Anyone write stories "not for sale"?

Anyone who's ever written fanfiction has written fiction not for sale.

You get writing practice, and it can cheer someone up if they're having a bad day. You also get the gratification of knowing someone's read your writing, even if FF readers aren't exactly the most selective readers in the world.

RiseBeauty said:

And that's my question for Awers. Do you write anything that's not for sale? If so, what and why? This excludes writing exercises, stories you trunked, etc.

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Yes I do. Fanfiction on occasion, not as much as I used to. Sometimes I have small vignettes that stick in my head that I'm simply not interested in trying to clean up and find an audience.

No real reason why I don't try to sell them other than I DON'T WANNA.

It actually ruffles my feathers (fins? murlocs don't have feathers) when people are allowed to have other hobbies or things they do simply because it gives them pleasure to do so but the moment it happens in writing, people immediately hone in on the 'make money' aspect of it, as if they have some glamorous ideal that writers make scads of money. Or implying that writing for pleasure is a waste of time. 'Don't waste your time, do it for money.'

I've written a ton of fanfiction, so definitely not for sale. It was something I enjoyed doing, made me force myself to really think about writing and all the things one has to do to tell a good story, and it made me feel good when people let me know they enjoyed my writing. On days when I'm getting discouraged by my current projects, I still look at those emails to give myself a boost

Absolutely no reason a person can't write just for the pleasure of it, without thought of making a buck.

Sometimes I write things for my own amusement, and might show them to friends, but they are not for sale.

I've toyed with the idea of writing stories for my nieces, but I haven't been able to get into it yet.

However, if they genuinely loved them, I would consider selling them, why not? I could always use a pseudonym.

I write things not for sale quite often. The reason is: Because I want to write the story for someone (even if it's me) and it's for them. Screw publication. There's more to writing than publication. I just think it's sad that people don't realize that.

I wrote a couple of long short stories/novellas that were just for practice and I never intend to sell those. I knew that going into it. I wrote it at the same time a friend was writing one, and we had fun combining our characters into one story that we were telling different parts of. It was purely just for kicks and no one else has ever read it and I'm okay with that.

I've also done the fanfiction thing.

DeleyanLee said:

There's more to writing than publication. I just think it's sad that people don't realize that.

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QFT.

I've written fanfiction since I was about 9. I have also occasionally written stories for friends. And sometimes I have an idea that I love that I know probably isn't marketable, but I'll write it anyway, just for me.

Shelley

Only some shorts a few years ago while I was new to it. The rest is written to sell. I couldn't care less if that makes me 'sad'.

If a story is solely for me, I don't need to write it down in the first place.

I write fiction that;s 'not for sale' most notably a three book (65k each) YA series for my three best friends. No one else has ever seen it other than me and them. And most likely they never will. It was written for them, as a gift, and that's as far as that goes.

DeleyanLee said:

There's more to writing than publication. I just think it's sad that people don't realize that.

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Pardon me for wanting to be paid for the work I put in.

I've never not wanted to be published. Time is money, and you're damn right I want payback. I find usually the people who bleat about publication not being the be-all and end-all of writing either can't get published, or infrequently manage to achieve such a state.

Right back as a kid, I never wrote just for the sake of it. I always had that end goal in sight.

More to writing than publication? Sure. Makes me wonder why people who write exclusively just for 'fun' join AW. I thought we were here to improve? If you're not trying to be published, there's no need to improve.

Well, whatever. I write to be published. I guess I'm a sell-out.

A sell-out with a big, fat royalties cheque.

I've written stuff for my kids just to entertain them. I used to write and sell my flash fiction. I'm too busy with novels to mess with all the subbing involved in selling shorts, but sometimes I still write them if I get an idea that won't let me alone.

Nothing wrong with writing stuff just because you wanna.

scarletpeaches said:

More to writing than publication? Sure. Makes me wonder why people who write exclusively just for 'fun' join AW. I thought we were here to improve? If you're not trying to be published, there's no need to improve.

Well, whatever. I write to be published. I guess I'm a sell-out.

A sell-out with a big, fat royalties cheque.

