Would you do it for nothing?

I've been writing for nothing for decades now and I'm tired of it. Time to find a pursuit that I enjoy.

For me, it's not so much a calling as mental maintenance. I can't stop. I mean, I have stopped, at times for years; but I always come back to it, whether I'm writing for an audience or not. It seems to be a basic part of how I exist in the world.

I did it for nothing for 45 years. I knew chances were slim when started querying, but writing/not writing wasn't the issue for me.

Maze Runner said:

Has your lack of "success" taken the fun out of it for you?

Sorry, that's probably a stupid question.

Just wanted you to know that I empathize.

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I don't know that it was ever fun. Relaxing at times. Cathartic. And it was enjoyable creating new worlds, but the continued lack of success started to wear away at whatever pleasure I may have once derived from the act of writing. It's made me question why I put myself through it if no one else appreciates my writings.

I'd much rather decompress by picking up my guitar and learning a new song.

I think I would absolutely keep writing for fun, but I don't think I'd write as much or be as prolific.

I do it for nothing now -- well nothing but dreams, anyway.

I would still be writing, maybe more fanfic as then I at least can get the satisfaction of having people read my work. But I doubt I could just not write. I have been an avid daydreamer since I can remember and I love creating stories far too much not to do it even if no one reads my work. I just have always had the urge to create and I don't ever seeing it going away.

Maze Runner said:

If so, for how long?

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Some days, yes. Most days, no.

I would be immensely gratified if people kept reading my books, but if I wasn't making any money, I doubt that I would continue writing. I have to pay the bills (eventually).

Yes, I would keep writing if I didn't make any money from it. It seems to me most writers have the same few goals with their writing, as the OP listed, but the order of importance of those goals differs. To me, the intangibles come first- self-expression/personal satisfaction/artistic achievement, then recognition (having people read it), and money is last. Of course I will always accept more money but I don't care much if I don't get paid. Not getting read would be harder but it really wouldn't need to happen because if nothing else, you could self-publish as a freebie and there would be plenty of takers.

I definitely wouldn't. I've got other things that interest me more (love the talent quote, btw!).

And I'd really love to get my brain back. Haha. I don't like that there's never any peace and quiet in my brain anymore. It's always trying to come up with ideas for my stories. Haha.

I write for nothing now and have for years and years. Would I keep writing for free? Yes. Do I hope not to have to? Yes. Of all the things I "am" writer is the one that has never been in question. Whether I make money at it or not, when people ask what I do, I say I am a writer.

I have different goals with different types of writing and in different venues.

Right now, I'm pursuing a career with my writing. That means, for me, money is my first consideration. I can't do this full time if I'm not getting paid and my writing isn't saleable. If that never happens, or at some point, the effort I'm investing into it is greater than any benefit (or hope of benefit) I'm receiving, I'll probably stop writing for trade publication.

I would then pursue self publishing exclusively. If I didn't garner career-making sales there, I would probably stop trying to make money. At that point, I might put my original work on a free site like WattPad. Or I would exclusively write fan fiction. Or I would go back to writing for Role Playing groups, which I previously left to give myself more time to write for my trade publishing goal.

So I wouldn't just keep writing never-read novels for trade publishing if I was pretty sure I'd never get published and, therefore, paid. But I would switch to a different venue and type of writing where I wouldn't get paid and write for free there.

I'd be lying if I pretended that my lack of success, after a dozen years and ten novels, doesn't give me a considerable amount of angst and to some extent spoil my enjoyment of writing. It's difficult to write while wondering what's wrong with every sentence.

Not one person has read any of the last three novels I've written, so I guess writing purely for myself must be satisfaction enough.

Are we talking about money or success?

I don't care about getting paid. But if no one read my stories, I'd quit.

heza said:

Or I would go back to writing for Role Playing groups, which I previously left to give myself more time to write for my trade publishing goal.

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I did the same thing - though being the game creator/runner, I also left because I got tired of doing all the background work and getting none of the credit. Might have just been the players I had around me, though. If I ever go back to another NRPG, it's going to have to be someone else's sandbox.

Although, I don't mind not getting paid for solo writing. I probably wouldn't give it up entirely should career things never work out - but I would give serious consideration to returning to more casual and social things like fanfic and rpg forums.

Of course I wouldn't write for nothing. It may be necessary to do so for a while. There's a learning curve to pretty much everything, and darned few college students get paid for whatever they're majoring in until after that learn how to do it well, and graduate.

I started getting paid with my first short story, but this is not the norm by any stretch. But going on for years and years, a decade or more, without getting paid? No chance in hell. I enjoy the writing process greatly, but not so much that I'd let it get in the way of finding something else that I could do at a professional level.

I believe most people are very, very good at something, and if they really are good at it, if they really can do it at a professional level, they'll also enjoy doing it. So why spend your life doing something you aren't very good at? It makes no sense to me. Life is full of possibilities, but the multitude of possibilities gets smaller and smaller and smaller as we age. It's always best to find whatever it is you're really good at while you're still young enough to get over the learning curve, or still have the health to do it at all.

Not every writer falls under this umbrella, but too many decide to write because they see it as the easy alternative, or even the only alternative, to do something that might make them a lot of money. They already have a computer, the internet, and a word processor. What else does a writer really need? Writing is the chance to earn money, maybe a lot of it, without getting out of the house, without finding a way to pay for a good college education, or good technical training. It's a heck of a lot cheaper than these things, chapter that starting a new business, which you don't know anything about, anyway. It's even cheaper than most of the other arts where you might have to by paint, and brushes, and canvases, or all that's needed for sculpture, or a new, quality piano, and probably have to go to school for these things, as well. And you hated school.

