From: J Taylor jstaylor@intsvc.com
Didn't Stephen King once say he wrote the stuff that *he* personally
wanted
to read
I suspect most if not all writers do this, except those that write purely for profit (which rather excludes fanfic writers by default).
I find it rather hard to get a grip on the idea of writing purely for oneself, but since I've never written anything without at least one foot on a soapbox then I'm automatically assuming an audience. Whether it will listen to what I'm saying, or even notice the message behind Avon's beautiful suffering, is another matter entirely.
My mother used to wonder why I spent so much time writing stuff that only a handful of people were going to read, and was never going to earn me any money. She would then potter out to the greenhouse, where she spent long hours cultivating flowers that only a handful of people got to see, and never earned her a penny. I can see an analogy there between writing for oneself and gardening. At least a story is permanent, whilst flowers have this depressing habit of dying every autumn.
Neil