Simple enough question, but I’m guessing there will be wildly different answers.
What is the ultimate goal of your writing? To pass the time? To find fame and fortune? To change the world? To leave something behind? So scholars in the future can debate the meaning behind your work? To scratch an itch?
What end result do you have in mind when you put pen to paper (or fingers to laptop)?
To change the world, which is to say that I think I either have a way of looking at the world that makes more sense or I think I can start a discussion around an alternative viewpoint that will improve things.
There’s also therapy; I write many things that may become a memoir simply to deal with what I’ve been through.
Mostly, however, I want people to realize that things don’t necessarily make sense as they are arranged now and a little bit of thought and effort could change that.
I tell stories I want to read and hope someone else will like them too. At least in novel length. Short fiction I use to experiment with themes and other craft elements.
M
I’ll stick with what Stephen King said. “What makes you think I have a choice?”
What is my goal as a writer?
-to get all those pesky voices out of my head so I can have a shred of mental peace.
-get the stories I love to tell into other people’s heads (mwa ha ha ha)
-be somewhat financially compensated for telling these stories, so that I can afford to feed my kids and my animals, and not have to run a cash register ever again.
-break the silence
I also have to echo what’s been said previously… I have to write. I know what happens if I don’t. But, I do want to get paid for it and I don’t think that cheapens it any. My career goal is to write novels that sell.
My motivations are often different, one novel to the next, but one motivation threads all: I write for entertainment. I enjoy the worlds and characters I create. Then I put my stories out there to see if anyone else will enjoy them. I know I’ve succeeded when someone buys my entire series on the same day. When I stop enjoying the process, I don’t write. So there it is. I can only have one true goal as a writer: personal entertainment.
Ooh, this is a fun one.
My very first goal I set for my own writing was to create such a strong connection between my reader and my heroine that when the heroine experienced tragedy, the reader would feel her pain and cry, too.
That’s actually a couple of questions.
What is my goal as a writer?
To finish my current WIP, sell it, and start the next.
Why? Self-validation, I guess. I’d like to be able to point to my work on the shelf and say: I can do this. I can do it well. Well enough that someone paid to read it. Well enough to get paid for writing it. Maybe not well enough to get paid MUCH, but well enough to get paid SOME.
Why do I write?
Ultimately, I have to quote the old adage: it’s easier than not writing.
What is the goal of my writing?
I want my writing to tell a good story. I think my imagination is a fun place, and it’d be great to have other people enjoy it too.
I doubt my writing will change the world, but I hope it will entertain some small portion of it.
When I was going through a difficult time with three kids–two with special needs–I stumbled across a series (fiction) that pulled me out of my life and made me cry, laugh, believe in romance, realize it was okay to have troubles, etc. I wanted to do the same for someone else. That’s why I started writing fiction. (I’m a medical writer by trade.) I am hitherto unpublished, with queries and partial out. Anytime I get discouraged, I remember the true reason for what I’m trying to accomplish–to reach out to someone else and distract them from their struggles, if only for a moment.
I write to write. Fame and fortune would be nice, but I don’t think it would matter much if future scholars debate its meaning when I’m six feet in the ground.
Perhaps I write to prove myself, like ulysses said. To show people that I can not only write, but I can do it well.
Or at least I can try to do it well.
Woody Allen said, “I don’t want to achieve immortality through my work. I want to achieve immortality through not dying.”
To scratch an itch. I’ve always loved to write. Being published is icing on the cake; knowing I could do something I love, do it well enough and hone the craft enough to be recognized as successful by having it published is the ultimate dream for me. I will write anyway, keep working at making it better, hopefully grow as a writer and continue churning out work. That’s my goal – to just keep getting better at something I love. If I submit and get published somewhere along the line I’d consider it a blessing to have an audience for my hobby – I’d love for the hobby to become a career. It doesn’t have to in order for me to be happy doing it.
I used to write when I was younger and when life dropped me in Mexico without a job I decided to use that time productively.
At first my goal was to write a full-length book. Now that my memoir is with betas my goal is to write my first novel. I’m only a few thousand words in but I like the change of pace/voice/whatever.
Of course ultimately ‘d love to be published, but these smaller goals give me satisfaction as well.
1. To write something I’d enjoy reading myself.
2. To use the English language in a way that marries meaning with aesthetics.
To Ulysses: I gotta say, if writing is easier than not writing, you’re doing something wrong!
