Why Write?
By Dave King | June 16, 2015 |
Part of my job description as an editor is to keep writers from getting discouraged as they struggle to publish and publish well. It’s not easy, since it takes a lot of effort to learn the craft of writing, and once you break into print, your readership tends to build slowly. Even writers who are prepared for these natural roadblocks often give up – I can think of several clients with promising first novels who I wish were still writing.
Maybe the answer is to change the focus, from writing to publish to just writing.
Of course, you want to publish. You want to share the joy of your creation with other people. It’s nice to have the marketplace affirm your skills. And it would be even nicer to be paid for writing, if only because it gives you more time to do it.
But if all you’re interested in is making money, there are easier ways to do it. I once had a potential client who said he didn’t want to spend money on having his book edited unless I could guarantee it would earn $100,000. I don’t think I need to explain to Writer Unboxed readers why we parted ways. So don’t lose sight of the other reasons for writing.
Writing lets you create your own worlds, to wrap your imagination around new places, seeing how all the various parts of them interact. Even if you don’t explicitly include them in your story, you’re giving your worlds a history, a set of rules to live by, an understanding of how they function. This creativity is most pronounced when you’re writing science fiction or fantasy, but even if you’re writing realistic crime drama or roman á clef, you’re still bringing your real locations to life and giving them your own creative twist.
You create people. Writing forces you to constantly imagine yourself as someone else, whether it’s a mid-level manager living in Peoria or a three-brained jellyfish/balloon floating in the hydrogen clouds of Saturn. You can’t create characters without delving into how people, including yourself, work, and then expanding what you find far beyond yourself. Creating characters opens you to see other people for who they are. It makes you more aware, and often more compassionate. And when you’re really doing it right, you are often surprised by how your characters act. Writing becomes almost a dialogue between yourself and these people you’ve made.
You’re creating . . . life. As you watch your characters grow and develop, as you watch your story unfold, you become aware of the way actions have consequences, of how different personality types interact, how people challenge their inner demons and grow (or not). You see how good and evil play out in ordinary human lives, how people face the big questions of birth, love, and loss. This unspooling of life is what stories are, and writing them forces you into the middle of it.
A painter sees a landscape more deeply than ordinary onlookers. Drummers experience time differently from the rest of us. And writing makes you more aware of the ebb and flow that goes on every day around you. It’s an education, a philosophy, often an epiphany, and it’s worth doing even if you never publish a word.
Ironically, though, if you approach your writing with this attitude, I suspect you are much more likely to publish. Granted, hacks still roam the world, cranking out formulaic Pablum without much thought behind it. But I suspect there are a lot fewer than you might expect – that a lot of formulaic mysteries or romances are actually written with heartfelt intent coupled with, perhaps, inept perceptions. It’s hard to really entertain readers, even at a most basic level, without caring about your story at least a little bit. And as the publishing marketplace grows more competitive, there’s less and less room for pure hackwork.
But if you look at the most successful artists – musicians, actors, athletes, writers – they all look like they’re having fun with it. That they’re doing it for its own sake, and would do it even if no one ever paid attention to them.
So if you’re writing to publish, stop. Instead, write to write. Do it for the moments when your characters say or do something so unexpected that you wonder if you ever really knew them before. Do it for the moments when you overhear something in the supermarket and think That was beautifully put and would make great dialogue. Do it for the mornings when you wake up and know exactly how the atmosphere of one of your settings feels, when you have to hurry to get it down on paper before the feeling fades. Do it for the late evenings when you finish a scene with tears in your eyes.
With most of my columns, the comments expand whatever theme I’m writing on, usually in intriguing ways – the comments are an extension of the article. This month, I’m deliberately inviting that. If you don’t normally read the comments, do. And tell us, why do you write? How is being a writer changing your life?
Let’s talk.
Dave King has been editing for nearly 40 years now. He is co-author of Self-Editing for Fiction Writers, a former contributing editor to Writer’s Digest, and has contributed more than 100 articles over the last 12 years to Writer Unboxed. He lives on 25 acres in rural Massachusetts with his business partner and wife, Ruth Julian, who also edits his work. His other day job, at least on Sundays, is as the organist at a Lutheran church in Greenfield, Mass.
