New article on the main site: Writing With Integrity: Why Everyone SHOULDN’T Like You.
Because writers are so often pushed to do anything that will get them more readers (and I’ve been through this, and can attest that it happens), I think it’s important to point out when changing what and how you write to pursue new readers is a good idea, and when it’s a bad idea.
Holly, hav’nt taken it all in yet but looks like a very important observation. I am going to read it time and again till I have every last phrase fixed.
At last some one appreciates “The grumpy old man.” A phrase I hate “at my age” has some meaning! I have the time to see, observe, and now to comment. Great! Thanks Holly.
Holly, you are so very inspiring to me! All your articles and e-mails are extremely helpful, in more ways than one. I’m a young writer who wishes to one day get my work published and inspire other young readers, as well. This article, and all the others I have read of yours, are guiding me in the direction of making my dreams come true. I want to be an inspiring writer one day, one who has readers who will love and remember my stories for a very long time. I wish to have readers who want to live in the worlds I build, and want to be the characters I create.
But anyways, before I read this article, I was thinking of changing up my story for the sake of someone who thought my story would be better off a certain way. I got a bit discouraged, and was actually considering it for a while. But after reading this article, I realized I’ve put so much thought, work, time, and love into my story that I should not have to change it, based on what a few relatives have to say. I’m going to make my story come to life my way, the way I want it to.
Thank you so much Holly =).
Thank you so much for posting this article. I write science fiction but with gay characters and it has been extremely difficult not to listen to people who say that stories like this cannot work…that I needed to have straight people and a romance between a man and a woman instead of a m/m romance. I really needed this article.
M/M romance is huge. So obviously someone is writing these stories, and obviously they work. Why shouldn’t you write what you love to write?
I came across Holly Lisle website recently. Simply, I am positively influenced by her articles.
No offense at all but I remember that on another article you told writer’s there should be no “but’s” and that if an editor tells you to change something about your writing you should to be successful. it was “How To Tell Who WON’T Make It in Writing (and How Not to Be That Writer)”
You wrote:” If an editor tells you that you’re going to have to give the story a real ending, ‘But I want to leave the reader in suspense . . .’ is going to get you round-filed and lose you a big opportunity.”
So, isn’t that changing your writing to fit the editor and to make money, which the exact opposite of what you’re saying here?
It’s a good article, but it seems you’re changing your tune here.
Hi, Mistie,
You’re mistaking content with technique. It’s a common mistake, and it causes a lot of writers a lot of problems.
If you have written a story that is true to your heart and soul, with a strong theme and rich conflict between characters, and your editor asks you to change the theme of the story to fit a philosophy abhorrent to you, or to destroy some of your main characters and most of your conflict to fit a shorter story length, you walk away.
If your editor, however, likes your story content, likes your theme, and points out that you have utterly screwed the pooch on the ending because you have not GIVEN the story an ending, listen to your editor.
How To Tell Who WON’T Make It in Writing is directed at preventing writers from becoming people who think every word that falls from their fingertips is golden, just because it fell from their fingertips; who make excuses for real, technical flaws; and who think their technique IS their writing.
Why Everyone SHOULDN’T LIke You is about how to write while not selling your soul.
I’m reading this after a year and a half of media classes where they stress finding “your target audience” and crafting content to that audience’s preferences and buying strategies, but they give me precisely squat about how to find my TA. I say that first because I have two comments, and without the preface, they might seem dischordant. So, first, this article is the most concise, precise, workable definition of a target audience AND tutorial on finding it I have ever seen…and I’ve seen a lot.
Second, it is refreshing and liberating to realize that I am my own TA! I’ve been inundated with variations of “it doesn’t matter if YOU like it; what matters is whether John Q. Audience will like it, and whether we can use it to sell commercial time.” The reminder that there are people out there who like what I like and don’t like what I don’t like is so incredibly encouraging. In a strange way, it says that I’m important enough for someone in media to base a program and ad campeign on what I like… and it’s perfectly acceptable for me to target that same audience. That’s something I needed to hear. Thanks.
Holly, I find the timing on this hilarious and telling, though not completely for the obvious reasons.
My NaNo this year is a riff on the theme of following your heart where creativity is concerned instead of where others think you should go.
And it’s a romance. I started writing with the intention of writing science fiction (and you know I still do that as well
) but every time I write a romance, I start to doubt my reasons. However, these characters DO wake me up in the middle of the night and tease me when I have other things to do. Guess I’m destined to be a multi-genre author. Now I just have to sell some of my long fiction, right?
Thank you for the article, Holly. I don’t want to clog up your comment feed with my own tales of woe, but I am thankful that I’ve finally stepped out of the dark block that’s crippled me for so, so long after writing what everyone else said I should instead of what comes naturally from me. It’s good to be back, and your article is spot on. {{huggs}}
It’s not only the writing, it’s the whole scope of one’s life this article applies to. I have been struggling with some family issues for all of my life, and this article just told me plain and bold what my problem is. By having courage – at last – at the age of 50 – to live my life the way I want it I upset tremendously some people, people close (by blood) to me. I also gained friends who are precious to me because we share the same ideals. Thank you Holly for helping me grow stronger.
I am an author and I have read quite a few articles on writing, being successful, and building your reader base. THIS IS ONE OF THE BEST IF NOT THE BEST!
Thanks,
Christa
“I want the latitude to write complex, twisting plots and layered, complicated characters…” Oh yes! Yes! Yes!
I loved this piece, Holly. This truth has not been proclaimed widely enough. So often authors, especially aspiring authors, pursue “success” without first thinking about what success really means to them. You have to be true to yourself in your writing, or else you will inadvertently skewer a part of yourself with your own pen.
-TimK
This is a timely article for me. I recently came to the conclusion that I am writing for an Andre Norton audience in a Laurell K. Hamilton market. This means, obviously, that I am not going to easily find my readers. This has encouraged me to keep trying, though, rather than deciding I just don’t fit. Thank you.
You always seem to know the right thing to say at exactly the right time. Thanks for a(nother) great and insightful article. Your words of wisdom apply to all of life and not just writing and I’m so glad you’re out here doing what you do (and most importantly, being true to yourself!)
Nancy
Great article, Holly.
I like the prostitution analogy. Although I’m not sure it goes far enough; prostitutes often as not only sell their bodies (or at least, only try to), while writers who sell to readers they don’t like are willfully putting their souls on the market.
Oh, and thanks for not selling out. One of the major reasons I keep buying your books and visiting this site is that I can always count on you to write honest work
Another great article, Holly. I know for a fact that I’ll have to come back to this once I get a few books out. One of my weaknesses is that I’m always trying to make people like me or what I’ve made, and I’ll have to learn that an attitude like that will only bring trouble as a writer.