Today I offer a bit of free advice for all of the people riding the crest of the "blog for success" Web 2.0 craze (or are we at 3.0 by now?): Writing to make money and win acclaim is a fool's game.
Sure, folks like J.K. Rowling lead a pretty nice life with the houses, and the travel, and the book tours, and the fawning fans. But as a dogmatically raised Catholic, I have to ask: Where's all the sacrifice and spiritual suffering?
Plus, as any devoted reader of King Lear would know, we're all Fate's dupes and payback is a bitch. The higher the arc upward, the heavier Dame Fortune's wheel will fall on the turn around.
There is of course the shining example of Edgar Allan Poe, who suffered for his art and died madly roaming the back-ways of Baltimore. The recognition came postmortem, but that's a bit too grimy of an existence. And the streets aren't as soft a place to lay your head these days, what with all the paving.
No, the real trick is to strive for success in mind only. A writer's greatest gift is the imagination, so what better place to savor the fruits of our fictive labors than solely within the boundless confines of our make-believe engines.
Write, write, write as you must, but cast your words out to the wind careless of whose ears, if any, they trickle into. If the worlds you create with penned lines or keystrokes are populated by imaginary characters, won't they appeal best to pretend audiences?
Conjure the smiles on their faces as they peruse your poetry and prose. Summon up fantastic sums making their way wirelessly into your bank account. Sit back in your tattered chair and feel it transform into a throne well placed in a palatial estate, no longer the cramped apartment of a wannabe writer. Success in the surreal world is never-ending.
14 comments:
Absolutely loved this piece Francis. As one of your imaginary fans I dare to say the words have trickled into my ears and tickled my brain. Most of us "dream" of greater recognition but resign to the fact that it is only an illusion or a fantasy. So why not at least write for our imaginary fans?
Well done my friend. Well done.
~JD
This is a brilliant piece of writing.
But.
I'm not sure I can agree. I don't advocate getting into writing for the money (because seriously, who would do that?) but I do strive for success in the actual world as well as the internal one. For me to do anything else - while worshipping bands and photographers and designers who all worked incredibly hard to get recognised - would be disappointing.
I'm not saying I want to be famous (and certainly not that I reasonably expect to be), but that writing can form part of a cultural generation in the same way music or fashion can. If John Lennon had only wanted to write songs for himself in his room, my life would be much poorer for it. Working to get your writing read on a wider scale can be good, for some people some of the time.
Phew.
Well, that post certainly made me think.
well written and thoughtful Francis..
@JD I'm glad this piece tickled your fancy.
@Fiendish I'm not sure I completely agree with the piece either, as it was written mostly with tongue in cheek. It was also partly written out of the personal frustration at being occupied with so much non-writing work.
You should definitely promote yourself as much as possible. I think your writing deserves it, and you'll meet with much success when you do.
All I really want is the free time to write and create, but unfortunately it's still a luxury I can't always afford. I enjoy the process of writing itself, and don't really need to find a larger audience than the wonderful folks who read my blog now ... although it would be nice ;).
@Robert Thanks. I'm glad it turned out well since I was just trying to write a piece about not having time to write.
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Masterfully written post Francis, I really enjoyed it. Your points are brilliant.
Interesting, but I think writing for imaginary people will lower the quality of writing, because you'll forget that they don't know everything you do.
Gosh! I started my blog by accident, in a way, and am continuously amazed that people read it and comment. That's more recognition than I could ever have hoped for:) xxx
Hi Francis, I agree with Fiendish. At the back of my mind, I hope I would be read by people, even if to comment on how badly I write. At least, I'm being read.
And I'm not your imaginary fan. I'm you real fan (smiles).
All the best.
@Hapi Thanks for the tip.
@JC Thanks ... it seems to have provoked some very thoughtful responses :).
@Ferox Yes, it's advice that I hope no one will actually follow ... although I usually do, but look where I'm at :).
@BlackCat I was quite taken aback when I learned the extent of the cat-blogosphere.
@Jena The point of writing is communication, so if it's unread than it's not achieving it's purpose. But that said, I can still have my fun and live in my world of make believe.
Francis,
As someone who is pursuing the tradtional publishing route and has an agent waiting for the next manuscript...I'm beginning to think that writing for my imaginary audience is much more satisfying and fruitful.
Hugs,
Lisa
If you create something that is grand enough with your imagination readers will park their cars and come see it. This is the most exciting thing. But where is the thing buried? I know it must be around here somewhere.
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