Writing to Your Passion or The Market?

[Anacoana]

There's no point in writing to the market. It's constantly changing and in flux, that once you've taken who knows how long to write a book the fad's already long gone. Passion is what you should write with. That doesn't mean not doing your research on how to be a good writer, but you should write a story you love, not something you're hoping to make some quick cash with.

[KS Crooks]

Ideally you write for your passion, since the longer you do something you don't enjoy the worse you will become at doing it. As for writing for the "market", who has ever figured out what the "market" wants. Usually by the time people determine what people are looking for it is already tapped out. How many dystopias featuring a strong female character who has to fight for her life, were around before the Hunger Games compared to a few years after. Now if someone writes that type of story it may seem tired or a copy. I would say write what you like then do your best to find those who like the same thing.

[vadadagon]

Ideally you write for your passion, since the longer you do something you don't enjoy the worse you will become at doing it. As for writing for the "market", who has ever figured out what the "market" wants. Usually by the time people determine what people are looking for it is already tapped out. How many dystopias featuring a strong female character who has to fight for her life, were around before the Hunger Games compared to a few years after. Now if someone writes that type of story it may seem tired or a copy. I would say write what you like then do your best to find those who like the same thing.

I agree. Many folks feel that Divergent is a sad copy of The Hunger Games but in reality they books came out almost at the same time (which means unless the authors knew each other) highly unlikely since the time it takes to write and edit a book is longer than a few months.

[ALynnPowers]

I would much rather write for myself than for other people, regardless of what sells.

[pretzelsnow]

I would write for passion but because of my passion and love of writing I would like other people to enjoy my beautiful stories

[Cheyennepeyton]

A very good question to ponder. But don't ponder it too long or else you will become like one of those writers who selfishly assume that their passion is our passion. It might be but that should not be the sole reason for writing. Writing is a very personal endeavor. It usually is inspired by things that have happened to us. And when writing a diary, whose reader is only you, then writing with only passion makes sense. In fact, keeping a diary is a great way to explore our passion and be as free with it as possible.

But when writing for a larger audience, then the marketplace must be a consideration. To be sensitive to your reader is to be respectful of your reader. Like it or not, a writer who shares their work with other readers has an obligation to write with a reader's involvement in mind. Like someone who goes on and on without getting to the point, a writer can't afford to bore their reader with platitudes that only matter to them.

Furthermore, a writer who expects readers to actually pay for his or her books, needs to write in a manner that both reveals their passion but also keeps moving along so the reader does not lose interest. Twitter is a great example of one of our social media options that demands that if you post something you must keep it brief. A person who doesn't like Twitter because of that limitation is a person who falsely assumes that what they have to say is more important than the rest of the world. Writers who write only from their passion run the risk of being writers who are never read.

[rajesh]

Passion

[lorenicole]

I believe if you are writing for passion your work flows and makes for better reading. I write only what I am passionate about so that I don't get bored with it or think that it's just a hassle. I believe that passionate creations make for great books and will stick around longer on shelves and in minds.

[Avid SciFi Fan]

I agree.

I write for myself, but keep the market in mind. My writting is only a hobby and I'm not trying to make a living off of it. I'm a sci-fi fan, so I write stories in that area. I try to have fun with the stories and characters, and can only hope others will get the same enjoyment out of them.

[Snickerdoodle9]

WRITE FOR YOUR PASSION!! If you write for the market, very likely you will hate it. If you hate how can you recommend it or sell it? If you write for the market, most likely that fad or craze will be over. Then your book will just be outdated, even if recently written. It is better to write for you.

[Brandi Noelle]

Write for passion. If I tried to write anything I wasn't passionate about, it would fail to impress. There's a big audience out there...you will appeal to some and not others.

[Archie Tewksbury]

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[fergie]

It depends on the market, I think. For novels, I'd always say passion, and experience. Write what you want to write; write it stunningly well and in an original way, and you'll have a good novel (hopefully!) After all, Harry Potter was turned down endlessly, so was Beatrix Potter. So the idea that people don't want to read about boy wizards may have sounded true but wasn't. I think if you try and write a novel you think is "marketable" or like something else, by the time you've done it, that fad may be well gone, or the market will be saturated.

If, OTOH, you want to make money selling short stories, it seems to be particular markets that pay. For example, women's mags and fantasy/sci fi. I always struggle with that question: should I be working on my novel, which will take 2 years to write and may be unpublishable/unpublished or working out how to write women's mag stories that pay?