How You Don't Want To Write

I never want to be one of those people who only write what's popular, only write for readers, and/or only write for feedback.

I'm aware of the fact that I'll never be "Mibba famous" for what I write, will never get featured in anything, and will never be rolling in the comments/readers/recs/subscribers, but I'm happy with my writing, I enjoy what I write, and I feel like that's all that really matters.

I never want to write on a whim, because I've learned the hard way that it doesn't really work out for me. Unless the stories are super short, but even then, I have to make some sort of outline so I can keep track on everything.

I'd rather plan stories down to the last detail and occasionally lose interest in them than work on something I'm really excited for but lose complete interest after the first few chapters. I want to continuously be excited on something I'm writing, not get bored and move on to the next story.

Nicholas Sparks. All of his books are the same.

I'm still very set in my resolve that I'll never become one of those people who hops from fandom-to-fandom or from subject matter-to-subject matter based on what's popular at any given time. What I write isn't popular, but it's something I'm passionate about, and I'd rather be the best at what I'm passionate about than just merely another person who writes some tired, played-out shit that gets the reads but that I wouldn't care about.

I also don't want to be one of those people that only writes because they feel obligated to or someone who has to force it. The moment writing becomes more of a hassle to me than an outlet, I'm done.

@ Katie Mosing

Ugh, yes. Fall in love, separated by distance, then one dies or falls in love with someone else

@ Katie Mosing
City of Ember (the first few) were good, but those were more kid books. They were more centred on society than romance.

I never want to write (though he doesn't even write his own stories anymore) or be like James Patterson, ever.

I don't want to write stereotypical stories.
I want to be original.

i saw sparks:

I'm still very set in my resolve that I'll never become one of those people who hops from fandom-to-fandom or from subject matter-to-subject matter based on what's popular at any given time. What I write isn't popular, but it's something I'm passionate about, and I'd rather be the best at what I'm passionate about than just merely another person who writes some tired, played-out shit that gets the reads but that I wouldn't care about.

This. I find that passion comes from writing about what you love, not from what you think will get readers at the time. I'm not going to turn into that person that writes for the One Direction fandom because I know it'll get me readers because I'm not passionate about that. Writing is made better by that hint of passion in my opinion and I don't ever want to lose whatever passion I have in my writing just so that I can get readers.

Honestly, I'd rather have no readers and write war fiction that I'm passionate about than write something I'm not passionate about in the slightest and have thousands of readers.

house of cards.:

This. I find that passion comes from writing about what you love, not from what you think will get readers at the time. I'm not going to turn into that person that writes for the One Direction fandom because I know it'll get me readers because I'm not passionate about that. Writing is made better by that hint of passion in my opinion and I don't ever want to lose whatever passion I have in my writing just so that I can get readers.

Honestly, I'd rather have no readers and write war fiction that I'm passionate about than write something I'm not passionate about in the slightest and have thousands of readers.

Going off of this, I feel like the people that just sort of fandom-hop are never really able to get as in-depth with their characters, if that makes any sense, and those are the fanfics that typically come off as being OOC. I'm not saying that someone can't write just one piece in a given fandom and totally nail it, but I've been writing predominantly in the same fandom for over five years. I know those characters like the back of my hand, and I'd like to think that it comes across in my writing.

I enjoy Supernatural, it's been one of my favorite shows since I was fifteen, and the occasional story that I write in that fandom will get significantly more reads/recs/etc than my Big Time Rush stuff, but I'm simply not as passionate about it, so I don't write it very often. With my BTR stuff, even if I don't get that many reads, I'm still satisfied because I know how much heart and soul I put into it. My latest project has been a Supernatural fic for Gabriel Big Bang on lj, and while it probably won't get the reads, I'm insanely passionate about working on it. It's a lengthy, exhausting project, and I know if I wasn't passionate about it, it wouldn't go anywhere. On the other hand, I could be cranking out Dean Winchester smut pieces and be rolling in the readers, but that's not necessarily what I feel like writing right now

The readers and the recs and the subscribers mean absolutely nothing if I'm not satisfied with what I'm doing.

@ i saw sparks
I can't say much about the first thing, I fandom-hop so frequently that it's ridiculous. I feel that if people put in the research and enough effort, then you can nail characters whilst still being able to spread your talents around. I mean, I enjoy several bands that I infrequently write about as well as my Criminal Minds stuff and without sounding bigheaded, I feel like I've got the characters down for most of them.

Honestly, I think it depends on the person with passion. I know people that adore One Direction and those people write incredible 1D fanfics that I, as a person who cannot stand 1D, have enjoyed. I get what you mean though. I could write a Fall Out Boy or P!atD fic, but I don't think I'd be as into it because I'm not passionate about it and I think it'd turn out awful compared to anything I write for the McFly or MCR (which admittedly, I know is a big fandom, or was, whatever. Haven't checked the tag in a while) fandoms, because I'm passionate about those bands and have been since I was about 13 or 14. As long as someone's got that drive and passion, I think they'll write amazingly regardless of what fandom they're writing in or who is likely to read it.

I'm the same; if I'm unhappy with something I wrote, I wouldn't put it up because even if it were to get all of the readers in the world, I still wouldn't feel it were good enough to be consumed by the public.

@ house of cards.

I don't have a problem with the fandom-hopping in itself because as you said, a person can be really into a number of things at any given time, but I do feel like fandom-hopping is one of those things that can go hand-in-hand with the whole "only-writing-what's-popular-to-get-readers" spill. It was something I noticed a lot waaaay back when I was really active in Journals: people would try to gauge which fandoms were more popular and tailor their writing accordingly.

I feel like what I've said about larger fandoms has gotten incredibly misconstrued in that I've in no way implied that just because someone writes for a larger fandom, they're only doing so for the reads, but there is a chunk of people who do latch onto a fandom only because they know it'll get them reads, and that's not who I want to become. I in no way, shape, or form think that my writing is the bee's knees just because I've always happened to write in an unpopular fandom: I just happen to like things irl that never became a phenomenon in online fic

Going back to my previous example with Supernatural, I've written some Dean Winchester smut that's gotten a lot of reads and that I was crazy passionate about, but I'm not going to try to "tailor" my inspiration to what gets me more reads, if that makes any sense. I'm not going to be like, "Oh, when I write this, I get more reads, so I should just write this all the time!" because I wouldn't be as into it and my writing would suffer. If that were the case, I'd be an OF writer because that's the only thing I post that gains me any feedback anymore, but OF has just never really clicked with me. That's not saying that "all OF writers do it to get reads/feedback/whatever," but if I were doing it, I wouldn't be passionate about it because all of my ideas come to me as fanfiction.

I'll probably never be able to write another asshole character again, at least not while they're the narrator. I did it once and I'll never do it again, because I know I'll fuck it up, since it took me a while to get into the groove of the one asshole I did manage to write well. I don't want to write a narrator who is pissed off at everything around them without a reason.

I also don't want to write without an outline ever again. Every time I try that, I just flop around miserably until I get a clue, and it's just not a fun ride.