This is, unfortunately, true in most cases. I'm extremely lucky because what I genuinely want to write for and to myself without caring the slightest about my audience is what people want to read. I'm weeb trash and I genuinely love to write weeb trash for myself. The only audience I care about pleasing is myself. But if what you want to genuinely write is some really niche thing that nobody has ever heard of... the odds aren't in your favor no matter how happy you might make yourself. Regardless of that, if you're passionate about writing, I 100% believe you should write exactly what you want to write and not what anybody else wants you to write. Pandering to an audience other than yourself is only worth it if you only care about making as much money as possible and if you're not going to hate your own writing as a result. For example, don't be like furry artists who are disgusted by their own work and only doing it because it's profitable, thus turning their passion into hatred.
mad props for you man, reading this makes me happy for your success as well. :D /
i don't really plan to make it a living though, more of a self-therapy since i kinda have some serious mental illness i couldn't really explain to others, and i have severe trust issues to people in general.
while i can't make even a buck or be popular from it, at least it made me stay alive and happy. guess it's the thing that matters most.
and lol, furry artists. made me wonder why so many rich people are furries or are they just like some random people who invest too much into gacha games 'cuz it's their hobby?
It can be healthy, but it can also be incredibly unhealthy. I see artists (writers, artist artists, sculptors, etc,) frequently compare themselves to others... and it drives them into depression because they don't feel that they're improving quickly enough, that they'll never be as good, never be as fast, never become as successful or popular, and so on. You have to really approach it from a healthy perspective and still be careful not to focus on the wrong things. Personally, I'm selfish. I still consider writing to be my love, my passion, my hobby, etc. I only write for myself and I only compete with / compare against my past self. If you can make competition and comparing yourself against others work for you in a healthy way, then I recommend it. But if it ever does more harm than good, which it can very easily and frequently do, then I suggest immediately stop worrying about how others are.
yeah, this. it's the primary thing that made me depressed, the few years i started writing.
when i entered some writing competition, the winning entry really sucks for me, and i don't understand why the judges and others like this. the more they praised it to death, the angrier i felt.
that's when someone told me, competition doesn't matter--you're just picking based on your personal interests. and when it's my turn to be the judge, it really hit me hard, that i'm just the same as them. i only look at those that interest me, and no matter how good the writing seem to be, i just couldn't care if it doesn't appeal to me.
i guess, it made me think, that judging stories based on a general standard is pretty narrow-minded of me. and how much my life would be happier, if i just accept that not all people will like your work, 'cuz different people like different things.
in the end, i think the only healthy competition is, like you said, to become better than your past self. it's particularly healthy, if i focus on writing, things that are beneficial for my own life, not just simply for entertainment. that i could pour fourth all my frustration and despair, and turn it into something warm and healing. by doing so, I no longer feel alone in this world. i no longer feel powerless, and actually have the strength to change my life, my fate--every single thing in it--to something much, much better.
and for that, i can look back to myself in the past decade, to see how far i went, from when I started.
my audience may not be growing at all, but as a person, writing made me grow to become the person i want to be, and live how i want.
while i can't go on to the details 'cuz it concerned my private life, i can happily said--if I didn't pick up writing, I probably wouldn't have lived to this day.
peace out, and many thanks for sharing your thoughts :D
