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Do you write for yourself or your readers?
A bit of both I guess.If a writer manages to gain some kind of a following, then they may start to veer off in the direction of writing for their readers.
I've done that myself on my blog, whereby I posted something that I thought was fairly 'easy' and wouldn't get much interest, but turned out to be one of my most popular posts!
What makes me pose the question is this, Michael: I've noticed this general dichotomy for years but have become acutely more aware of it as I follow discussions about Amazon review policies, general Amazon attitudes, etc. There are a lot of authors who seem to think the primary purpose of the review system should be about providing useful feedback, preferably the encouraging kind, to the author. There are others who think the review system should first and foremost be a service to potential customers. So I've started wondering if there's a connection between the "Motivation Dichotomy" and the "Review Dichotomy." Or maybe I just need to take some more Nyquil and go back to sleep? Ahchoo!
The Amazon KDP forums often have posts like "What sells best", "What should I write to make money".SO I agree there are those who write to make money, or believe they can do so and there are definitely those who write for themselves and to share the stories, regardless of the money.
Writers are introverts by their very nature - how else do we produce those insightful, deep, meaningful thematic lines and motifs that people seek? If we are anything else, well, that makes us egotistical and arrogant. It is not our place to seek comment or approval. We are the weaker party here, not the dominant one. The days of the druids are gone. The reader is entitled to rule. As writers, we must write what we love. If the reader likes what we love, well, then happy days. If they do not, then we retire from their front line. It is their front line, not ours. We are there by invitation. Heck, as a reader myself, that's how I view it!!
I definitely fall into the first camp...I write for myself, always have, always will. For me writing is like coffee, I get jittery if I don't have it. Yes, I admit it; I'm an addict, but it's a addiction I don't intend to break any time soon.
Hi Richard,I understand that, truly I do. As writers we wouldn't do what we do if it wasn't endemic to us - BUT that dosn't give us the right to impose our story/view/passion/belief or whatever on the rest of the world. Like all entities in life, we are only where we happen to be by invitation only!
I'm a bit of both. I started writing as a child/teenager because I had ideas about stories, and at the time it just felt logical to give them life. But writing just for myself and no one else makes as little sense to me as writing only for others (by that, I mean gearing my writing towards certain trends, to cater to the audience and not to my own desires at all).So, indeed, I need a bit of both to get any feeling of accomplishment, and I think this is why I've started sharing things on the net. Too bad if I never get published through the traditional channels. Too bad if I never make money out of it. As long as I can tell my stories, and that they make at least a few people dream/escape/find pleasure in an imaginary world, then I'm happy.
I guess I fall in the "have to write, have to tell the stories" camp. At the beginning of the work, I don't care if anyone ever sees it. By the end, the desire to share kicks in. Still, I'm always a bit surprised when others respond to and like what I've written. I think that ties into the basic introvertiveness of some of us writers that Julian mentioned.
Now I'm confused. I write because I have to - the stories are there and if I don't write them down it feels like a terrible waste. So in that sense I would say I write for me, but I always have the reader in mind when I'm writing and I don't see the point of writing stuff that isn't going to be read by others.I write to be read. If I can make some money too then that's a bonus, but I am realistic about that.
Considering I've been writing for years without having it read by another soul, I'll say I write for myself. Which might explain why I think I have bad habits because I never had "an audience", so to speak. Sometimes I forget that the places and people inside my head won't be so readily understood by others, and I have to force myself to take a step back and try to see it from a reader's point of view. I love it when someone relates to something I've written, or says they liked it. It's a new experience for me, to share the worlds inside my head. Part of me still can't believe I'm doing it. :)
I write because it's fun, but I want my writings to be seen. Hence going through the paces of getting an agent and selling it to a publishing house. I know SOMEONE out there (who's not a friend or related to me) likes it.
Yes, I think I agree with the people who are saying 'both'. I've tried to write whatever's selling, and it's always a pretty wretched experience. It's the one point at which writing starts to feel like a job rather than my usual feeling that it's the best hobby in the world.So I write for myself, but I try very hard to get my stuff out to a wider audience once it's finished.
I've always enjoyed writing, and I've written plenty of stuff that will never see the light of day (most often because its been lost over the years). At the same time, being able to put yourself out there and make a few bucks doing something you love - that's a sweet bonus.The conflict comes when you see the dollars beginning to add up and you're tempted to start writing for money, instead of writing from your soul. Not that there's anything specifically wrong with either approach, but I'm more of a soulful one.
I lean more toward the first, but there is certainly some overlapping. If I don't write for an extended period of time, I feel like something is missing. On the other hand, I love being able to share my stories with others who enjoy them.
I've probably always thought I had something useful to say (mmm does that makes me some kind of egotist?). I enjoy writing a lot (more than I ever expected to) but I do want it to be seen. It would seem to me to be a complete waste to write a book that no-one ever sees.I couldn't write a story that I didn't believe in though (just because a lot of people might buy it) and I'm not in it for the money (much to my partners grief) just as long as it gets noticed a little and not trashed too much.
So I'm firmly in the 'I write for me' camp.
I'm with Paul. He expressed my feelings well. I write because I have these stories in my head, but I want people to read them so I keep readers in mind as I write. I'd love to sell tons of my books and make lots of money, but that's secondary. Essentially what I do is vanity self-publishing that, happily, more than pays for itself.
Kathleen McMahonI write non-fiction definitely for the benefit of readers rather than myself, but not for any primary motive of making money or writing what "sells".
I guess I travel in the middle of the road. I love to write and the process of developing characters and their stories so that part is for me I guess. I also try to write stories that I think I would enjoy myself, and really try to create a book that readers will love..It is truly a wonderful feeling to hear from readers that they loved the story...
I really don't believe you can write a book for anybody but yourself. If you do not enjoy the process, fall in love with the characters love to hate them if they warrant it and find you want to spend time with them then you shouldn't write it. If other people enjoy it and want to read it then that is a bonus and means the love and energy you give is appreciated by other people. I guess people can choose to write in a particular style or genre but they have to feel the words and live the story otherwise it is a sham a pastiche and undeserving of interest by others.
Jerry wrote: "I've been participating in various online writing fora for years and it's been my gradual observation that there are two primary schools of thought among writers. The first school is "I have to wri..."If you aren't writing for yourself, you're doing a disservice to your readers. Why? Because if you're just writing what you think people will buy, it comes across as soulless.
I write for myself, but I edit for my readers ;~)
Jerry wrote: "What makes me pose the question is this, Michael: I've noticed this general dichotomy for years but have become acutely more aware of it as I follow discussions about Amazon review policies, gener..."Reviews are for *readers.*
Far too many authors confuse a critique (which should be happening *long* before the book is published) with a review. A critique is where the good, bad and ugly of the book should be pointed out to the author so that he or she can make improvements. Reviews are readers saying what they thought of the book, and readers owe no obligation whatsoever to provide criticisms (constructive or otherwise) to authors.
I think you need to be careful when you say who reviews are for.Since joining Goodreads, I've realised that some reviewers want to help the author, some like being a kind of consumer champion, whilst others have no interest in doing either of those things, and write the reviews for themselves; they simply like writing the review, in the same way the author likes writing the story.
Part of writing for yourself is doing your damnedest to get into the position where you can write full-time and thus afford to write lots of things you never intend to have seen by a wider audience. I have hundreds of ideas for books and the only way I could get to write half of them would be if I were writing for hours a day, day in day out. So, for my part, I write for myself, but I always keep in mind who my readers might be.
I usually work under the premise of, "If I'm not having fun writing it, no one will have fun reading it." So, I try to keep my own enjoyment in mind and I think that translates to any potential audience.
Thomas wrote: "I write the types of stories I enjoy reading. If that happens to catch someone's attention, it is a win win."I'm with you, Thomas and with Ben. I write for entertainment - the type of story I want to read, the stories that take me away for a few hours. I do, however, pay close attention to my readers. This is how I now earn my living and they are the source of that gift.
Can I make every critic happy? No, but I can improve and make adjustments within the scope of what I'm comfortable with. That isn't, in my opinion, caving in to the masses. I write what pleases me first, but if I only wrote for me, I never would have offered it to others.
That's an interesting question. I have my first novel coming out in a month. I was inspired to write the story, so I did. The characters and the story poured out of me. I wrote it for me, but I truly hope others will enjoy it.
