What is Writing Skins?
Writing Skins is the author newsletter of literary speculative fiction writer and editor Aigner Loren Wilson (she/her)—me! I write poetry, nonfiction, and games alongside my fiction. You’ve most likely come across my work in Lightspeed Magazine, Writer’s Digest, The Writer, The Washington Post, Monstrous Futures, or a number of other places. I’m also a senior fiction editor with Strange Horizons.
I write and edit a lot.
Writing Skins is typed up excerpts from my writing journals that I’ve kept since 2015~. My journals are an intimate space for me to reflect on my writing and reading life and how I want to work as an author.
Writing Skins is vulnerable. Writing Skins is real. Writing Skins is raw.
I share my insecurities, creative writing exercises, emotions, and ideas on writing. There’s even a manifesto I wrote at one point to get my head straight about what type of writer I want to be, and a writing bucket list to help me add some fun into this crazy life.
What You Get for Subscribing
For all subscribers:
Journal Entries- This is the main content in my mind. I started Writing Skins because I wanted a way for readers to connect with who I was as a writer behind the stories and my more marketing and updated posts on Byline or By Crook. I also wanted to keep a viewable author’s diary for writers who are like me and scour the Internet for a peak through the crack of a writer’s door.
Reading Lists- I build a lot of reading lists for my own pleasures, learning, and craft development A LOT. And I know a lot of the people subscribed to this newsletter are insatiable/avid readers. So I want to start sharing the books I’m reading, reviewing, studying, and learning from.
Occasional Paid Content- At least once a month, I’ll share at least one of the posts from the paid tiers for people to read. I’m open to requests on this one, too! If there’s a paid post that someone wants to be made free, just tell me and I’ll do it.
For paid subscribers:
Author Memoir Book Club- Since Writing Skins, in my mind, is technically a living memoir of my experiences, trials, errors, and adventures in writing AND I’m about to embark on a new writing craft journey of reading author memoirs, I wanted to invite subscribers into a space where we could read an author’s writing memoir together (Not On Writing by King—I’ll never recommend that). I’ve already compiled a list of 29 titles to read in a year and would love it if you went along with me and explored the inner workings of some mighty fine writers.
Surprise Bonus Content- This is where we all get to be sorta loosey goosey. If one month someone wants to see a review of a specific book, they can request it. Or maybe I want to share some notes I’ve taken in books or of stories. Paid subscribers can request stories and pieces or what some people may call “content” and I can also share fun tidbits from the writing life. I want the surprise bonus content to be whatever anyone wants it to be.
And Substack has this paid tier called Founding Member, which is weird, but I’ll go with it. You can pay whatever you like as low as $30 to get access to Writing Skins for a year. It’s essentially a sugar baby tier for people who want to show more monetary support beyond the regular yearly subscription fee and support me in a big way.
Founding members get:
Author Memoir Book Club
Surprise Bonus Content
Personalized Stories- You get the chance to commission a couple pieces a year that I’ll write and post for the rest of the paid members. There are some parameters around this that we can work out and boundaries around what I will and won’t write, but let’s get wacky.
If you’re a free subscriber interested in trying out one of the paid tiers, you can upgrade your subscription here.