That's fine. Nothing at all wrong with giving writing a try. But working at it for free should have a limit, unless you want to stay poor all your life.

There are things I like enough to do for free, but only if whatever else I'm doing gives me a comfortable living. I'm damned if I'll be poor, and still work for nothing at anything, even if it's just a hobby.

There's an old adage regarding careers to the effect do what you love and you'll never work a day in your life . . .

I found it to be true; I had a career I loved (and excelled at) that set me up with an excellent life-long pension - in truth, I relished the inherent challenges and would have done it for free. Now I write because I find it fun - the money is pretty much irrelevant - so, yes I'd do it for free.

Why would you consider it as working/doing it for nothing? Apprenticeships pay little in general. This one pays nothing. Then again, you're not working for a master and "cleaning out the stables" while you're at it to ensure you get tuition/training. It's a matter of working to improve, like practicing guitar. Do you expect to get paid for practicing the instrument? It may easily take a decade or more to get truly good at something. As with everything, you need to practice till your fingers bleed and then some.

No. I look at writing as a second job which supplements my income from my full-time job.

Ton Lew Lepsnaci said:

...It's a matter of working to improve, like practicing guitar. Do you expect to get paid for practicing the instrument? It may easily take a decade or more to get truly good at something. As with everything, you need to practice till your fingers bleed and then some.

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The way I look at it is that it's basically a gamble in some ways.

You go to the casino with $500. You tell yourself that's how much you're going to spend and not a penny more. You could win a thousand dollars... you might go bust. If you do, are you going to dig into your savings account to play again? How confident are you in your ability to play the game, how much do you believe in your luck, how important is winning to you? Important enough to risk another $500?

I believe there are people who have a natural talent for writing fiction. I think these people do need to develop that talent but that it will take them less time to get to a proficient, publishable level than it would take someone with less talent. Someone with little talent but a very strong drive could work for decades, if they want to be published badly enough, and practice themselves into a publishable state.

In this context, time is money.

I'd rather be that first, naturally talented writer. I know writing requires discipline and honing, but I'm not prepared to toil away at it for 20 years, say, before seeing any return on my investment, if that makes sense. If I'm still not going anywhere after a good go at it, then I'm going to acknowledge that I'm not one of those really naturally talented writers and I'm going to go figure out what it is I am naturally talented at.

I'm still writing and drawing/sketching/doodling for nothing--and have been doing so for years. At least I can finish drawings, though. Writing takes too long for me, even though I enjoy it. Especially since I got a short attention span and a perfectionist, so I end up not finishing any stories. I also can't tell if my writing's going to get any good because of that.

But, after several years, I now treat it just as a hobby and more of a relaxation thing. (I'm naturally anxious.) Just something to spit out bits I like and amuse myself. I'm trying to finish a story in between life stuff. Will I finish? Don't know, but it keeps my mind busy, and it's more fun than passively watching tv all of the time.

I'm also more visual, so I also enjoy doodling/drawing/sketching/painting.

With visual stuff at least, like drawing or game creation, arts and crafts, sewing, etc, it's easier to visually see how I'm progressing. It's faster in terms of time to create a finished product Cooking is also easy to see if something's good or not, and it won't take years to do one thing like writing. (But I'm definitely a terrible cook and a very, very, very picky eater, lol. I want to learn how to bake cakes as well as how to decorate cakes in the future. Besides, I would need to learn to cook any food in order to survive, lol.)

For writing, it's more to keep my mind busy, and I have stories in my head I want to spit out in some way. It's more to entertain myself, and it can also inspire me in other hobbies, like drawing and painting, sewing, cooking, arts and crafts, etc. It also gives me an excuse to read nonfiction stuff, which is also fun. (I always love learning! )

However, if I don't finish the novel in the next year or two, then I will have to accept I can't write novels. I would probably move onto trying to write as inspiration for my artwork or maybe a manga/comic. Or inspiration for storyboarding for an animation project. Or maybe write to create a point-and-click adventure game or platform game.

I like to keep my mind busy with creative stuff, and some form of writing can help with that.

There are plenty of times I start to think I'm doing it for nothing.

Jeff

It's an interesting question. Although I am currently doing it for nothing and don't have high expectations of success, some little part of me hopes to someday gain an agent/publisher/audience. I like the idea of people enjoying my work, whether for light-hearted enjoyment or more serious ponderings. If that hope completely vanished, I might well seek out some other way to spend my time (overtone singing is an interesting challenge).

What if it were posed as a hypothetical question? I.e. you're the last person on earth, so you KNOW nobody will ever read your work.

...of course, if I were the last person on earth, I'd probably feel somewhat obligated to chronicle my experience in case aliens ever discovered my remains and wondered what happened to all the humans, so even then I'd be writing for a potential (albeit unlikely) future audience.

Money would be nice too, of course, but money is much easier to come by than readers. Any old job can bring in money.

I feel that I'm more mercenary than a lot of writers, in that I absolutely wouldn't write if I couldn't then sell what I'd written. I don't view my writing as art, more as a set of skills that I have. Not that I think my writing is bad. I wouldn't even attempt to sell anything I thought was poor quality. I just don't have a huge emotional investment in it.