INTERVIEW | Erik Hoel and Visakan Veerasamy
Highlights from our conversation "Drawn to the Struggle: On WRITING and WRITERS" with guests Erik Hoel and Visakan Veerasamy
In our conversation “Drawn to the Struggle: On WRITERS and WRITING” hosted by Interintellect founder and CEO Anna Gát and editorial lead
, we invite two special guests — scientist, essayist, and novelist and writer and Twitter creative — to explore topics ranging from academic bureaucracy to audience capture to the call for more (and better) online fiction and non-fiction.Here are a few highlights from our conversation:
@ On Academia vs. Creativity
“Academia at its best is supposed to provide a home wherein people can think for a living.”
When asked about his decision to part ways with academia, Erik states, “It has become an incredibly bureaucratic system.” He describes how climbing the academic ladder as a scientist often had the same headaches and metaphorical check-boxes you see during college application cycles.
“Academia at its best is supposed to provide a home wherein people can think for a living,” Erik suggests. And while “thinking for a living” does not always have an immediate practical effect, Erik explains its necessity in pursuits of scientific exploration and discovery.
“However,” Erik states, “academia isn’t very successful at actually allowing this to happen.” He goes on to describe how much time and headspace is instead spent on bureaucratic hoop-jumping. Many grant applications, for example, are unfortunately full of said hoops, with incentive structures that lead scientists to submit proposals for research that has already effectively been done (what Erik terms “scientific busywork”) or research tailored to appeal to the grant parameters rather than a creative, well-structured scientific hypothesis. With these pressures, at the end of the race up the ladder we find many scientists who are experts in hoop-jumping rather than in creatively exploring and experimenting with research methods.
Further, Erik found himself in a unique situation as someone who was interested in writing outside the strictly academic space. “My case was unique because I do a lot of writing on the side,” Erik says, as both a non-fiction essayist and writer of fiction. Unfortunately, many academic gatekeepers view this kind of “extracurricular” creativity as a detriment rather than an asset. “I never had anyone in any sort of administrative capacity or grant-giving capacity be like: ‘You know, it’s amazing that you are writing essays online and novels.’” In fact, Erik noticed that these pursuits were treated more like warning signs — signals that someone wasn’t committed enough or was wasting their time on the side.
Fortunately for Erik, Substack and other patronage models provide something that looks closer to what many scientific creatives were able to do in the past: pursue their interests with direct support from the people who believe in the work they are doing.
For more on Erik’s decision to part ways with academia, read Goodbye academia, hello Substack.
@ On Discoverability
“Anyone who writes a good and interesting comment has a shot at getting a lot more attention than they might think.”
When Visa is asked to give advice to online writers who are just beginning to cultivate their audience, Visa gives some very practical, actionable guidance.
“Try to write interesting comments in the replies of popular writers,” he states. If you have just started your own Substack, when you drop a thoughtful observation in the “comments” section, people will be able to see your profile and follow you and your work. “It makes it easier for someone passing by to check you out,” Visa shares, and goes on to say that the same goes for Twitter and other platforms.
This being said, Visa advises that the comments you leave shouldn’t be strictly self-promotional – writers who do this, even good writers, can get written off by transparently promoting themselves rather than actually helpfully participating in the larger discourse. “Try to participate in conversations – and really try to participate,” Visa says. It can be easy as writers and creatives to get caught up in our own work, our personal mission, and forget the importance of also forming relationships with other creatives, of showing up regularly to discuss our work and interests in a public way.
“Anyone who writes a good and interesting comment has a shot at getting a lot more attention than they might think.”
Final Questions & Comments
Interintellect founder and CEO Anna Gát closes our conversation by asking what final thoughts we all have regarding discovering existing new talent and the general state of affairs for online writers.
casts a talent-finding Twitter-spell: "One thing I'm gonna do, having had this conversation, is to tweet and ask my audience if they have seen or heard any up and coming new writers..."Want more? Check out the full interview here.
What do YOU think about the state of affairs for online writers in 2023?
Share in the comments below!
Attend an Interintellect Salon | Become a Host | Join Our Growing Community