I sat down to try to write about having fun while writing, but much of what I have to say on this topic has already been said quite well in these two posts that I will direct you to:

Author Stephanie Burgis talks about following the fun in writing in a guest post on the blog of Margie Gelbwasser.

Author Laini Taylor writes an inspiring post about the discipline of fun.

My own experience is very similar to Stephanie’s: of all that I had written, the book that finally got accepted for publication (Fortune’s Folly) was the one I wrote “for fun”. I had been struggling with this big epic serious dark fantasy for over a year. It was the kind of book I thought I should write. It was the kind of book I enjoyed reading. But I wasn’t enjoying writing it, most of the time. Then in November of 2003 one of my friends asked me to join a group doing NaNoWriMo. I didn’t have a lot of time to prepare, so I picked an idea I’d had on the back burner, something light and entertaining that I thought would be fun to work on. And it was! Sure, there were still days when the writing dragged and the motivation ebbed. But most days I sat down eager to see what would happen next. My main character came alive the way no other character had for me previously. I was working with fairy tales, one of my favorite things. I was entertaining myself. I was in the moment.

And that’s the book that finally sold. It wasn’t the book I thought I SHOULD write. It was the book I WANTED to write.

More recently, I had this idea that I kept coming back to, about an intergalactic circus. And honestly, I was a little uncertain about whether I should pursue it. Science fiction (especially non-dystopian sf) isn’t the hottest genre right now in YA/MG. But what I wanted to create was the kind of science fiction I love best: something that excites and inspires a dream of discovery, something that takes you to fantastic new worlds but remains grounded in honest emotion. So that’s what I set out to do. And I had so much fun doing it. I think it was the first time I can honestly say that when I finished the draft, my own enjoyment and love of the book outweighed my dreams of getting it published. I was just so happy to have had the chance to write the story, even if it didn’t sell.

But it did sell. Better yet, people I trust have read it and liked it.

So I’m going to try to keep paying attention to what’s fun, and write what I want to write, not what I think I ought to write.

Tags: writing