social media discussion – J. V. Montague

For quite some time, in the Instagram writing community there has been a discussion about repetition within the space, or issues it has. I got into contact with Anon after he interacted with my “Is Writergram repetitive?” story (March 20). He provided a very interesting response and I wanted him to expand upon his initial response.

The interview was conducted over Instagram DMs between March 21-24, 2022. This is the uncut version, with minor edits made for grammar, readability, or formatting. No hate or disrespect will be directed to the interviewee, who wishes to remain anonymous.

A note for those unfamiliar with the term “writergram”: “Writergram” refers to a niche community on Instagram focused on writing advice, sharing information about original content, and generally fixates on genre fiction. The community primarily consists of young adults and teens.

Q: You mentioned in your original response to my question box that you find the jokes on Writergram repetitive and not relatable. Could you expand on that thought?

A: So I’m in a very different spot than most of the writers here. I haven’t been writing since childhood, only for about 3 years now. I didn’t grow up reading a lot of fiction. The odd novel here and there but mostly books on science, space and dinosaurs. All of writergrams favourite books I’ve never read. Never read [Harry Potter] or [Percy Jackson]. Hell, I had never even HEARD of [Shadow & Bone] until the community had a collective aneurysm to Netflix announcement. So I’m already not relating to most experiences on here. But I think the biggest differences between them and me is due to theatre and fandom. I was a fan of things that did have fandoms (Gravity Falls, Pokémon, Musicals) but I never got involved with fandom (probably because of the mindset of constant internet stranger danger). And I know fandom is linked with fanfiction (and general YA fiction), and that has a lot of emphasis on tropes. That’s where the trouble starts. I’ll say: it don’t get tropes. I don’t care for them. I don’t go looking for them.

I don’t have strong opinions on any of them. And it’s not made better by the fact that theatre does have tropes, they’re not consistent across all the very diverse styles. Or maybe they are, but I just don’t care for them so I don’t notice them. Maybe you can put this together yourself, but when two people have completely different experiences and opinions with stories, and don’t consume same media, or if you do it’s not in the same way, they’re gonna be feeling awkward around each other. I have felt like a bit of an outsider in the community. I remember being jealous of accounts that got a “new writer alert” surprise that got them 200 followers in on days when it took me over a year to reach 100. And when you’re passively alienated like this, Bertolt Brecht starts making a lot more sense. I started looking at these posts and I noticed repetitions in posts, reels, general styles, etc.

Here are some ones I can name off the top of my head include:

Dialogue tags
How to write X group/trope -“I kill/traumatise my characters”
“I don’t get sleep lmao”
The writing community needs to stop romanticising not sleeping”
Taylor Swift is God -Fantasy/YA romance are the only books that exist
Marvel movies are the movies to exist
“When X trope does this, I go *keyboard smash*”
Enemies to Lovers, Found Family, Morally grey characters and arson are the only tropes in existence

I’m stopping myself there because I may go into full blown rambling. But I don’t relate to any of these. And so when you see these things over again and you aren’t caught up in the emotion of “speaking the truth” per se, you get a little bit… desensitised. Oh and also not obsessively in love with characters, my own or some from a some piece of media.

Q: Are there other fundamental things that you think the writergram community needs to improve upon? Why?

A: I’m scared this part may make me sound like an asshole but I can’t put it any other way. Okay one thing nags me about the whole thing with likes going down is that I see stories like “my likes used to be 900 now they’re at 700” and I’m like “listen, I’m sorry that a solid proportion of your followers probably are no longer seeing your posts, that’s sad I’ll admit. At the same time, can’t relate. I max out at like 25 likes and like 6 of them are probably spam bots” I say this makes me sound like an asshole because I understand that just because someone has it worse than you doesn’t mean your feelings are invalid. That’s true here. And I can also say that I have felt the same thing when my likes on a post are lower than usual. And I have to knock myself into shape by telling myself “shut up. You make good content. This is not a reflection of your ability” or something [I don’t know], I forget about posting for too many days so it’s not really a big deal for me.

