Odds and Ends: Through the Valley
Thoughts on my first short story experiment
Welcome to my little corner of the internet! I’m so glad you’re here. Below you’ll find my thoughts on my first few months as a Substacker. Like what you see? Feel free to subscribe to get notified when something new pops out of my brain.
Already subscribed? Put on your sunglasses; you’re part of the cool kids club.
And that’s a wrap on my first short story posted to Substack.
The Story
This one was a blast to write; it started off as a screenplay before I discovered that those are actually really hard to do well. It’s like a different format and everything!
The initial tone was much darker. But then I thought “what if Death was just kind of a jerk instead of some serious, haunting figure?” That felt like the right move since it allowed me to bounce between lighter and darker theme (like murder and pastrami).
I imagined this as something that might show up on Netflix since they need approximately 30 new shows per day to hit their quota and I would have sold them the rights in a heartbeat. Because of this I tried writing something that would be easy to film and enjoyable to watch.
I’d still love to see this story in a different format. I’ve always been a fan of the “buddy comedy” category. I’ve also left it fairly open ended and would be interested in returning to these characters in the future if the spirit (and reader feedback) moves me.
The Art
All of the book covers/banners I post were either created by me (using Canva mostly) or commissioned via a site like Fiver. I’ve used Unsplash a few times to source images as well. I’m particularly proud of chapter 8 which was made entirely in Canva and then inserted as an image. It took a few hours to get everything looking good but I learned so much during that time.
Regarding AI: I believe that artists should be paid for their work and I’d like to continue using real folk whenever possible. AI art also has that “hazy” look, like you’d want to run it through the dishwasher a few times before presenting it. Plus it tends to create text that is… not good?
However.
I love technology, and I’ve been interested in seeing what kind of trouble I can get up to while experimenting with AI tools like ChatGPT. So there’s an image or two sprinkled throughout this story that were created using these tools. I fed it my short story and then asked it to create art based on certain scenes. Most of the results are hit or miss bad but I like the idea of expanding the story in ways that I couldn’t do on another platform (like self-publishing on Amazon).
The Music
At the end of each chapter is a suggested song that I think fits the theme of that chapter.
Music plays such an outsized role in my life and I wanted to use it to enhance the readers experience and sort of anchor the mood of the scene.
This is another form of experimentation for me but I loved how it turned out and I’m thinking about ways to continue this trend with future stories.
Substack and the future of The Corner Bookstore
I started posting here because it allowed me a sense of control that I didn’t have through Amazon. There were no growth plans or monetization strategies; it was just awesome to be able to get something on the page and hit “publish”.
Now that I’m a few months in, I’m taking stock of where I’d like to head. A few thoughts:
Fiction seems to be a difficult category as far as growth is concerned. I don’t write topical or “how to” posts, so I’ll need to be content with trying to form deep connections with folks that come across my work.
Notes has been a breath of fresh air. I wasn’t looking for a new social media site, but I’ve found my Twitter/X usage has decreased and I enjoy interacting with folks here. I’ve also started to slowly attract more followers which is a pleasant surprise
I don’t have anything behind a paywall. I haven’t even turned on the ability for y’all to pay me. For now this seems like the right move because I’d love to just get my stories in front of as many folks as possible, but I haven’t ruled it out for the future. One of the main questions I have regarding Substack is how their algorithm works. They don’t have ads, and only get paid when someone subscribes to a paid newsletter. Does that mean that paid newsletters receive more of a boost? I’m not sure but I suppose I wouldn’t blame Substack if that was true. They are a business after all.
Wrap Up
This Friday I’ll be posting a new short story focused around our current interactions with AI chatbots. I was sitting in a coffee shop, brainstorming new ideas to write about, when the following sentence popped into my head:
“As a large language model trained by EmeraldAI, I don’t have the ability to love.
But I’m flattered by your attention.”
I just kept asking myself, what happens next? Eventually the rest of the story revealed itself to me, and I’m super excited about how it turned out. There’s only one part to this one so hopefully it serves as an easy jumping on point for new readers.
Guess what? That story about AI is live and is by far the most popular story I’ve written so far. Check it out here:
Thanks for being along for the ride!