The IWSG Question of the month: When you set out to write a story, do you try to be more original or do you try to give readers what they want?
The short answer: A little of both. To a point.
The long answer: I’ve spoken to several writers who think writing to market means cheapening your craft. I’m not sure where they got that idea. If you want to publish with any kind of success, you’ll have to have some idea of where your story will fit in the market.
It’s not enough to say it’s a Young Adult book, for example. What kind of YA? What are the subcategories? What are the reader expectations in those categories? It doesn’t mean you have to write cookie-cutter stories to fit into those categories. You can, but you don’t have to.
With every story you write, you make it uniquely yours. You pour in your personal perspective, your ideas, your heart.
Of course, you can always go the completely original route that blasts through genre walls, but you’ll have a harder time selling the story. Harder, but not impossible. You never know, you could trail blaze your way into a new genre.
I’ve chosen the easier route. I write what I love and I just so happen to love some specific genres. They aren’t the wildly popular genres like many of the romance subcategories, but they have a loyal fan base.
What about you? Do you write what you love to read or something completely different?
This post was written for the IWSG. Every first Wednesday of the month, members post on their blogs about their writing insecurities or offer some encouragement to others. If you are new to the IWSG or want to learn more, then please go HERE.
