How I’m Piecing Together the Tapestry Story

This piece is inspired by the great Tom Farr. I want to be like Tom when I grow up. Reading through some reactions Tom has answered on the idea of serialized fiction, I thought I’d throw in my two cents.

The Kind of Writer I Am

I went into Medium because I was a writer without a platform. I’d tried launching blogs before, but out in the wilderness of the Internet with no real way to build audience and unwilling to write click bait bullshit. My interests are varied opinion pieces, short stories, erotica, it’s all in there, further complicating how to build an audience.

Medium is my space to experiment with all of my interests. To see what resonates with me and resonates for the audience. Like any aspiring writer, this isn’t my day job. I pay the bills elsewhere.

The Tapestry Story

I’ve had an idea for a fragmented story that a reader could dip in and out of for a while. My theory is that when we consume content on the web we aren’t looking for a long linear story. Instead we jump in and out. This is certainly true of the most popular internet content. Formatted as such:

• Title (clickable)
• Two sentence hook
• Header
• Filler
• Header
• Filler
• Call to action

Target read time <5 minutes.

We need to create fiction that targets the same read time. It has to be internet-snackable.

That said, I had a long form story in mind. So what I did was take the story outline and break it into a 100 pieces. Literally.

Those pieces are linked to each other and are housed within a single publication. (Note this wouldn’t really be possible without medium add publications.)

As a reader you can read one piece. Find the links to others or go the publication. Ultimately these pieces will form a tapestry — a larger total image.

It’s an experiment. It’s a journey. If you’re interested, here are a couple of places to start.