Have we been introduced?

An overdue mid-year introduction.

Thank you for subscribing to A Work Of Fiction. I noticed there have been new subscribers popping in, so I wanted to introduce myself, and briefly talk about what this newsletter is all about.

About me

I’m Hanna, and I’m an author from Liverpool, a city in the north of England. Being an author was never my dream (not consciously anyway)—I wanted to be a singer, then I wanted to be an actor. I went off to university in 2008 to study Drama and English Literature, and when I realised how hard securing an acting gig was for working class people with no connections or stream of cash to keep them afloat whilst spending 10 years trying to ‘make it’, I ended up studying English Literature full time. I bloody loved it.

I then went on to study Popular Literatures at Masters level (it was 1 year so I had to have 3 part time jobs and a lot of caffeine tablets: I can barely remember getting to and from classes but I definitely remember the books!), moving on to a PGCE so I could teach English and English Literature to 16-19 year olds. It was a steady job, and I was sick of juggling part time work. I really loved it, and it was all right while it lasted, but after 9 years and two kids, it was no longer fulfilling.

My Substack journey

After a few good years of running a small craft business and then watching it shrink every time there was some kind of global crisis, I finally scratched that itch and came to Substack to write. I’d not long had my third baby (life is full of surprises, and she was one of them!) and really felt the need to have something other than my craft business to work on. Watched pots never boil, so they say. It was time for another career.

I’d seen some craft bloggers come over here to build their newsletters and I thought, ‘I wonder if anyone would pay to read my fiction?’. There were no fees. You could just write and read things here, so I came to check it out. The plan from the start was ‘serialise a science fiction novel inspired by The Tempest’ and that’s what I did. I know serials had fallen out of fashion since the likes of Dumas and Dickens but I heard through the grapevine that people were reading serial fiction online.

Writing Oceanus had always been a ‘wouldn’t it be nice’ feature in my head, so coming up with the story didn’t take long. I wasn’t too worried about the money at that point, either; I was having loads of fun writing a novel and working to that weekly deadline. It was lovely. Then the readers came along and I thought, ‘Can’t quit now. They’re waiting.’

Since Oceanus

I have written and published three novels since I started my Substack in February 2024: Oceanus, The Spider and The Ring. The Spider and The Ring are the first two novels in the Muldoon Mysteries series: Gothic Horror meets Crime thriller, set against the backdrop of late-19th century Liverpool. Oceanus was my debut novel, and is very much a science fiction mystery inspired by Shakespeare’s The Tempest.

I also write short stories. Since coming here, I have discovered micro fiction (A lot of thanks to

Miguel S.

) and flash fiction (Check out

Bill Adler

); I find both mediums so much fun and love writing them. Writing these short pieces is a great way to find if a story idea has stumps or full blown legs, too. The Spider was born from a micro fiction about a ghost.

I’ve attached some of my short stories to the bottom of this email for you to have a look at. I write slightly longer stories too, and they vary when it comes to genre.

If you’ve already subscribed, thank you! I can’t promise what you’ll get on the Friday newsletter, but you’ll always get some fiction (well, most of the time unless I’m writing an email like this). You see, I can come up with a story in as little as 12 hours before the newsletter goes out. I never know what I’ll be in the mood to write, and I always wait for inspiration to strike before attempting writing.

This newsletter is where I share my fiction directly with you. I share a short piece on the Friday newsletter and a serial chapter of whatever novel I’m writing on a Sunday. I’ve been doing it for a year and a half, sharing over 100 short stories or serialised chapters, and I don’t have any plans to stop. Thank you for being here. If you’d like to, let me know in the comments where in the world you’re reading from, and introduce yourself!

More about serial fiction:

I’m actually scheduled to have a chat later with

Erica Drayton

S.E. Reid

and

Bridget Riley

about serialising fiction on Substack at 7pm GMT tonight (8th August). You can catch the replay if you’re not going to be around, but we will probably answer all of your burning questions about serial fiction on Substack. If I have any secrets, I’ll be sure to share them! If you’re subscribed to me or any of the names mentioned above, you’ll get a notification when we’re on! We’d love to see you there.

Short Stories from the vault:

The Welshman’s Secret Weapon : 200 words | Microfiction | Comedy

Pygmalion: Horror | Historical | Short story

Copycat: Dark | Comedy | Short story

The Shabti: Horror | Historical | Short story

The Court Of The Phoenix King : Fairy Tale | Dark | Flash fiction