Taking Notes
Is Notes on a negative trajectory towards Twitter/X? What are the trends that stick in your craw? And how do you choose what and who to care about?
Perhaps it’s an inevitability that Notes seems to be on an inexorable journey toward the lowest common denominator. For the writing community, this trajectory is evidenced by an increase in the bland, banal, and pointless — and perhaps the magnetic lure of ‘celebrity’.
Take the #writerslift, a common sight on X. “Let’s do a writers’ lift!” someone will scream; “let’s ‘lift each other up’!” — cries of the ‘you-follow-me-and-I’ll-follow-you’ brigade, some of whom may be driven by nothing more than to increase their subscribers / followers / likes. “I just need twelve more subscribers to hit two thousand”… People respond to ‘lifts’ by commenting with their website links or whatever, adding them to lists no-one is ever going to read — and in the process maybe they assume they’ve made ‘a connection’. There are increasing numbers of these vacuous posts on Notes.
As there are of the “your writing’s wonderful / precious; keep going because someone will love it / you’ll make it one day” variety — which, let’s be honest, are most likely to be disproven from at least one angle. Whilst presumably intended to be supportive and inspiring, these soundbite boosts are sometimes little more than lazy statements of sentiment — or a kind of clickbait: “if this person (who I don’t know) believes in me and my work, then maybe I should listen to them…”
And then there are the topic-of-the-week bandwagon junkies. Seen lots of posts about AI? Then I should rephrase what everyone else is saying and add my nonsense to the cacophony too — just to prove I’ve my finger on the pulse, and because people will surely care about what I have to say.
I exaggerate for effect, of course — and maybe there’s a fair slice of cynical Anglo Saxon humour in the above — but you get my drift: there’s so much noise!
But don’t get me wrong — I love Substack.
It’s the most sensible, mature, grown-up social media platform I know — and that must be a reflection on the majority of folk who, one way or another, inhabit its eco-system. So, as you’re here, take a bow!
But having said that, I worry that ‘the good stuff’ is in danger of being diluted by all the nonsense: begging letters to the algorithm — “please show me…”, “I’m new here…”, “I’m looking for…” — as if Notes is a real thinking person or some kind of intellectual Tinder; or the inconsequential fluff, pictures of dogs & cats, photos of furniture, curtains, Club Sandwiches etc.
Whether you agree with me or not on any or all of the above, surely underlying these trends are at least two fundamental questions: what should you care about & who should you listen to?
And of course the response is ‘whatever and whoever you like’.
There is no ‘right answer’.
But having felt riled enough to draft this post and then suggest those questions, the least I can do is answer them — though whether you care what I think is entirely up to you. [And if you don’t, that’s absolutely fine with me.]
What should you care about?
Ultimately it depends why you’re here. I have a Substack site for predominately selfish reasons — but not the pursuit of a pointless orange tick, nor to make money (otherwise I’d force you into a paid subscription merely to permit you to make a comment — I really hate that scam!). I’m here because Substack offers me a vehicle for my work, access to a largely intelligent and sophisticated audience; it provides a sounding board to test things out (both work and ‘thoughts’), and a ‘shop window’ for my books — and where, if people browse then buy, that’s the real pay-off. Readers are the gold-dust.
On that basis I care about posting, being ‘present’; and I care about what I post — it has to be relevant and authentic (so articles like this and no pictures of ‘Tiddles’ or ‘Rover’…). Honesty and integrity is all. And because I care about everything I post (I think I can say that) I must also care about what people think about those posts — so every subscriber (new and old) and like and comment (especially comments!) are important to me in the context of my journey. By-and-large, readers of Writing until the light goes out are a considerate and generous crew, and I thank them for that, their engagement, our interactions.
Who should you listen to?
Well not everyone, obviously. And maybe the answer to this one also depends on why you’re here.
Even though I occasionally scan it, I find trawling through Notes depressing (for the reasons outlined above). I will, of course, regularly sift through the posts of those to whom I subscribe and follow — but I don’t read everything (life’s too short, and many posts are just too long!), and if I’m getting nothing from my side of the handshake then I’ll happy disengage. No offence intended.
But I do listen to people who are serious, considerate, intelligent; to those where my engagement might be useful to them (I try and comment myself most of the time); and to those whose content is relevant to me in the context of my own journey — which is the reason I’m here after all. But perhaps most of all I listen to my own subscribers and the people who respond to my work; those I respect and whose input is constructive. I once changed the entire opening sequence of a novel based on the feedback from a beta reader. We mustn’t assume we know everything…
So for those of you who fall into the categories immediately above, I thank you. Please keep engaging.
I wander here and there of course. But invariably read your posts, as well as a number of political ones, poetry ones, personal ones, and "strange" offerings. They all interest me, some regularly, some erratically. Some I have no actual common link with, but still enjoy, places I've never seen, things not experienced. Satire amuses me, if well done. As does the commentary from those who failed to realise what it was. I accept my limitations imposed by old age, things I hoped to achieve, but won't. I still have anger and fury at the world's indifference to the suffering of others, and our lack of courage in standing up to wealth and power. I occasionally wonder if my holding on to pacifism that I signed up to at 16 is still entirely correct, or if there are boundaries that need breaching where non violent direct action is applied when I see the starving children dying in Gaza, and my government supplying weapons to Israel against so much opposition from the public. I don't fear dying, I have no faith in an afterlife. I have no wish for my life to be remembered beyond my living family - why should it be? I tried to do what I could, and went wrong like the rest of us of course. Then tried again, and who knows? In the 1950s we feared nuclear weapons. We now fear war again. The climate could kill us,if we aren't willing to change. There will always be some sort of threat. I hope our children's children will find answers,and include all the other children in the world, whatever their genders, colours, orientations, birthplaces, and any other variation. I believe we should forget about borders - they cause far more trouble than they solve.
I’m with you here on Substack to indulge in a writing community. A new age book club and writers’ circle combined. I enjoy philosophy, as it is perhaps at the heart of writing. But beyond that, well, let’s just say that time is precious and I choose to focus on what drives me: crafting language into fiction. Talking about the craft can be as helpful as actually exercising the craft (look at Poe and Hawthorne, for instance). But the end product is where the magic lies. I was drawn to your page by the title: until the light goes out. What poetry is that!