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I don't think there's anything wrong with writing only for publication - or writing only for one's own enjoyment. But why shouldn't those who write for their enjoyment (or friends/relatives) not try to improve? Isn't one of the joys of *any* hobby being able to get better and better at it? Before I had any thought of trying to get published, I still wanted to become the best writer I could be.

I don't think either "enjoyment" or "publish" factions should be making judgments about the other. And after all, there are quite a few who do both, and manage quite happily.

Pardon me. My hackles rise when the suggestions made it's sad that people don't accept there's more to writing than publication.

For me, there isn't. That is to say, it's an ever-present goal for me. There's more to writing than publication in that there are steps to take along the way, but publication is the end-goal.

Writing for fun don't pay the rent, yo.

(God. Did I just say yo?)

Jesus. Nobody is wrong.

99% of what I've written has been for publication. The rest was for fun, for me, or for somebody else.

If someone wants to write 99% of their stuff for them alone, good for them, fewer submissions to compete against. I'm not a sell-out, that person isn't silly.

I write for a living. It solely pays my bills. I will still occasionally write a piece of fan fiction about a character I love. I'm fine.

Shelley

scarletpeaches said:

Pardon me for wanting to be paid for the work I put in.

I've never not wanted to be published. Time is money, and you're damn right I want payback. I find usually the people who bleat about publication not being the be-all and end-all of writing either can't get published, or infrequently manage to achieve such a state.

Right back as a kid, I never wrote just for the sake of it. I always had that end goal in sight.

More to writing than publication? Sure. Makes me wonder why people who write exclusively just for 'fun' join AW. I thought we were here to improve? If you're not trying to be published, there's no need to improve.

Well, whatever. I write to be published. I guess I'm a sell-out.

A sell-out with a big, fat royalties cheque.

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I don't think anyone is suggesting that writing with an eye toward publication is 'sad' or wrong-headed. I'm certainly not.

I crochet because I love to. I have a lot of things I've crocheted that I won't ever try to sell because that's not why I created them. I just like to crochet.

Because I like to crochet and don't ever intend to sell anything doesn't mean that I'm not constantly and consistently trying to improve my skills as a crocheter. I love being able to take on more challenging patterns and see something come of my hard work.

I'm still not going to sell it. I just like to crochet.

Why is writing any different than that?

And just because I like to write certain things that I don't intend to sell, doesn't mean I'm not writing something that I intend to sell. Nor does it mean that I'm still not interested in writing my best, just because it's not something I won't be selling.

I don't know. Maybe I'm not any good as a writer and will never get sold because I'm trying to write things with no intention of getting sold and that I'm writing for the sheer enjoyment of writing and trying to improve my abilities quietly.

And maybe I didn't read the comments deeply enough but I don't think anyone so far as said they write strictly for fun, only that they have written strictly for fun and that it's not exactly encouraging that once someone finds out, the pressure's on to publish it.

shadowwalker said:

I don't think there's anything wrong with writing only for publication - or writing only for one's own enjoyment. But why shouldn't those who write for their enjoyment (or friends/relatives) not try to improve? Isn't one of the joys of *any* hobby being able to get better and better at it? Before I had any thought of trying to get published, I still wanted to become the best writer I could be.

I don't think either "enjoyment" or "publish" factions should be making judgments about the other. And after all, there are quite a few who do both, and manage quite happily.

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I'm sure many hobby writers do try to improve. Most people who have hobbies that they enjoy and do for reasons other than income tend to try to do the best they can at it. Every time I wrote a piece of fan fiction as a kid and a teenager, I was struggling to improve. Not all fan fiction writers do--okay, most don't--but I wanted it to be good, not just there. And that was solely a non-income hobby.

Shelley

Of course, without the goal of publication in mind, there's no obligation to actually finish anything...

Now, where's my saucer of milk?

scarletpeaches said:

Of course, without the goal of publication in mind, there's no obligation to actually finish anything...

Now, where's my saucer of milk?

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I'm not putting any out for you. Your teeth are sharp!

Fangs. They're fangs.

My history of practical results has led to the conclusion that all of my work is not for sale.

blacbird said:

My history of practical results has led to the conclusion that all of my work is not for sale.

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Have you and Eeyore ever been in the same room at the same time?

Shelley