# Your Goal



## Dio (May 8, 2013)

What is it? Your goal as a writer, that is. When you sit down to write a book, is there something in specific that you want from the completion of said book? Some sign that proves your success, on a personal level if not a financial one.

I think that for me it's fan art. Even just one. One day I hope to finish a novel, and have somebody I don't know make a fan art of it. There is something about someone taking the mental image my words created and turning them into a visual form of art that I think will really make me feel like my efforts paid off.

What about you?


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## Feo Takahari (May 8, 2013)

My ultimate goal is to do something I haven't seen before, and do it well. I thought I'd pulled it off with _Dulling the Pain_ and its . . . unique approach to the protagonist/antagonist divide, but I botched it up, and it turned out incomprehensible. _Equivalence_ is another attempt, answering a question I've never heard anyone else ask, but I'm still not sure where I'm going with it, and my hopes are currently tempered.


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## Androxine Vortex (May 9, 2013)

My goal is to be able to walk into a bookstore, look at the shelf and see my novel there and be proud enough to say, "Yep. I did that."


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## Jabrosky (May 9, 2013)

After mulling over it for some time, I have to conclude that many of my creative productions, both writings and visual artwork, have at their motivational roots a personal dissatisfaction with how certain subjects or people get represented in other people's stories and art, if they are represented at all.

Take  for example the ancient Greek myth of Perseus and Andromeda, the one adapted into the _Clash of the Titans_ movies. In those movies Andromeda has blue-eyed porcelain blondes playing her, yet in the original mythology she came from "Aethiopia", which is what the Greeks called ancient Nubia or Kush and what we now call Sudan. Once I learned that Andromeda was supposed to be Nubian, I got upset at the movies' racial misrepresentation of the character and wanted to write my own adaptation of the myth with an emphatically Black African Andromeda. Unfortunately, like all of my novels, it never got far off the ground, though I still wish the next Andromeda I see in a Perseus adaptation is Black (and no, I don't mean Zoe Saldana-like).


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## CupofJoe (May 9, 2013)

Androxine Vortex said:


> My goal is to be able to walk into a bookstore, look at the shelf and see my novel there and be proud enough to say, "Yep. I did that."


I'd love that to be my goal...
Right now I settle for getting something finished... before my Bumblebee brain looses interest and finds another flower to sniff.


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## tlbodine (May 9, 2013)

Right now, my #1 goal is to get a fan -- just one fan! -- who I don't already know from the outside world  

My other goal (the one more firmly in my sphere of control) is to get a copy of a book in every library I have a library card to.  See, when I was a kid, my family lived in a motorhome and traveled all over the country because of my dad's work (as a boilermaker).  Since we were both transient and poor, our primary form of entertainment was libraries, and I have library cards from dozens of random libraries all over the country.  It would be so cool to me to get a copy of my book in every one of them.


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## Nameback (May 9, 2013)

My goals are very simple. I want to tell a story that I would enjoy reading, and a story with themes that matter to me. My highest hope is that my books might make people ask questions about political and philosophical issues that they had never questioned before. 

Also, I do have material hopes for my books. I want to self-publish and earn enough money to have going-out money. Realistically I think $300+ bucks a month is very attainable, because I believe that my prose is marketable. Ideally, my stretch-goal is that I'd love to be self-supporting off of my writing, an I think I am capable of that, both due to the quality of my writing and also my knowledge of promotion. I worked in political campaigns so I know how to organize, grow grass-roots support, and manage online campaigns.


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## LadyKatina (May 9, 2013)

Like Nameback, my main goal is just to tell stories I'd enjoy reading. Finishing things is important to me right now. Taking a story all the way from "once upon a time" to "the end." I said this in my introduction, but I pretty much quit writing fiction altogether for over a decade. So right now, my goal is just to produce the best stories I can, and trust that my craft will follow diligent production, and that the external things (readers, sales, and reviews) will follow production and improved craft. 

I'm very good at starting things, but historically awful at seeing them through to completion.


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## kayd_mon (May 9, 2013)

My goal is to publish my work. However, it's probably more realistic for me to adopt tlbodine's goal. I'm having a lot of trouble with my current project.


