Write what you love...unless nobody wants to read it?

[KGeo777]

I thought of this recently

if you had a choice between

a) making a lot of money at something creative--people liking it--but you do not--you aren't satisfied with it

vs

b) making no money at something creative and being satisfied with it (even though others don't appreciate it)

which would you prefer if you had to choose?

 

[Montero]

Starting point would be do I have any other income?

My second thought would be unless motivated by poverty, I wouldn't finish writing something I didn't like, so no one would ever see it to find out if they liked it because it wouldn't be finished. The second thought is modified by maybe something written on a writing course would be something you didn't like and is loved by everyone else on the course.

 

[Jo Zebedee]

B but as Montero says that’s because I have the luxury not to rely on writing as a core income (although, it is increasingly a big part of my income, so there’s a balance to be had)

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

There are writers who do write stories they don't like to write ( or have stopped liking to write) but they keep on because the money is good--but those I've heard of end up as angry and bitter people. Which leads me to believe that it wasn't worth it in the end.

Myself, I've never even tried writing something I didn't want to write-- it sounds like sheer drudgery to me, and a good way to spoil an activity I take delight in--though of course some stories ended up being more work and less delight than I originally thought they would be, or than other stories I have written.

But that's different than choosing between two plots/settings/casts of characters that
appeal to me and deciding to write the one with most potential to sell and do well.

 

[Brian G Turner]

Why do people keep talking about writing fiction as a way to make money? Honestly, if people worked minimum wage for the amount of time as they spent on their writing, they would be much more richer.

 

[Karapace]

I thought of this recently

if you had a choice between

a) making a lot of money at something creative--people liking it--but you do not--you aren't satisfied with it

vs

b) making no money at something creative and being satisfied with it (even though others don't appreciate it)

which would you prefer if you had to choose?

My answer would be it can be both. I've worked as an illustrator now for over twenty years and most of that has been stuff I did for commercial reasons but I also find time for my own projects. Likewise with writing I have my commercial side and my own project side.

 

[Stephen Palmer]

I also have tried to write stuff that didn't much inspire me, or for which there was some reward. Failed. Besides, even if I had technically succeeded, readers would spot a fail. That must be how a reader feels after reading a novel written by an AI... the lack of heart.

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

Why do people keep talking about writing fiction as a way to make money? Honestly, if people worked minimum wage for the amount of time as they spent on their writing, they would be much more richer.

This is quite true. I once had to give up a modest career as a mid-list writer for a couple of years when my family was in a financial hole and I was between book contracts, and I did take up a minimum wage job instead. And I discovered that, meager as the funds that job provided were, as an hourly wage they far exceeded what I made by writing, and what was more important and completely unexpected (such was my financial naiveté), money that arrives on a regular basis and in a timely manner goes much, much further than a similar amount spread out over time at irregular intervals.

Despite which, and despite the fact that I liked the retail job and was doing well at it, the moment I could afford to do so and with the offer of another book contract, I immediately abandoned the steady job and went back to writing. (I could only do this because all along my husband had been employed and I was never going to be obliged to literally starve for my art. Still, I needed to write, apparently more than I needed financial security, which I understood by then that my career as a writer was extremely unlikely to ever supply.)

 

[Phyrebrat]

We have a microcosm of this in the writer’s forum. The Sekrit Santa challenge is one where you write a story another member has stipulated the theme and genre for. At first it was fun writing to someone else’s tastes but turned into who could supply the wackiest stimuli so I dropped out (and have only ever run them since).

Don’t write what you don’t enjoy and don’t do jigsaws with massive swathes of featureless sky (unless your gran is on hand).

As for money. Ha. Think of writing as your hobby

 

[Christine Wheelwright]

I measure my writing income in 'bottles of wine'. Currently it pays for two good bottles a month. I would think earning a living from writing is impossible for all but a select few.

 

[Stephen Palmer]

I measure my writing income in 'bottles of wine'. Currently it pays for two good bottles a month. I would think earning a living from writing is impossible for all but a select few.

The figures provided by the Society Of Authors are that 1/20 British authors earn enough to survive on, the other 95% have day jobs.

 

[Steve Harrison]

I just became a full time writer, but only because I retired from my 'real' job and can now afford a life without much financial stress.

