1st August 2016 | for Creatives | create for YOURSELF, artist integrity, novel writing, writing, reaching your audience, Donald Maass |
"To infuse a novel with a significance that speaks to many requires, paradoxically, that you ignore what the public wants and focus instead on what matters to you."
"You have to write what is in your heart and your mind and your imagination, and that's the place where it has to come from. I don't think that looking at what sells is the way to start a novel or a work of nonfiction. I get about 200 books a week at my house. I'm always waiting to be surprised or bowled over. You don't want to be bored."
What is success in the 21st century? It's novels that invent their own unique form, spring from a personal place, enact a passionate intent, and prove it by reaching a broad readership. It's both great reviews and great sales. It's moving hearts and changing minds. It's winning accolades and winning the devotion of readers. It's finding a way through your fiction to convey what you alone see, yet we all come to accept as the truth.
"Do what you're best at. Don't make yourself miserable doing what you think you should be doing, do what you enjoy doing. Utilize your time where it's best spent. If you have a talent and passion for blogging: Do that. If you enjoy Twitter and know the ins and outs: Do that. If you are a great public speaker and love attending writers' conferences: Do that. There's no one way to promote a book."
"Don't censor yourself. Don't chase trends. Write whatever is in your heart. If it's honest, you will find an audience."
"All I can do is write a better book and one that I'm proud of. I can't meet everyone's expectations, but I can strive to meet my own."
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