This might be oversharing, but I have very few childhood memories. Why is not important to this. One that I do recall, when I was almost 5 years old, was experiencing Star Wars (Episode IV: A New Hope) for the first time,
What I recall was hearing that big, soaring, amazing John Williams theme, the text scrolling up the screen. Then the pan down to the planet. Idyllic. Peaceful. Until Tantive IV and a Star Destroyer fly in, blasting lasers at each other.
I was hooked. My love of sci-fi was fully realized in that moment. And it has brought me joy ever since.
Five years later, I wrote my first sci-fi book. It was 50 pages, illustrated, and quite possibly would have caused a child psychologist to want to study me more closely. Wildfire had robots, lasers, rebellious kids, and awful drawings of them (dammit Jim, I’m a writer, not an artist). At age 9, I’d begun a journey I’d take up in fits and starts again and again over the next 30 years or so.
A Page from Wildfire.
Along the way, I added fantasy to the mix. Which, given the nature of Star Wars, makes perfect sense. Space wizards with laser swords totally leads to swords and sorcery. Writing tales of far-away, probably non-existent worlds sparked my joy and broadened my imagination.
When I had the chance to start writing full-time, sci-fi took the lead. So, this leads to an interesting and – for the sake of selling my work – important question: who are these books for?
Writing for me, writing for you
While I’ve explored this topic before, a recent conversation has brought it back to mind. Who are these books that I write for? Are they for me? For a broader audience? Both?
This got both more and less complicated when I shifted from writing as a pantser to writing as a planner. As a pantser (how I wrote for over 30 years) I would sit at the keyboard and write what came to mind. Characters and situations in worlds I could see, taste, touch, smell, and feel, in my mind. Goals they were working towards. Along the way, together we’d find the plot.
As a planner, I spend time developing the background and plot for why/what/how the characters and situations exist. From that initial plan, though, when I write the scenes, I sometimes find elements not previously laid out, as well as characters and situations not previously planned for.
To some degree, writing as a pantser means I am writing for me but keeping you, at least somewhat, in mind. To some degree, writing as a planner means I am writing for you as much as I’m writing for me.
This is why the plot in my Forgotten Fodder and Savagespace series is central and the main focus, whereas in my Void Incursion series, it’s central, but not the main focus.
Writing for me and writing for you is both a distinction and a blurred line. However, a conversation with my wife is leading me to consider blurring it further.
But first…
Photo by MJ Blehart
Who are these books for?
Sci-fi is a very hit-or-miss genre. Especially with all the sub-genres within it. Finding the audience for my work has proven time and again to be a bit of a challenge.
Void Incursion and Savagespace both have an underlying alien invasion theme (though they are not at all the same). Both are also sci-fantasy, but again, they are not the same. Only the last book of Void Incursion was planned/plotted, whereas all of Savagespace was planned.
Forgotten Fodder is a crime/conspiracy sci-fi series featuring clones (who no longer have the job to do for which they had been created). It’s the first series I wrote wholly from a plan. And I’m not done with it. I’m adding a short story that will be coming out in an anthology in October, have a short-story prequel you get when you sign up for my newsletter, and am working on 4 more books in the series as of this writing.
These books are for you and me. But this still begs a question that has kept more than one author up at night. If I write more to my audience, am I a hack?
This is a fine line that also gets blurred. The definition of a hack, when it comes to writing, is someone who panders to their audience. You write only for your audience, not for the love of the craft and the joy of creating.
This is where Generative AI is especially problematic. As a tool to assist you, it can help a writer get unstuck, work out titles and marketing options, and offer suggestions for plots and plans. But it can also be abused and used to write by hacks to attempt to only make money.
This is where the question leads to another.
Who are these books for? Why do I write them?
I know I’m not a hack because the idea of pandering to my audience and writing something, just to make a buck, raises my hackles. (See what I did there? Hack? Hackles?) I write these books for you, but also for me and the joy that they bring me.
The blogs I write also fall into that category. I love sharing ideas I have, and my imagination, whether the topic is the ongoing writing process, conscious reality creation, mindfulness, or whatever.
Who are these books for? Everyone who loves to imagine, and visualize different worlds, creators, and the like. People like me, who are inspired and empowered by imaginative places, characters, and situations.
So, what if, to earn money more easily, I shift to a more money-making genre? Does that lead to pandering to my audience? This is an idea my wife and I have bandied about of late.
Who are these books for? Upon deeper examination, I can see that if I still take joy in the work, even if it’s intent on earning me more money, they are still for me and you. Ergo, I can write anything that brings me joy, sparks my imagination, and also earns me a living.
If, however, I find no joy in the work, and it’s utterly not for me, I will know I’m crossing the line to becoming a hack. Something I believe I have sufficient integrity not to do.
I think that’s enough ruminating for today. Thanks for reading.
As I share my creative journey with you, I conclude with this: How are you inspired to be your own creator – whatever form that takes?
Please take a moment to check out the collection of my published works, which can be found here.
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