Do you ever write books for posterity?

[Eric]

As long as I can remember, the concept of writing for posterity has always been at the forefront of my mind. Seems to me that posterity is most obvious of any reasons be a writer and to create material with substance and meaning. Yet, as time goes on, I being to suspect other authors don't share such a sentiment.

Do you think about that? Do you think about people coming across your book in 50 or 100 or 200 years? What will they think? How will it be a snapshot of the culture of 2013?

VIDEO VERSION:


WRITTEN VERSION:
Who Wants to Live Forever?

[Laurel]

Eric wrote: "As long as I can remember, the concept of writing for posterity has always been at the forefront of my mind. Seems to me that posterity is most obvious of any reasons be a writer and to create mate..."

Writing for "posterity" is really simply a matter of doing your absolute best work and not publishing anything less than your absolute best. That is why I don't think it's good think of a quantity or publication schedule for writing which tends to rush things. As with any other form of art, a novel is only ready when it's actually ready. You cannot hurry it.

I've been finding myself re-writing a great deal, keeping me in just the beginnings of my third book. But it is right and proper I do so; if it's not working, if it's not coming out right, it is best to save the draft under a different file name, delete what feels wrong, and start that section over again.

Once something is published, it's published; like it or not, it will be availability to posterity.

[Leigh]

First and foremost, I write because I have a passion for words and a need to use them to express my thoughts on various issues. With that said, I have an intense desire to write books that will stand the test of time. I want at least one of my books to make the literary canon, even if it happens long after I die. I want to touch and inspire this generation and those to come. I cannot have children, so I cannot pass down my genes--but I can pass on my memes, and that's something.

[Arabella]

Who wants the posterior of posterity! It's a wonderful to think you've done something that will last long after you're gone.
But unfortunately...you won't know!
I am not so worried about it.
, I guess. So many of us survive only in photographs and slowly fading memories.
I was a professional dance/arts photographer in my early years....and some of my dance photos have been published in books, magazines, even the NY times. Maybe these will be my legacy.
One can only hope that something I do lasts beyond my life...and maybe by some fluke it will.
If I write the great S. California novel someday...perhaps!

[Chris]

I just write what I feel like. Part of the reason I don't sell all that much is because I spent 15 years trying to sell to trads and just wrote a different type of novel each year. Now I have a backlist of seven or eight novels all in different genres. I think I'm a better writer for it, but in self-publishing all I hear is "write to the market", "write what sells", write soft, watered down versions of current bestsellers" .... All. The. Time.

I want my books to outlive me, and not just to be sitting in some corner or Amazon hiding away. I want people to be reading and talking about my books after I die.

[Eric]

Chris wrote: "I think I'm a better writer for it, but in self-publishing all I hear is "write to the market", "write what sells", write soft, watered down versions of current bestsellers" .... All. The. Time."
I believe the scientific term for people giving you that advice is "worthless douchebags".

[David P]

I'd like to think I do, because it's not quite for a living so far. :) This thread caught my eye because I had just said something similar recently. A friend of mine had a cancer scare. A doctor told him he had three weeks to live. Thankfully that was two months ago and they are still trying to figure out what is wrong, but it is not what told him at first. The point is that when he thought he was going to die the only comfort I could give him was that his books would outlive him. And, believe it or not, he said that was the most comforting thing he heard until the doctor said, "Oops, we were wrong and you aren't dying right now."

Authors, artists and architects (to name a few professions) all leave legacies for posterity. It remains to be seen if any of my work will outlive me to any meaningful degree, but I can hope. :)

[Linda]

That's what memoirs are for! You will live for generations through your memoir, even if it's only your own family's generations. My mom's memoir is like gold now that she's passed.

[Vasant]

I agree with Laurel that writing for posterity is 'simply a matter of doing your absolute best work'. The experience of David's friend reminds of 'Black Beauty'. About it, Wikipedia says:

'Black Beauty' is an 1877 novel by English author Anna Sewell. It was composed in the last years of her life, during which she remained in her house as an invalid. The novel became an immediate best-seller, with Sewell dying just five months after its publication, but long enough to see her only novel become a success. With fifty million copies sold, 'Black Beauty' is one of the best-selling books of all time.'

[Sherri]

No. I write the stories I have and pray they reach an audience that is entertained & inspired by it. If it lives on beyond me, so much the better.

[Justin]

I'm more of a live for right now type of guy. I definitely think the same thing goes for my writing. Though it is a question to ponder I find that I write for now, I write for myself and for what I enjoy and what I hope others will come to enjoy. Hopefully down the road more people will appreciate it just like those who do now.

[Laurel]

Something to think about: most of our most celebrated authors, musicians, and artists never saw their works come to success while they lived. Perfect example is John Keats (his life recently made into the biopic, "Bright Star," the name of a famous poem he wrote concerning the woman he loved, Miss Brawn). Today we celebrate him as one of the greatest poets of the 19th century. But he lived and died penniless, his poverty preventing him from marrying, in fact. He was only in his 20s when tuberculosis took his life.

Jane Austen saw some of her success during her life. But she is much more popular since her death (think of all the film adaptations of her six books) than during her life.

And while J.R.R. Tolkien certainly enjoyed a measure of fame and financial success while he lived, his estate is worth far more post Peter Jackson adaptations than it ever was during his life.


Do your best work.

[Yzabel]

Not specifically. If I were to always have that idea in mind, I'd feel so burdened that I'd probably never write a word in fear of my works "not being good enough yet." The day one of my stories is good enough to be published AND be remembered 100 years from now, well, that's great (though I won't be here anymore to see it). But I'm not going to toss and turn at night wondering and worrying about that, for sure, otherwise there'd be no pleasure left for me in writing.

[Fletcher]

I used to write for Posterity, but their royalty checks kept bouncing, so I quit. Worst publisher ever!

I don't really write to be famous or remembered. I write to engage my creativity and in the hope that others will find my work entertaining and enjoyable.

[Paul Douglas]

I write so that people know I existed and often imagined if I wrote a book that one day people will wonder about me. Now I have written such a book. I think it's better than a mossy tombstone.

[John]

Scribo ergo sum.

John





http://amzn.to/122cnyF

[Vanessa Eden]

I write with no expectations other than expressing myself. Most things I have written have never been read because I have kept them private. I don't worry about leaving a legacy. Carl Sagans Pale Blue Dot changed that for me. It gave me freedom.