Don’t Bore Yourself As A Writer
The frequent conundrum for the writer is whether to write “to the market” or to be true totally to one’s own vision no matter what and write accordingly.
Often when I open a discussion in such a way, I proceed to explain how it is somewhere in the proverbial middle.
Not this time. And while I eschew extremes, in this case I advise leaning towards your own vision, even if they oppose conventions and rules.
Actually, I amend this. I don’t suggest breaking rules for the sake of breaking them. What I suggest, what I absolutely endorse is not boring yourself.
It is possible, believe me.
If you decide to chase the market, and write what is the current trend ignore entice an agent or publishing firm, you’re already making several mistakes. Trends change, and by the time you are done, the trend you chased could be over.
Such approaches also keep one from standing out as a voice, even if somehow one does manage to catch that gust of wind into fam and profit.
Yet the biggest mistake with writing to catch a trend would be boring yourself as a writer.
You have to find what you are writing interesting, exciting, fun.
Don’t get me wrong; by the time you are done editing and revising, you will feel someone sick of what you love. Like having your favorite meal every day, it will begin to lose its appeal.
Yet in most cases, take a break from that meal, and you will eventually remember why you love it.
That is not boredom. That is numbness. Every writer faces a bit of numbness even when they believe in their material.
Just shake it off, like you do a sleeping leg, and the blood will return.
But if there is nothing therein the first place to get back to? Might as well push a rock up a hill all day and achieve the same tedium.
Which is why I am not coming down in the exact middle of this quandary. If in your heart of heart you love writing the most predictable, formulaic stories, then you must write those. Nobody can give you any guarantees about marketability, in a conventional of self-published model. But what I can say is the process of continuing to write over and over and over is crucial…and that you will find it most sustainable if you love what you are writing.
You can tinker and repair drafts that have been written out of love and/or excitement. You can, if you decide you want to, adjust for the market as you understand it. You have a passion-informed baseline from which to jump
But if your writing is tedious, your story stale, it could be the most avant-experiment the world has ever seen, and it won’t do a thing for you. And if it does nothing for you, it’s not writing. It’s producing.
I’m one to talk, I know. I have sold, lifetime so far, 2,000 copies of my various books, give or take. But I would never have finished any of them if they bored me. I’d be better off trying to sell tires, about which I know nothing, than trying to muster up the enthusiasm to sell a story I never liked writing to begin with.
Don’t get bored. Get writing. No matter how weird, (or how common) it is.
- Posted in: Miscellany
Ty Unglebower 