Dave, this is a wonderful piece. I had a heroic moment this morning (working on 3 hrs of sleep here) because I stayed up late last night writing. And not my usual stuff either. But a poem. Just an image and 3-4 lines to play with.
I became a writer because I was a reader first and books changed my life. As the youngest of four, learning to read brought me an independence that I never had before. I could read a story to myself. I thank Enid Blyton for that. A few years later I was reading Oliver Twist. How I wanted to change the world. And when I was 12, I knew how I would do it. I read AJ Cronin’s Adventures in Two Worlds and I wanted to be like him, a physician-turned-writer. I dreamed a full life saving lives and then a life in the country as a grandmother, writing books (about saving lives, of course). Never mind that I needed saving myself … and I’m happy I didn’t wait to become a grandmother first before I picked up my pen to scribble my first short story. I love this writing life with my growing family. God is good.
Amen!
And I know what you mean about the freedom of reading. I think the first book I really fell in love with was Jonathan Livingston Seagull, when I was twelve. I still have the copy I bought then.
Hi Dave–
Your post today is full of wisdom, and for me, the truest thing you say is this: “It’s hard to entertain readers, even at a most basic level, without caring about your story at least a little bit.” I would drop the “at least a little bit,” though. Like good salesmen and good preachers, writers have to actually believe in (if only in the moment) the stories they develop.
My next-door neighbor–the most hard-headed, real-world person I know–writes romance novels. I don’t write or read romance, but I respect this writer. As a writer myself, I’m fully aware of what it takes to develop extended narratives that work for those who read them.
But I’m going to take issue with something else in your excellent post. In discussing the settings, characters and belief systems in novels, you say that “this creativity is most pronounced when you’re writing science fiction or fantasy…,” and you later characterize what you mean by referring to a “three-brained jellyfish-balloon floating in the hydrogen clouds of Saturn.” You then note that “even if you’re writing realistic crime drama or roman a clef, you’re still bringing your real locations to life and giving them your own creative twist.”
Without for a moment denying the imaginative gift required to create and sustain worlds and characters different from our own, I would argue just the opposite. The greater challenge isn’t dreaming up bizarre creepy-crawlies, or fashioning worlds that ignore the known laws of physics. It’s making fresh and new the known world in which we actually live. The writer who can do that, it seems to me, is writing the more difficult and, yes, the more imaginative book.
Disclaimer: my point of view is self-serving–I write realistic fiction, not SF or fantasy.
You may have a point about the creativity needed to bring freshness to an everyday life. Though I wouldn’t underestimate the thought a lot of sci-fi/fantasy writers put into their worlds. You rarely have to work out your metaphysics in detail when writing true crime.
But I do think there are still niches — movie novelizations, for instance, or celebrity bios — for people who can simply crank stuff out with a minimum of involvement in the story.
Barry, I agree with your suggestion of dropping the “little bit” when it comes to the author’s emotional involvement in a story. If we don’t care about the people and the plot, our readers are not going to. I think we need to fully invest, heart and soul, into the story.
Amen. There are a hundred better ways to make money, but none I love more than writing.
And you never know. One of my favorite books is called The Orchard and was written by a woman in the 1930s as she tried to save her family’s orchard after her father died. Her diary only became a book and was published after her daughter found it after her mother died.
One never knows.
I’ve always been fascinated by the story of Gerard Manley Hopkins, who wrote beautiful, brilliantly innovative poetry for years — that no one saw. He wasn’t published until long after his death. I wonder . . . had he been both feeding and getting feedback from the market of the time, would his work have been so unique and creative?
Like Vijaya, I was a reader first. I loved being transported by stories. Black Beauty was one of my early favorites. Later on, DH Lawrence, Thomas Hardy, the Brontes. Then, when I was in my twenties, F. Scott Fitzgerald took me to the shores of lake Geneva and made me actually taste the cold night air. I wanted to do that for someone else. Transport them to another time and place, to another person’s inner world. That was when I began to see the written word as a tool for transformation, both my own, and perhaps someone else’s.
