Why Do I Write Novels
That's my web blog today - and I decided to post it in entirety here, too, rather than just direct everybody to my site ...
“Author” is an abysmal career choice if you only want to make money.
According to recent statistics, less than 10 percent of published novelists sell 50,000 or more copies of their books. The typical novel sells 5,000 to 10,000 copies.
Not exactly earth-shattering performance.
Yet there are hundreds … tens of hundreds … thousands of hundreds of us who daily pull out pen and paper – or turn on a computer – and either resume a WIP or start our next manuscript.
Some hope to beat the odds. There are, after all, the Stephen Kings and J.K. Rowlings of the world, who not only make money at the craft but do it spectacularly well.
I hope, eventually, to join the ranks of those who can earn a living just with my books. I would love to be among those who receive checks in six figures – or, better yet, seven or more – for my work.
And in the meantime, I'll keep writing my books not for the money they're making – although I am having some modest success in sales – but because …
I can't not write!
I suspect I'm not alone in this. I suspect that most book writers are like me: We have stories to tell, characters lurking in the corners of our minds whispering – or sometimes shouting – “Write about me! Write about meeee ...”
We want to tell those stories. Then –
We want to share those stories.
But … A lot of us would still write even if we had an ironclad guarantee that our stories would never be read. Not by anyone. If someone kidnapped us and abandoned us, alone, on a desert island with nothing but food, water and writing material …
We would still write. We would tell our stories. We do it to satisfy the shadow-people in our minds. We do it because …
We have to. Nothing is as satisfying as the sensation of words forming sentences that become paragraphs and dialogs, giving form to the shadow-people, creating scenes in our heads that grow into stories …
We do it.
Because.
What's your take on this? Why do you write? I'd like to hear your thoughts ...
“Author” is an abysmal career choice if you only want to make money.
According to recent statistics, less than 10 percent of published novelists sell 50,000 or more copies of their books. The typical novel sells 5,000 to 10,000 copies.
Not exactly earth-shattering performance.
Yet there are hundreds … tens of hundreds … thousands of hundreds of us who daily pull out pen and paper – or turn on a computer – and either resume a WIP or start our next manuscript.
Some hope to beat the odds. There are, after all, the Stephen Kings and J.K. Rowlings of the world, who not only make money at the craft but do it spectacularly well.
I hope, eventually, to join the ranks of those who can earn a living just with my books. I would love to be among those who receive checks in six figures – or, better yet, seven or more – for my work.
And in the meantime, I'll keep writing my books not for the money they're making – although I am having some modest success in sales – but because …
I can't not write!
I suspect I'm not alone in this. I suspect that most book writers are like me: We have stories to tell, characters lurking in the corners of our minds whispering – or sometimes shouting – “Write about me! Write about meeee ...”
We want to tell those stories. Then –
We want to share those stories.
But … A lot of us would still write even if we had an ironclad guarantee that our stories would never be read. Not by anyone. If someone kidnapped us and abandoned us, alone, on a desert island with nothing but food, water and writing material …
We would still write. We would tell our stories. We do it to satisfy the shadow-people in our minds. We do it because …
We have to. Nothing is as satisfying as the sensation of words forming sentences that become paragraphs and dialogs, giving form to the shadow-people, creating scenes in our heads that grow into stories …
We do it.
Because.
What's your take on this? Why do you write? I'd like to hear your thoughts ...
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