I firmly believe in being true to oneself when writing fiction. Although that might not always equate to hitting the bestseller lists, it does equate to originality and passion in one's work.
It's both in a way. I write for me, because that's what I enjoy doing and if I don't like the story, I'm not going to be able to edit it, because I'll hate rereading it so many times. But I also write for readers, because I want to share my insanity with others. Besides, I hate editing, so putting myself through it just for me isn't worth it. It has to be for readers as well.
Sharon wrote: "If you aren't writing for yourself, you're doing a disservice to your readers. Why? Because if you're just writing what you think people will buy, it comes across as soulless. ..."I agree - if you believe in and enjoy writing your characters I am convinced that it shines through in the writing and I'm not sure could write something I don't enjoy; although the challenge of doing so and doing it well and convincingly might be it's own reward.... I experimented in my teens and early twenties with fan fiction (no internet in those days, so very few people saw my poor efforts!) but then didn't start writing again until some twenty years later (six years ago this July) when I started writing fan fiction again because I was so intruiged by a particular character on a TV show that I decided to explore her back story myself... that led to a story of over 170,000 words which I published on various fan forums. That was written mainly for my own pleasure, but I realised that I also wanted a wider audience to enjoy what I wrote...difficult with fan fiction because one is restricted in where you can distribute due to copyright (which of course is completely understandable).
I've always loved to escape into a good book and the idea that I could create a story which captured my readers' imagination was a thrilling one! Since that 'epic' effort I've written many more stories in different genres and about different characters, mostly characters created by other people. It was only when I got more and more good reviews and wondered whether I might have the ability to create my own believable characters that I started to include OC's (Original Characters) in my stories. When I realised that I could do that, I also realised that I wanted to write my own fiction and to share it with the wider world. I had (and perhaps still have, to some extent) some anxiety about the wisdom of turning what had until then been something done mainly for my own pleasure into something more commercial - will I continue to enjoy writing if I become successful enough to be in a position to consider making it my main occupation? Might the pressure to produce take away my pleasure? That is something which only time will answer... certainly the idea of selling something I have created both thrills and slightly worries me!
But for me, the single most thrilling part of writing is when a character suddenly comes to life and seems to dictate what happens in the story - so in that respect I suppose I do write for my own pleasure. Would I write if I knew no-one else would ever get to read it? I'm not sure, but I think the answer to that might be mostly 'No'... I don't write for the praise or the good reviews, but they certainly spur me on and inspire me to do better.
Learn and apply everything you can about the craft, then write what you love--with truth and passion--until your heart soars. The readers will follow . . . eventually. And if they don't, it's their loss.
Thomas wrote: "I write the types of stories I enjoy reading. If that happens to catch someone's attention, it is a win win."Well said. That has my vote, too.
I write for the fame and fabulous wealth that it brings me...
To answer the question... both. Definitely both.I don't want to write anything I wouldn't be interested in reading, so I write for myself. I write the sorts of books I would want to read. I write because it's my outlet, my passion, the thing I NEED to do.
But I also write for my readers. I want them to love the characters I create, be entranced by the plot I've woven, and enter into the worlds I paint with words.
This could be a result of the fact that when I wrote my first book, I had a deadline of 10 pages a day, and each night my dad would read what I had written out loud to the family. I got instant feedback (and I LOVED it). If they didn't like something, they told me, and I changed it. If they loved someone or something I wrote, I wrote more of it... even if I hadn't meant it to be a major theme or character in the first place. It was really fun to see how the book twisted from what I had originally intended, into something that surprised even me at the end. I love that feeling when the story comes "alive" and begins to almost write itself.
This is such an interesting question. Dickens wrote for money. Jane Austen saw very little profit from her work, but seemed to be happy entertaining her family and friends. Hemingway set his sights on literary greatness. All were wonderful.I've tried at various times to write things that I thought would sell, and failed miserably. I've also tried hard to write things of long-lasting literary merit, and failed miserably. I guess I fall into the "write for me" camp, but I think a pervasive awareness of my potential audience makes my writing better.
