Sunday, April 20, 2008

The RIGHT Kind of writer

This person is a good writer.
They write the sort of stuff that the New Yorker likes to publish. Their English composition teachers would be proud to say "She was MY student."
I am not a good writer. I am a hack who writes pulp trash. I've never been good at writing poignant, meaningful stuff. But I like reading pulp trash. I like writing pulp trash. And dammit, I want to be sure that it's good pulp trash before I thrust it upon the world!
I once read that you shouldn't write for yourself, you should write for your audience.
I say why the fuck bother if you ain't writing for yourself? You'll only start hating it. Yourself is the first person you should write for--always.
Oh yeah--and despite what all the English composition teachers may tell you?
Sometimes pulp trash leaves a great impression.
Hail Lovecraft!

4 comments:

Tom & Icy said...

I heard to write for yourself and there are many others who like the same things you like.

Anonymous said...

Hi there,
I was surprised when I linked to this post from my blog. I wanted to say thank you for the reference to The New Yorker, I read it weekly. I am also aware of the irony in your using my blog to demonstrate "good writing" yet I feel as though it is a double sided compliment. I should just look at it as a compliment, as it is said any recognition is good recognition but I would be remiss if I didn't ask why? I took a look at your blog and think that we have more in common than you may believe. I have a master;s in psychology, and forensic or abnormal psychology is a great interest of mine. The book looks fascinating, for I love psychological thriller/murder/spiritual type stories. I apologize for the long comment. Thank you again for reading my blog and sharing your reaction to it. Veronica Romm

Cie Cheesemeister said...

Hi Veronica,
I didn't intend any double edged compliment. There are different types of writing, and maybe it's more of a jab at English teachers who favor one kind over another. Or perhaps I'm a bit jealous because my writing style has always been more sensationalistic than poignant but I simply don't feel genuine writing any other way. I've had to accept my status as a hack and hope that there's still perhaps a cult following for pulp trash because that's my only prayer for finding an audience.
It's actually pretty rare for me to put someone else down and I'm sorry if I came off as an asshole. If I didn't like your work I wouldn't have mentioned it. I don't see any sense in finding stuff to cut down.
Cie/Lily

Kahless said...

I agree; write for yourself first and foremost. What is the point in spending the time doing it if you aint going to enjoy it?