[Elfwreck]

Originally Posted by Moejoe

This is what they arleady do until they're paid for a publishing contract. I realy don't see what point your making here?

You seem to be saying a publishing contract shouldn't be the goal, and those who currently write for pay are doing it wrong, and those who aspire to write for pay should give up on it.

Remember that most writers who are published don't make a living from their writing in the traditional industry, they have to get jobs 'they like a lot less' to make ends meet.

But some don't. And that's the goal of a lot of aspiring writers, not fame online. (Those who want fame online without money can blog for it.)

It is preposterous to think that art would cease without monetary recompense. That we as a creative animal would cease our creative endeavourst if there was no wage packet.

Creativity doesn't cease without payment, but it does change form, and especially distribution route.

There's a whole lot of *incredible* writing you'll never see, because it was locked up in friends-only posts at LiveJournal, which have since been deleted. The authors got validation for their writing, and whatever acclaim their community had to offer, and since there was no money on offer, when they grew tired of maintaining a place for it, it went away. It's no longer available to anyone.

Payment allows a much wider distribution for creative works because payment moves it outside of a family/community effort.

Who's fault is that though? It's not mine, or the digital world, or even the old fashioned publishers. If you're not actually willing to put your work out there, which you can do complteley freely now, how will you ever have anybody to read your work?

I'm willing to. I'm not willing to give up my day job for it, which is my problem. However, in another decade or so, my day job will be much less pressing; I won't be responsible for the welfare of people who can't provide for themselves.

You're advocating that I should *never* be willing to give up my day job for it--that writing should be done for kudos alone, and money should never be part of the reason for it.

Kudos, I can get now. I'm not particularly interested in kudos from random total strangers; I get validation from people whose opinions I respect, and that's plenty of creative reward. I am, however, potentially interested in money from random total strangers. You're saying authors shouldn't want that, shouldn't use it as a motivation to write.

If you're waiting for some arbritary point in the future where you're 'good enough' then you'll be holding back your creativity forever.

My creativity is doing fine. Focused, and not of interest to most people, but fine. I don't have any obligation to share it with a larger crowd, or to create enough content to fill entire bookshelves.

If the larger crowd has interest in my creativity (which they probably don't, not specifically) or the creativity of a thousand other potential authors (which they do, somewhat), they need to offer an incentive for them to develop & release those works. That incentive can be money, as much as it can be online acclaim or virtual awards or literary prestige.

Not saying I'd sneer at literary prestige, but the odds of my being offered a Pulitzer are a lot lower than my odds of being offered a month's rent for a story.

You seem to say I shouldn't consider writing for a month's rent.

Okay, your friends think your writing is funny, but nobody else is going to have that decision to make if you're never going to take the leap and show your writing.

Why should I bother? My friends like my writing; why should I care if you like it as well? What reward do I get out of the extra effort that takes?

Also, a 9-5 job is the lamest excuse in the world to avoid writing.

I don't avoid writing. (Check my word count on recent posts in this forum.) I avoid writing for publication. It's a somewhat different skill, takes different focus, and doesn't offer enough financial reward for the effort, at this point in my life.

You're saying it never should, that I should expend that effort even if there's no reward attached. Not seeing the logic, there.