Do you write for yourself or the market?
Will Write for Chocolate, the fantastic comic based on the crazy times of an often frustrated writer, asks this week "Who do you write for yourself or the market?"
For me, I write to entertain. I don't feel like there is any choice in if I am or am not a writer. But I could ignore all the impulses ( and go slowly mad) and not write. I do write with the intent that others will read and enjoy my work. But if there was not one person on earth willing to read my work I bet I would still be off scribbling something.
What about you?
For me, I write to entertain. I don't feel like there is any choice in if I am or am not a writer. But I could ignore all the impulses ( and go slowly mad) and not write. I do write with the intent that others will read and enjoy my work. But if there was not one person on earth willing to read my work I bet I would still be off scribbling something.
What about you?
posted by RomanceWriter @ 11:22 PM
6 Comments:
At 8/17/2007 03:07:00 AM,
Marie said…
With my current novel, I am writing the kind of story I that I would like to read and hopefully others will want to as well. I am not keeping the market in mind a lot like I used to with previous novels.
Also, like you, if I didn't write I'd go mad.
At 8/17/2007 07:06:00 AM,
Susan Helene Gottfried said…
I write for my projected market, I guess. I have a reader image in mind, and that's who I write to. It just so happens that my reader is awfully similar to me. Yet I know I'm not the only person who'd want to read my stuff.
Sorta both, then, I guess.
At 8/18/2007 12:22:00 PM,
Raven Starr said…
I write to entertain, to capture the heart and mind of my readers. Plus I like to hope that somewhere in my writings that I have inspired people to open their heart to vast possibilities to love.
Raven Starr
At 8/21/2007 09:07:00 AM,
Anonymous said…
I do a bit of both, I guess. I write what I enjoy (98 % of the time). It just so happens that what I enjoy writing is enjoyed by certain target audiences. I have written just to get paid (ugh) but it was a bit more of a chore than I hoped it would be.
I have also submitted things I didn't personally think were my best to contests (because they met their needs) and won... But generally, if I don't like it at least a little bit--nobody sees it.
I DO think about target audiences, but that's most often after I've really gotten the story decently established. So in a later editing phase I may wind up changing my vocabulary or tweaking out the pacing or characters to get closer to the audience's wishes, while maintaining the story's integrity and heart.
I'm a big believer that you need to write what you would read (just like you shouldn't create a piece of art that you wouldn't hang in your own house). If no publisher picks up the piece you've written, at least you can still enjoy your creation. Also--if you don't like it--the creation of a query letter or pitch will be that much tougher!
I do think I'd write regardless of whether I think publishers would want it or not--writing's just too great a form of expression for me not to write...
~Saoirse
At 8/26/2007 01:24:00 AM,
Adrian Swift said…
I think ultimately both, but at any given moment I'm usually focused on one or the other.
It's helpful at the outset to dig deep inside and find what's meaningful for me -- that's where the drama and tension and all that comes from, and the voice or style of a given story -- but then in shaping it, along the way, I have to think also of those who might actually read what I've written.
I won't write it if I wouldn't read it myself. I write what I'd like to find on a shelf for me to read, except it hasn't been written yet, so I'm the one writing it. And of course, I'm anticipating others would be interested in it, too.
I won't write solely what I think others want to read. That would be a waste of time to me. The point of writing something is to explore your particular take on something that matters. The story can be entertaining (and should be), but it should still have some "oomph" in it. Writing allows us to make our unique contribution. We should not pass up the opportunity to do so.
Thanks for your recent postings with thought-provoking questions!
Good luck with your word counts!
Adrian
At 9/03/2007 11:25:00 PM,
Anonymous said…
Hello Sara,
How are you doing and have you finished any novel as yet?
Just know that I am thinking of you although I haven't filled in a post for the longest time. I hope to remedy that soon. :-)
happy reading & writing as always!
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