On Twitter, @sarahcpr asked an interesting question – on our blogs, who do we write for? Do we write what we like, or do we try to cater to what others like? That required more than a 140 character answer.
The truth is, I can’t write to what others want, because I have no way of knowing what it is you want to read. So, I write here the same way I write my fiction. What comes from my heart comes out through my fingers. I put everything I can into it, and I hope that someone, somewhere, will enjoy reading the final product.
While I work on Rakkot Eyes, Pierre frets. If I put in Bible verses at the beginning of some chapters, he fears that it will turn away some readers who are expecting a solidly historical read. He’s probably right. If I have temple prostitutes and women having ritual sex before marriage, then he worries that it will turn away Christian readers. He’s probably right. Either way, someone ain’t gonna be happy. In the end, I will likely have a fairly long Author’s Note at the end explaining some of my decisions. And, of course, a reminder that the story is, after all, fiction.
On a totally unrelated note, I’ve been experimenting with Magpie, a service which purports to pay “publishers” for ad space in our Tweet stream. As interesting an idea as it is (and Magpie says I could make 156 Euros a month or almost $250 CAD), I’m not prepared to lose my very nice follow list, which currently stands at 763 followers. So what I’ve done is create another Twitter account – @marie_too – and I’ve invited those who want to see/send Magpie advertising to follow me there. It’s safe to say that anyone who is following me @marie_too is quite happy to receive Magpie advertising as they’ve effectively opted-in to receive it.
Anyway, although I’ve mentioned it a couple of times, @marie_too still has less than 20 followers, one of which is my main account @mariebeausoleil – this leads me to believe that most people really, really don’t want Magpie advertising.
Word count? Are we looking for word count? Alas, in the switching of computers between me and Pierre, I lost my Nanowrimo report card. *insert crying sounds* I know that I had 38,365 words when I started, and I’m trying to write 50,000 new words. My word count currently stands at 77,203 which means I have a lot of writing to do this week.
November 26, 2008 at 12:36 pm
I completely relate to having the heart come through the fingers. It’s why I think I’ll never be able to ‘create’ on a computer. It has to travel from inside, down my arm, out of a pen and onto the page. There’s just something special too about the sound of a pen crossing a piece of paper…
November 26, 2008 at 1:59 pm
I’m with ya… I write my blog because I have to! I needed a writing avenue that I could control, rather than my endless work-writing, which bores my soul. It’s so satifying, just the process of it, and anyone else who reads or comments is another layer of enjoyment. I think we find and appreciate eachother because we writerly friends get it…
: )