I started writing again (after a long hiatus) after my oldest child was born and I made the decision to be a stay-at-home-mom. I needed a hobby and I wanted it to be something that engaged me intellectually. I wanted to keep my mind from turning to mush amidst the day-to-day diaper changes and musical toys.
I write historicals and so spend a lot of time doing research. So I have twice as much fun, doing both the writing, which I love, and the research, which I really do enjoy.
Sure, it would be nice to touch someone someday with my writing. And it would be wonderful to make money from my writing (not working, any amount of money is a lot to me!). But, when it comes down to it, I write because I enjoy it. Writing gives me just as much an escape as reading does.
What is your goal as a writer?
Ultimately, it’s all about entertaining the reader and the people buying the books.
To make my sister laugh, cry, or go “OH SNAP.”
I have a small bone to pick: I hate it when writers say they write because they “have” to. This is such a cliche, and it’s clearly not true. You HAVE TO eat and breathe. If you’re lucky you CAN write because you’ve been given an education and you live a life that allows freedom of choice. I write because I choose to, even though it’s often difficult. So do you.
To eventually have my own fandom. 🙂
Why?: To briefly quiet the voices in my head.
My goal is to tell a great story. To have a reader fall in love with my characters the same way I did.
I have many reasons…
1. I write to tell the stories I would like to see.
2. I have no other marketable skills.
3. I simply have to.
justopenavein:
I agree with you completely. Saying “I have to write” is a rather trite attempt at being witty, and I am led to the conclusion that it means the person is embarrassed or otherwise put out by the honest answer.
If there is such an impulse, I would say it is because writing is a type of therapy, which jessica and I are the only ones to cop to.
I am stating this case rather bluntly because I do believe that a person who is not particularly honest with themselves is unlikely to make a good writer. Yes, I am saying this from experience, because I know what it means to fake it – “it” being writing, life, and so on.
Sell a bunch of books. Period. That means I’ve achieved all my other goals for writing.
My goal as a writer is way different than why I write. Why I write changes from day to day…obsession with a character or story, need to prove something, idea that is busting into my head, wanting to have people read my words etc. etc. Goal right now is to take my writing to a higher level. That involves not only getting into print but putting together a website, making contacts and working at the first steps of marketing. That also involves maintaining enough writerly energy to achieve those goals
I want to make a living doing what I love…writing. Which means: publication + audience. Is that so much to ask?
Of course, I am reminded on one of Nathan’s other posts, about playing the “If only…” game. If only I had publication + audience…then If only I had fame + fortune…then If only I had more fame + fortune that Stephen King and JK Rowling combined…
To entertain!
justopenavein: here, here!
To get the damn stories out of my head so I can stop thinking about them all the time. :/
My more fanciful goal is to one day be able to make a living at writing. Hey, no one ever said dreams were realistic…
To tell a good story well.
Of course, “good” and “well” are the operative and dynamic words (while story is the functional one).
To Scratch an itch
To change the way people think
To write words that will touch people the way my favorite books have touched me (cheesy but it’s true).
I would love to entertain people.
I also agree with MLH in that I would obviously love awards (who wouldn’t), but at the end of the day I just love writing.
It’s definetly fingers to laptop. I type much better – and much faster – then I write longhand.
To have fun.
I just like to write. Have for a really long time. I only recently put something out there for publishing, and it’s just a short story, and I only really submitted it because, well, I wrote to the contest’s prompt, so why not? I’ve always been too shy beforehand. I’m not going to change the world or write the Next Great Novel, because I’m not really trying to. I don’t have any “goals” for it. It’s something I do because I can’t spend my entire life coding.
I just like putting words on paper. It’s fun.
I know today’s topic is “what is your writing goal” and not “WHY do you write” but I’m puzzled that some of us have such scorn for the statement “I have to write.”
Well, I really do. Seriously. I just said that I have a career goal of being paid to write novels. But dude. I know what happens if I don’t write. I get bad-crazy. (I’m not kidding about this.) In an earlier comment I said that one of my writing goals is to get the pesky voices out of my head. I’m not kidding, and there are a few other commenters who have said this too.
I don’t necessarily count it as therapy (I have drugs and pshrinks and heavy metal and god for that) , but it is necessary. I live everyday with stories and characters. I don’t know where they come from and I don’t care. I just know that they need to come out of me. I can crowd up my brain quite well without all those imaginary people in there. They have got to come out on the page!!!
My responsibility then, is to learn to write well so that I can tell these stories. I guess if I’m honest I’ll admit that I have to put my ego aside and make it a goal to be a better writer. I can always improve.
