple bottles at once. if you are able and would like to help with these kinds of medical costs i would be very grateful. i have a ko-fi and a paid subscription option on my substack where i have some writing already uploaded and a series of fun articles that should start going up within a week from now. i also have plans to begin running an online book club there with a focus on texts that center lgbt and disability themes and issues. thank you in advance if you are able to help me with these costs! <3

[ofmdrecaps]

12/01-02/2024 Daily OFMD Recap

TLDR; Rhys Darby; Taika Waititi; Vico Ortiz; Kristian Nairn; Samba Schutte; Rachel House; Dominic Burgess; Adopt Our Crew; Letting Writing Campaign for OFMD S3!; Fan Spotlight: Our Flag Means Fanfiction; Citizen Dame Pod; 2024 Podfuckery; OFMD Big Bang; Love Notes;

Hey crew, as you can see I'm slowly catching up. I've been sick and my dads back at the hospital so things are a bit cray cray at the moment. Thank you for all your patience <3

= Rhys Darby =

Rhys was out in Atlanta doing comedy with Steve Wriggles, and lots of our crewmates got to get out and see him!

Source: Rhys and Steves Instagram Stories

- More Darby Daily Doodles -

Source: Rhys' Free Substack

= Taika Waititi =

Lots of BTS is coming out with Taika on Interior Chinatown!

Source: Instagram

There's also been more BTS for the KokoFoundation event that he and Minnie did a few weeks back!

Source: Letters Live Instagram

This article features Taika AND Anapela! Thank you to Jess aka @summerlinenss.bsky.social‬ for the share!

Source: Summerlinens Bsky

= Vico Ortiz =

Vico recently received  the “Courage Award” during the 29 Palms Film Festival! Check out their acceptance speech below!

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Vico Ortiz (@puertoricaninja)

Source: Vico's Instagram

= Kristian Nairn =

Kristian was out with friends doing some winter celebrations!

Source: Ryzymackay Instagram

And he had a wee update for everyone before heading off to Columbus OH!

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Kristian Nairn (@kristiannairn)

Source: Kristian's Instagram

= Samba Schutte =

Fantastic news! Best Life, staring Samba was nominated for a third award! This time New York Shorts Award!

Source: Samba's Instagram

And yet another trailer for Parallel! (It sounds like its working on amazon prime again incase you ran into trouble).

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Seasick Studios (@seasickstudios_)

Source: Instagram

- Advanced Chemistry BTS -

Our friend Alec Moore, writer of Advanced Chemistry and big OFMD advocate was kind enough to give us some BTS for the movie with Samba! Check some of it out below-- if you've seen the movie and have yet to review it on amazon, please take a moment to send them some love! Amazon Reviews

Source: Alec Moore's Bsky

A lot of the background pictures of samba's character Allen show Samba doing Air Guitar! Here are some closer looks!

Source: Alec moore

= Rachel House =

Rachel attended the @asiapacificscreenawards_ celebration and her film Te Maunga was nominated for "Best Youth film”. She sends out her "Massive congrats to the beautiful film Boong @lp_devi who deservedly won."!

Source: Rachel's Instagram

= Dominic Burgess =

Dominic always knows how to bring a smile to our face with cat content <3

Source: Dominic's Bsky

In addition, in case you haven't already checked it out-- Skeleton Crew is out on Disney Plus, and our favorite Jeffrey Fettering is in the show! Congrats Dominic!

Source: Dominic's Bsky

== Adopt Our Crew ==

Thank you @adoptourcrew for sharing this article on OFMD from Screenrant! Check it out here.

Source: Adopt Our Crew's Instagram

== Letter Writing Campaign! ==

Our friend Molly aka @aproperpirate.bsky.social has started up a letter writing campaign to try and convince Netflix to adopt #OurFlagMeansdeath!  Check out more info below! (If you don't have bluesky, Molly has agreed to let me post the instructions on the repo as well.)

What?

Letters and/or postcards explaining why you want Netflix to adopt OFMD. Highlight its accolades, reviews, representation, or simply what it means to you. Be honest and authentic! Send as many as you want!

Where?

Mail to:

Netflix Corporate Headquarters

121 Albright Way

Los Gatos, California 95032

When?

Plan for your letter(s) to arrive anywhere during the week of January 5-12, 2025 to coincide with the one year anniversary of cancelation on January 9.