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## wordwalker (May 9, 2013)

My goal is to finish my current novel--

_today._ Last chapter, here I come!


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## Telcontar (May 9, 2013)

Best of luck, wordwalker!

Personally, my goal is utter domination of fantasy and science fiction. I will stand like the love-child of Robert Heinlein and George R.R. Martin astride my genres of choice!

Or, you know. To attract enough of an audience to earn a living by writing fiction. That'd be cool too.


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## Garren Jacobsen (May 9, 2013)

My goal is to become a published author and to be famous at it as well. I also wan to gain a large enough following where I will be able to experiment with legal and political fantasy novels.


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## Rullenzar (May 9, 2013)

I love stories. Doesn't matter if I get them through books, movies, games. I enjoy epic scale tales. There is just one problem. Not many live up to my expectations and while watching/reading said stories ideas formulate about how I would have done it. All of which sound better to me and people I share these ideas with. The only option I see here is making my own story and having it exactly the way I want it. A lot of stories start off strong and bring you to the climax with so many expectations and just fall flat right at the end. It infuriates me. I believe if given the chance I can make something flawless how ever that may sound. Having been disappointed by so many stories I truly believe I can give a reader exactly what they want. 

Only problem is sitting down and actually writing it


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## Xaysai (May 9, 2013)

All I really want to do is write stories which people will enjoy.

I don't need to make a living at it, and quite honestly, I don't know if I want the pressure of having to make a living at it, I just want people to see that I've posted something to my lame website/blog and say, "oh, something new from Dan! I've got to go check it out!"


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## Wanara009 (May 9, 2013)

My long term goal is to make stories that will entertain people. I don't want to make money out of it, just to tell stories so people will remember me as 'that guy that make good stories' instead of just 'that boring guy who did nothing'.

My short term goal however, is to finish just one continual story before year's end.


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## Chessie (May 9, 2013)

My goal is to entertain while simultaneously honoring the characters and their world...all the while feeding my ego.


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## Steerpike (May 9, 2013)

Goal:

To make J.K. Rowling weep at how much smaller her royalty checks are than mine.


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## glutton (May 9, 2013)

It would  be so awesome to have people on forum make screennames based on characters of mine...


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## Chessie (May 9, 2013)

Steerpike said:


> Goal:
> 
> To make J.K. Rowling weep at how much smaller her royalty checks are than mine.



Ha, this is great.


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## Dio (May 9, 2013)

Another big one for me would be to have people speculate about the next installment of a series I wrote. I've spent a lot of time analyzing and making theories about other people's work, I think it would be really cool to see people do it with mine.


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## Ophiucha (May 9, 2013)

I would like to see people enjoying my work and relating to the characters and connecting with the themes. Making enough money to not need to work full time wouldn't be bad, either. And I can't wait to see all of the coffee shop!au erotic fanfiction.


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## Ireth (May 9, 2013)

Ophiucha said:


> And I can't wait to see all of the coffee shop!au erotic fanfiction.



Fanfiction is the one thing I'm not really looking forward to, mostly when it comes to pairings. I don't want to see my characters shoved into relationships they'd never so much as consider in-canon, especially if it comes at the expense of their canon sexual orientation. That's why so much of slashfic irritates me.


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## Ophiucha (May 9, 2013)

I don't necessarily mind the 'shipping' aspect of fandom - it's harmless enough, most of the time. It can be problematic - with slash fiction, I find a lot of the time fanfiction writers have the canonical female protagonist become villainous or petty in order to justify the male character leaving her for his rival/best friend/whoever they're shipping him with. But romance is so often not a focus of my stories, so even if it makes no sense for two of my characters to get together, it doesn't bother me that my readers could write them together anyway - even if their sexualities don't match (though writing a queer character as straight is a little sketchy from an erasure standpoint). My major problem with fanfiction is how often it erases all of the creativity and purpose behind a work - my sarcastic example of the 'coffee shop!au' is very common, yet it completely rids the canon of its creative worldbuilding and often removes the characters from the context in which they are... worthwhile characters? Like, you can ship Samwise and Frodo if you'd like, but take them out of Middle Earth and plop them into a Starbucks and they are just two dudes with no plot or significance to anything with none of the moral dilemmas they faced or character growth they went through.