Sorry for taking it off topic. Please go on with Nathan’s topic which is “What is your Goal as a writer?”
I write to calm the voices in my head. OKay, I realize that sounds a little hokey, but seriously, I can’t go to sleep at night without turning the light on like five times to jot something else down. It’s quite a curse actually.
justopenavein said…
I have a small bone to pick: I hate it when writers say they write because they “have” to. This is such a cliche, and it’s clearly not true. You HAVE TO eat and breathe.
sorry, but I must disagree. If I don’t write down the thoughts in my head do you know what happens? I don’t sleep because what’s in my head keeps rolling around nonstop, jumping from one thing to another in a massive circle until it’s one in the morning and my mind hasn’t shut down for several hours. Think of it like Restless Leg Syndrome, only for the brain (and yes, I have RLS, so I can make that comparision). Without putting those thoughts to paper I end up with a sleep-deprived headache and the next day I’m feeling pretty darn crappy, on top of the sluggish feeling, my mind has yet to shut down the characters I’ve thought of. So you see, I have to write, because a person HAS TO REST along with eating and breathing.
Yes.
And I write because I have to.
It’s really that simple. And complex; that yes answered all the questions you asked.
I write because I enjoy exploring my fictional worlds and hanging out with my imaginary friends. 🙂
I write to share my stories with others, although this is a secondary goal.
What I don’t do is write for money. I already have a pretty good job. Writing is my play time and the hours I have are limited. I could query my novels more aggressively, submit short fiction to more markets, and basically do a lot more to promote myself, but then I’d have no time to write.
My goal is to tell the best stories I possibly can about the people and places in my head. If other people read them and like them, great. If I can find someone to pay me for them without compromising my other hobbies and commitments, even better. But getting the stories into pixels remains the most important thing. The rest is extra.
To make children happy. The times I’ve smiled when reading a book as a child are priceless. Otherwise I didn’t have a lot to smile about at that time.
First–I love writing, and it’s something I will always do.
The rest/the goal–to tell the stories and just maybe I can make people love my characters as much as I do… which means selling, of course.
And justopenavein/erik
May your muse be kinder to you.
the I have to write, is not cliché, nor is it trite. Why do people working in the same field/craft feel a need to belittle those around them, because that is what your response does.
I ‘have’ to write my characters stories. It is a choice I make, yes, and it is something I love–it is my chosen art form. But if I want a decent nights sleep, there are some days that I ‘have’ to write. Everyone is an individual, so how dare you harp on what they deem necessity. You cannot speak for those you do not know, we all come from different life experiences.
Tiffany
My own personal character has been heavily influenced by the works I read as a child and a young man. Books have a way of reflecting and crystallizing real life, and our favorite characters are often foils to ourselves.
I write not so much to change the world (though that would be nice), but to hopefully help others shape themselves into the people they want to be. As my favorite authors helped shape me into who I wanted to be.
On the other hand, one of the main reasons I write is to simply provoke a response. If I can make people laugh, or cry, or look at something in a new way, I’ve been successful. Novels are entertainment, education, and sometimes even catharsis. For the author as well as the reader.
Chris
Tiffany:
> But if I want a decent nights sleep, there are some days that I ‘have’ to write.
In other words, it is theraputic. That is my point.
I apologize if I offended you, but I strongly urge you to understand what it is that you are trying to get from this particular kind of therapy. We all have our needs, but to truly live life is to understand those needs implicitly. I don’t see how it can be any other way, and I don’t see how someone can write that doesn’t have that sense of life.
Perhaps you think I am being mean again, and I’m sorry if that’s the case. But to be a writer is to ask someone to let you inside of their head for a while. To me, that’s an awesome responsibility. I don’t want to feed them something that isn’t true, and I think I can tell when people are trying to feed me something that isn’t personally true.
I take this rather seriously, I realize. You can dismiss me as an arrogant SOB and I won’t mind. But I’m not trying to be mean, not at all. Many of us feel a need to write – but where does that need come from? What is that inside of us that needs to do this? I think that question needs to be answered to make the most of it. Our readers demand a lot from us, so why not?
1) Because I can. (Growing up, I always thought “Who do you think you are? What could you possibly write that would interest other people?” Now those questions don’t stop me.)
2) Because I love words. I love playing with words, I love putting words together, I love finding “le mot jus.”
3) I love learning. I love learning to write better every day…and I love researching.
