Fiction, Florida, and the Crickets

What We’re Talking AboutWriting fiction for a newsletter audience is a weird bet. Most people follow a writer on Substack because they trust that person’s take on something specific. Health, politics, money, whatever. Then you show up with a short story set in a bait shop on US-1 and half your subscribers look at it like the menu just changed languages.This episode is about that bet, and why I’m still making it.Florida StoriesThe fiction series running on the Dispatch is called Florida Stories. Not the Florida of postcards and retirement brochures. The actual Florida. Pahokee. Islamorada. The retirement villages where the parking lot feuds have been going on longer than some marriages. Real places, mostly invented people, and situations that feel true even when every detail is made up.The next story drops this week. A charter fishing operation out of Islamorada. It is not about the fish.The Audience Problem Nobody Talks AboutFiction readers don’t behave like essay readers. They’re slower. They sit with a story. They don’t click or share right away because they’re still thinking about the last line. Substack’s recommendation system doesn’t know what to do with that. The numbers look worse than they are, and if you’re not careful, you start writing for the metrics instead of the reader.The readers who find the fiction write back with full emails. About their uncle who worked the docks in Fort Pierce. About a bar in Homestead they hadn’t thought about in twenty years. That’s the audience worth building, even if it takes longer than anyone wants to admit.Links* Subscribe to the Proud Boomer Dispatch on Substack: johnsproudboomer.substack.com* Health and Wellness essays on Medium: medium.com/@theproudboomer* Support the work: buymeacoffee.com/theproudboomer* Questions or story tips: [email protected] dollars a month or $50 a year. Full archive, the fiction series, opinion essays, and one exclusive piece every month. No sponsors. No algorithm telling this thing what to be. Get full access to The Proud Boomer Dispatch at johnsproudboomer.substack.com/subscribe