...well I'm a day late, so I do apologise for that, I've been busy posting over in my other blog (attached to my writers website). So today I am going to answer the question, but first a little reminder about what the support group is about...
The first Wednesday of every month is officially Insecure Writer’s Support Group day. Post your thoughts on your own blog. Talk about your doubts and the fears you have conquered. Discuss your struggles and triumphs. Offer a word of encouragement for others who are struggling. Visit others in the group and connect with your fellow writer - aim for a dozen new people each time - and return comments. This group is all about connecting!
This weeks optional Question is:
'When you set out to write a story, do you try to be more original or do you try to give readers what they want?'
My answer is:
When I set out to tell a story, or write a story, I try to be original. The story is something that I am in love with, something that is niggling at my brain and fingers to be told. I have written many ideas, but only followed through on expanding on a few. Those few really wouldn't leave my mind alone, and by that I mean that I kept thinking about the story, the characters and the world they lived in.
Time and again I would go over, the whole concept, adding more to it in my mind, and writing down everything I could remember. There is an old adage that says if you write what you want to write, or the story inside you, you will find the readers. I believe that because in the present day, there are very few 'NEW' ideas. Most have already been thought of, what is new is how we write them, what happens to our characters, who they are, what they look like, how they react to the situations we as writers put them in.
I don't believe in giving readers what the market says they want. If I did that, it would lead to me never writing a word, because I believe that you just can't please everyone and trying to leads to madness, depression or apathy. Also there is the whole following a script aspect to it, it becomes stale, boring (don't forget, this is only my opinion).
Readers are intelligent, they can figure out when a writers heart and mind is not in what they are writing. I am not a believer in writing to make a fortune, would I like one, sure, but to write for the market is, in my mind, treating the reader as if they don't mind what we give them, that we don't really think they can handle the work we are creating. So, for me, it's original all the way.
Great outlook! How we write the stories is what makes them original.
ReplyDeleteAnd you're not late, at least not where I'm located. It's still 8AM on Wednesday here!
lol, were I am, it was a whole day later lol
DeleteAgreed! If we gave readers what we thought they wanted, I think there'd be no niche genres--like my favorite, Westerns.
ReplyDeleteso true
DeleteI find myself wondering if there are certain genres that punish originality and certain genres that reward it. In can't help but think of cozy mysteries I used to read with my mother when I was young. Those tended to be rather predictable, and I think a lot of the readers in that genre come to it looking for the comfort of the familiar, while a lot of readers of science fiction seem to be specifically seeking out something new.
ReplyDeleteI read once, a long time ago, that some mysteries like the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew were written to a formula, and some Romance novels were also written to a script or formula. Which did indeed make them all sorta the same. Now while that is good for some, for me it was too predictable. A Lovely memory to have with your mom tho.
DeleteYou can't please everyone. You just have to write what's in your heart and please a few.
ReplyDelete