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## OGone (May 11, 2013)

I want people to be excited for what I'm writing next, once I have people (I don't care how many, just not sincere family types) bugging me on social media and the like to finish my next novel then I'll feel a sense of satisfaction.

Writing for a living is the ultimate, unrealistic goal. I'm going to try and make that happen.


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## Bear (Jun 6, 2013)

I like to write something that is unique. My goal is really sime. To have the reader walk away satisfied, happy, content, ect.


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## Alex97 (Jun 6, 2013)

For me it's just to finish a few well told stories. I write as a hobby and cannot say I'm all that bothered about being published, becoming famous or having my face minted on coins... That said getting published and earning a shed load of money would be nice!

Producing quality work and perhaps having a small following on the internet or whatever is enough for me.  I suspect that's where I differ from the majority of people on the forum who aim to get published.


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## A. E. Lowan (Jun 6, 2013)

There is a song called Breathe (2 am) by Ana Nalick with a line "It's 2 am and I'm still awake writing the this song; if I get it all down on paper it's no longer inside of me threatening the life it belongs to.  And I feel like I'm naked in front of the crowd 'cus my words are my diary screaming out loud and I know that you'll use them however you want to."

The brutal truth?  My goal is to survive the monkey on my back, and have a wonderful time with my characters along the way.  Money would be nice, too.


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## Caged Maiden (Jun 6, 2013)

My goals have changed over this twelve-year trek.  At first, it was escapism, then it turned into telling stories I liked, in a way I liked them.  Now, my goal is to finish my twelfth novel and submit something I'm really proud of and hopefully see it printed.  I think everyone who writes or pursues any form of art needs to enjoy the journey, but having goals isn't a bad idea.  Just remember to enjoy the scenery on the road, because sometimes, when you've reached your destination, it might not be as awesome as you thought it would be and you could have had more fun along the way.


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## danr62 (Jun 6, 2013)

My first goal is to get past the planning stages and actually start working on some narriative.

After that, my goal is to finish the book.

Then I want to publish it and rinse and repeat until I start making some steady money.


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## Addison (Jun 6, 2013)

My plan is to publish a book. Just one book with make me extremely happy and proud and I'd feel....completed. 

Fan art or fan fic would be interesting, maybe a little creepy. (I've seen the synopsis for some fan fics, definitely creepy)

But I don't care if the readers don't like it. Like Roald Dahl said, "I don't care if they don't like my book, so long as they finish it." But mainly it's publishing.


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## A. E. Lowan (Jun 6, 2013)

I'm of two minds about fan fic.  On one hand, amazingly flattering.  On the other hand, restraining order time creepy.


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## Draco99 (Jun 7, 2013)

As a writer, my goal is to devote my self to getting a book published, nothing big, a goal I can reach and work to by using small steps which will turn BIG.


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## The Dark One (Jun 7, 2013)

Before I was first published I used to fantasise about:

-	Being interviewed on the radio by a really insightful person who would ask me a series of questions enabling me to talk on an increasingly profound level about the story, subtexts and creative process;
-	Signing away the film rights for a million bucks in an office above Manhattan;
-	Being able to quit my day job and live off the proceeds of fiction;
-	Answering fan mail;
-	Being able to go into any book store and find my book on the shelf;
-	Walking through a train (I’m a commuter) and seeing my book being read by a stranger.

Since being published (April 2010) I have achieved the following:

-	Numerous radio interviews;
-	Film rights optioned (in Sydney, for a sum significantly below a million);
-	Still working my day job;
-	Have had approx. 100 fan emails and answered every one;
-	Seen my book in most bookstores (including airports);
-	Never walked through a train and seen a stranger reading my book.

The thing is, I still don’t feel as though I’ve achieved much and yet, looking back, I have to admit I’ve achieved most of my dreams. Dreams grow as you advance up the ladder.

My new book comes out in August and I am desperately hoping that this time I will be walking through the train and…


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