Source: AProperPirate Bsky

== Fan Spotlight ==

= Our Flag Means Fanfiction =

New episode of Our Flag Means Fanfiction is out! Check them out on spotify! "Today we’re talking with Molly, Dahlia and Tessa about crime, criminals and outsiders; and how nefarious law-breakers actually have a positive impact on society — especially when they’re sabotaging authoritarian regimes"

Source: Our Flag Means Fanfiction Spotify

= Citizen Dame =

For those of you subscribed to the citizen dame podcast, the last two episode of OFMD S2 are up! This OFMD Series is for subscribers and it's a been a blast to go over all the wonderful things in the last couple episodes. Wanna learn more? Check them out on Patreon!

Source: Citizen Dame Patreon

= OFMD Podfuckery =

Some fun news! There's a new ofmd podfuckery going on! Several of the resident podficcers of the OFMD community are recording fics in their own style! Wanna follow along with the fun? Check out their bluesky!

First on the list is The Hunt - by our dear @petrichorca and read by @kninjaknitter.bsky.social! Are you a podficcer and wanna get in on the fun? Jump on in and keep an eye out for the #podfuckery tag on bsky!

Source: OFMDPodFuckery Bsky

= 2024 OFMD Big Bang =

The 2024 OFMD Big Bang, hosted by @ofmdbigbang is officially over! You can check out the completed works list here. If you haven't already checked out their tumblr, they've posted all the amazing works people have put together for it! Check them out over on @ofmdbigbang!

Source: OFMDBigBang Tumblr

== Love Notes ==

Hey lovelies. It's almost 2025! Holy moly! I can't even believe it honestly, where has this year gone? I have been so blessed to be able to spent a lot of it with so many of you, and getting to share in your laughter and your tears, and I am so very grateful for that. Tonight I just wanted to send you a quick reminder that if you need to get something off your chest -- please ,oh please, do. I know a lot of us worry about whether or not there are "worse things" going on for other people, and you know what, something is going bonkers for every person everywhere, and if we all just didn't talk to one another every time someone else was struggling with their own issues, no one would ever talk. Of course, be sure to ask if people have spoons, or find a group you know is cool with chatting (and obviously if they're laying in a hospital bed, maybe dont bug that person unless they say its okay)-- but please find someone to talk to. It's easy to fall into the pattern of "I don't want to bother people" or "My problems seem like so much less". You'd be surprised how much of your crew really cares and wants to help. I myself, when things get really tough, feel better when I get to talk to other people about their own issues, because I can put some love out into the world that I'm not feeling as strongly at the moment from elsewhere.

You never know until you ask, so please ask <3 Love you crew, take care of yourselves, ya hear?

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Women Who Run With The Moon (@womenwhorunwiththemoon)

Img Source: WomenWhoRunWithTheMoon Instagram

[aimmyarrowshigh]

"Right now, many authors are understandably pissed off. Can you believe Meta has decided to steal authors' books to train AI? I’ve gone from anger to rage to… laughing about it?

"The author Emily Henry told her 531,000 Instagram followers that she’s pretty miffed:

“Meta has stolen our books to train its AI. To me, the inevitable end result of this is that someday billionaires will be able to remove writers from the equation and make even more money off other people’s labour than they already do. I’m not sure how much longer I can justify using this app so if you want to stay up to date, make sure you’re subscribed to my Substack.”

"I did the same—tagging Meta on Instagram, as if they were a naughty school kid. But they don’t care! A few authors leaving Instagram won’t make the tiniest difference to them.

"It’s never been more important to think about ownership of your art. Authors spend so much time working on their projects. I recently read about Martha Beck’s writing process—she takes six-mile walks, listens to audiobooks at 2x speed, writes on Post-its notes for a year, and then lies on the floor with huge sheets of paper to bring it all together, and then types it all up before sending a draft to her editor. The manual work authors do with their juicy little brains is intense. I’m sure AI can help with some stuff, but honestly, the reason you enjoyed the book you just read is because someone, a human, spent years churning it over inside their heart and mind, and stuck with it throughout so many ups and downs, just hoping it might change someone’s day.

"I don’t know why I’m surprised by this daylight robbery from tech dudes with no morals. I don’t know what rights actually anyone has. Authors aren’t exactly the type to put on suits and file lawsuits. We sit at home with our animals and soft jogging bottoms and slippers most of the time.

