Dedicated to Entertaining
1st July 2016 | for Creatives | the successful artist, writing, reaching your audience, Jonathan Franzan |
"I don't see any reason to think that the particular kind of literary writer who's dedicated to entertaining as well as to writing without cliché would not continue to have a shot at finding a commercial-sized audience. And the possibility of that larger audience is important."
Similar for Creatives
Exposure Cannot Be Measured
"If you do care about having a go at this writing thing as a proper career, do not write for exposure. Exposure cannot be measured, and you might as well write for any number of invisible things: the dreams of sleeping kittens, perhaps, or mystical unicorn turds. You should always be getting something measurable for your writing."
Count Clichés
"Read the first five pages. Count clichés. If you find one, the buzzer goes off: it's not a serious novel. A serious novelist notices clichés and eliminates them. The serious novelist doesn't write 'quiet as a mouse' or paint the world in clichéd moral terms. You could almost just substitute the adjective 'cliché-free' for 'serious.'"
Write More
"That critical fan base comes as you write more ebooks, continually learn and offer something new with each book. Deeper emotion, more twists, a new high concept or more raw gut appeal."
Rise to the Challenge
"I like to believe that my readers are as smart as the writers I hang out with, and they will rise to the challenge. We teach our readers how to read our books in the first paragraph, in the first word. We set up a contract with them."