But it’s a definitely not a good thing, and not unique to this community. The fact is: when something meant for escapism and fun from normal human shit, making about getting approval from strangers, and making gaining that approval a labour. That’s not good, and drains the fun. I’m not saying it’s easy to get out of the social media creator mindset, but at least make an effort. If you react poorly, just figure why you did and correct yourself. The only person punish you is you. So just take a fucking chill pill and make something fun.

The fact is: when something meant for escapism and fun from normal human shit, making about getting approval from strangers, and making gaining that approval a labour.

Q: In your opinion, what do you think are some ways to break out of this rut the writing community may (or may not) be in?

A: Well to know how to stop something, you have to know why it happened. And that’s difficult in this situation. Obviously the algorithm exists and there’s not much we can do about that except gain it. Really social media accounts are just businesses that replaced money with approval. So apologies but I’m about revert to my less than a year’s worth of A-Level Business Studies to try and answer this. Profit is made when supply a demand. Simply, the demand for what the community has been putting out was at a high, and has now dropped. People want something else that the community isn’t supplying, so they’re not buying. So what has been buying? Well my evidence is based on an unreliable sample and anecdotal evidence but I’d say we’re moving in a more story-specific direction. I’ve posts about asking your [original characters]s questions and how to write certain characters flop, while posts about writing X story do very well. That’s why trope based jokes are doing well.

Back when lockdown started and went hard on us, making posts on the little imaginary people we made up to talk to and project all the things we could if only we could go outside was fun and needed. But now a lot of things have eased up, and now you can do the things you wanted. Instead of vining with situations from incorrect quotes, you now have to make something worth telling. Worth doing. Story is replacing character as the big discussion point, and we need to supply the demand.

Q: What would you like to see more of in the writing community?

A: I do want more discussion of themes and intention behind stories. I’ve never found those epic plot descriptions in trailers that are like “would you read a story about an assassin who fights the evil Queen and falls in the royal mage”. Idk I feel like that’s a mad libs challenge with the blanks filled. Just makes sure it’s YA Fantasy with a mix of passionate romance and high tragedy. But I want to know what this story is putting out into the world. I love when a story teases what its underlying themes. Example: People, Places and Things by Duncan MacMillan: “When intoxication feels like the only way to survive the modern world, how can she ever sober up?” I read that, I know I’m going to think about something, rather than just blindly feel.

Q: What would you like to see less of in the writing community?

A: I know this is the internet, and what I ask for is very unlikely to come about, but I would like to see less absolutes. More nuance. Recently, after I answered the first batch of questions, I post my explore page that was very absolute about a method on improving dialogue. And, as someone who writes a lot of dialogue, I both understand the point and also think it completely missed the mark. A solid amount of advice is “always/never do this” when a lot more of it should be “if you’re going to do this, understand this/look out for this/do this as well/etc”. No method is going to work for everyone. They all have their pros and cons. Like IRL tools, every tip is best used when you know how use them and what they do. I feel like some of that is missing (probably in myself as well).

Q: Why do you think the writing community is prone to repetition?

A: Simple. It’s the reason most things are repetitive and don’t change. It’s just comfy where we are, for both creators and consumers. As creators, we’re still getting the positive feedback in the form of likes and comments. Whenever we make a character death joke, we know people will relate to them but we mix it up just a little bit by using the one TikTok audio that’s popular [right now]. Whenever we try something more experimental, it flops. That’s our sign to never leave our comfort zone again. As consumers, when we see something we already recognise, there’s the relief of risk. “That’s the classic writing community again” we say as we get a small blip of nice brain chemicals. When we something new, it’s off-putting. “We’ve gathered here because of our shared taste sense of humour. What is this new thing? It’s not what I thought you were”. This happens in business and in friendship. Companies releasing a slightly different version of the same product everytime.

And we do it with our friends. We tell the same jokes to keep them around. And what if that friend does something completely unexpected of them? How does that change how you see them. (Yasmina Reza’s “Art” is [a] great play about exactly this).

Q: Are there ideas (within craft, tropes, characters, etc.) that you think writergram is misrepresenting?

