Lying for a Living

(or Like Atoms, We Make Up Everything)

Photo by Ruslan Ruslan on Unsplash

Tell me all about it.

I’m launching this Substack today for the purpose of talking about STORY. Not just as a novelist, but also as a student of the topic. If you are anything like me… then you need to sit up straight in that chair. Posture is important!

But if you are like me in other ways, you might find that you like to take a story apart like an engine. Or a hastily dropped LEGO creation. However you perform your analysis, you tend to see the value in the parts that make up the larger whole.

You don’t just think, “I would’ve done that differently” or “I wonder why they didn’t take that final scene there.” But you use those thoughts as a springboard to set your own stories into motion. Or maybe you don’t think about stories in that way at all.

Yet.

Better writers and storytellers than us have always existed. This ‘stack isn’t about trying to make either of us into the greatest. I’m not sure that’s even a real thing, honestly. But whether you are a “create it all in a single caffeinated fit” type, a “everything must be pre-ordained like a Swiss watch” type, or one of those mythical “sane” people in between… this column / essay / blog / discussion / metaphor dungeon is for you.

Hiya. I’m Dave, a novelist soon to be seeking publication. I’m an ADHD-fueled talking machine who looks to film and television to inspire the chaos of my own traditionally written, if not traditionally structured fiction.

I’m confident enough to be self-deprecating, although I could probably use lessons. Or to put it another way, I’ve crafted a motto of sorts: I’m a “well-meaning idiot, but here to help.”

That’s right. This Substack isn’t just about my work or the things I’ve been learning. I want us to get there together. It’s a conversation, but with you now instead of just the voices I brought with me.

Let’s break things down like 80s hip hop, then find a way to make something new from the pieces like… 90s hip hop.

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