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Writing for No One by Julie Falatko
Recently Colby Sharp and I got talking about picture books, and picture book writing, and how there’s always going to be someone who doesn’t like your book. And Colby said:
Yeah. Of course. The kids. But I couldn’t deny the panicky feeling welling up in my chest.
And then New York Times bestselling picture book author Drew Daywalt chimed in:
Right. Crud. What moves and entertains the kids.
The panic turned to hyperventilating. Because here’s the truth.
I don’t write for those kids.
Then Colby also said:
Such a beautiful image to a writer. The thought of children curled up with a book – my book!
Deep breath. I don’t write for those kids either.
Ok, I will admit that, now that I have a book deal, I will sometimes be in a gathering of children – at the playground, say, or at swim lessons – and I will close my eyes and send brain messages to all of them. “You are reeeeaaaaderssss. You will loooooovve my boooook.” So I hope all those kids, the ones in libraries and at bedtime, read my story and love it.
But I didn’t write it for them.
I happen to have four children of my own, all young enough to still be picture book readers (although, of course, I still consider myself young enough to be a picture book reader). As luck would have it, each of my children has a different kind of favorite book, so I can theoretically read my stories to them, and if they like them, then I could extrapolate outward, and assume that other children in the general populace, those like Child A, B, C, and D, will also like my stories. (Do note that my children have actual names, and I only refer to them as Child A, B, C, and D when I am using them in mathematical equations.)
Except (deep breath) I don’t write for my own children either.
Alright, here it is, for real, the truth: I only write for me.
That feels good to get that out.
Sounds selfish, doesn’t it?
But the truth is that I get these stories, the gift of these stories in my own head, and I write them down to amuse myself. I write the stories that I like, that I would want to read.
Do I want other people to like them? You bet. A LOT. More than you know.
But that comes after.
First I write for me. And I’m hoping that, the same way I can extrapolate outward from my children, I can extrapolate from my own head too. I know there are other people who like the kinds of stories I do, and I’m really hoping they like them when I’m the one writing them.
I mostly only know how to write by how I do it. But I have trouble imagining how to write for other people, with an audience in mind. I’m curious, writers, is that what you do? (And I’m worried that you do, and I’m going to seem even more egotistical and selfish.)
Julie Falatko writes from her home in Maine, where she sometimes reads her stories to her family members. Her first picture book SNAPPSY THE ALLIGATOR (DID NOT ASK TO BE IN THIS BOOK) will be published by Viking in the summer of 2015. She’s on Twitter as @JulieFalatko, blogs at http://worldofjulie.com, and is the picture book reviewer for the Brain Burps About Books podcast.
Nerdy Book Club 
Oh, how I love a good NBC post that really makes me think! We are knee deep in our writing and we talk about audience and we talk about being writers. Here’s my opinion on this, I both agree and disagree. We write for ourselves. We have to or we wouldn’t write! The writers in my classes work with revision partners and eventually writing groups. When they get conflicting advice, I tell them that, “YOU are the writer. You decide. It belongs to you.” (Writing for oneself.) We also talk about who’s reading it or who the intended audience is and to keep that in mind. Maybe we shouldn’t use words like loquacious or phalanges if we are writing for six year olds. Keep in mind what their background knowledge may be and interests and on…(Writing with audience in mind.)
My guess is you do the second so naturally, you don’t even consider it as a conscious choice. Thank you so much for this thoughtful post. I’m going to share it with my sixth graders and talk about it today. Ask them what they think as writers.
I will definitely also say that while I write for myself, I do consider audience in revisions. For instance, in Snappsy (the picture book I have coming out in 2015) I had a few “grown-up” words in there (most notably: beatnik) and the editor pointed them out and had me change them. So it’s not like I’m COMPLETELY disregarding audience. Just that, especially for first drafts, I definitely write for me.
Well, the cat’s out of the bag now. I write for me too. Selfish girls, we are. 🙂 But really, I do. I write the books I wanted to read as a kid. I write for my 5 year old self, or my 8 year old self, or my 12 year old self, depending on if I’m writing PB, MG, or YA. Of course, I do hope, one day, some other kid, like me or not like me, will also want to read them.
YAY! Thanks for confessing with me. I think that it comes down to two things: 1) we’re not THAT unique, and stuff that pleases us is likely to please someone else too, and 2) there’s no way you could ever write a book that was for everyone, so why not start from the reference point of the reader you know best (yourself).
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I agree with this completely, especially with stories for young adults. It wasn’t until I decided to write a story completely for me, not for an editor or agent or publisher, that I was able to create a character with an authentic enough voice to interest an agent and editor. Taking the reader out of the equation gave me the freedom and courage to let the character be himself. When I stopped worrying about what readers might think about the character and focused completely on simply writing him as he truly was, I found his voice.
YES YES YES. You bring up the other thing that is huge for me, and that’s voice. I’m kind of obsessed with it. I want to hug books that have strong and distinctive voices, and I want to write them also. And as soon as I think, “who should I write a story for?” the voice gets watered down at least 56%.
Lol, I love this post because for me — it feels more like at times that trying to hold our imagination IN is the bigger problem. A new story is like my dog seeing a squirrel outside – I need to get out…I need to Get OUT … I NEED TO GET OUT! …so while it can seem selfish to write for ourselves …we are actually just opening the door that lets our imagination race outside with the story to play.
Exactly! Can you imagine getting in front of your dog and saying, “Now who are you chasing this squirrel FOR?”
