The Art of the Narrative Braid: Secrets to Stories that Stick

In this week’s Substack Live, I sat down with Diane Burley of Musings of a Storyteller to explore a question I hear often from writers on Substack:

How do you grow an audience when you write about multiple topics instead of fitting neatly into one niche?

Our conversation returned again and again to one important idea: your Substack does not need to be held together by a narrow topic. It can be held together by your perspective, your tone, and the deeper question you are exploring through your work.

Diane shared how her own publication evolved over time. Rather than forcing herself into a rigid niche, she gradually discovered the threads connecting her writing through experimentation, reflection, and paying attention to what felt most natural to write. For her, those threads are curiosity, hope, history, and the human stories that tie everything together.

One of the most valuable questions we discussed was this:

No matter what I write about, I’m really writing about _______.

This is a powerful exercise for any writer trying to create cohesion across multiple interests. When you can identify the deeper question or destination that connects your work, your publication begins to feel intentional, even when your topics vary.

We also talked about something equally important:

How do you want to be perceived by your readers?

Are you writing as the expert? The guide? The friend walking alongside your reader? The thoughtful observer? The way you answer this shapes not only your long-form writing, but also how you show up on Notes.

Throughout the conversation, we revisited the idea that Notes is not simply a promotional tool. It is a space for relationship-building and discovery. Thoughtful comments, restacks, curiosity-driven questions, and authentic engagement help create the network effects that allow readers to gradually find their way to your publication.

One of the biggest reminders from our conversation was that Substack growth often happens differently than people expect. It is built through consistency, relationships, and showing up as yourself over time.

If you’ve been struggling to “niche down” or wondering how to make a wide range of interests feel cohesive on Substack, this conversation offers a different perspective: your publication does not need to be narrowly focused. It simply needs to be clearly rooted in you — your perspective, your questions, and the experience you want your readers to have.