For me, this post is such a perfect extension of the discussion we had here yesterday with Jan O’Hara. The writer as an agent of change. Also, I hear what Barry is saying, above. My story is set in a real world in which magic makes an appearance. The real-world scenes intimidate me sometimes because the wow-factor of the magic isn’t there. But I’ve learned thru writing, plus a lot of reading in my genre, that the wow-factor is only icing. The job is still to make a fresh-and-new world, and to make a reader care about a character.
Actually, I hadn’t considered that the “wow” factor is easier to create in fantasy and science fiction. You and Barry are right that, if you can make a realistic setting as enchanting and astonishing as a fantasy world, then you do have talent, indeed.
Dave, thank you for this post, there’s much to think about here.
I was one of those child bookworms, always inside other worlds to escape from the real world. I continued to devour books whole as I grew up, but didn’t write much; it was at odds with my science career. And yet, I never stopped writing bits and pieces, and for the last year and a half I have written more. Poems, short stories, and now a proper novel, often late at night after a long day and the family all in bed. I sometimes chase an idea, other times it needs to be dragged out of my head and put down in words just so I can rest. I write because I came to realise that the self that is not writing is not true to itself.
I love SF and fantasy when well done, but the joy of it for me is not only in imagined worlds, no matter how fantastic. The truth of good writing is always in illuminating and commenting on human relationships- yes, even if you are a three-brained jellyfish-balloon. How do you feel about your life and about the other jellyfish-balloons? How are you going to solve your problems? That’s what I want to read and write about, and maybe interest others in. And that is what I think all good fiction of every genre shares.
I just have to tell you, Dave, I adore both you and this post.
“I write for me,” is something I say often, and usually get odd looks of confusion by non-writers and sneers of contempt by established authors. I’m not totally sure why this is. Perhaps the non-writer, the reader, is comfortable on the receiving end of a story and doesn’t understand how or why they wouldn’t be the sole reason for its creation. The writer…well, maybe they’ve lost their love of craft or have different goals, publishing or money being of higher priority.
While I don’t know the reasons behind the reactions, I have seen it, and it makes me sad; not because people don’t understand or cannot relate to a “I write for me” stance, but because THEY don’t feel the same.
What a joy it is, to have a passion that calls to you, boils in your belly, and creates something special in this life. If you, as a writer, don’t have this feeling, this want to write for the sake of writing, I highly suggest you strive for it. It’s a glorious view.
Hugs to all.
Dee Willson
Author of A Keeper’s Truth and GOT
I’m intrigued by the reactions to “I write for me,” especially those of other writers. Maybe it’s that other writers realize what an immense act of creation a novel is. I can see how some might think it’s selfish to do something so large, just for your own entertainment. It’s like painting a mural on the wall in your bedroom that only you can see.
Yet, I do think that personal interaction between the artist and the creation is what makes the best artwork. If you look at a great musician in the middle of a performance, they’re not aware of the audience. It’s just them and the music, and the audience can listen in if they want.
I think it can be unfortunately easy for writers who have an end goal of being published, especially traditionally published, to get so caught up in their destination that they lose sight of the path they are taking to get there. Especially because writing requires so much training and practice and false starts and dead ends and beginning again, and most of all, dedication and sacrifice. I know I’ve felt at times that I must reach that goal of publication, and soon, to justify to myself and others the time and resources I dedicate to my writing.
But that’s a lot of pressure to put on yourself! And the times I’ve struggled most with writing were the times I slipped from what brought me to writing in the first place. I enjoy it. I love creating new worlds. I love exploring characters. Even in the midst of my short- and long-term goals, the times I feel most confident in my writing are the times I enjoy the process of getting to a completed draft or a completed manuscript. And I have better work to show for my efforts, too.
–Sam Taylor, AYAP Intern
Next week I head to a week-long retreat for writers in Door County Wisconsin. I can’t think of a better post to share with my fellow participants. What you said rang true to me, a first-time novelist struggling through my first draft. I often wake up and spend the first minutes of the day thinking about what will happen to my characters that I haven’t yet discovered. This morning was another of those times – I frantically grabbed my notebook as I brushed my teeth, anxious to get down notes to use in a chapter still to come. And I realized that the emotions I was knowing my character would feel are ones I’ve felt and ones I want to share with my readers. Though my protagonist isn’t me, she’s close enough that I recognize what’s going on with her, and it gives me insight and wisdom about my own life.