"An author friend of mine, who used to be a lawyer, said that if she worked it out, she got paid the equivalent of 2p an hour for the amount of time it took her to write her book and get it published. Many authors get a pretty low advance, and many also have to pay for legal reads, sensitivity reads, and photography themselves—on top of paying agents and various taxes. It’s becoming increasingly rare to live off solely writing books. So if you feel underpaid for all the manual labour and doing something mainly out of love, it’s pretty galling when someone then comes along and steals it too…"

-- Emma Gannon

[queerlilchinchin]

Vote For My First Short-Form (Free Subscriber) Story For Substack

I wanted to give you all the option to request the genre I start with on substack. I still struggle to know what genre(s) my readers actually enjoy reading from me. All I know is I tend to lean toward darker topics/genres, but I wanted to see if you all had opinions on what genre you think would be most entertaining to see for my first short story.

So!

Since I'm trying to have the first story post posted by the middle of next week, I figured I will post a poll for this question and make it voteable within the next 3 days.

If you have never read my stuff, and would like samples of how I write/what kinds of topics I tend to go for, you can find my author site below:

Click on "Click Here to View WIP List" to see a list of my WIPs listed on the site to go to their respective pages.

If you're interested in subscribing to my substack, you can find it linked below:

Thank you in advance for the votes and I look forward to creating something fun and entertaining with whatever you vote for!

[misfitwashere]

March 14, 2025

ROBERT B. HUBBELL

MAR 14

Chuck Schumer is a coward. He has surrendered in advance, refusing to fight for a democracy that desperately needs patriots willing to defend it. Instead, Schumer decided to “cut and run.”

On Thursday afternoon, Schumer announced that he would support the GOP’s continuing resolution in order to avoid an imaginary ‘parade of horribles’ that might—or might not—occur during a shutdown.

If we refuse to act because Republicans might do “something bad” in response, then we will never act, remaining permanently frozen with fear and indecision. Which is exactly where Schumer has led the Democratic Party. It is time for him to go. Correction, it is long past time for him to go.

For a complete refutation of Schumer’s “deer in the headlights” strategy for resisting Trump's slow-rolling coup, watch this video by Adam Schiff released on Thursday afternoon, “Why I am a ‘hard no’ on the continuing resolution.” (From Schiff’s Notes on Substack. Subscribe here.)

I understand and acknowledge the wisdom and grace of those (like Marc Elias) who say we should not attack fellow Democrats over an issue that was a difficult choice. Schumer is not the problem. Trump is the problem. All true.

But we must also be honest and acknowledge the bitter disappointment and white-hot fury of Democrats who busted their ***** over the last eight years to support the Democratic Party, only to see their Senate leader choose the strategy of “do nothing” in the face of an active coup.

As of Thursday evening, tens of millions of Democratic grassroots volunteers and activists believe Chuck Schumer is a coward (and worse)—and there is no virtue in pretending otherwise. We must acknowledge and validate the feelings of the Democratic base if we have any hope of answering this question,

“Why should Democratic grassroots volunteers and activists continue to work tirelessly to support the Democratic Party and its agenda?”

Here is the answer I would give to those who are so angry they feel like quitting:

We are not cowards. We are not faithless servants. We are not potted plants. We are ordinary Americans who love our country and who will fight to preserve a democracy gifted to us by the sacrifice of generations who came before us. They knew that they would not live to see the day when their efforts would bear fruit, but they trusted that we would be strong enough to continue their struggle. We cannot betray their trust. We cannot let them down. We are not permitted to surrender.

Despite our bitter disappointment, there is one benefit from Schumer’s betrayal: We have been given the gift of clarity. We can see clearly it is up to us. It always has been. It always will be. Schumer’s betrayal merely confirms the core truth that “We, the people” control the fate of our democracy.

Unlike Schumer, we cannot give up. Ezra Levin has been urging Americans to continue to lobby their Senators. Levin writes,

No Dem Senator has to follow Schumer here. This is a weak strategic move driven by fear and learned helplessness. Don't follow him. He's leading the party into irrelevance and helping Trump and Musk in the process. Call your Dem Senators and ask them not to join Schumer's surrender tomorrow.

