{"id":688,"date":"2011-08-16T15:17:24","date_gmt":"2011-08-16T19:17:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/juliesondradecker.com\/?p=688"},"modified":"2014-02-27T00:41:20","modified_gmt":"2014-02-27T05:41:20","slug":"on-writing-to-the-market","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/juliesondradecker.com\/?p=688","title":{"rendered":"On Writing to the Market"},"content":{"rendered":"

I tend to write pretty non-traditional stuff.<\/p>\n

I also have a natural tendency toward wordiness which makes my work difficult to squeeze into the publishing industry’s proverbial Size 8.<\/p>\n

So when I have issues placing it, and I whine about it (good-naturedly, most of the time), sometimes well-meaning people tell me I ought to just try to garner some popularity by writing what’s popular at the moment.<\/p>\n

“Wouldn’t it be worth it?” these people say.\u00a0 “Isn’t it worth compromising a little in order to get a following and get attention for your serious work?”<\/p>\n

Let me explain to you why I think this is kind of misguided.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

First off, no, “compromise” is not at all out of the question.\u00a0 We writers tend to think our work needs little to no advice on its appropriate direction, but if we want our stuff to appeal to a wide audience, sometimes we do have to listen to what people want, and meet them halfway on certain things that don’t compromise the soul of our work.<\/p>\n

That’s the key there.\u00a0 The soul of the work.<\/p>\n

On advice from professionals and amateurs alike, I have severely trimmed word counts, changed points of view, adjusted endings, and added\/deleted entire story elements.\u00a0 But I would not have done any of these things if I thought they ruined the story.\u00a0 If these requests and ideas do not destroy the reason behind my desire to write what I wrote, I’ll likely take even radical revisions into account.\u00a0 It’s about a story’s soul for me.\u00a0 The manner in which I bring that soul to the world might change\u2014metaphorically, I might make cosmetic or even surgical changes to its “body”\u2014but when a story is born for me, its soul is born first.\u00a0 I can’t remember ever deciding after the fact that I’m going to tell a different story than the one I originally conceived.\u00a0 Everything but the soul is just details.<\/p>\n

So that’s part of the reason why I don’t decide what to write based on what’s popular.\u00a0 For starters, I often don’t like what’s popular; I’m never going to authentically conceive a story that’s deliberately constructed to be what someone else <\/em>wants.\u00a0 I come up with ideas very organically, with little plotting or planning.\u00a0 I don’t write fiction to communicate a moral or make a point or explore a theme.\u00a0 I write fiction because I want to tell someone’s story.<\/p>\n

And that brings me to the next point: I don’t want to deliberately write what’s popular because I don’t write just to write.\u00a0 I don’t write to say I’m a writer.\u00a0 I don’t write because I want to Have Written.\u00a0 I write because the stories suggest themselves to me and I love them and want to give them life.\u00a0 It wouldn’t work like that if I were asked to write a story that wasn’t conceived out of that kind of love.\u00a0 I’m a decent writer in terms of form and storytelling and voice (I think), so sure I think I probably\u00a0have the ability\u00a0<\/em>to write a story whose core I am not in love with, but writing some story\u2014any story, doesn’t matter what\u2014isn’t the driving force behind my writing.<\/p>\n

“So,” say the naysayers, “you expect to cling to your ideals and write stories nobody wants to read, but you’re not willing to even try <\/em>writing to the trends for the sake of your career?\u00a0 What, exactly, is your idealism getting you?”<\/p>\n

I would write even if I never shared it.\u00a0 I would write even if I somehow knew I would never get the piece published.\u00a0 I would write if every single other person who read my work hated it.\u00a0 And I accept that if those are my terms, I may be limited by some unfortunate aspects of the commercial world.\u00a0 I will say that people do <\/em>respond to what I’ve written, and that I do <\/em>think my stuff has the capacity to appeal to a large audience, but I believe I owe that to my connection with the story and characters, which translates directly to authenticity in the finished piece.\u00a0 But ultimately, I am not doing this to make money<\/strong>.\u00a0 What I’m already doing would be enough even if I never saw a dime.<\/p>\n

So if the price I had to pay to enter the publishing industry would be to compromise the very principles that make me a writer, I would say that price is too high.\u00a0 Asking me to take criticism or accept drastic edits is not unreasonable.\u00a0 Asking me to accept some uncomfortable experiences in the name of getting my work out there is not illogical.\u00a0 But asking me to write something I don’t want to write to get commercial <\/em>success does not tie in with why I write.\u00a0 I would not have achieved what I want to achieve through being a writer by getting soulless stories published.\u00a0 It’s the stories I conceive naturally that I want to share with the world.<\/p>\n

But to those who still think I could use deliberately constructed “what’s popular now” stories as a stepping stone to what I “really” want to do, you’re still wrong, for two reasons:<\/p>\n