I did quit 'real' work for a while some 30 years ago when I had a self-syndicated weekly humour column that was gathering momentum, but that petered out. And the income from my two published novels paid for a few holidays and continues to finance my book purchases, but I would be homeless by now if I hadn't stuck to non-writing work.

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

I think of selling books as a way to help support my writing (and reading) habit.

 

[Laura R Hepworth]

Writing something you don't like just for the money sounds like a great way to burnout and find yourself hating a craft you once loved. I couldn't do it. Sure, it'll more than likely be an uphill slog to buildup an anywhere near stable trickle of income writing what I love, but I'll be the happier for it in the long run. It's the same with my art and my jewellery work, I can't make myself create something that I personally don't like at least the idea of.

 

[Toby Frost]

Why do people keep talking about writing fiction as a way to make money? Honestly, if people worked minimum wage for the amount of time as they spent on their writing, they would be much more richer.

I'd like to know why we've developed a society in which it's almost impossible for anyone to make a living (by which I mean enough money to live off, not a fortune) from producing high-quality entertainment.

 

[Yozh]

I'd like to know why we've developed a society in which it's almost impossible for anyone to make a living (by which I mean enough money to live off, not a fortune) from producing high-quality entertainment.

Hmmm… I blame Gutenberg, and Bell, and Edison. And any others who made it possible to record and then mass-distribute works. Once access to “the best” works was democratized, people were less willing to pay for recitations/performances etc by lesser-knowns?

Most of history, if you wanted entertainment, you hired a live entertainer or else you and friends entertained yourselves. Last hundred years, you put on a record, or stream a movie.

 

[Mans]

I write differently, sometimes writing about what I love, and other times writing to satisfy or attract readers, even if I myself am not interested in it.

 

[TheAfter]

Does anybody here think hard about the commercial viability of their WIPs?

A string of pretty encouraging rejections (but yet ultimately still rejections) have made me think whether 'write what you love' is actually good advice or not. I've written a book that I love dearly, but what if nobody else wants to read it? It's not bad writing - plenty of people have told me so. It's just...neither here nor there, and probably doomed to sit unsold and unloved in my 'Complete' folder on my computer for the rest of eternity.

Equally, of course, there's no point writing something you don't feel anything for just in the hope that it fits in with 'what's hot' in an indistinct future.

Thoughts?

Great question. My understanding is that often times writers' early works don't hit until their later ones do. J.K. Rowling was turned down twelve times, I think. If you're not writing what you love, what's the point of writing at all?

My plan is to keep writing regardless. If something hits, great. If not, I will continue writing--it will just be from a van, down by the river.

 

[sknox]

I thought of this recently

if you had a choice between
a) making a lot of money at something creative--people liking it--but you do not--you aren't satisfied with it
vs
b) making no money at something creative and being satisfied with it (even though others don't appreciate it)
which would you prefer if you had to choose?

These feel like artificial distinctions. What about making *some* money. Just enough to live on, or enough to maybe vacation once in a while, or make not quite enough but you can supplement otherwise. The choice is rarely between riches and poverty.

Moreover, I'm dissatisfied with all of my work most of the time. Not until I'm at the final version stage do I begin to approach "satisfied". As for loving what I do, that's not even on the table. I do what I do because I am compelled to do it. It's a kind of habit I neither can nor wish to break. Maybe there's another, clearer way to express this?

By way of a suggestion, some people regularly feel they need to choose between writing in a genre or in a form or style that they wouldn't have chosen on their own, but because they have made a commitment to "make a living" out of writing, they feel obliged to write in that genre or form. Even there, the choice doesn't need to be as pernicious as it might sound.

Plenty of authors have done that sort of writing *in order* to make enough to finance their "real" interests. Graham Greene called his most successful novels "entertainments" and did not regard them with the same respect he gave to his "serious" novels. Of course, this requires one to be an accomplished writer regardless of the style and genre.

Related to that, there's nothing wrong with taking on the challenge of writing in a format that wouldn't be your first choice. There might be much to learn from the exercise. To put it another way, there's nothing wrong with writing what you wish to write. There might be some drawbacks, though, to writing *only* what you wish to write.

 

[KGeo777]

These feel like artificial distinctions.

It's not supposed to be realistic--it is meant to be a question about how you perceive your artistic goals and desires. If you had to choose one or the other--what would matter more to you. I don't think every artist/writer would answer one way or the other.