A: I guess I’ll say that realism, as opposed to escapism, needs to be re-understood. Like, I get it. Escapism isn’t just fun, it’s a necessity. I even have a side [work in progress] about a teen’s mental health going down the drain giving up her escape in order to pursue success. But what I’m getting at is that escapism is perfect and realism is not to be touched. It’s a sentiment not explicitly stated, but it’s more subtly, likely unintentionally, implied. Everything about character and plot and tropes is to project and stuff. I’m not with that. Realism gets you thinking about yourself, the people around you, the whole world around you. And I know the world is scary, but the first step to fixing it is to think about it. Generally, I think we need a mix of realism and escapism in our lives, and I’m just getting the sense that it’s tilting a bit too far in one direction. I legitimately once saw someone ask for book recs, but added “I only read fantasy” and threw me way off?

Like, I’d never think a fantasy writer could be so unimaginative. Do you know how limiting that is? As a reader and a writer? That you could miss out on your new favourite book, or an entirely new trope to add to your book because you’re so conservative with your tastes. Honestly I could never.

Realism gets you thinking about yourself, the people around you, the whole world around you. And I know the world is scary, but the first step to fixing it is to think about it.

Q: Are there other things that you would like to talk about that I didn’t bring up so far in the interview?

A: Just know I don’t hate the writing community. I’m not here to spread drama, despite being a drama student. And even if it was, strangely I think it would have benefits. I’ve never seen the community interact with each other more with each other than when a drama shakes it. That’s with every community, but still applies. If anything, what I hope to accomplish with all this word vomit is to get people to think about the community. Think about why they’re doing what they’re doing. Think about how long they can keep it up. And think about what they could change. Because as storytellers, change is what we’re all about.

Besides the same four jokes, one thing has been very consistent about Writergram: the lamenting about the algorithm. QOTD (Question of the day), “engagement slides” on stories, complaining about “flopping posts”, and general frustration with Instagram. Some users have adapted to posting a lot of reels, others have stuck stubbornly within pictures (like myself), and we all feel that pang of ah, shit when people don’t interact with our posts. It’s human. However, we’re missing the point.

A note for those unfamiliar with Instagram jargon: when a post “flops” it means it doesn’t do as well compared to the other content a creater has posted. “Engagement slides” are when, on stories, creators try to boost their activity, and thus their reach by adding a lot of interactive elements to a story. QOTD is another way that creators try to get engagement on posts by having their followers answer the “question of the day”.

Another note: “Writergram” is a community on Instagram that primarily consists of teenage writers, authors, or aspiring authors. You can typically find it by searching under the hashtag #teenwritercommunity

Instagram

Note: since writing this article, there has been a minor update to Instagram that allows users to filter who they see on their home feed. This has bolstered activity and interaction somewhat.

In June of 2021, the head of Instagram stated that “Instagram is no longer a photo-sharing app”. In Andy Day’s article on Fstoppers titled “If Instagram is no longer a photo-sharing app should we use Twitter instead?”, he states, “Instagram is and has always been a social media app […] Given that social media is in a constant state of evolution, Instagram’s announcement is no surprise […]” Change is to be expected and priorities are going to shift, whether or not online communities like it or not. Written on Instagram’s official blog in June of last year, Adam Mosseri, head of Instagram, says that it is not running on a singular algorithm (The Algorithm) but rather an amalgamation of “algorithms, classifiers, and processes” each tailored to different branches of the app (home, explore, reels, etc.) Interestingly, there are also things called “signals” that are used; acute information from a post, like the time of posting, who it is that posted (and the patterns of their activity), how much you have interacted with the poster, and a thousand other little things that make up what does and doesn’t get shown to you. Seriously, if you want to get a treasure trove of information about Instagram’s mechanics, read “Shedding More Light On Instagram’s Algorithm” by Adam Mosseri on about.instagram.com. In short, Instagram’s main goal is to keep you on the app, not to make you grow.

But that previous paragraph focused more so on Feed and Stories, not on the explore page. Officially, from Mosseri’s post, he writes that Explore is tailored by what your mutuals interact with, content that’s similar to what you interact with previously on the Explore page, trial and error, and what you manually flag. As it is written in the blog, Mosseri makes it seem like smaller creators are going to make it to your explore when, from my anecdotal experience, that is not always the case. The majority of posts that I see on the Explore page have thousands of likes—which in the context of Instagram, makes sense: more people like this, so it’s more likely you will as well. Since I like those posts, I feed into the cycle. However, you can dig into little niches, and access less popular posts, by clicking labeled buttons on the top of the screen. That will lead to more specialized content with a healthy mix of popular posts (over 1k likes) and less popular posts (under 1k likes). Explore is designed to get different content out to you, and since more popular content is more likely to be liked, it’s pushed into your main feed, but “unpopular” posts are easily accessible—especially under hashtags, it just takes more effort to access.