4) I’d love to have a novel (or more) published some day. Even if I couldn’t, though, I think I’d still write…because now I can.
I want people I don’t know to voluntarily pay money to read my stories and (ideally) enjoy them.
That’s it. Money? Great. Fame? Sure, why not. Personal entertainment value? Of course! But I want someone to go into a bookstore or onto a website and think “oh, that looks like a good one!” and pick it up. That’s my ultimate goal.
Tiffany, Keri, etc:
I sure didn’t mean to offend anyone. We can disagree about the semantics of “I have to,” and what it means. I respect your feeling that writing is a necessity to you. To me, saying “I choose to” has more power. That’s just me.
Is it a cliche? Well, I hear it an awful lot. BUT I have no desire to belittle anyone, least of all writers.
I see your point Erik. But I don’t think many people want to get into the philosophical/psychoanalytical reasonings for the wherefores and whys… writing is an art form. I’ve been an artist in some shape or form all my life. It’s an expression of ones self… some people like to speak louder than others… and written published words speak to thousands if not more.
I see where you are going with therapeutic means of expression, but some people just write because it just is.
It is what we are. I’m done ranting. *g*
Tiffany
Depends which project! With the fiction,it’s generally that the story is in my head and it must come out,or it’ll just keep building up…
The epilepsy memoir,I write because there is no book out there for people who’ve just been diagnosed and are dealing with anti-seizure-med hell.
Interesting point. Do I have to write? That depends (to paraphrase Clinton) on your definition of “have to”.
Is it necessary to my survival? No, of course not.
Yet writing is easier for me than not writing. When I write, I face all the obvious problems: word choice, story decisions, generalized fear of blank pages. These, however, are problems with which I believe I can deal.
When I don’t write for a while, I face a whole new set of problems. I get restless. I get depressed. I start berating myself for not scribbling so much as a line. I start wondering if all there is to me is my day job, which a large section of the Indian subcontinent can apparently do with greater efficiency for lesser cost. I have much more trouble dealing with these problems.
Is this a sign of mental illness? Is writing therapy? Maybe. I’m not a psychologist. I just know a comprehensive list of successful authors would turn up enough symptoms of obsessive compulsiveness (eg: alcoholism, addiction) to make you wonder if it’s a prerequisite (“You don’t have to be crazy to work here, but it helps!”). So if I’m not entirely balanced, at least I have a lot of company.
Do I have a choice? Yes. Everyone has the freedom to choose the consequences. It’s just that the consequences of writing are easier for me to bear than the consequences of not writing.
The “writing is easier than not writing” quote is not mine. I stole it unattributed because I haven’t been able to find the original author. It may be trite, but I consider it a shorthand way of saying all of the above, and believe it to describe my point of view about as accurately as any six words could. Your mileage may vary. If it is dishonest, then we must add “delusional” to my list of illnesses above and write off my comments as the ravings of a madman.
I’m okay with that.
I write so that I can waste all my free time trying to get an agent and reading their blogs and posting on their blogs and going to the post office and updating my self-promotional website and swimming in futility while navigating this god-and-lucifer-forsaken business whoops there goes my life sure was fun writing.
For the satisfaction of it. Yes, I want to share my stories with anyone who might be interested, it would be fabulous is my stories made some money, I’d love to see my book on a bookstore shelf, and it would be fabulous if my story impacted someone. But that’s not why I write. I do it, because when I’m not satisfied with a story that someone else has written, my imagination turns to writing one that DOES satisfy me. And when I can go back and read the words I’ve written, and get lost in a story that I know inside-and-out… it’s immensely satisfying.
My goal as a writer?
Mastery of craft.
My goal is to learn to control a novel like William Golding, turn out the prose of Charles Frazier, and plot like Dickens.
I know, I know … can’t be done. But I think you aim high, and maybe if you miss the mark somewhat, you’re still doing pretty good.
As far as everything else goes (publication, validation, therapy, pecs like Hugh Jackman), I think if I remain focused on mastery of my craft, it will follow if it is meant to be. Except maybe the pecs part …
LurkerMonkey
Wow. Much said above. Makes you think…I write for a lot of reasons. Sometimes it IS theraputic. Sometimes I see n image so clearly in my mind and it looks so cool that I want try and paint the same picture in words so I can both go back again after the mind image fades and invite other people into the image and play with me.
Sometimes I just like to write to “escape” the mundane world – and then I send the stuff out because I think there are other people who might enjoy escaping to a place similar to the one I imagined…