Writing Fiction for the Joy of It

 By Emily Golus

 

Some time ago I was at a wedding and struck up a conversation with another guest. When I mentioned that I was an author, he quickly found his wife and introduced us. “She’s wanted to write for years now,” he explained. “She has all of these story ideas in her head and wants to get them down.”

 

His wife—a classically trained musician who made her living performing—agreed. “I think about these characters all the time,” she said. “It’s just that I don’t have any training in writing. Is it worth it for me to start?”

 

My guess is that her real question was this: Is it worth investing the time if I have no guarantee of professional success?

 

“Do it,” I told her. “If it’s in your heart, then write. It doesn’t matter if you ever get published—do it because it’s good for you.”

 

Because here’s the thing: you don’t have to “go pro” for fiction writing to be worth it. The main benefit is to your own inner person.

 

What’s Art Good For, Anyway?

Yes, I know most of us reading this blog want to polish our manuscripts so they’re professional enough to get published. But let’s take a step back and ask ourselves why we’re actually doing this writing thing in the first place.

 

As fiction writers—especially when we’re first starting out—we sometimes take ourselves too seriously. “What’s the point of writing this book,” we ask ourselves, “if it doesn’t become a beloved bestseller that changes the fiction world?”

 

But art isn’t just about the final product. It’s about the process and what it does for you.

 

If one day my son wants to learn guitar or piano (or heaven forbid, the trumpet), I’m not going to tell him, “That’s a nice idea, but you’ll never be good enough to appear on the Billboard Hot 100, so what’s the point of trying? Just give up now.” Or “Don’t bother to learn how to paint, kid. You’ll never get your art into a museum, so why even learn?”

 

Most of us recognize that art—whether it’s playing an instrument, dancing, painting, or you name it—benefits us personally. Expressing our creativity through art is deeply satisfying and can even help us work through our problems.

 

Art makes our daily life richer, whether or not it ever makes it to the stage or into a gallery. You don’t have to be a professional artist—or even a good artist—to reap the benefits of creativity.

 

A Reality Check

We tend to think of the day we get published and hold that book in our hands as the I Have Arrived moment, where the Happily Ever After begins and the movie credits roll.

 

But that’s not typically the case. If you do get your fiction published—which is by no means a guarantee—you may find the response to your work is underwhelming. Also, now you have a new hobby: marketing that book and working hard to get traction.

 

Even if a published book is fairly successful, if you divide the money the book brings in by the hours spent writing it … well, let’s just say there are far more profitable ways to make a wage. The wild success stories are the exception, not the norm.

 

And consider this: if you have a message to get out, fiction is a far less direct tool than a sermon or article or another medium that takes much less time to create.

 

So why do it? Why spend all that energy writing and editing and getting critiques and attending conferences and getting that story just right, when there’s no guarantee it will go anywhere?

 

Because the process sparks something inside of you. Because you can’t not write.

 

The Joy of Fiction

Writing fiction fires up your imagination, filling it with delightful characters and taking you on vivid adventures that you get to enjoy, even if no one else does. It can help you organize your thinking, making you wrestle through ideas and come to clarity—or else help you realize some things are more nuanced than they seem on the surface. Fiction writing can sharpen your observational skills as you glean ideas from the world around you, and make the world a more interesting place. 

 

And if you join a critique group or attend writers’ conferences, you’ll not only learn to be a better writer, you’ll get to connect with fascinating people you may never have met otherwise.

 

We write primarily because we love the art form. Publication is a great bonus that may or may not happen, but it’s not the WHY.

 

I remember holding my finished manuscript for the first time—nearly four hundred sheets of printer paper crudely bound together, the labor of more than ten years. And at that moment I realized: if I never got this book published, it still would have been worth all the time and energy I’ve spent. The process made my life richer and more interesting, and was even a means of God’s grace in my life.

 

So, if you’re at the beginning of your writing journey and aren’t sure whether you’ll be good enough to “go pro”—start anyway. Do it because it’s good for you, and enjoy the adventure.

 

(Photos courtesy of Emily Golus, FreeDigitalPhotos.net and Stuart Miles.)

TWEETABLE

Why spend all that energy writing and editing and getting critiques and attending conferences and getting that story just right, when there’s no guarantee it will go anywhere? via @WorldofVindor (Click to tweet.)

 

Emily Golus has been dreaming up fantasy worlds since before she could write her name. A New England transplant now living in the Deep South, she is fascinated by culture and the way it shapes how individuals see the world. Golus aims to create stories that engage, inspire, and reassure readers that the small choices of everyday life matter.

Her first novel, Escape to Vindor, debuted in 2017 and won the Selah Award for young adult fiction. Its sequel, Mists of Paracosmia, followed in April 2019.

Golus lives in Upstate South Carolina with her rock-climbing husband, an awkward cat, and two adorable little boys.

Keep up with Vindor news at WorldofVindor.com and EmilyGolusBooks.com, or find her on Instagram as WorldOfVindor.