What is your true purpose for writing? Is it of achieving some dream of being a best-selling author? Do you like to do it for fun? Is it some kind of angsty way to get back at your parents?
I think everyone deep down wants people to like their writing, but I feel a lot of amateur writers are only writing for themselves. What they like to read, what they think sounds cool, whatever. Maybe they aren't taking into account any sort of audience.
When I was briefly doing submission fielding for a small press, a lot of people sent me writing that baffled me. It was if they were just ignoring the basic rules of story-telling in lieu of writing something that "sounded cool."
I think it's important to write what you enjoy writing, even if that means you'll never be widely read. If that's your main purpose, great.
However, someone posed the idea to me, that would I "sacrifice my art" in order to make a quick buck writing some drivel middle-aged housewives read. And I said, "Yes."
Why? Well, even if the writing was crap, I would enjoy it and be making money off something I love. Isn't that what most people really want?
So in the end, is your "true" purpose in writing to "just be a hobby" or is it to "make some money?"
It really can't be both. Not feasibly.
I think everyone deep down wants people to like their writing, but I feel a lot of amateur writers are only writing for themselves. What they like to read, what they think sounds cool, whatever. Maybe they aren't taking into account any sort of audience.
When I was briefly doing submission fielding for a small press, a lot of people sent me writing that baffled me. It was if they were just ignoring the basic rules of story-telling in lieu of writing something that "sounded cool."
I think it's important to write what you enjoy writing, even if that means you'll never be widely read. If that's your main purpose, great.
However, someone posed the idea to me, that would I "sacrifice my art" in order to make a quick buck writing some drivel middle-aged housewives read. And I said, "Yes."
Why? Well, even if the writing was crap, I would enjoy it and be making money off something I love. Isn't that what most people really want?
So in the end, is your "true" purpose in writing to "just be a hobby" or is it to "make some money?"
It really can't be both. Not feasibly.