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Of Great Importance
Posted by
TenthWeasleyWriter
,
07 April 2012
·
271 views
I'm not good at doing really massive blog entries, but there are some things worth saying that would take up too much room in a status update. 
It's just a quick thought, this blog, but I've been thinking about it a lot lately, so maybe it's not so quick, in retrospect. It's one of the most important things I've found that goes along with writing, and fan fiction in particular, and I've been meaning to share this for a while. So, here goes.
I think one of the things about writing that is lost when one begins to write fan fiction, is the need to make the story appealing to you. So often people will tap into formulas (playing with characters they see to be the most popular alongside storylines they also know to be crowd favorites) in order to get more reads, or review, or favorites, or whatever they're striving for, and in the process I think they lose a bit of themselves along the way.
It's been said that anyone can write -- and if you have a knowledge of language, then yes, you can literally write, more often than not. But not just anyone can write in the sense that authors and poets and essayists, ad infinitum, can. It's a bit difficult for me to explain my thoughts in that regard. But I'm fairly confident we've all had that sort of experience where we read a story, and it just lacks... passion. And for me, a passionless story doesn't spark my interest enough to continue on, no matter how many reviews the story's got or how many people profess that it's the best thing since sliced bread.
What happened to writing for ourselves? Have we become so wrapped up in that review count, or that number of reads, that we've forgotten that storytelling is something not constructed, not molded, not built from a model, but created? Stories should be told because we have a compulsion to tell them, not because they have the potential to be popular. Not because it's what people are reading the most of. Not because you know that you can get a bright banner for the story. That's not what writing should be about, and any number of published harlequin romances or cut-and-dry teen romance novels are points proven in that regard.
Reviews are great. Reads are great. Favorites are great. But if you're writing solely to see that number go up, and not because you're genuinely invested in what you're writing, then it's going to be a bit like day-old soda: Flat and distasteful. Certain people like certain stories, and you're never going to please all of the people all of the time. We all write fan fiction here, and it's pretty safe to say that we're well ensconced into a geekdom that surpasses just general appreciation for these books. And it bothers me so much that people still seem to be competing for some nonexistent popularity prize.
We all start somewhere.
Above everything else, write for yourself, not for reads or reviews or favorites. Write for yourself, and you'll always have a story worth telling.
It's just a quick thought, this blog, but I've been thinking about it a lot lately, so maybe it's not so quick, in retrospect. It's one of the most important things I've found that goes along with writing, and fan fiction in particular, and I've been meaning to share this for a while. So, here goes.I think one of the things about writing that is lost when one begins to write fan fiction, is the need to make the story appealing to you. So often people will tap into formulas (playing with characters they see to be the most popular alongside storylines they also know to be crowd favorites) in order to get more reads, or review, or favorites, or whatever they're striving for, and in the process I think they lose a bit of themselves along the way.
It's been said that anyone can write -- and if you have a knowledge of language, then yes, you can literally write, more often than not. But not just anyone can write in the sense that authors and poets and essayists, ad infinitum, can. It's a bit difficult for me to explain my thoughts in that regard. But I'm fairly confident we've all had that sort of experience where we read a story, and it just lacks... passion. And for me, a passionless story doesn't spark my interest enough to continue on, no matter how many reviews the story's got or how many people profess that it's the best thing since sliced bread.
What happened to writing for ourselves? Have we become so wrapped up in that review count, or that number of reads, that we've forgotten that storytelling is something not constructed, not molded, not built from a model, but created? Stories should be told because we have a compulsion to tell them, not because they have the potential to be popular. Not because it's what people are reading the most of. Not because you know that you can get a bright banner for the story. That's not what writing should be about, and any number of published harlequin romances or cut-and-dry teen romance novels are points proven in that regard.
Reviews are great. Reads are great. Favorites are great. But if you're writing solely to see that number go up, and not because you're genuinely invested in what you're writing, then it's going to be a bit like day-old soda: Flat and distasteful. Certain people like certain stories, and you're never going to please all of the people all of the time. We all write fan fiction here, and it's pretty safe to say that we're well ensconced into a geekdom that surpasses just general appreciation for these books. And it bothers me so much that people still seem to be competing for some nonexistent popularity prize.
We all start somewhere.
Above everything else, write for yourself, not for reads or reviews or favorites. Write for yourself, and you'll always have a story worth telling.
It's very easy to fall into the trap of wanting to write the next popular story - it's happened to me often and it's a strange, scary feeling because I know that what I like is not what's going to be popular (maybe it would have been 150 years ago, but not now). The stories I've written that mean most to me tend not to be popular, but then again, sometimes there are surprises: the weird stories catch attention while the ones written to a particular form don't. It's so hard to tell sometimes.
What I've learned is that there is no formula for writing that "popular" story. I'm sure that if you asked padfoot4ever, she wouldn't know exactly what made Delicate so popular. It just happens.
One has to find a balance between what one loves to write and what one knows people love to read. I don't know if an author can wholly write for themselves - there's always going to be that looming monster of "the market" lurking at one's shoulder because if one wanted to publish, one would have to write to a particular editor, publication, and readership, but there is always one person authors can satisfy: themselves.