The Medium Novel
Medium as a Venue for Long-Form Storytelling
A thought struck me as I sat down to write my weekly chapter for, what has become, my Medium novel. I have seen very few people using Medium as a way to advance their novels.
I’m not saying that no one is doing it. I’m saying it is difficult, if not impractical, to find those people using Medium in this manner. I thought, maybe it’s because these Medium novels don’t appear on my feed and I have to do some searching. I immediately did a search for the term “novel: and a lot of this came up:
or
There were many “how to’’ articles, some “how not,” and several tips for publishing and what not. However, no actual novels popped up.
I have been writing The Cadmium Command for almost two years now. Sure, it started as an experiment. I decided I would write 1,000 words per week and, in the course of a year, I would have at least 50,000 words (giving myself leeway to miss a week or two for finals, emergencies, etc.). I started and haven’t looked back. It was a small goal, 1,000 words a week was definitely not a lot of writing, but I figured between the novel and my other writing it was manageable. It has been. I am on the tail end of the novel.
Sure, it is a first draft, which can be dauntingly scary to publish upfront and expose my grammatical failings, misplaced timelines, and poor description out there for the world to critique but it has kept me motivated.
So today, when I looked around on Medium, I discovered that if there are other people doing what I am doing, or something similar, it is incredibly difficult to find.
After looking for a bit, I realized my mistake. I was looking in the wrong place. Under the search tab “stories”, Medium doesn’t promote these novels. One has to look for them under the “publications” tab. However, it is human nature to start scrolling right from the first screen that pops up when you do a search.
Medium, why not carve a space for writers like me? Why not reformulate your search parameters so this appears first:
I understand Medium is attempting to redefine itself. Why not make it easier to access novels? Why not promote a “Novel” tab on your homepage, the same way you promote “Technology” and “Politics”? It might drive a whole new set or writers/readers to your platform.