Writergram is a piece of driftwood out in the sea; it is by our very nature we’re going to struggle to get explore page favor, or much favor at all. Bigger accounts, obviously, are going to be pushed more. Notably, “Writing account farms”, or accounts that exclusively repost content from other sites multiple times a day, are going to be getting more favor than accounts such as mine. Why? Here are some main factors I have seen that lead to the success of writing accounts:

Easy to consume content. Memes, simple graphics of writing advice, reposts from Tumblr, reposts of Tweets, etc. Most users are not interested in engaging with long posts (like this one); content about characters, world-building, anything particularly niche about an unpublished story because it takes effort to gain context for the posts, it takes time for a follower to create a connection to the creator and their work, and because it’s ultra-specific (note that this is shifting).
Frequent posting. Daily, or even more than once a day. It gives more recent content for Instagram to push (if it deems the user interested in such posts). However, balance is key because if one posts too much and there is little interaction, Instagram is still going to bury posts in favor of promoting more relevant content.
Shout-outs. In a tiny community frequent shouting out is a manual way to push users and people tend to be more receptive to it.
Aesthetics. The emphasis is placed on pretty posts with loopy font and heavy editing, and also on easy-to-read text. This can be seen in every facet of Instagram.
Trends. Within content format (e.g. using Twitter screenshot posts), in what topics are covered (e.g. morally grey villains; show don’t tell), within reels (e.g. audio from TikTok)

Me, Myself, and I

Coming back from a hiatus, I know that my posts are less likely to be pushed to my followers, fewer people are going to check my stories, and it’s going to take some time to get back “on track”; but here’s the thing: does it matter?

In some ways, it does. That sweet, sweet reward system in my mind is going to ping when I hit over 100 likes. I’m going to feel like I’m a “real” creator and “worthy” of my 1k followers (thank all of you so much for that), and what I put out will feel like it holds weight. I’m not just shouting into the void. It feels nice to be seen and appreciated for my hard work. Validation is one hell of a drug.

But in letting monkey brain take over, I lose sight of the impact outside the rat race. Not too long ago I was feeling down about my account and I confided in one of my closest (online) friends about it. They told me that while they were in class, Writergram came up, and apparently, so did one of my posts. It broke my brain. Social media has so thoroughly conditioned me into seeing numbers that I’ve forgotten how there are human beings behind Instagram’s numerics. People, no matter if it’s 10 or 1,000, have seen my creation long enough to give it a like or to leave a comment—the smaller number of bots aside. That’s incredible! It’s why I should be doing what I do: to create a connection.

Breaks can’t provide perspective when processes aren’t analyzed and motivations aren’t challenged. Writing this post allowed me to realize that the Instagram algorithm isn’t a monster. It simply is. And my chasing after external validation isn’t the fault of Instagram by itself; when it comes to things like body image, the way in which that platform works can be damaging, but in this context, that is not the case.

So, what?

The Algorithm isn’t trying to kill your account. It’s not a massive fog looming over your posts. It’s not the reason you (might) feel shitty. It takes time to unlearn the mindset of “interaction=success” and feeling the need for external validation. You and your content are enough so long as you are proud. Even though it may feel like it at times, the effort you put into what you create is never wasted no matter external validation. If you want to hit it big, do the things I outlined above for favorable interaction. But don’t overlook the benefits of growing slowly: you tend to make deeper connections with your followers, thus, creating a more tight-knit community; you don’t have to worry about maintaining trends so you can create what you love.

It’s easy to place the blame onto an entity of sorts, but it’s doing what it’s designed to do: get you to stay on the app. The people who interact with your account the most are going to see what you put out, and the others? Well, that isn’t in your control. In the words of an over-used song from 2013, “let it go”. Acknowledge the sting of inactivity, feel it, and release it. Then, channel your energy into creating what you love and chatting with the people you care about.