So thanks for the musings – a long post but an excellent one!
Hi Dave,
This is a wonderful post to read this morning. I have always been an avid reader and loved reading aloud to my students. Now, I enjoy creating stories and know they are being read! Last evening I spent with my favorite people, my critique group. We support each other, brainstorm on new ideas, and push each other to let the ideas flow naturally. It is so much fun when your character speaks to you, or a new character arrives! As a new author, I love sharing this experience with students and hope my joy of writing makes them want to try writing, or read a new book.
Sheri Levy
http://www.sherislevy.com
Critique groups make an interesting audience. In the good ones, you spend time with the only other people who can really understand your passion — your fellow writers.
Lovely, Dave.
Research psychologists have also shown that writing narrative is a healing act. It’s not just maybe. It measurably and objectively is.
But not if your goal is other than writing a narrative. If your goal is money, fame or even just validation, the roadblocks, hurdles and extreme competition in this industry is likely to produce stress.
So why stress? Why not wallow in joy? It makes the process nicer and the product more authentic. Writing becomes rewarding in the ways you so beautifully describe.
Our culture, society and industry have evolved in ways that cause writers to feel like beggars at a gate or David facing Goliath. Writers of the 20th Century did not feel that way. Hemingway, Mailer and others did not question their ability, authority or mandate to write. They just did. What they wrote was important. They knew it and we felt it.
So, what I would add to your wise advice is that while it is healthy and helpful to shift focus, it can also be empowering. The fiction writer’s role is not one to just enjoy. It’s one to own.
Terrific post, Dave. A keeper.
Thanks, Don.
I hadn’t read the research on writing as a healing act. Although I can easily believe it. If you’re living in a dark place, writing can take you somewhere else, at least for a time.
And I’d missed the point about empowerment. The publishing market today can suck all the confidence out of a beginning writer in a heartbeat. Focusing on the act of creation can remind writers of their strengths.
How to articulate why one writes…I write because I can’t stop my brain from creating story ideas. I write because I think better in prose than in speech or even just in my own head. I write because I struggle to makes sense of the realities of pain, injustice, chaos, broken relationships, and crushed dreams. I write because I find deep satisfaction in making connections and threading together ideas and concepts. I write because I want to bring ideas and history and themes to life for others they way they have come to life for me. I write because I love to read and I want to contribute to someone else’s reading enjoyment. I write because I miss being in school. I write because I always have. I write because I am a writer.
Amen!
Oh, Don. This: “Our culture, society and industry have evolved in ways that cause writers to feel like beggars at a gate or David facing Goliath. Writers of the 20th Century did not feel that way. Hemingway, Mailer and others did not question their ability, authority or mandate to write. They just did. What they wrote was important. They knew it and we felt it.”
Yes. Thank you for this.
When I began to write fiction it was for fun, to reply to something I read in the local newspaper. When that piece was published and I was paid for it, I knew I had to keep on writing. The money was and still is a bonus. I rarely have been paid for a short story, and that payment has been nominal, ten dollars at the most. Still, I keep on writing. It’s an urge to create something out of an idea.
My fiction is mostly realistic, about ordinary people with common problems: caring for an older relative, a wayward teen, an older man loving a much younger woman, dealing with the death of a child, a lonely teen, a man facing death, a troublesome friendship, a mother learning her daughter is gay, and other common concerns people have. I had hopes for the three novels I have written, but I knew starting out to write them that chances of getting a novel published (except by myself) are so slim as to be non-existent. But, I wrote them anyway. My current work in progress is a middle-grade novel, intended to appeal to girls. I’m in the revision stage which is more work than the actual writing because I am changing the ending. It is almost like beginning again, but I love the challenge.
Without writing, whether it be fiction or poetry, I don’t know what I would do with myself. I think I would become a crotchety and bothersome old lady. Now I am just an old lady.
Adelaide
Dave,
Your post showed up at a perfect time.
