Who do you write for?

Tracey · Oct 8, 2006

Do you write in the hopes of being published? Do you write for fun? What's your motive?

I write for myself and if something comes of it so be it.

This may be an unpopular opinion on a serious writer's site, but I personally write because I enjoy it not for publication. I look at it as a hobby, something I like to do (most of the time) but not something I think will get me very far. I'm not interested in freelance or writing articles. I simply like to tell fiction stories. I realize the odds of getting published are difficult to say the least, and I try not to stress about it. If and when I finish that great novel, I will submit it to publishers because: hey why not? But I look at it as it truly is: a hobby nothing more. I don't really have the motivation or the desire to spend all my time focused on writing. I like to read up on it and talk to like-minded people, and I will always work to be better, but I'm not sure it will get much further than that.

Am I alone out there on this?

Stormhawk · Oct 8, 2006

I write because I can't stop writing.

I quit writing for about eight months, and couldn't write a paragraph if you were holding a gun to my head, but I could still write in my head. I would see things that would inspire locations, hear songs that would inspire scenes.

Oh, and the main character refused to die. Just sat in the back corner of my head with the "you'll be back" attitude. She was right. (Damn you/Thank you Stef! ^_^)

It's not so much I write for myself, as I write what I would like to read. I can't find anything like what I'm writing out there already available. There's plenty of good stuff on the market - and I don't expect to ever get a large audience - but my stories have a right to get told as well.

I'm going to self-publish, I've had a couple of rejection, and I don't want to sit in a slush pile for ten years.

I write because I want to - all other reasons are secondary.

expatbrat · Oct 8, 2006

I write because there is something I really want to say and writing in one medium that I find effective. I don’t write to write, I write to communicate.

blacbird · Oct 8, 2006

Dam if I know.

caw.

Simon Woodhouse · Oct 8, 2006

Tracey said:
Do you write in the hopes of being published? Do you write for fun? What's your motive?

A little from column A and a little from column B.

The actual nuts and bolts of what I write, i.e. the characters, the plot etc. have to be something that interest me. But I try to write them in such away that I think other people will be able to enjoy/understand.

RedMolly · Oct 8, 2006

I write because I don't know how to do anything else. It never occurred to me that I would become anything but a writer.

Haven't sold any fiction yet (haven't even attempted to do so), but have been earning my living as a writer, freelance or otherwise, since about two years after graduating from college. I tried to be a corporate publications manager, but it just sucked too much. But I write fiction with an eye to making money from it--I'm not trying to copy the latest bestseller, but I'd be lying if I didn't admit that saleability is a major concern for me.

And honestly, if the Fates came to me and told me I would never earn another penny from writing... I think a lot of the authorial urge would dissipate. Maybe I'd take up marine cinematography or play bass in a band or something. Anything to avoid the dreaded day job.

tiny · Oct 8, 2006

I write for my characters. It stops the them from pissing and moaning at me about what they're supposed to be doing.

(yeah, I want to be published)

sanctuary6284 · Oct 8, 2006

I write because there is this idea that won't go away. It keeps growing and getting bigger and bigger. I want to share it with everyone else.

I write for myself and I write to share. If it sells, good. If not then I'll turn it into a movie or a game or animate it and post it on the web but one way or another I want to share it.

seun · Oct 9, 2006

I write because I like to tell stories. Sounds pretty simple put like that, doesn't it?

NeuroFizz · Oct 9, 2006

I write to entertain readers. My stories aren't for me, they are for any readers out there who care to take a chance on me. It makes writing a great challenge.

KimJo · Oct 9, 2006

I want to be published eventually (and will be; my YA fantasy series has been accepted, though it's a little vague as to when book 1 is coming out; sometime in 2007), but I've been writing stories since I was five because I had too much going on in my imagination to just keep it all in my head.

awaitingthemuse · Oct 9, 2006

I write because I would love to be published one day. I'd love to earn some sort of income from something I love to do.

Gemsong · Oct 9, 2006

I write to get it out of my head so I can focus on other things (like driving during rush hour).

Actually I just write for myself. Even if it sucks. I enjoy telling my stories and playing what iff. Even if I never sell a single page, I think I will always write. Can't imagine not doing it.

PeeDee · Oct 9, 2006

I write because it makes me happy, because I'm a writer and it's what I have to do. I write because it makes me happier still when I can think someone's READING this; someone's reading what I write! which is what makes me write all the faster. I love showing off for an audience, trying to write better and better.

As for WHO I write for...it depends on the story. I developed a sort of formless audience in my head when I was doing serial work, based on the real audience who read my stuff...I guess I write for them. I don't know. I just mostly write for whoever will read it.

Shadow_Ferret · Oct 9, 2006

I write to become rich and famous, but as each year passes the reality of that goal is slipping further and further from my grasp.

enchantedfire5 · Oct 9, 2006

Tracey said:
Do you write in the hopes of being published? Do you write for fun? What's your motive?

I write for myself and if something comes of it so be it.

This may be an unpopular opinion on a serious writer's site, but I personally write because I enjoy it not for publication. I look at it as a hobby, something I like to do (most of the time) but not something I think will get me very far. I'm not interested in freelance or writing articles. I simply like to tell fiction stories. I realize the odds of getting published are difficult to say the least, and I try not to stress about it. If and when I finish that great novel, I will submit it to publishers because: hey why not? But I look at it as it truly is: a hobby nothing more. I don't really have the motivation or the desire to spend all my time focused on writing. I like to read up on it and talk to like-minded people, and I will always work to be better, but I'm not sure it will get much further than that.

Am I alone out there on this?

