Embrace or change....?

[Jo Zebedee]

Good news - today I got the funding required to take a month or two slower at work to write The New Thing. My fab Arts Council...

Now The New Thing will be set in Northern Ireland and is around mass immigration to this most not-multicultural of all all countries.

I know my strength in writing tends to be around characters - and I especially like writing multi-generation characters. But the market doesn’t like that. But I’m good at it, and it’s what links all my work.

So - do I try to not write that this time (which has never worked before and already the characters are feeling like they will straddle my usual ground) - or do I say to heck with it and embrace it? Accept I’ll never become mainstream - but I might continue to build the smaller following who do like that kind of thing?

In the meantime! Funding! Eeeeee! Fizzy wine

 

[nixie]

So I'm not getting my leprechaun tale

 

[Jo Zebedee]

So I'm not getting my leprechaun tale

I have a possible urban fantasy to write based on Celtic mythology....

 

[Karn's Return]

Maybe you and I should team up the, Jo. I've been told that my strengths lie in world-building and back story but my characters are flatter than the second dimension...

Then again, I really know nothing of Ireland, sadly...



On a serious note, if you don't enjoy what you put down, then there's no point to writing at all. It's a labor of love, and when one's motivations to perform the craft turn to the materialistc/egotistical side-and fame is really nothing more than an ego trip, I hate to say it-then it shows, and quality suffers for it. I would say do what you desire to do and...pardon my language here, stuff the haters. My brother, for instance, has been trying to, for lack of a better term, "Modernize" me socially when it comes to certain things, i.e., take a look at what society's viewpoints are and base myself off that. But I don't want to do that, and as a result, well...one of my biggest projects has a highly advances AI security program being given an android body due to it falling in love with a human. (But thankfully, that's not really the focus of the story. I won't get into the details here, it's rather...political.)

 

[Juliana]

Jo, I know a lot of authors pull off that 'write for the market' thing very well, but equally a lot of us just don't work that way. I'm pretty sure you know my opinion already: write what feels right, and good, and gets you passionate about those words. Because if you don't, and if you finish it and sell it, you'll then have to edit, and revise, and market something you don't stand 100% behind, and that does not sound like a fun time for you.

 

[Jo Zebedee]

Thanks, Karn xx and Ju

 

[Karn's Return]

Jo, I know a lot of authors pull off that 'write for the market' thing very well, but equally a lot of us just don't work that way. I'm pretty sure you know my opinion already: write what feels right, and good, and gets you passionate about those words. Because if you don't, and if you finish it and sell it, you'll then have to edit, and revise, and market something you don't stand 100% behind, and that does not sound like a fun time for you.

I don't know if I can really say anything about this sort of thing, as I'm not traditionally published and have a grand sales score of about two of what I put up on Amazon, but, I am definitely not the kind of person to write for the market, nor would I want to be in today's market. I really don't care for grimdark-despite the fact that everyone around me absolutely INSISTS that ASoIaF is NOT grimdark, my opinion holds to the contrary-and I'm pretty well getting sick of urban fantasy these days, not to mention that honestly, I believe that "believability" is getting too out of hand...

 

[Jo Zebedee]

One important thing - the Arts Council do not look at sales as the key outcome from their funding. They want to see development in the writer and books with validity to NI. I think this book has the potential to meet that in spades.

 

[Karn's Return]

Then it's about what you will enjoy doing more, dear Lady.

 

[Brian G Turner]

Congratulations! And if you're writing about NI and immigration, it may be that you're looking to a more mainstream - and more accepting - audience. Heck, Ken Follett has never been harmed by multi-generational works. Presuming I think I know what you mean.

 

[Abernovo]

Brilliant news! Congratulations, Jo.

You know my opinion, which is pretty much the same as Juliana's. Write what feels right for you and the story. You can always try tweaking it later - if it requires. But don't try too hard to write to the market -- you know yourself it could change by the time it comes to publishing.

I've read a lot of multigenerational fiction. Admittedly not always in sff, as my reading is eclectic, but the best fiction (for me) has the familiar and a twist to give it unique flavour. If that makes sense.

