Can I Write What People Want to Read?

I've mentioned a few times how I want to write what I want to write without a whole lot of pressure. Face to face, I can make people laugh. Usually accidentally, but they laugh and that is satisfying to me. When it comes to my interior self, I am not that sure that I am all that entertaining.

I want to write what I want to write but I also want people to read my novel. Hence the big question, "Can I write what people want to read?" To answer this question, there are two key things to consider.

• Am I a reader?
• Do I know the bestsellers in the genre I want to write?

Aha! This is maybe an issue. I am a reader. I know exactly what I enjoy. Anything by Sue Grafton (still mourning the loss of her), Lisa Scottoline, Walter Mosley, Jonathan Kellerman, Lisa Gardner, Denise Grover Swank... You get the picture. Mysteries. I read the top bestsellers in this genre, so I have a pretty good idea of what sells.

It may sound crass to talk about bestsellers and money, but the fact of the matter is that publishing is a business. You might be disappointed to find out that it has very little to do with creativity or even talent and everything to do with providing a "product" that people want to buy.

Can I write a novel with broad appeal?

Since product is what it’s all about, you need to consider writing something with broad appeal. A lot of people aspire to write the great American (literary) novel, but the fact is that literary fiction is a small percentage of the book-buying market. If you want to be successful as a writer, a better strategy would be to aim for one of the top genres mentioned above, such as romance (55% of the US market) or mystery (27% of the market). Horror and fantasy are around 10%.

Each of these genres have avid fans, but they also have top writers who command attention every time they release a new book. Nora Roberts is synonymous with romance, but she is also associated with mystery and suspense under her pen name J. D. Robb. Stephen King is the master of horror, but he used to write other novels as Richard Bachman.

Can I be my own brand?

Even if you use a pen name, you will still have to be prepared to be your own "brand" and take the criticism along with the adulation. It can be intrusive sometimes. Success can actually make it tougher to find the time to write. It can be difficult to write a book and market it, and to not earn a lot of money, but sometimes it can be even harder to suddenly make it big and become the center of attention.

I'm not too worried about this. I am writing under a pen name as well as my own name, and the books are not flying off the shelf. Even my best friends are not racing to read me.

An important question is, "Am I a good writer?" If you haven’t picked up a pen to write a story since high school English, you might want to start small, with short stories and creative blogging, and get some feedback on your work. Warning, just because a story is short, that does not mean that it is easy to write.

Many people say to me, do I have a story for you and then they tell you about something that happened to them. Uh, what can I say? Finding ideas is not the problem for writers. Shaping that into a story is where the challenge begins. Once you shape the idea, you have to keep the action going, page by page, chapter by chapter.

What am I prepared to sacrifice to become a writer?

Most aspiring writers think about fame and fortune. They don’t think about the many hours alone working on their novel. Writing can be a lonely business. It can be even tougher if you have a family. You might have to sacrifice sleep, TV time and more to make your dream come true. I have been known to sacrifice a bridge game. Mostly I just get up early and grab those first couple of hours of the day when everything is quiet.

I'm giving myself a little lecture here. I have more desire to tell a story than I have to make fame and fortune. What would I do with fame and fortune in my Zen-like world where I struggle to meditate. Speaking of which, I got tangled up with zentangles yesterday but that is a story for another time. The post is not about Zentangles but in the comments, I got into talking about them with @peggyhazelwood and @bonkite.

Previous Posts in this series:

Writing an Episodic Novel Day 1
Writing an Episodic Novel Day 2