Write the book you want to read

[Tokies]

I started writing short stories and short novel's middle 2013 for fun. I simply ran out of smutty books to read and my urban fantasy books between editions. nothing was coming out for me to read so I randomly started writing. I've always told myself stories but i'm dyslexic so writing things never comes out correctly but at some point in my life I let it go. You can spend your life trying to be something your never gonna be or you can just be the person you are and see what you got. I choose option two and I'm a heck of a lot happier for it. So we hit a point here. Now that other people have started to read a few of the things I've written who am I writing for? I always had the thought I'm writing books I want to read. So yes they were a little weird and out there but it's my freaky mind. So my question is it worth changing your book to suit a wider audience or should you stick to your guns and write the book you want to read.

[Library Lady 📚]

Everyone has their own aims, but I think it's fine to write for yourself. Once you publish, though, I think you are putting your work out there and representing authors as a whole (esp if you self publish) and at that point, you want readers, so you are responsible for creating an enjoyable reading experience for them. My .02$

[J.L.]

I think you walk the line. Yes, a good portion of the writing should be what you want to read, but I agree with Lena in the fact that you need to listen to your fans. Once the fans take hold of it in their hearts and minds, the concept now is shared among you and them. So making them happy, should be a priority, but not to the point where you're making yourself unhappy. In my mind, my readers have about 30-40% influence over the work (which is a lot) but I'm also just on my first book. I'm sure by book three, the influence will be only maybe 15%. But I'd think 10 to 20% is healthy. But this could mean, a character dies or doesn't die, that a world is visited or isn't. That there isn't a love-triangle or there is one.

[Dina]

You can spend your life trying to be something your never gonna be or you can just be the person you are and see what you got. I choose option two and I'm a heck of a lot happier for it. So we hit a point here. Now that other people have started to read a few of the things I've written who am I writing for? I always had the thought I'm writing books I want to read. So yes they were a little weird and out there but it's my freaky mind. So my question is it worth changing your book to suit a wider audience or should you stick to your guns and write the book you want to read.

I think we should write what we'd like to read; then hope there are other readers out there who feel the same way.

I do think it's a good idea to maybe listen to your readers. Maybe you can get an idea of where they want things to go. But if you read their ideas and you don't like them, go with what you want. You never know, the people who like your way might just be the ones who don't speak up.

Then I think though of the awful ending of How I Met Your Mother. I think a lot of fans hated it; but I suppose the ending is what the writers wanted. They might not have made the majority happy, but some people are okay with it.

I guess what I'm trying to say is you can never please everyone, so you might as well just please the people who agree with you. Even if they're the minority.

You might get a lot of hate mail though.

[Jane]

I suggest sticking to your guns and writing the book you want to read, especially where you are at now, Tokies. You just started writing in the last year, and you have nothing to lose at this stage. You're still exploring your voice, style, and what kind of stories are in your head. You're still figuring out what you're about as a writer, and that's perfectly normal.

No matter how freaky you think your stories are, I say go for it. Now is a great time to take those risks, because you're still learning.

That being said, don't worry about "making readers happy" but it is your job to pull off your freaky stories and make them work. As a reader of urban fantasy, maybe you've noticed how the worlds you read about have certain rules in order to make those worlds work. On the show, Once Upon a Time, one of the rules is that magic - when you make a wish or cast a spell - comes with a price. So whenever someone performs magic, it usually comes with an adverse consequence. They don't want to make it easy for people to use magic.

Does that make sense? I can't think of any other examples, so you might take some of your favorite urban fantasy books and think about how those authors made those worlds work and developed rules that helped them pull it off.

When you feel comfortable to show your work to people, find some writing workshops, and your fellow writers will be able to tell you whether or not you're pulling it off.

Write the stories you want to read, no matter how freaky they are. If you like writing the stories that appeal to wider audiences, then go for it. But if it's not authentic to you, then you won't be into it. Readers will figure that out, and then they won't like your stories anyway.

To be the best writer you can be, you have to take all the risks you can.

[Tokies]

thanks a lot everyone. i do understand what each of you had said.. and will think on it bit. it sucks when in a way everyone is right. lol err life's hard.

[Thomas]

Writing what you would want to read is a common trait of writers.
The genre you like is probably the one you'll start with. And until you get published, you can write anything you want. Then the your options are narrowed by the agent, publisher and yes, even the fans.

When I write, find myself witnessing the story and documenting it as it unfolds. My later memory of it is the same as if I had read another author's work.
There is always room for another weird and freaky author.