Why Medium Needs A New Fiction Section
Here’s how to make it happen.
We are all daydreamers at heart. I often spend lots of time thinking about what other paths my life could have taken, or imagining fantastical worlds of the future. And I am not the only one doing that.
According to one study, the average person spends around 47% of their time daydreaming. This is an integral part of who we are, and greatly influences our actions. In one of his informal talks, which was later republished as a book, psychologist Sigmund Freud discussed the connection between creative writing and daydreaming.
“The creative writer does the same as the child at play. He creates a world of fantasy which he takes very seriously — that is, which he invests with large amounts of emotion — while separating it sharply from reality.” — Sigmund Freud
For him, a creative writer is like a child at play. And daydreams are at the basis of all the fantastical worlds us grownup kids create.
“He understands how to work over his daydreams in such a way as to make them lose what is too personal in them and repels strangers, and to make it possible for others to share in the enjoyment of them. He understands, too, how to tone them down so that they do not easily betray their origin from proscribed sources.” — Sigmund Freud
Considering that we as people spend so much time dreaming up fantastical things, outside of the realm of reality, many of us have an urge to go even further. We want to put these dreams down on paper.
As Indian author Pawan Mishra noted, as a writer you live another life every time you create a new story.
“A writer gets to live yet another life every time he or she creates a new story.” — Pawan Mishra
And we all want to live other lives. That’s why the pull of fiction is so endearing. To read it, but also to write it.
Why Medium needs a new, separate fiction section
A while back, Tony Stubblebine took over the reigns at Medium as the new CEO. Immediately, he did something really great. He started a thread where members of the Medium community could share their ideas for the platform.
There was one suggestion which kept on repeating in various forms. We want more support for fiction. Start a fiction section. Give us fiction.
For the most part, Medium is a blogging platform for non-fiction works. Self-help, health, philosophy, politics, history, business, IT, science, and other similar subjects have found their niche here.
So far, Medium hasn’t been very big on fiction. While there are some writers who dabble in fiction on the platform, it’s hidden in a dark corner where no one can find it.
The thing about fiction is that it is incredibly popular. As a kid, before I switched over to concentrating mostly on reading non-fiction books, I spent a lot of time devouring all kinds of fiction. Science fiction, fantasy, historical, satire, thriller, psychological. You name it, I read it.
What these books have in common is the stories were all made up by the authors. The tales existed only in their imagination. And also mine. They allowed me to stretch my own imagination, and to “see” other worlds and possibilities with my mind’s eye.
My reading habits are just a small sample of a wider trend. Most people read fiction at some point in their life. Fiction is huge!
According to a report, the global fiction book market is expected to grow from $10.01 billion in 2021 to $10.46 billion this year. In 2026, it is supposed to be almost 12 billion dollars! So fiction is a huge growth market. Medium needs to jump on the gravy train, otherwise it will pass it by.
This platform has attracted some amazing writers, many of whom are itching to try their virtual pen at fiction. Some have already done it on other platforms. Others took time away from Medium, in order to focus on writing their fiction books.
Why not give them the opportunity to hone their craft, and get to practice their fiction writing skills here? It’s only a win-win for the platform. And maybe in the future, once one of these writers gets famous, you can say they got their start on Medium!
How it should look like
The great thing about Medium is how easy it is for new writers to come in, get started, and monetize their craft. There is no other platform like this on the internet.
While I could try writing fiction in some other part of the World Wide Web, I want to do it here. I am lazy. I don’t feel like setting up a new profile, or keeping track of all the places I am writing on.
It’s here, or my blog. That’s it!
However, fiction and non-fiction are two totally different animals. Readers of fiction and non-fiction don’t always overlap. Heck, when I am in the mood for non-fiction, I don’t want to see fiction. And vice versa.
That’s why I think Medium needs to have a clear separation between the two. A fiction Medium. And a non-fiction Medium. That way when I am looking for fiction, I am sure to find fiction. And when I want non-fiction, fiction doesn’t get in the way.
This can be done through different ways, each giving a different user experience. Maybe have two profiles, a fiction and a non-fiction one. Or create different tabs on one profile.
The key here would be to reuse all the infrastructure underpinning Medium, like the payments system, and keeping it together for both fiction and non-fiction. This would help the writer.
However, separating the Medium frontpage into fiction and non-fiction parts, would then really help the reader find what they are looking for. After all, if the reader has a hard time discovering great stuff, then they likely won’t come again.
Going hand in hand with this, should be some sort of a program to give more exposure to writers. The problem on Medium has often been that pieces are seen the first few days after being written, and then die a quick death. Never to be seen again.
This type of a set-up won’t work well with fiction. It takes time to write a quality piece. Famous writers have often taken years to produce their works. It’s a process. And a long one.
Fiction, because it is a creation that arises in someone’s head, is by definition evergreen content. It is timeless. That’s why an algorithm which buries older pieces wouldn’t do it justice.
These are my thoughts. I am sure there are other things that could be done on Medium to promote fiction writing. Are you itching to try your hand at writing short fiction stories? Do you have any ideas? Post your suggestions in the comments.
Let’s make it a reality!
