Write Club is launching a literary game show called Fiction Addiction.
Think American Idol for Substack authors. You submit an excerpt of your best work from your fiction. We select seven authors, read their work live, and give the judges and audience a chance to say what they love about it.
Our first episode is Saturday, October 17, at 8 PM Eastern on Substack Live. Applications are open now.
Writing on Substack means being both an author and the person responsible for helping readers find your work. At Write Club, we spend a lot of time thinking about that second part.
We hear stories every night that deserve more readers.
Fiction Addiction gives people a chance to hear your writing, tell you how it made them feel, and subscribe if they want more.
Here’s how the show works.
A host introduces you and reads about two minutes of your chosen story. Each of our three judges then has a minute to discuss the excerpt.
While they listen, viewers can read along and use a private form to share their reactions. They’ll choose Emoti icons to tell you what they felt: did the story make them laugh, worry, feel something, or wonder what happens next?
They’ll also answer the question every fiction author wants answered: Would you keep reading?
Their choices are PASS, TEMPTED, HOOKED, or ADDICTED. The story with the highest combined audience rating wins Fiction Addiction.
Every featured author gets their work in front of the entire audience, along with links to the full story and their publication. Readers can go straight from hearing your excerpt to reading more and becoming subscribers.
There’s a game for the audience, too. Fiction Prediction lets viewers predict the judges’ reactions by choosing their Emotis before the judges reveal theirs. The viewer whose choices earn the most points across the show wins.
Want to submit your work for the show?
Submit an excerpt from your short story or serial fiction. Aim for 250–300 words that work well when read aloud. The maximum is 300 words.
You’ll also provide a short author bio and links to your story and publication. If readers need a little context, there’s a Story Setup field for up to 50 words.
Start by entering your email at writeclub.chat/fictionaddiction. We’ll send you a private link to the application. You can return through that link to edit your submission until it’s finalized for the show.
We’ll select seven authors for this first episode. Submission doesn’t guarantee selection.
This is a pilot. Save the date below! Come watch, tell us what you think, and help us see whether this is something we should keep doing.
Submit your story · Save the Substack Live
Fiction Addiction — the game show where everybody wins!
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Oh no, I hate competitions --
Submission sent. 😂
Fantastic.🤙