How many of you take writing seriously? (Poll)

[aurifex]

Poll included. Splitting the question into a binary choice was tricky—people have varied opinions on what “taking writing seriously” means. Hopefully it gets the idea across.

Just wondering what the demographics of the Author General of ScribbleHub is like. How many of you consider yourself "casuals" where writing is just a hobby and improvement is secondary to enjoyment, and how many of you seriously want to "become something" in whatever form that might take?

 

[Prince_Azmiran_Myrian]

I think taking it too seriously and trying to make it better is giving me writing paralysis.

 

[Puji-Maki]

Yes.

 

[Deleted member 84247]

I take it seriously.

 

[ArchlordZero]

After achieving my goal of 1M views in one of my novels in webnovel, I stopped caring and write whatever the fuck I want

 

[jrell]

 

[dukerino]

You can theorize and do workshops and watch videos and read On Writing and On Writing Well but ultimately the best way to get better is by putting in the miles, and the best way to put in the miles is to have fun with it. If you're not having a good time you're not gonna stick to it long enough to get good at it. So: both.
Take it too seriously, and you risk becoming an armchair quarterback who spills more ink writing about writing than actually writing.

 

[RepresentingThree]

Seriously silly!

 

[Representing_Tromba]

I write for myself but I take it very seriously.

 

[aurifex]

You can theorize and do workshops and watch videos and read On Writing and On Writing Well but ultimately the best way to get better is by putting in the miles, and the best way to put in the miles is to have fun with it. If you're not having a good time you're not gonna stick to it long enough to get good at it.

I completely, wholeheartedly agree

So: both.

Well, either improvement is your primary goal or it isn't. I chose the poll question carefully, so that there was a binary to consider. There is no "both". It's yes or no

Take it too seriously, and you risk becoming an armchair quarterback who spills more ink writing about writing than actually writing.

Ehhhhh, I really agreed with you at the start but I disagreed the more your post went on. You can take writing seriously without becoming someone who spends all day talking about how to improve at writing. There are plenty of authors who keep their head down, write lots, consume writing advice, and are extremely serious about writing without becoming this caricature you're describing.
Yes, I know you said [You risk becoming] not [You will become], but I don't even think it's that serious of a concern. Fair enough if you think otherwise.

I write for myself but I take it very seriously.

Completely fair, which is why I chose the poll question: "Is your primary goal becoming an exceptional writer?" not "Do you want to be published?" or "Do you want a lot of readers?"

 

[Tempokai]

I'm doing it for fun, because there's no economic incentive and enough free time for me to be exceptional. Somehow that made me far better writer that I was four years ago lol

 

[minacia]

It's a hobby because there are just that many other things that I need to do before I can sit down and write.

 

[ShrimpShady]

I take it seriously in the sense that I might krill myself if I don't have that artistic outlet, and I want to create something genuinely meaningful, but I'm not really fiending to "become something" right now.

There are too many real life pressures for me to truly transition into that stage of taking it seriously

 

[NotaNuffian]

I am no longer able to find what I like to read, therefore I do it myself.

 

[davimai]

A hobby for me, but its pretty much my only one. I do get a buzz when someone likes a story. I have about half a dozen fans. I think some of them borrow my books from the prison library. lol.

 

[Madmcgee]

Definitely a hobby. A hobby I never thought I'd like so much, but I just think it's really fun

 

[MasterY001]

The split is surprisingly ~50/50 right now.

I treat writing as a hobby, but that doesn't mean I don't want to be good at it. I enjoy putting out quality material that will really sit with someone who reads it. However, most internet users prefer joke or meme content, so I'm surprised how many people feel similarly

 

[dukerino]

Well, either improvement is your primary goal or it isn't. I chose the poll question carefully, so that there was a binary to consider. There is no "both". It's yes or no

I think you're editorializing, then, with the title of this thread. Improvement is good and important but for many writers who consider themselves serious, the primary goal is to share their work with others, or get their ideas down in a digestible and permanent format, or make a living. I myself consider myself a pretty serious writer, and at my day job as an editor at PRH I work with a lot of them. I think improvement as a goal is held by most of them but improvement as the primary goal is held by a relative minority. That shouldn't be the criterion for considering someone a "serious" writer.

In fact the most successful and widely-read writers are the prolific ones, whose primary goal is getting their shit out there. And the ones whose primary goal is improvement can be paralyzed by that and never publish, chasing a magnum opus they'll never actually complete. Can't keep pushing that boulder up the hill!

 

[aurifex]

I think you're editorializing, then, with the title of this thread. Improvement is good and important but for many writers who consider themselves serious, the primary goal is to share their work with others, or get their ideas down in a digestible and permanent format, or make a living. I myself consider myself a pretty serious writer, and at my day job as an editor at PRH I work with a lot of them. I think improvement as a goal is held by most of them but improvement as the primary goal is held by a relative minority. That shouldn't be the criterion for considering someone a "serious" writer.

Fair enough man. I struggled to come up with a clear binary criterion for what separates a serious writer from a non-serious one. One without ambiguity that has a clear yes or no. Having a poll question "Are you serious about writing?" leaves way too much up to interpretation. It'd be so pointless to ask. "Serious" means something different to everyone.

To me, in the broadest sense, a "serious writer" is someone trying to be exceptional. Who seriously wants to improve and become a "good" writer, whatever that means to them. But you're right—this is editorializing to some degree.

So, what's the objective question I could've asked? That fits in like 100 characters (or whatever the limit is). What question would you have picked?

 

[dukerino]

Fair enough man. I struggled to come up with a clear binary criterion for what separates a serious writer from a non-serious one. One without ambiguity that has a clear yes or no. Having a poll question "Are you serious about writing?" leaves way too much up to interpretation. It'd be so pointless to ask. "Serious" means something different to everyone.

To me, in the broadest sense, a "serious writer" is someone trying to be exceptional. Who seriously wants to improve and become a "good" writer, whatever that means to them. But you're right—this is editorializing to some degree.

So, what's the objective question I could've asked? That fits in like 100 characters (or whatever the limit is). What question would you have picked?

You know, I couldn't tell ya. Whole books have been written trying to quantify or define this sort of question; there's no real way to do it definitively and if you quantify it you have to look at market success which is often the furthest thing from indicators of actual quality. I suppose I'd ask why the binary's needed in the first place, and what makes it pointful, versus an open-ended discussion on what is, after all, a discussion board. Nothing wrong with interpretation when your sample size is so small!
I guess my cowardly answer is I probably wouldn't have made it a poll in the first place, or used this sort of title. But you did, and you got me to think harder than usual about writing. So kudos to you