Find the contact information for your Senators here: U.S. Senate: Contacting U.S. Senators

[mehmetyildizmelbourne-blog]

What Makes This Advanced Book for Freelance Writers Exceptional?

Editorial Review of A Powerful Toolkit for Advanced Substack Newsletter Mastery Written by content strategist, leading author, and community builder Dr Mehmet Yildiz, A Powerful Toolkit for Advanced Substack Newsletter Mastery is not just another addition to the sea of freelance writing guides. It’s a symbol of clarity, care, and insights tailored for those ready to elevate their writing craft…

[sjstone-author]

So this what he used to tell people when they inquired about submitting stories. This is what he was looking for in Sword and Sorcery. The Environment: Sword-and-sorcery fiction takes place in lands different from our own, where technology is relatively primitive, allowing the protagonists to overcome their martial obstacles face-to-face. Magic works, but seldom at the behest of the heroes. More often sorcery is just one more obstacle used against them and is usually wielded by villains or monsters. The landscape is exotic; either a different world, or far corners of our own. The Protagonists: The heroes live by their cunning or brawn, frequently both. They are usually strangers or outcasts, rebels imposing their own justice on the wilds or the strange and decadent civilizations which they encounter. They are usually commoners or barbarians; should they hail from the higher ranks of society then they are discredited, disinherited, or come from the lower ranks of nobility (the lowest of the high). Obstacles: Sword-and-sorcery’s protagonists must best fantastic dangers, monstrous horrors, and dark sorcery to earn riches, astonishing treasure, the love of dazzling members of the opposite sex, or the right to live another day. Structure: Sword-and-sorcery is usually crafted with traditional structure. Stream-of-consciousness, slice-of-life, or any sort of experimental narrative effects, when they appear, are methods used to advance the plot, rather than ends in themselves. A tale of sword-and-sorcery has a beginning, middle, and end; a problem and solution; a climax and resolution. Most important of all, sword-and-sorcery moves at a headlong pace and overflows with action and thrilling adventure.

How to write Sword and Sorcery

I’m working on Gaius Darkspell and the Sapphire of Regret again, and I’ve almost wrapped it up. Here’s a teaser if you’re interested -- it’s free on Substack:

https://sjstone.substack.com/p/gaius-darkspell-and-the-sapphire

[drdemonprince]

learning that one of the most famous writers on Substack who received a $400,000 advance from the company can no longer afford to pay the bills and had to take an $18/hr side job was really jarring.

let anyone who envies the success of their favorite writers take note! this is a guy who i've always looked up to creatively and professionally, who has written work that is truly good and who has had gigs i've dreamed of for myself. he is so beloved and respected among the nyc literary scene and yet even he cant make a living off his writing.

thank FUCK i never moved to new york.

[chrisairgames]

Outer Rim Marches, #0.1

In January, I started a westmarches campaign for Mothership RPG. This is the first post in a series of play reports and mini-reviews I intend to share of the campaign-in-progress.

Let's call this post "Zero Session #1," in a series of Zero Session posts, where I'll get into the how/why of organizing and running this campaign.

Why? Well, I own a ton of Mothership modules. I've been playing and writing for Mothership RPG for over two years, yet most of my sessions became playtests and that "work-only" connection to the game was burning me out.

So, I decided to build a sandbox campaign around the physical MoSh games I have in hand, and to find folk to play at an open table.

For now, ok, sure, it's more of an open table sandbox for interconnected one-shots than a "true" westmarches game, especially since the game has only one GM (me, but I'm hoping to open that up soon). But Outer Rim Marches sounds cool, eh?

Initial Forward Operating Base (F.O.B.)

The PCs arrived at Sater's Redemption. They work for The Company, who hired them to represent their new presence amid a mess of other factions, and leases a ship, The Orpheus, to the Crew.

(We decided the official corporation name of The Company that owns their ship will be revealed in play. That hasn't happened yet, eight sessions later. I love hanging this important piece of worldbuilding in the balance for when it can have a bigger narrative impact. Not knowing wtf is going to happen is one of my favorite parts of running ttrpgs.)

The Crew's job: explore the Outer Rim to establish footholds in new trading hubs (F.O.B.s), discover novel exploitable resources (artifacts), capture profitable exobiological lifeforms, and spread the influence of The Company.

The above graphic might be familiar to folk who follow my substack, the 5 Million Worlds Rokaner Report. Each month, I release a free sci-fi adventure setting, and this station was the featured world in the April edition. A taste of things to come.