I’ve recently completed a manuscript and have since been questioning why I write (while trying to convince myself I’m not a fraud). I started writing in high school and have always loved it. Writing was a way for me to escape, to be creative, and I dreamed of being like the writers whose books I loved. As I’ve gotten older (mid-twenties), and my other interests take more time, I’ve doubted whether sitting for hours every day was a good way to spend my life. I could be out exploring the world, having adventures, meeting new people, and learning new things.
Your post made me realize that writing is a way of honoring life, and it is a hobby that actually encourages me to go out and explore when I have the time to do so. It challenges me to learn new things, to think differently, and to appreciate the world we live in, oftentimes in ways that I never would have if it weren’t for writing.
Thank you for shedding light on this perspective of writing. I will embrace it.
I write because I fall in love with my characters and want to spend time with them. I want to hear what they have to say. I want to watch them learn and grow.
I feel this same way about my children and grandchildren. But it’s a bit more fun, when writing, to have a semblance of control. :o)
Yesterday I received an email from my 11 year-old granddaughter. After telling me about their kitchen remodel, and that her sister is going to a science camp, she wrote: “Did you know I am writing a book? It is called Violet’s Violet Violets. The first Violet is the name, the second is the color, the third is the flower. It is about a girl named Shelby who is trying to figure out a person named Violet and why her shop called Violet’s Violet Violets is so strange.”
What makes an 11 year-old decide to spend her summer writing a book? She’s been an avid reader since age four, and now wants to start creating her own story worlds. I think one of the most natural parts of our humanity is story-telling. Life IS a narrative, and people like, and need, to talk about it–to tell stories. That’s how we explore and make sense of it. Life is so big, no one could ever experience it all, but through our stories, we can share it.
Love this post, Dave. I’ll be saving it.
I’ve just noticed that the last few comments show a similar theme — writers who started writing in their early teens (or younger) because of the sheer joy of it. (And, C.K., a couple members of my wife’s family who are about that age are also spending their summers writing a book.)
I’ve often seen this evolution in my clients, too. They start writing because they’re burning to tell a story, then keep going because that first story got them hooked on the process.
And I suspect writers run into resistance over the “I write for the joy of writing” attitude because we as a culture have forgotten the joys of being creative for its own sake. There was a time when nearly everyone took piano lessons, or painted on the weekends, or entertained the family with home-grown plays or puppet shows. Today, I suspect a lot of people view this kind of amateur creativity as an eccentricity. Why form a garage band if you’re never going to get a recording contract? Why learn to draw if you’re never going to sell your work? Why spend long hours creating a novel when it’s so hard to break into print? Why put in the work when you’ll never see money from it?
Well, because the work is worth doing for its own sake. It is a joy in and of itself. All those kids who are writing over the summer know this. I think a lot of adults have forgotten.
Hi Dave,
Not much more to add–I also needed this, needed to remind myself of the joy and self-fulfillment I experience when the writing goes well, there’s something on the page that is so surprising and amazing I ask myself if I truly wrote that. The muse must be in the room. And we need to continue that partnership and not let the outside world of competition come and ruin our party. I too have been writing since the teen years and then seriously for many after that.
Today I will remember your words as my fingers roam the keyboard and my mind finds a string of words to light on, to work with, to find their purpose on the page. Thank you.
Dave, first, I’d like to say what a privilege to be able to read you here. Your fabulous ‘Self-Editing for Fiction Writers’ is my go-to book when I’m in edit mode. I don’t know how many times I’ve read it (too many to keep making the same damn mistakes!) but it’s a treasure. I recommend it to every writer I know, so it’s such a treat to be able to thank you personally, here, for writing it and sending it out into the world for us.
Now on to the task – why I write…well, I’ve actually been struggling with that lately. All the publishing/marketing/promoting voices have been stuck in my head for a very long time and they seem to be drowning out the most important voice, the writing voice.
Your post was exactly what I needed to get back to asking myself why. Why do I want to write this story? Why does it need to be created by me? Why do I want to put my thoughts, my words down on paper?
Because at the end of the day, when I’ve written, whether any of it is ‘good’ or not, whether I’ve just composed the best sentence of my life, or written pure drivel, I have created something that didn’t exist before and that fills me up with a satisfaction like no other thing. With a joy that speaks to the soul, saying, ‘Yeah, kid, you did good today. You did the work.’
