Keene
Squat Enjoyer and Programmer
- Joined
- Jan 2, 2022
- Messages
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- 133
TL;DR: No tl;dr for you, read it you lazy f-
The title of this post might be better described as "Successful Patreon Launch! And Why American Culture > British Culture", as I've made a recent observation regarding how my American friends vs British friends react to success.
But first, I launched my Patreon for Amelia Thornheart - with only two bonus chapters (8k words) - three days ago and my expectations have been exceeded by how many people have chosen to support my writing financially. Suddenly, the prospect of doing this as a career is a firm possibility and one I will be dedicating 2025 and beyond to writing ^.^ Even if it takes me several years to reach the salary I was making as a web developer, I don't mind at all... this is 10x more satisfying!
As for the second part of the post, I, along my close friends who are well-travelled, have observed a fundamental difference between how the Americans and the British respond to success and attempts at success. What do I mean by this? I mean the immediate feedback you get from family and friends upon announcing your idea, goal, or anything else.
With my British friends, when I announce I'm going to try and write 2k words a day, I got comments like "Are you sure that's a good idea? If you force yourself to write, it won't be your best work, wouldn't it?" If I announce my plan for Patreon, the attitude of even family is like, "Would anyone really pay for that? Is your writing good enough?"
The above is pervasive in British society and often applies to anything else you attempt to improve your situation. Setting yourself weight loss goals? Setting yourself gym goals? The British cultural response is to be generally critical and pessimistic about the idea. There is a fundamental wariness underpinning our commentary. Failure is assumed, and success is a pleasant surprise. There might be some encouragement when you step out of your normal bounds and try to start a business, but it will be a tepid encouragement, a mere, "Good luck, you'll probably fail, but good luck."
On the other hand, me and my friend's experience with American culture found it couldn't be more different. With Americans, success is assumed, as long as you keep the grind up! Where a Brit might say "Hmm you haven't made anything after six months, is it worth continuing?", an American would say, "You're doing great! These things take time! Keep on trucking, brutha!" or something to that effect. It seems like Americans actively want their friends and family to succeed and emotionally like to share the celebration of that success. They are fundamentally hopeful and optimistic to their friends.
My pet theory is this is routed in class differences between the two countries. In America, class is more or less just a matter of money. If you have enough wealth, you're seen as middle-class or more. Crossing the class boundaries is a matter of success, over which the individual has a large amount of agency.
In British culture, class is not a matter of money, but primarily the social environment you grew up in. The amount of money you have has little to no bearing on whether you are working class or not. I've known working-class fellas who are multi-millionaires, and I've known upper-class people who are dirt poor. It's not about wealth; it's about the inherent societal cues, how you socialise and behave, which are only learnable from birth, that define your class. It's about upbringing and blood and heritage.
This difference is why I think the cultural difference exists. In the UK, your position in society is seen as something more rigid, while in America, it's seen as more fluid.
And it seems to pay off. Aren't something like 10% of American's millionaires? Amazing stuff!
Lucky for me, I've chosen my British friends as people who very much embody that American mindset of success, and I got valuable encouragement from them!
To the fellow Brits, Americans or anyone else, what have the attitudes been towards your writing and attempts at making something from it? How have your family and friends reacted?
The title of this post might be better described as "Successful Patreon Launch! And Why American Culture > British Culture", as I've made a recent observation regarding how my American friends vs British friends react to success.
But first, I launched my Patreon for Amelia Thornheart - with only two bonus chapters (8k words) - three days ago and my expectations have been exceeded by how many people have chosen to support my writing financially. Suddenly, the prospect of doing this as a career is a firm possibility and one I will be dedicating 2025 and beyond to writing ^.^ Even if it takes me several years to reach the salary I was making as a web developer, I don't mind at all... this is 10x more satisfying!
As for the second part of the post, I, along my close friends who are well-travelled, have observed a fundamental difference between how the Americans and the British respond to success and attempts at success. What do I mean by this? I mean the immediate feedback you get from family and friends upon announcing your idea, goal, or anything else.
With my British friends, when I announce I'm going to try and write 2k words a day, I got comments like "Are you sure that's a good idea? If you force yourself to write, it won't be your best work, wouldn't it?" If I announce my plan for Patreon, the attitude of even family is like, "Would anyone really pay for that? Is your writing good enough?"
The above is pervasive in British society and often applies to anything else you attempt to improve your situation. Setting yourself weight loss goals? Setting yourself gym goals? The British cultural response is to be generally critical and pessimistic about the idea. There is a fundamental wariness underpinning our commentary. Failure is assumed, and success is a pleasant surprise. There might be some encouragement when you step out of your normal bounds and try to start a business, but it will be a tepid encouragement, a mere, "Good luck, you'll probably fail, but good luck."
On the other hand, me and my friend's experience with American culture found it couldn't be more different. With Americans, success is assumed, as long as you keep the grind up! Where a Brit might say "Hmm you haven't made anything after six months, is it worth continuing?", an American would say, "You're doing great! These things take time! Keep on trucking, brutha!" or something to that effect. It seems like Americans actively want their friends and family to succeed and emotionally like to share the celebration of that success. They are fundamentally hopeful and optimistic to their friends.
My pet theory is this is routed in class differences between the two countries. In America, class is more or less just a matter of money. If you have enough wealth, you're seen as middle-class or more. Crossing the class boundaries is a matter of success, over which the individual has a large amount of agency.
In British culture, class is not a matter of money, but primarily the social environment you grew up in. The amount of money you have has little to no bearing on whether you are working class or not. I've known working-class fellas who are multi-millionaires, and I've known upper-class people who are dirt poor. It's not about wealth; it's about the inherent societal cues, how you socialise and behave, which are only learnable from birth, that define your class. It's about upbringing and blood and heritage.
This difference is why I think the cultural difference exists. In the UK, your position in society is seen as something more rigid, while in America, it's seen as more fluid.
And it seems to pay off. Aren't something like 10% of American's millionaires? Amazing stuff!
Lucky for me, I've chosen my British friends as people who very much embody that American mindset of success, and I got valuable encouragement from them!
To the fellow Brits, Americans or anyone else, what have the attitudes been towards your writing and attempts at making something from it? How have your family and friends reacted?
Last edited:
Lucky one~.
