Writing what you want to write…
Even if you’re creative and want to write your own stories, there are plenty of people who throw up roadblocks—sometimes not intentionally, but irksome all the same. Many “writing coaches” will tell you to “know your market” or “write to sell.” I’m sorry. I don’t ever recommend that advice. You should write what you want to write, what you can be passionate about. That’s why including themes in fiction to make plots more interesting are so important to me, for example. As a reader, I don’t read fluff, even if fluff is the fad; as a writer, I don’t write it either, even though that’s they say that’s where the market is. Each of my books has at least two themes. And I write want I want. You should too.
Maybe not following all the writing gurus’ advice is why I don’t have many readers, but those gurus often have some words of advice that just don’t sit well with me: “Don’t worry if you book doesn’t sale. Just write the next book.” Maybe, like me, you’ve done that a few times, not because the writing gurus say so, but because we have many stories to tell…and we want to tell them! Yes, I realize the market can be fickle, but that’s just the point: I have to be true to myself and write the kind of stories I like to read, not those that someone tells me to read or write.
The pundits might also say, “Don’t set the bar too high, because most writers don’t sell many copies of their books.” Yes, those are the stats—we sell even less now on the average because readership is down in general. Older people read more than millennials, according to stats, yet other stats say young people are the most likely to read ebooks (different samples or ways of collecting the stats, I’m sure). Don’t get the idea that you should be writing geriatric fiction or ebooks for millennials, though. If your book comes out that way, but market pressures should never affect your art.
Older people like exciting fiction just as much as anyone, although they might like it not to be fluff. And young adults probably do too, if they bother to read—that uptick in young readership with Harry Potter is a thing of the past, and the number of them preferring ebooks is irrelevant if not many are reading. Video games, streaming video, music and music videos, and social media take more of everyone’s entertainment time now, but especially for young adults and millennials. So why shouldn’t we write what we want to write, ignoring the pundits who want us to be consoled about our meager book sales by the fact that other authors are struggling too? Some consolation!
Authors’ lives are filled with doubt. The few really successful ones (fewer every year because of the declining readership) deny that, or don’t remember their doubt when they began writing. It’s reasonable to have doubt in this profession—that’s common in almost any creative or artistic profession. Authors never know whether their books will get read, and, if they are read, how their books will be received by an increasingly fickle public. Name recognition comes from one book that’s well received and not from spamming the world with ads for our books. A solid, steady production of quality books means nothing anymore. That’s why I say having a successful book is like winning the lottery (I’ve gotten in trouble for saying that, but a lot of people don’t listen to the truth nowadays), and every day the odds for winning that lottery are less.
I decided long ago that I could write sci-fi, mystery, and thriller stories just as good as or better than the ones I was reading—I’m talking about how books entertain me. Call it the arrogance of youth, but that opinion hasn’t changed, especially now that I’ve written them. You probably can say that too if you’re any kind of dedicated fiction writer. “Just as good as or better than” doesn’t cut it anymore, though. The reading public is fickle and all too often unwilling to try new or not well-known authors.
That attitude, though, isn’t hubris; it’s the result of comparing our oeuvres with others’ objectively. You see, I’m guessing you wouldn’t be here if we both didn’t like exciting fiction, and, if that’s what we like to read, that’s what we should be writing. Even with all the good books and good authors out there, many books don’t satisfy, so it makes sense to contribute our own.
I like to read and write complex tales with some meat to them (sorry, vegetarians and vegans—it’s just an expression). I read sci-fi that isn’t space opera bordering on fantasy; I read real mysteries, not cozies; and I read thrillers that aren’t computer games with stereotypical main characters. That’s the kind of fiction I read; it’s also the kind I write.
Why should any author do otherwise? No matter what our reading preferences are, writing to sell seems such a shallow goal. Frankly, I lose respect for any author who makes that their major goal. Writing books should have no relation to selling cars, either as an assembly line or coming up with a new model that’s similar to the old just to attract new customers. Our self-respect, not hubris, tells us to avoid the latter as if it were the plague. Be true to yourself and write what you want.
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The Secret of the Urns, by A. B. Carolan. Set in the same sci-fi universe as A. B. Carolan’s The Secret Lab, this new young-adult sci-fi mystery explores a Jupiter-sized planet’s satellite in a faraway solar system where human scientists are studying local flora and fauna but behaving badly until a teen who wants to study the satellite’s ETs comes along. She teaches them tolerance and shows that cooperation is better than xenophobia. In the process, she discovers that the ETs’ beliefs go far beyond ancestor worship. Available on Amazon in ebook and print format and on Smashwords and its associated retailers (iBooks, B&N, Kobo, etc) in ebook format. Ideal summer reading for young adults and adults who are young-at-heart.
In libris libertas!