And, let’s face it, much of the time it IS work. I believe it was Dorothy Parker who said, “I hate writing. I love having written.” I’m in that boat most days. Oh the joy and fulfillment of ‘having written.’
We writers are a kooky batch when it comes to resistance.
So I revel in the joy that comes when I’m able to conquer that great beast, internal resistance, for even just one day by facing my fears of inadequacy, of ineptitude, of ____________ (you name it) and getting the words down anyway.
Thanks for your post, Dave. Lovely to see you here.
Oh, it is definitely work. But like so many things that involve a lot of work in addition to the creativity — playing an instrument, gardening, making furniture — the challenge of the work becomes part of the joy.
I am in total agreement with everyone else on how beautiful this post is.
I came back to writing in order to be creative again, after having children. I was a writer, drummer and acted for a bit before I ended up taking a creativity hiatus. When I finally realized what had happened, I had two children that I didn’t want to be away from for rehearsals, or band practice. So, I started writing again – my first work was a narrative poem. I moved on to short stories and then finally wrote and self-published a novel. Now I’m hooked, and can’t imagine stopping.
Which is funny, because of how you started your post. In one of my recent blog posts I explained that I’m not sure how long I’ll be able to self-publish my stories, because of moving and having a great decrease in income (because if I’m self-publishing, I’m going to make sure it’s done well.) But, even then, I knew I was still going to write, and that I want to share my stories with others. So, I decided that I could always share on Wattpad. No, it’s not the same as having a book on Amazon, but at least I’ll be able to share my work, because for me, stories are meant to be shared. :)
Dave and Don (Maass)–
Of course it should be a given for any writer that joy, not lucre or even personal validation is what comes first. But creative acts as demanding as writing novels, composing music or mastering that music as a musician are always to some degree social acts. I think of it in terms of bull fighting. Other than preparing himself for a bullfight, can anyone seriously imagine a matador entering an empty bull ring, to risk his life just for the joy it brings?
Writing to clarify one’s own thinking makes good sense, and I know from personal experience that it’s also healing. But ultimately I write to be read by others, to communicate with them. The only way to do this is to publish, to enter the ring. That’s why I think, for all its drawbacks and flaws, Indie publishing can serve to liberate writers from the many constrictions on joy that figure in the world of commercial publishing.
Dave
As others have conveyed, wonderful post.
I wish I was making lots of money off my published books, but alas no. Some money, but not lots or enough to make up for the time spent writing, marketing, etc. Sometimes I wonder if it is worth it. AND THEN….an educator or student tells me they love one of my books or a parent says he caught their ten-year-old son, who is a struggling reader, under the covers at midnight still reading my book. For me, that is the #1 reason why I continue write!
Yes, a witty or well-crafted sentence is satisfying, but a joyful gushing reader response is the best!
Ellen
A few people have pointed out the importance of the urge to share your writing. And, of course, that urge is part of the draw of a writer’s life. When someone else tells you that your work has given them joy, it’s a pleasure all its own. And I certainly don’t mean to downplay it.
But I think I need to clarify, I wrote this post with writers in mind who focus on publishing as validation, who feel they aren’t real writers if they aren’t published. And, as I say, I’ve had a few clients who have written wonderful books, then gave up writing after they failed to sell them or only garnered a small readership. (And, Laura, I think this is different from giving up writing for parenthood. Parenthood is a creative endeavor in its own right.) I just wanted to put out a reminder that writing has value in and of itself, apart from the added value of sharing your work with readers.
No worries here! I totally understood what you were saying.
I think you’re right. A lot of writers (including myself until I had a major perspective shift) feel like they have to sell books or get an agent or whatever external validation to feel writing is worth it the effort put in. It’s good to have the reminder out there that writing is worth, “in and of itself.” :D
And, of course, there is an entire industry out there — the self-publication industry — trying to convince you that publication is validation. After all, no one’s making money from a writer sitting in a room alone, writing.
I write because when I am soon to jump off this mortal coil, I want to be able to look back and say that I did something that made me uniquely me. Something on purpose, I mean!