Game Organization

When I set out to recruit players, the first important bit was setting a firm, regular playtime. When people reached out, I sent them the Consent in Gaming fillable PDF to get an idea of collective Lines/Veils. Once I got that back, I sent a google survey to gauge interest in modules and game commitment to split folks into ping-able groups.

The playtime is working out well. We had one three week break, I was out sick one time, and only once did we have not have enough folk to play. Ten sessions out of a possible fifteen since January!

I kinda fucked up the module-interest part of the survey though. I listed module names, and without content tags this was pretty useless for the players (outside the BIG names, like Hull Breach). I intend to redo this survey soon, and I'll share a copy here when I do!

The player commitment bit was super helpful, at least. Since I run games on Discord, I split players into three groups: the Command crew who vote on which job to take, the mainline players are the Crew I ping each week to advertise the game (I make an "Event" in Discord), and and a final Cryo group to call on when games don't fill up right away.

This has worked super well for me, even when I drop the ball on giving the players the Event ping in advance.

The Sector Map

I built this hexmap using Sectors Without Number, which is a sector generator for Stars Without Number. I opted for this against the recommendations of Mothership's Warden's Operation Manual because in a westmarches campaign, from what I've understood, the world is meant to be established once the game begins. I think this is especially important should other GMs and player groups begin playing in this world.

To be blunt, I found using this is kind of annoying. There's a lot of irrelevant SWN info to delete, TONS of systems to hide individually, and it's pretty intensive to integrate module info into the systems.

In short, listen to Sean McCoy's advice in the Warden's Operation Manual if you're starting your own Mothership game and don't fucking do this, haha.

And to be honest, I'm not sold on this even being useful as a sandbox tool intended to be shared with other GMs, even. The verdict is still out. To be continued in another Zero Session post down the line.

ANYWAY! This map looks empty, but that's because it's the player-facing starcharts the Company gave them. PCs need to buy hyperspace route maps at various hubs to explore beyond these bounds. So the star and hyperlane layers hold loads of hidden info.

Feel free to poke around the current state of the sector.

And I do like the shift from a web to hexmap. Little swirls of points get me all crossed up. The Jump-drive distances in Mothership are amenable to using hexes, and tracking distance (i.e. time passed) is straightforward.

ORM Campaign Sneak Peek

Mothership space travel takes a long-ass time, in case you didn't know. To date, we've played nine adventures over ten sessions, and over two years have passed in the campaign world.

The players skipped over a lot of systems to go to Hardlight, which they've recently learned is on the edge of the Public Sector (from Hull Breach). Gonna be some interesting sessions coming up.

The next Outer Rim Marches post will be the official ORM#1, in which the players board the lauded Year of the Rat.

[therumpus]

Mini Interview with Jami Attenberg

By Denise S. Robbins

Jami Attenberg’s A Reason to See You Again (Ecco Press, 2024) is funny and quick-moving with a strong emotional core that explores what it really means to be family, through thick and thin. The novel revolves around the complicated family dynamics of a mother and her two daughters as they grow up and live through the cultural and technological changes throughout the 20th century, moving deftly between the thoughts of the characters in surprising ways. It’s wide-ranging, delving into various women’s relationships with work—or the absence of it. 

When she’s not writing books, she manages the highly popular Substack newsletter Craft Talk and its yearly challenge, “one thousand words of summer,” where she motivates thousands of subscribers to write a thousand words a day for ten days straight. 

We spoke over Zoom about her writing process and how this latest book fits in with her life’s work.

***

The Rumpus: A Reason to See You Again is your tenth published book. That’s a lot of books! Is there something you're trying to accomplish that you haven't in your earlier works?

Jami Attenberg: I wanted the book to cover more time. My last few novels were much more compact. Then when I wrote my memoir, I enjoyed how it spanned so many years and so many cities. It gave the story the chance to breathe. So, I wanted to apply that to the novel. I was also interested in having family members be separate from each other as opposed to being intimate and involved in each other’s lives. They were more spread out and spaced out. It’s also possible this desire to span more time and space came as a response to that particular claustrophobic feeling I had in the pandemic.

Rumpus: What seeded the idea behind this novel? 

