Friday, August 1, 2008

Whose Book Are You Writing?

"The books that I have written in an attempt to give readers 'what they want' have done relatively poorly.

"The books I’ve done with little or no regard for market considerations and popular appetites have had the greatest critical and commercial success. I do best when I write my book, not someone else’s."

~ Lawrence Block, Spider, Spin Me a Web: A Handbook for Fiction Writers


Whose book are you writing?

Remember, what the market is looking for today may not be what it will be looking for when your book or story is done. But what your heart calls for you to write in this moment may be just what others’ hearts will cry out to read in two months, six months or a year.

Write your story today, and let the market take care of itself.

Photo from Lawrence Block's web site

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

This is really interesting. I truly believe when one creates from their own intentions, that's when the magic happens.

I love this mini-posting. Helped me to remember to stay true to myself.

Thanks,

Greg
http://www.TheGayGuysLoveCoach.com

Mark David Gerson said...

Thanks, Greg. Very true, but I'd go one step beyond that, because sometimes we're not even aware of our deepest desire -- for our life or our writing.

For example, I couldn't have any specific intentions around The MoonQuest when I didn't even know it was in me! Nor could I carry any intentions around parenthood, when I thought I wasn't interested in being a father.

Intentions are important. But so is creating space beyond our intentions, beyond our imaginings and beyond what we think we know!

Anonymous said...

I think this is really good advice. Especially when we're dealing with the Amazon-enabled world, there's a market for any book. It's just a matter of finding and targeting your audience.