Who are we writing for ?

Lifelongdagger · Feb 26, 2007

Having hung around this fantastic site for about six months now, I am wondering who we are primarily writng for. Is it:

a) Ourselves
In which case, do the opinions, speling errors, grammatical corrections!, etc. pointed out in SYW really matter.

b)Editors and publishers
If this is the case, does it have an impact on the depth of the writing.

c)Readers
Do we overestimate or underestimate the ability of readers to know a good story. What is more important to them, a grammatically perfect piece of work, or a damn good story. Dan Brown, sorry, comes to mind here. Are some of the things picked up on SYW really within the normal awareness of the average reader or, is this something that is more important to the editors and publishers?

I think that what motivates my writing is, initially, just a need to get it out of my head. It's like picking a scab, or peeling off sunburnt skin. Niggling, annoying, jabbing and poking me, pleasure and pain entwined. A final sigh of relief, feeling lighter, cleaner, one step closer to the centre of myself.

I'd be lying if the reaction of others to my writing was irrelevant, and also that to one day see something of mine in Waterstones was not the overarching goal, and that to do that editors and publishers need to be appeased.

I'd like to thinky my motivation is a balance of all the above, but I know that most of the time, it isn't.

So, what is the breakdown of your motivation and what happens, however, when that balance wavers and you seek the approval of just one, be it reader, editor/publisher, or self?

Shadow_Ferret · Feb 26, 2007

I write stories that I enjoy reading and I hope that there is an audience for that. That's as simply as I can answer the question.

PeeDee · Feb 26, 2007

I think you may be overconcerned about the issue, but...

I write for the "audience," which is a meaningless entity in my head. Sometimes, the audience is a single person who will read the story when it's done, usually its the editor who's going to get the story when it's done. Sometimes, there is no specific audience.

I don't dumb down my work for anyone. I think that's a lousy idea. That said, one of the things I've worked hardest at in my writing is being able to write clearly and accessibly about whatever I'm writing about. I mean, really, that's the whole point.

I don't change my work based on the audience, beyond dumbing down either. If it has the word "fuck," in it and the story's going to my mother, who would not approve, the word will remain in the story, same as it would if it were going to an editor.

It's a'cause I got all these pounds of integrity and stuff.

Penguin Queen · Feb 26, 2007

I need to be happy with it, that's the most important thing. I need to write the best story, in the best possible way. It needs to be at least 98 per cent before I let it out.

But beyond that, I want it to be read. So I'm writing for myself, but I'm also writing for, I guess, my readers. (Or listeners, with my radio script writing hat on). But I'm not pandering to readers, if you like -- I'm not after writing a best seller or pleasing the maxium number of poeple. Obviously I want as many poeple as possibe to read what I write, but without, if you like, dumbing down.

Editors are a gateway, and they can be very useful in pointing out what works and doesnt work in one's writing. None of us is a perfect writer, & there are exceedingly few pieces that cannot be improved by a second opinion.

I can't really answer your question except to say that I write mostly for myself, and mostly for my readers.

Edit: And as for grammatical and spelling stuff: I do think that's part of writing as well as possible. Good grammar & spelling are important because of clarity. If it was five hundred years ago, we'd be story-tellers, not writers, and in that case we'd need clear diction & good delivery to make clear what it is we're saying.

Lifelongdagger · Feb 26, 2007

Pete, I'm now sitting here laughing at the pretentiousness of my first post - a journey to the centre of myself through picking scabs and peeling sunburn. Please . . .

I suppose I only do write for me but, it just, sort of, well, seems a bit self indulgent sometimes, as if I need to have a viable purpose, something that I can convince my wife that all those hours I spend sitting in front of the laptop unloading the words from my head isn't a complete and utter waste of time.

But then again, she says that about football as well . . .

Rich · Feb 26, 2007

The landlord? The grocer? The car loan?

PeeDee · Feb 26, 2007

That's because she's a wife. They do that, because they love you.

(it didn't seem terribly pretentious, worry not; and I think you're the only one who actually calls me Pete.)

It's not a bad thing to have someone in mind when you're writing. Whether it's one person you write for, an audience you're showing off for (yo) or an editor you want to wow and get paid by. It's not a bad idea at all.

As for justifying things with your wife, the best way is to talk about your writing in imperative statements. It's easy for me, because I have deadlines and there's no mincing around those. Why not make some deadlines for yourself? Treat them as seriously as if the president of Random House gave you those deadlines. Treat them that seriously around your family.

Writing can seem a wishy-washy thing to be doing if your family doesn't write themselves. That's why it's important to treat it with the gravity and importance of anything else that has deadlines and goals.

A wife or family raises no complaint at the notion that you have to go into the office every day at 9:00 sharp (or something; I'm generalizing here), and you should treat your writing in the exact same fashion.

johnzakour · Feb 26, 2007

Shadow_Ferret said:
I write stories that I enjoy reading and I hope that there is an audience for that. That's as simply as I can answer the question.

I agree. Though I'd like to add... hopefully this audience will help pay the bills, by buying my books. Not by actually paying my bills. Though if anybody wants to do that, I won't complain.

stormie · Feb 26, 2007

Let's see--I'm writing for:
a)the mansion I'll one day have with a classic '66 Mustang in one of the garages

b)my own entertainment

What I find with my writing is that I can close out the day-to-day problems and be in another world. I write fiction, so I closely relate to the MC. I'm known to wander around this house, muttering sentences like, "He said 'Put the knife down. Now!'" or if it's a preteen, whiney sentences like "Do I have to?"

