Why do I write?
9/5/09 17:48![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
darkemeraldsI am officially Not Writing this weekend. The novel needs a rest from me, and I from it. So what the hey, I'll just write about it.
My novel (working title Restraint), nominally a work of fanfic, is so AU that turning it from fanfic to original fic would require little more than a global S&R on two character names. The question is, should I go that route?
Logic says it can't hurt to try. There can't be much money in the niche market of homoerotic romances for women, so if I can't sell the novel to a publisher, I lose virtually nothing by turning it back into fanfic and publishing it here or on LJ.
I'm more worried about what happens if I do sell it: bad editing, being outed in my real life, giving up creative control, and losing the story's original audience--passionate fellow fans of the characters whose names I can just as easily globally change back.
Earlier in my life, publishing a "real book" was a shining goal. Why? To be read. To tell my stories. To get a little feedback. Basically, to justify the act of writing. Not only can I have all that right now on the web, unmediated by any business model, but I don't even want a "real book" made of dead trees anymore.
While I decide on my route, I need to finish the thing. My writing break ends on Monday, when I embark on a dull business trip in service of the work that does pay. There's nothing like a hotel room in the evening for getting some writing done.
My novel (working title Restraint), nominally a work of fanfic, is so AU that turning it from fanfic to original fic would require little more than a global S&R on two character names. The question is, should I go that route?
Logic says it can't hurt to try. There can't be much money in the niche market of homoerotic romances for women, so if I can't sell the novel to a publisher, I lose virtually nothing by turning it back into fanfic and publishing it here or on LJ.
I'm more worried about what happens if I do sell it: bad editing, being outed in my real life, giving up creative control, and losing the story's original audience--passionate fellow fans of the characters whose names I can just as easily globally change back.
Earlier in my life, publishing a "real book" was a shining goal. Why? To be read. To tell my stories. To get a little feedback. Basically, to justify the act of writing. Not only can I have all that right now on the web, unmediated by any business model, but I don't even want a "real book" made of dead trees anymore.
While I decide on my route, I need to finish the thing. My writing break ends on Monday, when I embark on a dull business trip in service of the work that does pay. There's nothing like a hotel room in the evening for getting some writing done.
Tags: