How to Write an Original Substack

My publisher made me write this outrageous headline...and by publisher I mean ChatGPT

Maybe you don’t think of yourself as a leader but I think a writer is a leader. Leading the conversation in certain directions. It’s a powerful talent.

The Roots of Authenticity

Bruce Lee had a fascinating observation about originality.

“We have more faith in what we imitate than in what we originate”.

Does that sound like you?  Do you have more faith in the stuff you read than the stuff you write?

Let’s rewind.

I should probably start with a question; Are you a writer here on Substack…or are you a reader…or maybe you’re a reader AND a writer?

I have the impression that most people who are on Substack are both readers and writers but I won’t know unless I ask.

So, I’m asking; are you writing your thing and also getting involved in Substack community by reading other publications.

Is that you?

Would you mind putting your head above the parapet and letting me know?

If you’re a reader, what are you looking to read on Substack or what is it you’re hoping to get from hanging out here?

And if you’re a writer, care to tell me…let’s be brave here….care to tell me how original you are?

If you’re anything like me, this will be an exercise in skin-crawling cringe-worthiness, but I asked, and I’m here for it so you get a free pass. Call it a creative safe space.

Let’s get our collective cringe on!

Now I’ve said that, I realise I’m going to have to go first. That’s what good leaders do isn’t it??

What makes my own writing original… let’s see…

My mother would always say to me, “There’s a want in you lad”.

I obviously didn’t realise as a kid that she was talking about my soul but I see that clear as day now.

A soul on a relentless hunt. The strongest pull is finding something lost. Something you once had and are desperate to be reunited with again.

That translates into rather soul-searching essays. If your catchphrase is;

“It’s not that deep dude”

then I’m probably (definitely) not the writer for you. Everything is that deep and most likely deeper.

That’s not to say we have to be serious all the time. When I’m not trawling the depths of my psyche I try and resurface using humour as a flotation aid.

🛟

My Childhood Years

On the human front, my formative experience was one of being raised with a brother with Down’s syndrome - Wor Michael (Our Michael). I have two older brothers too but they’d left home by the time I was on the scene.

A friend sent me this beautiful video clip just the other day and it was like a window directly into my past.

If you watch the video you’ll see two key orientations - there’s Turner who’s  orientated towards a no-holding back, overflowing love.   A Love that is so generous it spills out in every tiny interaction; kisses, hugs, that whole gorgeous heart-face smile.

And there’s big brother Griffin who has a love that’s more resolute. It’s a stoic love. A love standing guard over his more vulnerable brother. A love that must pay the deepest attention. A love that is present to the needs of another. A love that lovingly puts his own needs out of the way.

A boy who feels his brother’s unguarded love but who also knows there are bullies and dark forces out in the world.

It’s an odd mix; A soft gooey heart-centred ice-cold stoicism.

There’s more layers but I think that’s perhaps the deepest vein running through my life.

I find myself wanting to fight injustice wherever I see it and I want to see nurturing and nurturers put firmly back in the heart of our culture. This often means I talk about the piss poor regard we have for mothers and mothering in western society.

So, that’s me. That’s my original take on the world…or some of it.

How about you?

How much originality do we see?

Now, Bruce Lee died well before social media was a thing, but I think his quote has much to say about our social media landscape.

How much of it is just endless repetition, reiteration and regurgitation?

I love his quote.  In fact, I’ve had it bouncing around my head for a few years now. It’s my Teflon-coated permission-slip to step away from all the incredibly talented writers on Substack and just be me.

Photo by Jez Timms on Unsplash

I might have more faith in someone else’s words (I definitely do) but I’m going to do my own words regardless.

I’m going to honour what flows out of me.

Shaky as it is, it’s the only thing I can call my own.

Every time I write something that has its roots in me I feel deeply unsure about how it will be received.  When a story flows directly from my life, from my experiences, or from my childhood, or my relationships I feel doubtful that it has any real substance at all.

On the flip side, when I read an article someone else has written I tend to weight it more significantly. It somehow has more substance. More truth. Greater insight. More clarity. Greater charity. Less waffle.

And that’s just our human predicament isn’t it.  Seeing the grace and beauty in others whilst rarely noting that same seed in ourselves.

The Dangers of External Validation

What happens when we don’t validate our own experience?

There’s no other alternative but to seek that validation from outside of ourselves.

Ask yourself, ‘If I had a million readers would that be enough?‘

Financially, a million readers might set you up, but artistically, creatively, human-ely, how would you actually feel?

Would you trust your own words more if you had a million ‘stans’ telling you you were the cat’s pyjamas?

No, 1 Million Followers Would Not Really Make Me Happy

If the answer is No then that’s ’hungry ghosts’ territory isn’t it.  We’re in danger of haunting the corridors of our substack stats page to see if our subscriber numbers have gone up. Only to never being completely satisfied however well we’re doing.

We all say the right things of course “I have so much gratitude for each and every reader”. No lies detected, but somewhere deeper there’s another story, a story about a hollowed out version of our lives.

Yes, 1 Million Followers Would Really Make Me Happy!

If the answer is YES, then I think we are on even dodgier ground. In the yes scenario you’ve lost any sense of self. 

Believing in your talents, solely because a million people say so is, frankly, a cruel trick to play on yourself.

When we don’t trust our own observations and orientations (the things we turn towards)…when we’ve not voiced something from deep within without that social filter, it’s hard to know where you really stand.

Bounce around crazy ideas until you actually feel comfortable wearing them.

Of course It’s far safer to just copy&paste what others are saying. And of course this is made even easier when we have ChatGPT as the copy and paste homogeneity on steroids middleman.

That’s not a solution any of us can really live with. Likes and success will only compound the problem. Taking us further and ever further away from ourselves.

The only real solution is to turn towards the beast that haunts us. To get comfortable with being uncomfortable.

Even if it wasn’t the kind of growth you had in mind when you set up your Substack publication, your inner growth is the only one that matters.

It’s probably the growth that you didn’t know you needed?

Leadership

I mentioned at the start that you might not consider yourself a leader.

Leadership is not about bossing other people around. It’s about being the first person to step into an uncomfortable situation and by their own light lead the change.

There might not be too many people ready for change but don’t let that stop you. Let that be the reason you’re the exact human to do the job!

Sending a Heart-lightening Breath to You as I wrap up this post

Now then. If you remember what brought you here. The title.

Your title is the only thing standing between you and a potential reader (Write Great Headlines and Engage Subscribers on Substack Workshop with Sarah Fay).

I went bold with my title which is fine but it’s only fine if I deliver. Don’t tell your readers you’re going to astound them and then leave them thinking “Was that it?!”

So, how do you write an original Substack?

It starts, not with writing, but with faith.

Faith that you have a depth as deep as the ocean even if on the surface you feel like just another bewildered human in the world.

Also you need faith in your readers.

Faith that your readers are reading with an open heart and not a critical eye.

If you’re writing about your own experience of the world, then you’re not writing for a scientific publication. Nobody is reading to catch you out.

Most people will read the same way they read a piece of poetry and just let it wash over them. And even if they haven’t fully understood every verse there’s likely a single line they can unearth like an unexpected jewel to take away with them.

David