Calling all Fiction Writers of Substack!
Introducing BTMU Fiction Club
Greetings, fellow bibliophiles!
I’m writing to you today with an exciting announcement.
As
has grown over the last 3 months, it’s become abundantly clear that this budding community has a uniting theme: we all love fiction.Whether it’s in our lively discussion threads, or in the wonderfully thoughtful essays of our guest writers, we all seem to share a passion for stories, and the lasting marks they can leave on us as people.
There is a burgeoning community of fiction writers here on
. There’s the collaborative spirit of the and communities, best-selling authors like , and those just starting to write fiction in public for the first time.Yet, it seems to me that building out an audience for fiction can be a tricky business — at least at first. The immediacy that comes with writing on politics, economics, and other hot-button issues, perhaps makes it marginally easier to pull in the attention of new readers. The evergreen nature of an art like fiction lacks that immediacy, and can make for a slower burn. Ask yourself this: when was the last time a short story went viral?
However, as our ongoing conversations here on
make clear, we need fiction. Literature has a transformative power that we can’t find in other genres of writing. Though the stories are made up, fiction contains essential Truths that we need to make sense of this messy business we call life.With that in mind, I’d love to see
contribute in some small way to the genre that we love. This is, after all, a community built around celebrating literature.So starting next week, in addition to our regular schedule of discussion threads and book essays, we’ll be hosting short stories written by some of the great fiction writers found here on Substack.
This opportunity extends to all those kind enough to support
with paid subscriptions. You’ll find a form below where you can submit a short story to feature here on BTMU.I look forward to reading.