No, yours truly

PeeDee · Oct 9, 2006

Wait! Groupies! Can I change my answer?

enchantedfire5 · Oct 9, 2006

Stormhawk said:
I write because I can't stop writing.

I quit writing for about eight months, and couldn't write a paragraph if you were holding a gun to my head, but I could still write in my head. I would see things that would inspire locations, hear songs that would inspire scenes.

Oh, and the main character refused to die. Just sat in the back corner of my head with the "you'll be back" attitude. She was right. (Damn you/Thank you Stef! ^_^)

It's not so much I write for myself, as I write what I would like to read. I can't find anything like what I'm writing out there already available. There's plenty of good stuff on the market - and I don't expect to ever get a large audience - but my stories have a right to get told as well.

I'm going to self-publish, I've had a couple of rejection, and I don't want to sit in a slush pile for ten years.

I write because I want to - all other reasons are secondary.

I agree with you one-hundred percent! Usualy it's hard for me to get into numerous fantasy books because I find them boring. J.R.R. Tolkien is who inspired me to write. I loved TLOTR so much compared to every other book I have ever read! Then I fell in love with C.S. Lewis' writing (The Chronicles of Narnia and his Space Trilogy-especialy Perelandra). Since then I've only read books by Susan Cooper "The Dark is Rising." But I haven't finished them yet. I enjoyed the first two but as of now I'm bored with "Greenwitch." Does it get any better?

So I am writing a novel that I myself would like to read and my inspirations are not only Tolkien and Lewis, but also Akira Toriyama-the creator of Dragonball Z, lol! I know that's an easy animie to make fun of, I do it myself. But I love it so much. Especialy the Super Sayians and their accensions. Power up!

PeeDee · Oct 9, 2006

enchantedfire5 said:
So I am writing a novel that I myself would like to read and my inspirations are not only Tolkien and Lewis, but also Akira Toriyama- the creator of Dragonball Z, lol! I know that's an easy animie to make fun of, I do it myself. But I love it so much. Especialy the Super Sayians and their accensions. Power up!

I tried watching DragonBall Z because some of my friends really enjoyed it. I guess it was the dialogue that killed me, though.

GOKU: AAAAAAAAGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
Other Guy: GGGGGGAARRRRRRRRRRR-RRRRRRRRRGGGGG
GOKU: WHAAAA? ARRRRRRRRRR!!! WARRRRRRRRRRRRRRG

NARRATOR: WILL GOKU CATCH HIS BREATH BEFORE THE OTHER GUY? FIND OUT ON THE NEXT.....DRAGONBALL Z!

enchantedfire5 · Oct 9, 2006

PeeDee said:
I tried watching DragonBall Z because some of my friends really enjoyed it. I guess it was the dialogue that killed me, though.

GOKU: AAAAAAAAGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
Other Guy: GGGGGGAARRRRRRRRRRR-RRRRRRRRRGGGGG
GOKU: WHAAAA? ARRRRRRRRRR!!! WARRRRRRRRRRRRRRG

NARRATOR: WILL GOKU CATCH HIS BREATH BEFORE THE OTHER GUY? FIND OUT ON THE NEXT.....DRAGONBALL Z!

LOL!!!!!!!!!!!

enchantedfire5 · Oct 9, 2006

PeeDee said:
I tried watching DragonBall Z because some of my friends really enjoyed it. I guess it was the dialogue that killed me, though.

GOKU: AAAAAAAAGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
Other Guy: GGGGGGAARRRRRRRRRRR-RRRRRRRRRGGGGG
GOKU: WHAAAA? ARRRRRRRRRR!!! WARRRRRRRRRRRRRRG

NARRATOR: WILL GOKU CATCH HIS BREATH BEFORE THE OTHER GUY? FIND OUT ON THE NEXT.....DRAGONBALL Z!

Ya I know, it sounds like they're taking a number two. But still, I find the sagas very intersting, especialy the battle scenes. I own them all.

By the way, there is more dialouge than that

Goku: "Vegeta is right, you have no honor (speaking to Frieza). For him and for everyone else you've destroyed, I am going to finish you."

NARRATOR: MANY HAVE PERISHED AT THE HANDS OF FRIEZA, NOW GOKU PROMISES TO RID THE UNIVERSE OF HIM ONCE AND FOR ALL. BUT CAN HE? FIND OUT ON THE NEXT EXCITING EPISODE OF DRAGONBALL Z. DI DI DI!

Yet you don't find out until eighteen episodes later. LOL

icerose · Oct 9, 2006

I write first and foremost for the story. It excites me, entices me and I want to see it in it's fullness, but I always keep my target audience in mind.

Once the first draft is finished and I am re-reading it, then I start looking around, polish it up before sending it out for some opinions, and then start submitting if I haven't found any problems.

Ad Astra · Oct 9, 2006

The original Dragonball owned the later two versions.

But on topic, I write for myself--it vents my anger out and helps me calm down. But, when I'm not angry or upset, it just makes me happy. I really couldn't care less if I didn't get published, but the chance would be nice.

PeeDee · Oct 9, 2006

enchantedfire5, I think you just made my case for me. Thanks.

I still stand by my groupies.

(which is not strictly true in the positional department, but close enough)

Prawn · Oct 9, 2006

I write because every once in a while I would read a book and say, "That sucked! Even a moron can write better than that!"

Enter one moron.

Who do you write for?

Angry Bunny Girl

Look what we made:

My beat is correct

riding the sun

Mental Supernova

Horror Man

The grad students did it

Outside the box, with the werewolves

Where's my tea, please...?

Court Jester

Where's my tea, please...?

Where's my tea, please...?

Lost in School Work

Cok Seviyorum!!

Where's my tea, please...?

Writing is finite,revising infinite