I write because I have something I want to communicate.
I write because I try to make sense of this crazy world, to create a mirage of order out of all that chaos.
I write because I feel very content when I do so and it turns out well.
I write because I am something more than a mortgage-paying automaton created by the mad-doctor economically-driven culture I live in.
I write because, by God, I have something to say, and I have to say it.
Thoughtful stuff, Dave. I write because for much of my life I’ve been fascinated by how words work: how clumps of letters on the page can make you laugh to break the windows, weep to darken your heart. Stories are bright meadows and dank grottoes, and man, they can explode in your mind. There’s art and magic to writing (and sweat too)—and the work is often its own reward.
But I agree with many commenters that I want to get my stuff before an audience, so I can share of my sweat. Well, and all shower afterwards. Oh, maybe we can just shake hands…
Thanks Dave.
Aside from death and taxes, the only sure-fire investment is gold bullion. But, as the self-publishing trend becomes more popular, we can expect more people to take up the literary profession exclusively for the money. I’ve been reading and writing since before I started kindergarten, so it’s an essential feature of my persona. Yes, it would be extraordinary if I could make millions of dollars just writing and publishing. But I’m too much of a realist to expect that.
Can one take up the literary profession just for the money? From what I’ve seen, the only beginning writers who get big advances for their first novels are people who are famous for other reasons. And they’re usually already rich.
I set a goal for myself when I began writing in earnest: to be published before I turned 60. I made it just under the wire. As thrilling as it is to have my name on a book sold on Amazon, I’m already reaching for the next goal. Not that I’m writing for the fame and glory, but because I have something to say. I may never make a living from writing, but I can’t NOT write.
Thanks for a great article.
Words have their own senses and limits. All we need to do is experts assistance and we should work for it.
I totally agree. This was a wonderful article. When I was small, I’d make up character after character, histories of worlds, and narratives for each. When I was a little older, I started to write fanfics. No financial gain there, just the fun of trying to make my characters and stories believable to other fans. Then, during a career crisis, my father asked me, “why not write?” In spite of all that work, all that time and energy and creativity, it had never occurred to me that I was a writer. I ended up entering a profession that was more of a sure thing on the lucrative employment scale, but I didn’t stop writing. I’ll never stop writing. Sure, I hope to be published and to share my work more widely, but even if I’m not, I’ll keep writing. I agree with the many others on this thread who can’t help but write, no matter what.
Hi, Dave:
Sorry I missed out yesterday — things be crazy up in here — but I too wanted to respond to your post, which was wonderful.
To oblige your request, I keep coming back to the great line by Saul Bellow: “Writers are readers inspired to emulation.” I write because I so love to read, and want to do that amazing thing that others have done for me. There’s an element of pride/ego involved, of course, in that I hope to prove I’m as good as some of those I do indeed try to emulate. But more than that I hope to reside in the state of mind and heart where the words fire something deep, something meaningful, something entertaining, something fun in the most generous and rewarding sense of the term. It’s a way of actively engaging my love of books, not just passively doing so.
And I get a kick when a reader tells me they loved one of my books. I feel I’ve accomplished something truly good and worthy.
Like so many others have already said here, I came to writing from a love of reading. When I was a child, books and stories helped me escape a less than stellar childhood. When I was ten, I decided I wanted to write stories that some other person might escape into, even if just from a boring television show. (smile)
When I consider the question of why I write, I think of a writer, Jimmy Hudson, who told me that writing wasn’t something he did, it was an integral part of who he was. He could not consider not writing, even when his blindness claimed so many of the tools we writers use to create our people and our scenes. His tenacity taught me that perseverance is as important as talent.
Thanks, Dave, I really needed this. Like so many writers I get caught up in promotion, in trying and failing to reach the readers out there who might like my books. It’s depressing as all get out. But this made me remember those moments–the pure unadulterated joy of creating a scene, a few words, a sentence that sings (if only to me). After all is said and done, those moments are what keep me here, writing the next story and the next.
Maybe the answer is to change the focus, from writing to publish to just writing.
Exactly.
It’s a piece of a mystery why we write. And yet it’s no mystery in any respect. I write because I should is the clean answer—the cop-out.