Summary

The provided content discusses the transition from writing fiction, particularly novels, to writing on Medium, emphasizing the need to adapt writing style and language to the different medium.

Abstract

The article "If You’re a Fiction Writer Starting on Medium, Read This" by an undefined author contrasts the distinct approaches required for fiction writing and writing on Medium. It highlights that while fiction allows for elaborate language and metaphors that unfold over time, writing on Medium demands conciseness and immediate clarity. The author suggests that fiction writers must adjust their language to suit the direct and objective nature of Medium's platform, where the reader's attention must be captured quickly. Additionally, the article points out that time constraints and the reader's expectations are significantly different on Medium compared to novel reading. The author concludes that adapting to Medium's style does not mean losing one's unique voice but rather enhancing one's writing skills, which can also benefit fiction writing through improved dialogue and synthesis abilities.

Opinions

The author believes that fiction writing and writing on Medium require different skill sets and approaches.
Writing on Medium is likened to having a brief conversation on a busy street, necessitating brevity and impact.
In contrast, fiction writing, especially novels, is seen as a leisurely chat over tea, allowing for more elaborate and time-consuming storytelling.
The author suggests that Medium writers must be more straightforward and provide immediate insights rather than leaving readers to ponder.
The article implies that adapting to Medium can positively influence a writer's fiction writing, suggesting a mutually beneficial relationship between the two formats.
The author encourages fiction writers to view the transition to Medium as an opportunity for growth and evolution in their craft.
Readers on Medium are portrayed as seeking efficiency and directness, contrasting with the more patient and immersive reading experience of a novel.
The author values the reader's engagement on Medium and advises writers to craft content that is both captivating and meaningful in a shorter format.

Writing | Writing Advice | Writing on Medium

If You’re a Fiction Writer Starting on Medium, Read This

On the differences between writing fiction and writing on Medium

I have been writing fiction for almost 8 years and I had a hard time adjusting to writing on Medium. Did you?

Imagine you welcome a friend home for a chat. You pour some tea and cookies, sit comfortably on the sofa, and have a nice, calm conversation.

Now imagine that you meet that friend on a busy street and you only have a few seconds to pass him a message.

Of these two examples, one illustrates fiction writing, particularly the novel. The other exemplifies what life is like for those who write on Medium. Both branches are different and require different tools from us writers.

You’re already getting the idea, but we will come back to this later. Now, let’s dive into two important things that you, a fiction writer starting out on Medium, will want to know.

1. The language is different

To write on Medium, and especially when we come from a fiction-writing context, we have to change our language.

A novel uses different tools like metaphors, and personifications, extended over time, with meanings often cutting across the entire story, which can develop over hundreds of pages.

In Medium, we get more to the point. We can also use figures of speech, but these have an almost immediate revelation, a meaning right around the corner.

Whereas in the novel we writers often leave the reader thinking and want to provoke that thinking by hiding meanings in various elements, here we are more direct, we give almost the final answer so that our readers start from a point further on: ready to apply what they have read, written by us, to their lives.

This means that, as language is concerned, writing long fiction is different from writing on Medium.

What Changes in Our Life When We Start Writing Every Day

From a working mind to knowing oneself better

medium.com

2. Time plays against us

It is not only the space that is different when we compare the pages of a book to the web pages of Medium. It is also time that plays against us.

Whereas the typical reader of a novel sits comfortably, enjoying the experience of reading a book, the reader of Medium wants the information we promise him in the title, as directly and objectively as possible.

First, we have to captivate him. Then, we have to deliver what we promise.

Imagine a shopping street, with dozens or hundreds of stores. The novel reader is the one who comes to this street heading directly to our store, to purchase what we have to offer.

The reader of Medium is the curious person who looks in the store windows and enters the store whose window catches his eye the most.

Make sure your window display is as eye-catching as possible so that as many people as possible enter your store, even though there are dozens of stores next door with the same quality.

This is why it is really true that the writing log on Medium is quite different from the log of the novel or long fiction.

To Train the Writing Muscle

And push it hard as possible

medium.com

So, in conclusion…

If you are a fiction writer starting out on Medium, you have to be aware that some adaptation is necessary. This doesn’t mean that you have to give up your writer's voice, or that you have to depersonalize the way you communicate with those who read you.

It just means that you have to evolve, to add tools to your arsenal as a writer, something that will surely make you much better at this craft.

In the case of Medium, you will grow in terms of adapting language to context, which may even help you write better dialogues in novels, for example;

And you will achieve a power of synthesis, important here on Medium, which may be useful to you in certain chapters of your story.

The novel reader is the friend you invite for coffee, on the couch, at home.

The Medium reader is the friend you meet on a busy street. Make sure you say everything you have to say, and most importantly: that he listens to what you have to say.

What about you, fellow fiction writer:

What challenges did you encounter when you started writing here on Medium?
What other challenges did you have to overcome?
Do you think there are any other adaptations to be made from one register to the other?

Let me know in the comments and I’d be sure to engage with you.

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