Hi,
My first novel, titled Owe Nothing, was published in April 2009. At the time of this writing, that’s just a couple of months ago, which makes me, in many ways, a new novelist. However, that first project took years to complete: from midnight scribblings on the edge of my bed, to numerous Grande-Americano-fuelled sessions on my laptop in Starbucks, to the seemingly-endless rounds of edits with my publisher. All the same, that’s probably just the first of many rites of passage – all part of the game…
As a relatively new novelist, I admit to being perhaps just a bit over-analytical or self-involved where my writing is concerned.
I’ve probably collected many more questions than answers.
So, here they are:
Am I really writing more for myself, or more for my (hypothetical) reader?
What is the quantitative evidence of “success”? (e.g. Sales?)
What is the qualitative proof of “success”? (Against what measure do you gauge good quality?)
How discerning and specific do I think my audience is? Is a book lover kind of like an art lover?
Are these questions ridiculous?
In subsequent posts here, I’ll try to address each of those questions in turn – especially that last one… š