Attenberg: I actually wrote about this in my newsletter [Craft Talk]. During the pandemic, I was looking at a lot of vintage clothes on Etsy and kept seeing these white puffy shirts. I started thinking about a woman wearing it and being somebody's cool aunt. Generally, characters show me the way into a book. And so, the cool aunt, Shelly Cohen, was the first character for me. I pictured her at a kitchen counter in the suburbs talking to her family, with all of them leading different lives, interested in each other but also always a little annoyed with each other.

Rumpus: Does that dynamic have any resemblance to reality? How much of yourself is in this book and these characters and their relationships?

Attenberg: None of these characters are like anybody that I know, really. But they’re adjacent to people I know. They feel like they live in a neighborhood I’ve lived in before. Or maybe they’re a third cousin. Someone you met once and feels familiar, even if you can’t say exactly who they are. 

Rumpus: How do you find the central core of a story with multiple main characters? What are they all hovering around? 

Attenberg: The way time moves forward in this book is the core, and how the characters are impacted by time. Time is both the structure and the thrust. For example, the way they communicate at the beginning of the book has changed by the end of it, often expressed in terms of technological advancements. And those kinds of changes are ones that can only emerge specifically over the passage of years or decades of time.

Rumpus: So, technology changes relationships in this book. But you could say it just provides your main characters with new ways of ignoring each other. 

Attenberg: There’s one scene near the end of the book where two characters are driving in a car and a third one calls them on a cellphone. And they really don’t want to talk to this person, but there’s no way of ultimately avoiding it: we live in an era where you can track people’s locations all the time. It’s vastly different than earlier in the book, when it’s Nancy’s twenty-first birthday and she desperately wants to talk to her family, and she has to leave her house, walk down to the corner payphone, put money in it to make a long-distance call, and hope that somebody's there and picks up at this specific moment in time. In a way that phone call is so much more meaningful. But their communication still has meaning at the end of the book, when they finally do break through to each other. 

Rumpus: A lot of important life events in this story aren’t actually in the book but are referenced offscreen or obliquely. How did you decide what to put in the story versus what to reference offscreen?

Attenberg: These people are not confrontational until it’s too late. They’re trying to figure out how to exist with a problem without actually dealing with it. So, these things feel far away to the reader because they feel far away to the characters. They don’t like dealing with things head on. But there are still feelings that are very much present. 

These things trigger other issues down the line, though. If you don’t deal with something in the moment, eventually it’s still going to show up. One of my characters doesn’t tell another character something very important, and when the other finds out, she is furious with her. It impacts their relationship forever. By choosing to avoid conflict, she created another conflict in the process. And a lie by omission is still a lie, and that’s certainly a plot point. 

Rumpus: I also wanted to highlight one particular line: “He thought it would be easier to explain themselves to the world if they lived in the same place, when actually they only had to explain themselves to themselves and no one else.” It feels like the heart of this story.

Attenberg: I wouldn’t say that line is the heart of the book, but it’s a touchstone line, one I hope people highlight on their Kindles, ha. The characters in this novel grew up during a certain time and place where they felt like there was a path for them with specific milestones they had to achieve to please the world in a certain kind of way. I think most people understand now that we don’t have to stay on that conventional path, that we don’t have to abide by anyone else’s rules. I think the characters in the book are happiest when they figure that out. Even if it takes a long time. 

Rumpus: On top of writing novels, you also run Craft Talk and the yearly “one thousand words of summer” challenge, with daily letters of encouragement from various authors. Does this community enliven your own novel writing? 

Attenberg: It keeps me on track. And every year there’s a letter from one of the contributing writers that hits the right chord and comes at the right time. That’s the beauty of these letters of writing advice. You never know when you’re going to need it. This year, that letter came from Jennine Capó Crucet. It was about writing from a place where you know you can throw it all away. So that’s what I did. I gave myself permission to just write something I could throw away. Then I loved everything I wrote, and now I’ve written thirty thousand words this summer, the new beginning of the book, and it's great. I definitely feel the accountability. Every year. We're doing it together. It's equalizing.

Rumpus: Even somebody who's written ten books needs that accountability sometimes.

Attenberg: People need it, and it works. It really works. But also, you don't need it. We can write all the time on our own. But during one thousand words of summer, it feels like a friend is there with me. 

Rumpus: So, you’re working on another novel now. How many more novels do you have inside you?

