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gravityeyelidsvia http://ift.tt/2cU7pl8:
I’m assuming the line here “I’m hitting panic over if want to read a story…” was meant to be “I’m hitting panic over if people want to read a story…”, okay? So my answer is based on that read. If it’s wrong, please let me know.
Here is my answer:
Who cares?
Like, literally, who cares? Unless you have a contract compelling you to write a specific thing, you are writing this story, first, for yourself. You are the only audience who matters. You are the only person you need to entertain. This is the first draft: it exists to be bad, to be self-indulgent, to be a mess. If it does those things, at least it’s there. Write what you want, what you covet, what you love.
Maybe when it’s done, you’ll find that your story doesn’t leave room for your characters, or that your characters don’t leave room for your story. Maybe you’ll have to balance, and rebalance, and rebalance again, until you want to scream. But you’ll get better every time, and eventually, bit by bit, you’ll find your footing.
I won’t lie and say that this is the next James Patterson blockbuster. We need diverse books, but so many people have been conditioned that any book that isn’t primarily straight, white, and male is somehow “not relatable,” and hence not for them, that the sales are not always what they should be. But if it’s a good book, and if you write it for you first, the audience will find you.
If you write it, they will come.
I’m assuming the line here “I’m hitting panic over if want to read a story…” was meant to be “I’m hitting panic over if people want to read a story…”, okay? So my answer is based on that read. If it’s wrong, please let me know.
Here is my answer:
Who cares?
Like, literally, who cares? Unless you have a contract compelling you to write a specific thing, you are writing this story, first, for yourself. You are the only audience who matters. You are the only person you need to entertain. This is the first draft: it exists to be bad, to be self-indulgent, to be a mess. If it does those things, at least it’s there. Write what you want, what you covet, what you love.
Maybe when it’s done, you’ll find that your story doesn’t leave room for your characters, or that your characters don’t leave room for your story. Maybe you’ll have to balance, and rebalance, and rebalance again, until you want to scream. But you’ll get better every time, and eventually, bit by bit, you’ll find your footing.
I won’t lie and say that this is the next James Patterson blockbuster. We need diverse books, but so many people have been conditioned that any book that isn’t primarily straight, white, and male is somehow “not relatable,” and hence not for them, that the sales are not always what they should be. But if it’s a good book, and if you write it for you first, the audience will find you.
If you write it, they will come.