Anyway, there are plenty of us who will read whatever you do write. You've proven yourself with the quality of past work. Which is why your readership is growing. I'll stop now to spare your blushes.

 

[Stephen Palmer]

"Write for your readers. Never write for your fans." - S. Palmer.

 

[crystal haven]

Jo, I know a lot of authors pull off that 'write for the market' thing very well, but equally a lot of us just don't work that way. I'm pretty sure you know my opinion already: write what feels right, and good, and gets you passionate about those words. Because if you don't, and if you finish it and sell it, you'll then have to edit, and revise, and market something you don't stand 100% behind, and that does not sound like a fun time for you.

This. Yes, I could repeat it, but Juliana has said everything I would have said, just in a better way.

 

[The Big Peat]

I have to say, I've been thinking to myself for a while that it was odd that one of the most commercially aware of the writers here also kept coming up with idea after idea that just didn't fit the market. Like there's two different Jo Zebedees fighting over what to do.

Now I don't know which one has it more right on what would be a fun time as a writer - but I do know that the one that wants to have the most fun should win. Which I've just realised is almost exactly what Juliana said.

Which may be the more commercial option. Maybe trying something new and that challenge and the thought of more exposure is what will push the fun option. I don't want to be casting a vote for unthinking Status Quo. But maybe not. Tbh, if I had to guess at where your subconscious is going from the way you phrased it, probably not.

edit: Then again, maybe the very fact you asked means you do kinda want to try it that way on some levels - you're certainly (usually) confident enough to make this decision without us and have come across as cheery and accepting of the fact that what you like to write doesn't fit the market all that well in the past.

 

[Jo Zebedee]

I think there are two elements to bring commercially aware. There is support for creatives here but that support tends to be for Irish based product. Which is not commercial anyhow - but which does pay me something.

The other is the market. I think it was you, Pete, who said (first time we met practically) that I would not be someone who broke out easily but slowly due to what I write. I don’t think that has fundamentally changed.

But ... but - and this is the huge but for me. There is something about being different and original that can be marketable - there was no one like Prachett before him, there’s only one Neil Gaiman.

Which means I’m not sure a slow build isn’t the wrong way to go, marketability wise. I’ll know better when I next release something, I guess.

Thank you all for your kind words and wise words. They’ve helped a lot

 

[Karn's Return]

If what you have the most fun writing just happens to coincide with the market as a newcomer, bless you, and if you're able to Rowling the world, all the better.


But more often than not, a writer has to find their niche and stick true to themselves, and not give in to whiners. Stephen Palmer had a sort of good idea, but I would amend his statement a bit.


Write for yourself, not for your fans. True readers will come eventually, and if not, then you still have fun for it for yourself.

 

[The Big Peat]

I think there are two elements to bring commercially aware. There is support for creatives here but that support tends to be for Irish based product. Which is not commercial anyhow - but which does pay me something.

The other is the market. I think it was you, Pete, who said (first time we met practically) that I would not be someone who broke out easily but slowly due to what I write. I don’t think that has fundamentally changed.

But ... but - and this is the huge but for me. There is something about being different and original that can be marketable - there was no one like Prachett before him, there’s only one Neil Gaiman.

Which means I’m not sure a slow build isn’t the wrong way to go, marketability wise. I’ll know better when I next release something, I guess.

Thank you all for your kind words and wise words. They’ve helped a lot

These words are also true. Being true to ourselves isn't just about writing the stuff we love, its about finding the path of least resistance through things like marketing ourselves.

Besides, do you want to be just another genre author, making a living with a lot of graft with a bit of respect? Or have your swing at the greats? Because the greats are that because they change the game and break the rules.

 

[Stephen Palmer]

I would add this: if you say you're "writing for the market" that gives the impression that there is either a method or style that has a better chance of being accepted by a big publisher. I don't think there is. It's just as random in the big world as in the indie world.

 

[AlexH]

Go with your gut.

If your gut doesn't send you either way, toss a coin! If you're unhappy about the side the coin lands on, well...

 

[TheDustyZebra]

I think they're paying you to be you.