One of the reasons I think fiction writers should consider their own tastes first and audiences second is because your own taste is actually a pretty good proxy for audience taste. Maybe not always mass appeal, but none of us are so idiosyncratic that nobody but us will like what we write
The other major reason being, of course, that money, fame, and accolades are far far far from guaranteed in writing so if you write something and it nets you none of those, at least you wrote something you genuinely liked instead of something you thought would appeal to the masses
This is popping off by Bluesky standards so I’m gonna do the obligatory plug:
You can find my short fiction online at devilsdoorbell.itch.io
I also have a novelette included in this anthology through Bleeding Edge Books: bit.ly/3xHKRx5
Trying to find a Neil Gaiman post talking about this but can't. He said something like "it's when you're at your most idiosyncratic, when you're writing about something you think nobody will care about but you, that you're most likely to find an audience." Something paradoxical like that.
I’ve found this largely to be true; aspects of my writing I feel the most “oh god I’m the only one who will ever like this” about tend to be the ones readers end up liking most
the writer's voice is a voice of a reader looking to be satiated. developing it is a process of learning about what you want to read (because audiences don't know how to express that) then putting it down.
Toni Morrison was completely correct when she said, "If you find a book you really want to read but it hasn't been written yet, then you must write it."
this is why I detest quirky witty smartasses snarking at each other and winking at the camera about how dumb all this actually is. this is not a book you wanted to read that wasn't written yet, this is every other TV show and movie you've seen, again.
Thank you for making me realize about this. I've been struggling for months and doubting my writing that might not suit with everyone taste. I should have not thinking about it too much and keep writing with my style
This is hard to believe sometimes, and I’m still not sure I’ve totally convinced myself, but it is very freeing. Similarly, to write for the joy of it without constantly thinking of having a finished ‘product’.