I also like it when I open an envelope or an email and it's an acceptance for an article or short story. Very nice. The rejections I just toss now. Seven years' worth of "Not for us" or the one that read "NO!" stamped in red ink aren't worth keeping.

scarletpeaches · Feb 26, 2007

I write first of all for myself, then I tune it up as best I can for the agent, and if they like it, they must believe the book-buying public will too, so beyond that I don't much care.

Toothpaste · Feb 26, 2007

I write for an audience who has the same sort of taste in books I do. But I definitely write with an audience in mind. I want to tell them a good story, I want them to enjoy themselves. Otherwise it's just journaling, which is fine, but a very different sort of writing.

RJLeahy · Feb 26, 2007

I write commercial fiction, so I consider my work to be a commodity and write with the idea of selling to an audience. To do otherwise would have me scratching my head.

Picture this scene at Belch and Sputter Auto Works:

CEO: You've designed a one passenger, six-wheeled monstrosity that gets 3 miles to the gallon and with a top speed of 50mph. Who the hell do you think is going to buy this?

Car designer: Who cares? It's all about the art man.

sfecphory · Feb 26, 2007

Lifelongdagger said:
...
as if I need to have a viable purpose, something that I can convince my wife that all those hours I spend sitting in front of the laptop unloading the words from my head isn't a complete and utter waste of time.

. . .

My wife actually complains when I don't write. I think she's trying to keep me out of her hair.

maestrowork · Feb 26, 2007

I pick the stories *I* want to write, but I write for my readers.

If I don't write for myself, what's the point? I'll just be a writing machine.

If I don't write for my readers, no one will read it because it'd be so esoteric and cathartic. Publishers/agents are just a subset of "readers" (albeit important) who have the means to get the book to the general public...

Will Lavender · Feb 26, 2007

Toothpaste said:
I write for an audience who has the same sort of taste in books I do. But I definitely write with an audience in mind. I want to tell them a good story, I want them to enjoy themselves. Otherwise it's just journaling, which is fine, but a very different sort of writing.

Exactly.

As I write, I envision a reader just like me. Would that reader buy my book? Would he be interested in my characters, my scenes?

Beck said, quoting a novelist, "I write songs that I would want to listen to."

That's pretty much how I write.

Evaine · Feb 26, 2007

I think I'm writing for me at the age of about 14, when I was overdosing on Rosemary Sutcliff and Mary Renault and Geoffrey Trease - all those historical writers for children (and adults - I learned a lot about homosexuality from Mary Renault!) who still haven't been bettered, in my opinion.

Not that I'm anything like as good as them yet, but I keep trying.

scribbler1382 · Feb 26, 2007

I write for the talking wad of gum under my desk. If I mess up, he can pinch me in really bad places.

(whoa...okay...definitely too much Red Bull)

thethinker42 · Feb 26, 2007

D. Joaquin Phoenix, so he'll realize he really loves ME.

Ok, just kidding. I write for the enjoyment of my (hopefully) future readers, but I also write for myself. I enjoy it. I like putting my characters in odd situations and watching them try to wriggle out of them. On the days when I really hate writing, it's that distant goal of publication that keeps me going.

But at the end of the day, I write for myself.

scarletpeaches · Feb 26, 2007

I KNEW IT! I bloody knew, as soon as I saw your name under 'last post' - "She's writing for Joaquin!!!"

thethinker42 · Feb 26, 2007

scarletpeaches said:
I KNEW IT! I bloody knew, as soon as I saw your name under 'last post' - "She's writing for Joaquin!!!"

HA! I'm getting so predictable...

Cassiopeia · Feb 26, 2007

I guess I write for me because I have a story in my head I want to tell or even a topic I want to discuss that I think is much too long for a post on a forum.

One day I will finish my WIP novel and then I will decide if I think it is worth revising or if I want to scrap it and start over.

But if I were to be asked ..who am I writing for with the objective of being published...I would say the audience.

bunnygirl · Feb 26, 2007

My first draft is for me. Then if I think it might be something with market potential, I do a Save As and edit with readers and agents in mind. But I'm not too hung up on whether I get published or not. (Obviously. I'm the worlds' laziest querier.) So I guess in the end, it's all for me. If someone else likes it, fantastic. But given how much time I spend tinkering with words and commas, no way would I be doing it for anyone but me!

JEP · Feb 26, 2007

I started writing for an imaginary editor at first but inside of two pages, gave it up. Right now, 38,000 words into my first novel, I just want to accomplish finishing it. I'm writing for myself. I'll consider other people's views when I review and revise it prior to submission.

Nateskate · Feb 26, 2007

I never write for a publisher first. I simply take them into consideration that they're a big hurdle that I must cross at some point and can't alienate them. So I'm thinking what formula works as opposed to only what is my artistic vision because without them I might as well put the story on my blog.

If it's for myself, it's in the context of a fish being more comfortable in water. I do like creating- but not for me to read. It's more fun to bake if you share it with another.

It's always easier to start a project than finish one. Yes, I get a kick out of creating, but it can go from fun to mind-numbingly difficult. And you really have to be very fortunate and good to make more money than if you worked somewhere else for the same amount of hours you eventually pour into a story.

Ultimately, my vision is that I have/had specific people in mind whenever I began a writing project. But that's just my nature.

Nate

PeeDee · Feb 26, 2007

When it comes to books, I wouldn't write for a publisher, but when it comes to short stories, I have no trouble writing for a particular editor or magazine. The story still comes out fine, it might just sound a little more like what Weird Magazine would take, for example, than if I were writing it for ElleryQueen.

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