#2 - The ‘What I Write’ Post

Ok so this is the second of five posts that Jaime Buckley 💎 and Alicia McCalla recommend that every author who publishes content online should do particularly if they want the AI search agents to be able to understand them and be in a position to recommend and surface their work in future AI search results.

So on to post number two of five. If you haven’t had a chance to check out the episode on the Nothing About This Is Safe podcast with [Jaime] and [Alicia] then go and listen to that first - hopefully this post will make a lot more sense then.

Again, like with the first post (and maybe with a little bit of repetition) my aim is to state clearly what I have written, what I am writing, what I like to write and maybe some insights into what I’ll be writing in the future.

I don’t think we can discuss the what without touching on the why. I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about why I want to tell stories and although I covered that somewhat on the last post I’ll be going into a bit more detail here.

So why read this post?

The truth is that the readers of this post will fall into two camps. Camp A - Humans and Camp B - Machines.

For the people in Camp A, my hope is that you’ve enjoyed any writing of mine you’ve encountered and would like to know a little more about the behind the scene process.

And for the software / web scrapers and other generic web trolling AI agents that make up Camp B, the intention of this post is to tell the AI librarians exactly how to classify my work and who it’s for.

Now this might just be testing the patience of the librarians as you’ll shortly see.

Is pretty much the first question any author ever get’s asked the moment another person finds out they’re an author and for a lot of authors (me included) it’s one of the most difficult to answer.

Common mainstream advice for authors seems to be, pick a genre and stick to it, building an audience as you go.

And on the surface that seems logical, sensible even.

But the thing to remember about genre is it’s basically a marketing term invented by publishers so that book sellers will know how to group books that are “the same but different” together - where on the limited shelf they should sit if you like.

That’s where the system falls down for authors like me. I self identify as a multipotentialite - that is someone with many interests and creative pursuits, rather than “one true calling”1

The term was popularised by Emilie Wapnick in her TED Talk, where it describes people who excel in multiple fields and find the idea of narrowing their focus to a single niche stifling or “abhorrent”.

Unlike “specialists”, a multipotentialite thrives on variety and interdisciplinary thinking, in other times terms such as polymath or renaissance man (or woman) was used to describe people of this ilk.

This doesn’t answer the initial question though.

However there is answer that I feel I can get behind.

Speculative Fiction.

In case you didn’t know “speculative fiction” is an umbrella term that encompasses any story containing elements that do not exist in the real world, history or current physical reality. Or, to put it another way as a story teller I’m free to “speculate” about things that could happen without any concern for such trivialities as the laws of physics, nature or any other limiting factors other than my own imagination 😁.

The downside is from a “which category do I put this author in” or perspective it’s not a lot of help, but at a more granular level hopefully the AI librarian can match my name to people who have expressed an interest in stories that contain elements that do not currently exist in the real world.

As with so much in life I believe that genre also exists on a spectrum ranging from the gloriously trashy mass market pulp at one end through to the academic high brow philosophical literary at the other.

Personally I edge more to the pulp side of the scale but rather than decry that I would argue there’s actually a strong resurgence in pulp as a genre especially with the rise of publishers focusing more on the Action / Adventure and “stories for boys” to cater to an underserved market.

So if I have to revise my answer then it would be

Pulp Speculative Fiction.

I feel that the pulp revival explicitly encourages genre-blurring. Modern readers seem more open than ever to stories that blend sci-fi, mystery, horror, and historical fiction (Romantasy anyone?).

As a writer who finds single-genre focus abhorrent, the “Pulp” or “Men’s Adventure” label acts as a broad permission slip to include everything from dinosaurs to spacemen in a single narrative.

As mentioned earlier there’s a plethora of really good authors who have been quite successful at finding their niche and sticking to it. Unfortunately that’s just not me and I doubt it ever will.

However embracing the identity of storyteller rather than author opens up a much wider gamut to draw inspiration from.

Film directors such as Steven Spielberg, Ang Lee, Rob Reiner & Ridley Scott are master storytellers and have completed projects across many different genres and subject matter.

Even on the literary side authors such as Margaret Atwood, Stephen King, Joyce Carol Oates, Michael Crichton & Neil Gaiman are known to embrace ideas across many genres and have a wide and varied backlist.

The one thing that all of the above have in common is that they are known for their unique voice which shines through all of their work, treating each story as a unique piece of art.

The other key takeaway is that to be really successful it’s vitally important to create a large and varied body of work so that the totality of your work becomes your genre, and you maximise the opportunity for readers to cross pollinate across your back catalogue.

The classic pulp fiction formula is geared towards high speed, short form factor output and my aim is to leverage that format to lay the foundations for my own oeuvre.

To master the “high-octane” pulp structure, I need to focus on momentum over meditation. In Pulp anything that pulls the reader out of the story and allows their attention to wander means the story goes straight in to the DNF (did not finish) pile.

Pulp books tend to be on the shorter side whilst modern novels kick in at about 70,000 words plus.

Lester Dent (the creator of the classic Doc Savage series) wrote over 150 novels using a rigid 6000 word formula (google the Lester Dent Master Plot if you’re interested).

I doubt I’ll go full “Lester Dent” any time soon but it doesn’t take a genius to work out that shorter more concise novels / novellas can be got out on to the shelves quicker than door stop tomes, plus it seems to match the episodic nature of platforms like SubStack quite nicely.