Attenberg: I’m not planning to stop writing. Will my next novels get published? Who knows. Does it matter? Probably not. How many books do I have in me? A million. I’m in my fifties now. I’ve slowed down a bit but know more of what I want and can look back at what I’ve done. And I don’t have to prove anything to anyone. 

[strangebiology]

My substack for is going well and I've even got some paid subscribers now! Even though all the content is free at the moment. Feel free to sign up and/or look through the old posts if you're writing a nonfiction, non-memoir book!

Of all the social platforms I've been on, Substack might be the most profitable. It might not be Substack, though, it might be because this group is focused on a professional endeavor rather than "isn't that interesting" type of content. Maybe people feel like it's worth investing money in something that should hopefully give them a return on investment? I make it clear that I love to talk about money and this group in particular approaches writing as a paid profession. It's ok if that's not for you.

I'm thinking of making some kind of guide called "How To Get Paid to Write a Nonfiction Non-Memoir Book Before You Even Write It" and maybe charge $5 or $10 for the guide. My book, Carcass: On the Afterlives of Animal Bodies isn't out yet so I can't talk about marketing books from any actual experience of success. Also I believe 99% of information on How-To-Market-Your-Book is BS because no one ever includes their ROI, profit, or sales. But I can tell you that if you are a serious writer who has tended your craft through lots of practice and self-improvement, you can make money before the book is even out.

I'll share my profit before the book is published: I got $106,000, or, after travel, fact-checking, and the agent taking a percent of the advance, around $75,000. There are things I wish I would have tried that, if successful, would have got me another $80k + $40k with no extra work except the application. (Who knows what my chances were of getting those opportunities, though, but I'd include them in the guide.) AND I want to point out that someone in the group got a $50,000 grant (the same one I did) and told me she never would have if it weren't for the group!

[fairest]

AGAINST AUTOTHEORY aka THEORY TEXT AS WILLING DILDO

As this confluence with autofiction illustrates, the reduction of theory’s mediations down to amiable oozing incorporates the niche of academic knowledge production into the booming personalist genre industry. Moreover, autotheory comports as dexterous academic labor, projecting a fantasy that courting extra-mural audiences can make up for downsizing in the intellectual professions. Its vulnerability enkindles senior academics bored of theory’s many funerals, imagining eager readerships in a great beyond, and ignites younger academics searching for openings in an economic and professional landscape of foreboding foreclosure; its elasticity bodes a space for young academics to create work and find recognition even though the university as an institution has largely expelled them. Gigification of academic labor crams academic production: manifest your individual take in your individual style with this short-term teaching contract here, this Substack subscriber there. In this way, autotheory must be seen as efflux of a context in which theorists with fair labor conditions like tenure encounter their dire lack of peer audience, and theorists without fair labor conditions hustle for crossover appeal to eke out a living.

Aphoristic form props many of these texts thanks to its elliptical dance of vaporescence and glut, simultaneously pausing and flowing, at once crystal and aporia, snubbing and solicitous. They disrupt linearity, argumentative progression, and academic citation, boarding tiny theses absent plodding hallways. Pushing prose poems like other writers in the literary milieu, these genre melds are charming, accessible. We are drawn out of the realm of abstraction and solicited into a lyrical presence, a seductive proximity that subtracts the medium of theory’s abstractions and generalizations, achieving immersion. Reclining into life-writing, recoiling from argumentation, such retreats attain great resonance and beauty even as they whittle away theory’s distinct value, and recode theoretical knowing from revelatory to idiosyncratic. Immediatist theories posit a smooth continuum of body–experience–knowledge; bolster reflexive, passionate attachments as more legitimate than reason; refuse “symptomatic reading” in order to immanentize content. “It is what it is,” immediacy theory incants.

Such frolicking provocative insurgence of sensuous stimulation against linguistic or conceptual sense erects the theory text as willing dildo. It is bold in its shedding of academic composure, compelling in its self-disclosure, and titillating in its seductive posture—although decidedly unsexy. These are acute and perhaps even vulnerable performances, insuring in advance that assessing them critically would amount to some kind of mean violation—and that seems indeed to be the very point: to be so effulgently bare and corporeally vivid as to preclude distance-taking or concept-making. Immediacy as the unambiguous transmission of affect from author to reader, autonomic responses imagined untainted by the symbolic.

— Anna Kornbluh, from Immediacy