Authors as Audiences

[guildrone]

So, I’ve been on an especially ruminative self-reflective bent as of late—and as per my most recent check-in over on justcreate, one case of such involves questioning where exactly my creative drive comes from. More specifically, I’ve been sitting with a well-worn motto that I once thought I’d taken to heart…

Write what you want to read.

…But might have instead been taking for granted, in the sense that what I’d for a while considered as a writer to be a core appeal of much of my work is something I doubt I’d appreciate as a reader from the outside looking in—if I weren’t the one doing the aiming in the first place, in other words, I don’t think I’d be included in the target (audience) I’m trying to hit.

So, I figured I’d spin this uncomfortable case of arrested authorial development into my first shot at actually sparking discussion around here—and thus pose this variably obvious question to you in turn: What is the relationship between what you read(/watch/play/etc.) and what you write?

Comments

[phantomtomato]

I have specific areas of overlap and difference between my reading and writing and I feel comfortable with all of them, myself—but with that said, I don't see "write what you want to read" as incompatible with the idea that you might not want to read that same thing from just any author!

For my examples: I read literary fiction novels, and I write fanfic. My fanfic overlaps litfic in terms of prose, focus, common character and emotional arcs, and often settings (real-world contemporary and recent history), which is by design. I love that sort of writing, both as a reader and a creator, and I get a lot of pleasure from both crafting those sentences/arcs and analyzing them in the novels I read! But in contrast, I write shorter fiction (short story through novella length) and tend to read full-length novels; I also write explicit sex scenes, and only the more recent litfic books might have those. The shorter length works for me in terms of how I prioritize writing time in my life (as a hobby, alongside other hobbies, after full-time work), but I love full-length books! Nothing against that length at all, and perhaps I'd write it if I weren't also working, or if I gave up my other hobbies. As for sex, well, I love fanfic as a space which embraces sex, and that's something I want to be part of, and I get why pro fic doesn't usually have it (also, I read a lot of classics). But yeah, in my own writing, I'm going to make sure to add smut.

So, with all that said, I'm not any less wary about approaching new authors who seem to be writing the same things I like and write! There's a million ways to be literary, and maybe I mean E. M. Forster while another author means Henry James. Or, sometimes, a new novel gets described as litfic-with-sex and I don't think it actually pulls its weight with the prose enough to fit into that category, versus contemporary romance. I will freely admit to being snobbish in some ways, and I'll turn my nose up at a book that doesn't meet my expectations—critically, even if that's very subjective reaction to what the book is doing. As long as I'm keeping an eye on how I present my opinions (they should clearly be opinions) and I'm not too judgmental of the appeal of the thing that didn't work for me, why not think about or discuss why I didn't think it fit my expectations or live up to some genre/marketing promise?

Also, because sometimes it turns out that the point of writing what you want to read is that "what you want to read" is specific in ways that you might not even be able to put words to until you're the one writing it. (Or maybe you never can precisely define why your way is different—but that's fine, again, as long as there's some perspective and consideration in how you discuss that!) Like, the process of writing and editing can fundamentally be one of creating the phrases, sentences, characters, plots, themes, etc. that make your brain most deeply satisfied, something that you will simply never get out of reading a text by another author.

[mific]

As long as I'm keeping an eye on how I present my opinions (they should clearly be opinions) and I'm not too judgmental of the appeal of the thing that didn't work for me, why not think about or discuss why I didn't think it fit my expectations or live up to some genre/marketing promise?
That made me think about how picky I am with published writing - I'm way more judgemental about it than with fanfic, as I strongly believe in not criticising fanfic which is written for love, not profit. But I also like certain fanfic tropes and themes which tend not to be present in profic, and that can make profic seem dull, or a slog to read, sometimes. After I fell into fandom, for a while I couldn't read any novels (except fanfic ones), and although that's mellowed a bit now, I'm not sure if I've calmed down a bit in my tastes, or if professional fics are now incorporating more of the themes and tropes of fanfic (the lessons writers have learned from writing fanfic), which is why I'm finding it easier these days to read profic - which I definitely don't write!

[phantomtomato]

Ha, see, my tastes run totally in the opposite direction—if a pro novel has a lot of themes and tropes that remind me of fanfic, I'm going to dislike it! (After all, I don't look for common fanfic tropes/themes when I'm reading fanfic, so I don't want them in my other reading, either.) I probably enjoy the sorts of novels that are dull or sloggish by fanfic standards. 😅 And that's part of why I try to be thoughtful about when and how I call a book bad or critique it—I'll speak differently in my personal spaces (e.g. my own blog, or my physical reading journal) than I will in a community (e.g. my book club discord server). Other people are going to have completely different tastes, and those tastes aren't bad even if I don't enjoy books written to fit them!

[mxroboto]

Wow, yes to all of this! I'm also very picky about what I read and that's lead down some illuminating rabbit holes that's changed my storytelling and tastes forever. My writing is also usually shorter form with smut, but I also find myself not always gelling with authors of similar tastes, it's all so granular, I feel.

What hit me the most is your final point -- by fumbling into some very pleasing writing processes/scenes/lines, I've found a greater appreciation for genres or tropes I would have otherwise dismissed. I love how creative growth comes from all sides if you let it!