@loorthedarkelf8353

1 year ago

When I was an adolescent and had just discovered the ability to write words and be understood by a reader, my mother thought the most helpful thing she could do was give me the notes for the book she never managed to write while ALSO telling me I should NEVER share my ideas with others; I should assume that they're out to steal my ideas. I found this... Weird and hypocritical. I never agreed to write anything for her. I was 13 and just discovering the fun, and she handed me a fucking writing assignment and told me my ideas were pure gold but also never to speak them aloud. Then she started giving me Writers Digest magazines every month. I tried to read them, but it was all about marketing yourself to an agent. What parts of your Work need to be edited down, what things you need to cut before you've even been seen IN HOPES of being seen. None of it was writing advice for other writers talking shop-- just how to sell it. I became deeply insecure in my ability. I had no desire to sell, I just wanted to tell a story. I escaped to the realm of FanFiction where there is no publishing pressure- or, at least, not ECONOMIC publishing pressure. The question I got asked over and over and over was When Are You Going To Write Something You Can Sell? This grift feels like a fully weaponized version of that pressure.

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