Julie, I’m so with you on this; I write for me also. Because I am the one and only reader I know I can please all the time. I write to work stuff out, to make myself laugh, to explore the what ifs in life. If I worry about the readers (and here I’m talking about drafting and my own experience) I won’t be honest and I’ll censor too much, thinking I’m going to offend someone or not capture their experience properly. I’ve tried to write for a specific demographic or reader, but it just doesn’t work for me. The honesty I find when I’m writing for me is often universal–the experiences many people have are the same. Or, if not the experiences, the feelings.
I think most of us writers have read Stephen King’s ON WRITING and he talks about writing with the door closed–we need that solitude to draft our stories for us, to get them out without distraction and intervention.
And really, if you’re not writing for yourself first, why bother? It sounds selfish, but it’s not, Julie. I think we all do it to some extent, but it’s brave of you to talk about it because I think people looking in want to think we always have our readers in mind. I have my number one reader in mind at all times, and that reader is me. And really, who will read my book eighteen-thousand times? Only me, so I may as well like it and relate to it.
The editing, though, that’s another story altogether; we have to edit for others when we’re looking to share our stories.
Thanks for sharing this post, Julie!
Thanks so much for replying, Joanne! I was just listening to your interview on Matthew Winner’s podcast, and I love the part where you said you know the humor’s working when the story makes you laugh. I feel the same way. And then I feel like an obnoxious jerk. Like, just give me a beret and a black turtleneck, so I can prattle on about how hilarious I am. But you’re right — it’s not actually selfish (or obnoxiously jerky).
I just have to hope that I’m human enough that other humans will find something in my books they like.
First draft — I write for the character. He or she experiences something and I write that down in a voice that seems to come out of that experience. While I enjoy seeing what happens, I’m mostly being true to Ruby or Milo or Zoe or Max.
Second draft — that’s more for me. Making it sound right, making the events more cohesive, etc. Satisfying my writer/reader self
Later drafts — those are for the kid reader. This is where I make sure that Ruby’s experience and whatever fancy pants writing I might have indulged in will make sense to the 5th grader I imagine as a reader. It’s also where I try to imagine what that kid reader wants most from this story.
I should say that I also recognize that most of my books aren’t for every (or even most) kids — so when I’m doing that last part, I’m just trying to make sure that the book is just right for that small number of readers.
Ohhhh, I love that first draft is for the character. I do think maybe things work a little differently between picture book and middle grade (or longer). I definitely write picture books for me. But I’m working on a middle grade right now, and I do feel like I’m doing that much more for the character.
THIS. Yes, this. I write for myself.
Sometimes the “myself” I’m writing for is in 4th grade. Sometimes she’s in preschool. Sometimes she’s 39.
Obviously, I hope I’m writing for other kids too. If the “myself” I’m writing for has no peers who want the same books, she’s a lonely little girl. But what I refuse to do is write for percentages.
I often joke about writing a book called Kupcake Kittens, or Karate Kitten, or Fartboy and Buttbutt.
MY kids think it’s a riot.
And I wouldn’t MIND if I wrote something that was embraced by vast numbers of readers, obviously.
But I can’t think about it that way.
The very first picture book I wrote when I started taking this seriously was completely for my kids. It was awful (and had nowhere near the potential of Fartboy and Buttbutt).
And I’ll admit also that sometimes I write a story for me that turns out to only be for me. It’s all part of the process.
But I do think part of why we write for kids (or write at all, actually) is because we remember what it was like to be in 4th grade, or in preschool, (or 39), and there are words in our heads about it. And we can just hope that these words ring true for someone else, as well.
I think the reason your books come across as so authentic, Laurel, is because you’re writing them for the reader you know best.
I write because when Ideas get stuck in my head, the World doesn’t become pleasant. I don’t really write for myself. I write because I want people to read the stories in my head. I am writing a book called My Tail, and I hope I can get it published. It’s a Chapter Book, not exactly the same as a picture book, but I’m writing it for my readers, and most definitely my mermaid obsessed friends.
Don’t you think, in some ways, writing because you get ideas stuck in your head is writing for you? To get the ideas out? Hmm. I mean, I will admit that I do think about the readers sometimes, but it’s writing for me, first.
I think writing for yourself is the truest place a story can come from.
Thanks, Caroline. I hope so.
Someone once asked me why I write/illustrate for children, and I was flummoxed.
I don’t.
Either!
🙂 Yay!
Yes, yes to all, especially what Caroline said. And if we don’t love our stories first, then why should anyone else?
Not only “why should anyone else” but why WOULD anyone else. I do think there must be a way to do it, to write from an idea of “the market needs this” or “kids would like a book about…” but you’d have to circle back to yourself in order for it to be authentic. Or, at least *I* would have to circle back to myself.
One of my favorite pieces of writing advice (heard from multiple authors, most notably Maggie Stiefvater) is to write what you wish was already out there, but isn’t. Since I tend to follow this seemingly selfish advice, I suppose I too write for myself. I keep my audience in mind, in terms of their age group, so that the story is appropriate, challenging (hopefully), and engaging. Mostly, though, I’m writing to entertain myself. I hope that, in the end, readers will love it as much as I do.
I’m going to think on this, too. I know I do sometimes write what I wish was out there, but also definitely I mostly write what’s in my head and amuses me. Um. Now that I’m thinking about it, I’m not sure I ever write what I wish was out there, unless by “out there” we mean “out of my brain and onto the page.”
Love your honesty here, Julie! Brave and true.
Does ANYONE write for anyone but him or herself? I think that’s the only way we CAN write. Who else’s taste do we know? Right on! Betsy Wittemann
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