Denise wrote: "Do you write for yourself or your readers? I'd have to say I write what I'd like to read, so I guess I write for myself. Don't most authors write what 'they' like? If I'm assuming correctly that ..."
I couldn't have said it better myself Denise. :)
Denise wrote: "Do you write for yourself or your readers? Both. it's for my pocketbook, it's for my sense of getting words out people need to see and experience, and it's for them so they may feel hope some day from my work.
S
Thanks for all the dialog on this, folks! Since I launched this question, here are a few of my own (randomly ordered) thoughts.I do not equate writing for one's readers, with attempting to write what will sell. My thinking is that if you entertain your readers, you have a better shot at selling them something. There are times when I write something purely because I want to entertain and have no sales motive whatsoever. With that said, it is nice to get paid but for me that is best accomplished as an effect of entertaining my readers.
YMMV, but for me the notion of starting to write vampire romances because of Twilight is a non-starter. OTOH, being primarily a thriller writer, if a timely thriller idea comes to mind that I think might appeal to a bunch of readers, sure, I could go there.
I guess the real question I was trying to get at is this: Do you need to be read in order to feel validated as a writer? I do. I'm a storyteller and know of no way to separate storytelling from storylistening.
Hi Jerry - can I ask what YMMV means, please? That's a new one for me! BTW, not sure if my answer further up the thread made it clear (I did rather ramble - sorry about that!)but definitely both. I write because I enjoy doing so, but I also want people to read it...
I live by the mantra to write for yourself BUT learn as much about your readers as possible. At some point you will be torn between a few choices, and it's at this point when I try to write for my readers.It may be a particular name, a small character, or a certain scene that you're unsure about. Writing for your reader at this point brings you closer to them I feel.
Elaine wrote: "Hi Jerry - can I ask what YMMV means, please? That's a new one for me! ""Your mileage may vary" :)
I write what I would like to read, and I don't plan the story out too much because if I don't know what's going to happen, then neither should my readers.
Jerry wrote: "I've been participating in various online writing fora for years and it's been my gradual observation that there are two primary schools of thought among writers. The first school is "I have to wri..."I tend to write for myself, knowing that you can't please all the people (readers) all the time! If I am pleased, then I feel like my work is a success; that being said, everyone wants to have an audience and their work appreciated and enjoyed!
Initially, I wrote for myself, because I wanted to see if I could do a novel. Once the first novel was done, I realized I had more to write. That's when I really wanted readers.
Write for yourself first. Providing you have chosen a popular genre, then you're laughing. For example, me, a guy, trying to write erotica - it's a non starter. Assuming you're a reader, then the books that have been published have a following and again assuming that you are writing similar to what you read, then you're up and running.If you're not a reader, then what are you doing trying to write a book in the first place?
I know writers that write what they do simply because it's what's currently selling--and don't even enjoy it.I can't do that. I write what I enjoy writing and hope my readers will as well--but I realize that not everyone will embrace my stories.
Don't you think it shows in the writing when it's just something that's done to make a buck? Perhaps I'm naive.
At the same time though, I do like to see what is currently popular and if I have a story idea that fits that general "trend" I may well write it.
I had a vampire story in mind for ages--but it wasn't at all popular at the time. I didn't sell it to a publisher until they were popular.
First though, I write for me.
I read once that CS Lewis said that he wrote the stories he would have liked to read. I also read that you should write what you know.I write what I'd like to read - working on the principal that (hopefully!) I'm not the only one. I also think that when you write what you know, it translates well into a story, and that when a writer writes from a position of ignorance, it can often spoil an otherwise great story. (Think medical errors - pet hate of mine, being a physio myself).
I can't imagine forcing myself to write something simply because it's the current popular trend at the moment. That's an originality killer if ever I heard one! There's a million takes on many story themes, but originality and integrity as a writer is essential, in my opinion.
I write for myself first, and then I shape my plot driven story in a way I would like to read it. The intent behind my visionary fiction novels is to keep reminding myself - and to my readers, that what we can imagine we can make real.
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Books mentioned in this topic
The Final Warden (other topics)In The Eye of The Beholder: A Novel of The Phantom of the Opera (other topics)
Understanding that there are of course nuances and complexities and overlaps, generally speaking, which school are you from?