Conundrum/Catundrum
Just the other day, my friend, another ailurophile, and I, were going back and forth over the outside cat/inside cat conundrum, or, as she put it, catundrum. Inside cats are supposed to live longer, which, of course, every ailurophile wants. Outside cats face any number of threats, but, on the other hand..er paw, can loll in the sun, chase a butterfly, and dig in real dirt, not kitty litter. We decided it was best for her to let her new kitty, named Pindar, be an outdoor one, with the hope that Pindar would never cross the street or do anything remotely dangerous. My friend sighed and said, "I'll be worried sick, but he will have a better quality of life.
A while later, as I was sitting down at my computer, it occurred to me that I face my own conundrum as a writer. Should I write what I want to write, without thought of marketability and readership? Or should I consider those aspects? It's a tough call, really. On the one hand, a writer should absolutely write what a writer wants to write. On the other hand, if you can't place a book, then you can't be a writer. Sigh.
I decided on writing mysteries because it is a genre I enjoy, and it also happens to be a popular genre. I then decided I would set it in India and write my mystery around a current social issue, with the hope that readers would enjoy being steeped in a foreign country even as said reader learned about human trafficking, which is what "The girl who went missing" is about. I originally wanted to set a mystery in every Asian country, but was reigned back by an agent who explained that readers love continuity, ie, keeping the same detective, Oscar D'Costa. I went back and forth, agonized, actually, over whether I should keep D'Costa, which meant keeping the locale, or whether I should keep to my original plan of a different country for each new mystery.
Well, D'Costa won, partly because I really like him, and wanted to see what else he would solve, and partly because I would love to grow my readership. Maybe one day, like Pindar who stalks the outdoors during the day but spends the night on a bed, I can have D'Costa hop from India to Singapore to Japan. Meanwhile, D'Costa is firmly on terra India, and has just solved a case involving missing children. I'm hoping to publish "While the children slept" before the fall is over.
A while later, as I was sitting down at my computer, it occurred to me that I face my own conundrum as a writer. Should I write what I want to write, without thought of marketability and readership? Or should I consider those aspects? It's a tough call, really. On the one hand, a writer should absolutely write what a writer wants to write. On the other hand, if you can't place a book, then you can't be a writer. Sigh.
I decided on writing mysteries because it is a genre I enjoy, and it also happens to be a popular genre. I then decided I would set it in India and write my mystery around a current social issue, with the hope that readers would enjoy being steeped in a foreign country even as said reader learned about human trafficking, which is what "The girl who went missing" is about. I originally wanted to set a mystery in every Asian country, but was reigned back by an agent who explained that readers love continuity, ie, keeping the same detective, Oscar D'Costa. I went back and forth, agonized, actually, over whether I should keep D'Costa, which meant keeping the locale, or whether I should keep to my original plan of a different country for each new mystery.
Well, D'Costa won, partly because I really like him, and wanted to see what else he would solve, and partly because I would love to grow my readership. Maybe one day, like Pindar who stalks the outdoors during the day but spends the night on a bed, I can have D'Costa hop from India to Singapore to Japan. Meanwhile, D'Costa is firmly on terra India, and has just solved a case involving missing children. I'm hoping to publish "While the children slept" before the fall is over.
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