Why I Write Things No One Will Read

With everything being online and the increasing tendency of the human race to overshare, there are an awful lot of writers who seem to think that you should put everything you’ve ever written online and share it with everyone that you know.

I think the rationale goes that if you’ve more stuff out there then there’s more chance someone will find it. It might be the hussle culture we're in. To be seen as productive, you have to be writing loads all the time and you have to be sharing all the time. That’s what publishers want. They want busy, hard-working authors.

(I’ve also heard they want good work, but that’s probably just a rumour).

Drafting ridiculous

How exactly I craft my work is something that I find very personal and I'm not sure that I want the rest of the world to see that. Not because I'm worried that you'll steal my ideas, but because it's just something that I want to do for me. I have spreadsheets, I have maps, I have drawings and flow charts of various things I'm planning, but I'm not going to share them and to be honest, I'm not even planning to let anyone else see them.

These supporting documents are for me. They need to be written, they need to be kept close when I'm writing the stories, but they don't need to be shared and they don't need to be read by anyone other than me.

For example, in my fantasy book, I have a tentative magic system that I'm playing with in the first draft. When something changes in the magic system in the draft, I change it in my magic system book. And vice-versa. It's messy, it's all over the place, but it's how I'm creating it. I might share the finished system, I might share some of the things I've learnt along the way, but I won’t ever share the scribbles and the deletes and the false starts.

Even if you're someone who doesn't really plan anything out, then you will surely have some idea, even if it's in your head, of the magic system or sci-fi science limitations. You'll have an idea of what the characters' motivations are, what they want to do and where they want to be.

More than just writing

It's important to have a safe space to experiment with whatever you’re writing. Writing things without any expectations of them being published is also a really good idea just to flex your creative muscles. Sometimes when commuting home, I will just write or scribble or doodle something in my notebook. None of this will ever see the light of day, but by the time I get home, I'm in a completely different frame of mind than the one I left the office with.

Being creative like that, even if it's just silly stuff, really cheers me up at the end of a busy working day. It really shouldn’t be published.

So by all means, share as much as you want, share with as many people as you want, but before you do think about what needs to be shared. I'm trying to do that. I'm trying to make sure that I only share my best work with you, which is a challenge, especially as I've committed to updating this blog at least twice a week.

Keep something to yourself

You won't see everything that I write and that's by design. I don't want you to see everything. If nothing else, you might realize quite how bizarre some of my ideas are and you'd be absolutely shocked with the state of my handwriting.

So it's OK to write things no one will read, in fact, it's encouraged. Why not give it a go? Write something that has no expectations behind it. See how you feel afterwards. It might surprise you.