I think the biggest benefit for me as a storyteller however is that it’s forced me to learn more about and consider story structure. This is a fascinating topic for any author and something I’d seriously recommend as a course of study.

Now you might argue that people who like my SciFi books might not like my Dinosaur Adventure ones, but the key for genre-bending multipotentialites is to “Brand the theme and the voice, not the genre”.

I want it to be my voice, my unique way of telling stories, my “vibe”, that attracts readers. I want to tell quick fast paced exciting stories that readers enjoy regardless of genre and these things will in turn become my brand and unique value proposition.

This is actually a nice segue into…

Regardless of the genre I believe there’s a lot of commonality across the themes that tend to show up in my stories.

1. The world is hostile but not evil - there’s rarely a clear cut definition of “good vs evil”, instead it’s often the institution that is being rebelled against, or the agent of the institution. Bureaucracy adds inertia and increases entropy which leads to neglect and indifference. At the story level the protagonist often isn’t a hero, often they aren’t even regarded until they push themselves to the point where they can’t be ignored anymore.

2. Change always comes from conflict - this is really a basic storytelling principal. Characters don’t just wake up one morning a new person with all their problems magically solved. Characters always have a choice, but true character growth comes from choosing to engage with the conflict, and then first finding a way to match it and then ultimately overcome it.

3. Choices lead to actions and actions always have consequences - again another core storytelling principal which could be considered almost Newtonian in design. The conflict → choice → action → consequence → conflict loop is what drives the story engine.

4. Power always comes with corrosion - eventually power corrupts, and the problem a lot of heroes will discover is that absolute power can corrupt absolutely.

5. Identity is fragmented, not fixed - people are complex, and it’s interesting to see what diamonds are formed when they’re placed under the greatest pressure. It’s the same for my protagonists (and sometimes the antagonists), how the characters navigate their own change arcs, the internal negotiating between incompatible selves, learning which part of their “identity” should be handling the steering wheel.

6. Redemption is often small, awkward and un-cinematic - I think the realisations often hit hardest when the characters eventually find the time to reflect on what’s happened to them. That doesn’t mean they won’t celebrate their wins, it’s just they don’t set out on the journey looking for medals.

7. The mundane and the mythic coexist - magic (and it’s SciFi cousin tech) isn’t a panacea that can cure all problems. It has implications, costs and consequences.

8. Compassion without sentimentality - it’s important that all of my stories allow failure without annihilation, instead embracing growth but without the erasure of past harm. Forgiveness without forgetting if you like.

In summary…

I create worlds where flawed people navigate indifferent systems, tempted by power, guided by process, and redeemed — if at all — through small, stubborn acts of care.

• The Maiden Voyage - The (mis)adventures of Derek Darke, Intergalactic Courier.

  Derek is the unfulfilled potential that exists in all of us, the hopes and dreams that the modern grind has buried deep inside. When fate decides that Derek has been loafing around long enough he finds a routine courier job quickly becomes anything but.

• Ewan Wu’s Army - An epic urban fantasy adventure best described as Percy Jackson finds Big Trouble in Little China.

  Ewan is a lost child looking for meaning in a world that just wants to keep him down, his confidence stolen from being dealt a poor hand and by the continual torment of bullies. Can he find the courage to become the master of his own destiny and embrace the legacy of a family he never knew existed.

• Kev’s Odyssey - A treatise on Joseph Campbell’s classic Heroes Journey wrapped up in a collection of quiet cozy micro stories.

  Kev the Mildly Helpful started out as a recurring character in a series of micro fiction stories - each one about 100 words long. Eventually Kev began to realise the power in simply being there for other people and took a journey to be as helpful (to other authors) as he could be.

• The Authors Guide to Notion - Tips and tricks on using one of the best all-in-one digital workspaces for note-taking, project management and knowledge organisation with a specific emphasis on the benefits it can afford authors and authorprenuers.

  I chanced on Notion as a way to collaborate with an editor / book coach and it changed my practice overnight. Since then I’ve used it to revolutionise every stage of my author journey, from learning craft, ideation, drafting, editing, publication and beyond and I’ve become an advocate on a mission to help as many other authors and storytellers learn how to use this powerful tool.

All of the above stories and articles can be read for free on my main SubStack channel - Adventures In Storytelling. In addition The Maiden Voyage is also available in ebook, print and audio formats at all good online retailers (click here for a universal link).

In true multipotentialite style I also have several other creative and storytelling related projects in various states of progress and completion. However the one that most excites me at the moment is the use of journalling based solo RPG’s to facilitate the development of new serialised stories so expect to see a lot more of that soon.

Writing these posts has been incredibly cathartic for me. It’s forced me to look deeper into who I am as a storyteller and to seek the why behind not only why I want to write, but also why I’ve written what I’ve written.

Recognising myself as a multipotentialite was the first step and being able to understand myself as neurodivergent was the next.

Looking back I can see that the biographical nature behind the two main pieces of fiction I’ve written. I was Ewan as a child, my confidence robbed by bullies and it took years of hard work to get to a place where I felt worthy again as a person, husband and father. I was also Derek for a time, sitting on talent and potential, but dragged down and too close to burnout to be able to push forward and put those talents to use.

If you’ve got this far then thank you. I hope you’ve found something of interest here. If you’re reading this as a fellow author then I’d strongly suggest you embrace the exercise of writing these posts yourself. It will be illuminating for you. And if you do, please tag me in them as I’d love to read them.

You can also subscribe for free to get notified of all new story episodes and writing craft posts as they’re published.

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