8 Questions for... Meg Oolders

Spotlight on Stock Fiction

Photo by Claudio Schwarz on Unsplash

Out there, Meg Oolders is the author of the 2023 Watty Award winning novel, "See Dot Smile." In here, she writes gutsy short fiction, evocative poetry, snarky humor and whatever else she can think of for her publication, Stock Fiction; a dynamic anthology of short fiction, poetry, humor, and multimedia experiments from the fiery heart/busy mind of this award-winning YA novelist.

1.     Why Substack? 

I came to Substack after hearing two writers on the platform sing its praises at an Author’s Guild webinar. Sometimes I wonder if I would have ended up somewhere else if I’d attended a different event or been left to my own devices to find a place to publish my work. To be honest, I wasn’t sure what to expect when I started my newsletter here, but in terms of audience growth, community, and engagement, Substack has more than exceeded my expectations. I’m very happy things unfolded the way they did. 

2.     How long did it take you to find your groove? 

At the start, I only had a handful of subscribers that I invited to sign up. I think I sent my first post to eight people. After a month or so, I started to get braver about exploring the work of other writers, leaving comments (something I’d NEVER done before), and showing up for networking events like Office Hours, which is where I bumped into the Fictionistas crowd. And that’s when I really started to pick up steam in terms of building my audience and finding my people. Many of the fiction writers I met in those early weeks on the platform have become dear friends, and having friends here has given me the courage to keep writing, publishing, reading, and learning along the way.

3.     How has it changed you? 

It’s made me so much braver. Of course, I still fret and worry about each and every post, how it will perform, how my target readers will respond, but there’s a willingness now to take risks that wasn’t there before. I’m stretching, and honoring, and sharing myself with far less trepidation than I once did. 

4.     What mistakes have you made? 

A couple of times, I’ve made the mistake of asking my readers what they want from me, content wise, which really was just me asking to be handed an assignment I had no real desire to complete. I don’t like forcing inspiration where it doesn’t already exist. Not here. I want my readers to be happy, but the mistake was not trusting that they already were happy with me writing what I was inspired to write when I was inspired to write it. I’m trying to embrace the idea that not every reader is going to love every piece I publish. I like surprising people and delight in a raised eyebrow or admission of tears, cringe, or shock from a loyal reader who didn’t see something coming from me. That’s how I keep my readers happy. By avoiding patterns and delivering the unexpected. I do that by sharing what moves me. From one mercurial week to the next.  

5.     To pay or not to pay? 

Ooh. This is a hot button. I think I waited almost a whole year before I got up the nerve/confidence to “go paid,” as they say. But I approached it a little differently than Substack intended. Under the guidance of a fellow writer who pioneered a similar model for his Substack, I offered my readers a one-time payment option. Meaning, they would pay for one year of Stock Fiction and get access to any and all paywalled content FOREVER. I put the whole thing into a snazzy pitch and managed to get a handful of supporters on board. And in the months that followed, a few more trickled in. Since then … nothing. I don’t press the paid upgrade anymore. In fact, unbeknownst to anyone, I recently took down my paywall entirely. I’m querying agents for one of my novels and I’m hopeful one or two of them will wander over and see what I’ve been up to. And if they do, I want them to see the whole picture. I’ve also never really wanted to have walls around my work. If people want to read it, I want them to be able to do that. It was also a relatively large pain in the butt to maintain the paywall the way I wanted to. So, I’ve removed that pain for the time being. Anyone and everyone can now read anything and everything I’ve published on Stock Fiction. Of course, I’m always hopeful that someone will come along, see just how much time and effort have gone into creating that space for them to be entertained and engaged, and decide it’s worth a one-time payment of $60 to support the tenacious entrepreneur behind the curtain. That’s why I will always keep paid subscriptions turned on. For those who choose to support me in that fashion.

6.     What artistic and technical choices have you made? 

SO MANY! I came into this as a nobody from nowhere, so I knew I needed a strong hook for my Substack. Something that would make people go “hmm, sounds interesting” and want to check it out. The tagline for Stock Fiction from the beginning was, “fictional ramblings inspired by stock photography” because every story I posted was based on a photograph. I stuck with that model for a while. At one point I changed the wording to “experimental fiction inspired by stock photography” because I felt the word “ramblings” suggested I was just putzing around on the internet, when in fact I was experimenting with all manner of styles and forms of fiction, still using a photograph as my inspiration. Fast forward to today and my Substack header reads: “a dynamic anthology of experimental short fiction, poetry, essays, humor, and multimedia projects from the fiery heart/busy mind of novelist, Meg Oolders.” I essentially removed all my self-imposed creative shackles and started making whatever the hell my heart desired. At first I was worried my fiction fans wouldn’t want to read my snarky humor, or my humor fans wouldn’t want to read my soulful beat poetry, or my poetry fans wouldn’t want to listen to my snappy new podcast. But I’ve discovered that my readers are quite bendy in their tastes, and I have a wonderful crew of regulars who will show up for literally anything I produce. The choice to break out from my original hooky premise has proven to be a wise one. And I’m much happier for the freedom it allows me to make the thing that’s got me fired up in the moment and share it, knowing it will find the right people. I imagine my Substack is like New England weather for the rest. If they don’t like it right now, they’ll just wait a week. And most of them are willing to do that for me.  

7.     What’s been the effect on your writing? 

I’ve completely fallen in love with short storytelling. In the year leading up to my Substack launch, I wrote five complete novels. Four of the five were written for a young adult audience. And prior to writing those novels, I wrote mainly picture book texts. And yet, here I am, writing edgy, evocative, punchy, racy, poetic short form fiction for grownups. Writing shorter pieces has allowed me to experiment with genres I’d never attempted before. It’s forced me to be more concise and purposeful with my language and more conscientious with the weaving of thematic and emotional threads in my stories. And again, it’s made me braver. I will try writing any genre or style at least once, pass or fail. And Substack offers the perfect laboratory setting for such experiments.  

8.     In it for the long haul? 

As long as Substack upholds its end of the bargain, to keep this a “space for writers,” and does its part to keep that space a safe one, I will keep my roots here.