Self Expression

[Lavenderdays]

In the latest copy of the writing magazine, Fay Weldon has written some advice: turn yourself into the reader and write for them, by all means, but never for yourself and expect to be published. Don't inflict your need for self-expression on others; you can do this in a short blog and get away with it, but not in a novel.

Feeling a bit deflated by this because although when I set out to write my novel, it was purely a hobby, I later realised that I am addressing quite a serious life issue from which others may benefit if they read it. There is a plot/a story but I guess above all it has been very cathartic to write because some of it is based upon me as a person and some difficult life events. I'm unsure whether I have interpreted this advice correctly but now I'm thinking that I stand zero chance of being published. I don't think I would enjoy writing without there being a little self expression, so I don't view it as a waste of time...just a little deflated. Any writers out there able to clarify please?

Honestly, don't spend a minute worrying about it. The people who will decide if your book is commercially viable are publishers. And the only way to know what they think is to submit to them (via an agent if appropriate).

You enjoyed writing your novel, so it's already been worth doing. But if you also want to try to get it published, go for it! It might happen, it might not. But don't give up before you've started.

Best of luck!

I think CS Lewis said that the Narnia series was written as a set of books as he would have liked to read.

Thanks for your replies x

So Witchend, do you think from his comment that he wrote the books primarily for himself rather than other readers?

I don't suppose it really matters as I have had so much enjoyment writing my book...there always seems plenty of people who have got some sort of comment to make: it's too short, too long etc. to be a novel, if you kept thinking about all of these so called rules, I guess you might be put off starting to write in the first place.

I struggled to get my head around Fay Weldon's comment about inflicting your self expression on others because I would hope others would read it and get something out of it - it's not a self help book but something others might relate to and I suspect that because it is based on a real event that quite a bit of self expression has gone into it.