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How do you define writing success?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Meerkat
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Meerkat

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Since I first decided I was taking writing seriously--probably somewhere in my teens--I have said to myself and anyone who would listen that I define writing success as writing what I mean to say in the way I mean to say it.

I established this norm for myself because for many years--until very recently--it was all but impossible for me to pull off the story idea I had in my head. They always went off the rails or failed in some way. I figured, if I can achieve the standard of writing what I meant to say, then I can call myself a writer.

Well, my stories have been working lately, so according to myself I am a successful writer, but . . .

But I still haven't been published, and so I don't feel like it.

How do you guys define writing success?
 
I love this reflective question. Thank you for bringing it up.

Writing success for me is actually talking about a writing career.

This is my training stage. I am giving myself a degree equivalent length of 3 years immersed in this training period.
Parallel to this 'training' I will attempt to procure interest from agents to see if I have at any stage reached the 'good enough' to publish. If not I will continue to practice some more.

So with that in mind I have completed year 1 and the season of submissions is upon me now. My exam equivalent :D

Year 2 begins in August and once the 3 years are up (and still no agent representation) I will decide to go either self-publishing or go Post-grad :D

Sticking with it is my success monitor, so far so good ;).

(I like using the degree template as my yard stick, it just works for my linear studious mindset.)
 
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You have set out to tell a story, and have come unto a place wherein you feel you have said what you set out to say, and in a way with which you are satisfied.

You, sir, are a writer. No doubt about it.

That is the place to which I have also come recently, and only recently have I started to actually identify myself as a writer to strangers and acquaintances.

But I agree. I made a cover and had a copy of two of my books printed for myself, and a few people are now asking for the opportunity to buy a copy as well. I would then be a published author. But that's not success. I'm not really going to bother with self-publishing yet, because for me, I won't feel as if I've succeeded until a major publication company venerates my work by esteeming it worthy of publication bearing their name.

It doesn't even have to be book after book! If just one book achieves this, I will be forever happy. Margaret Mitchell published only one book in her lifetime — Gone with the Wind.
 
Emurelda said:
I love this reflective question. Thank you for bringing it up.

Writing success for me is actually talking about a writing career.

This is my training stage. I am giving myself a degree equivalent length of 3 years immersed in this training period.
Parallel to this 'training' I will attempt to procure interest from agents to see if I have at any stage reached the 'good enough' to publish. If not I will continue to practice some more.

So with that in mind I have completed year 1 and the season of submissions is upon me now. My exam equivalent :D

Year 2 begins in August and once the 3 years are up (and still no agent representation) I will decide to go either self-publishing or go Post-grad :D

Sticking with it is my success monitor, so far so good ;).

(I like using the degree template as my yard stick, it just works for my linear studious mindset.)
Click to expand...
This to me is actually a very good allegory. Though, for those accustomed to a degree program of carousing all night, running into class fifteen minutes late, and effortlessly acing the exam without any study or preparation, literary publishing comes as a rude awakening.

(I'm told... ;):rolleyes::p)
 
Jason Byrne said:
This to me is actually a very good allegory. Though, for those accustomed to a degree program of carousing all night, running into class fifteen minutes late, and effortlessly acing the exam without any study or preparation, literary publishing comes as a rude awakening.

(I'm told... ;):rolleyes::p)
Click to expand...

Yes it doesn't apply to all :p ...though one might relate ;)
 
Interesting question Meerkat, and I agree with Jason. Honestly I've never thought about it, "I just am." But thinking about it, well I think you are successful if you complete one story, because that is success. Then all other questions follow that one, just like a story, the "Life and Times of an Author". There is no end, and the beginning becomes faded and clouded in mystery of forgotten memories. Even the mists of Avalon (where exactly is Avalon = another story), hide much. :D
 
Alistair Roberts said:
Interesting question Meerkat, and I agree with Jason. Honestly I've never thought about it, "I just am." But thinking about it, well I think you are successful if you complete one story, because that is success. Then all other questions follow that one, just like a story, the "Life and Times of an Author". There is no end, and the beginning becomes faded and clouded in mystery of forgotten memories. Even the mists of Avalon (where exactly is Avalon = another story), hide much. :D
Click to expand...
Well Alistair — at least in my story-world, the city of Avalon is in Arcadia, containing the palace and royal seat of the Court of the Fae! Neither here nor there.

I suppose the beginning, the end, and what is success are all difficult to pin-point. But I guess the best gauge is — do you feel successful, right now? I don't, and I hope I will at some point in the future.
 
Difficult question. Probably, whatever definition you construct and aim for, when you get there the goalposts will have moved. In the end, what matters is, are you happy? If the answer is yes, you are successful in the most meaningful sense. (But many people, IMHO, never work out what it is that makes them happy). Personally, I try to look on the whole writing thing as a bit of a game; if it turns into the be-all and end-all of your existence, you are risking your happiness on something very uncertain.
 
Marc Joan said:
Difficult question. Probably, whatever definition you construct and aim for, when you get there the goalposts will have moved. In the end, what matters is, are you happy? If the answer is yes, you are successful in the most meaningful sense. (But many people, IMHO, never work out what it is that makes them happy). Personally, I try to look on the whole writing thing as a bit of a game; if it turns into the be-all and end-all of your existence, you are risking your happiness on something very uncertain.
Click to expand...
Yeah but I don't want to be successful in the meaningful sense. Wait, yes I do. And I am... happy. Quite happy. Perhaps I was successful, all along...
[Que choreographed song-and-dance]
 
Insightful as always. And you're right. When I was younger, I said,
"if just one person reads and likes what I've written, I can die happy." That's come and gone, and now that wasn't good enough.
I think a lot could be said for appreciating what you have, not what you want. But that's a lesson a lot of us never learn.
 
For me, I'd be happy to see my ms in print, even if it's one copy for my book shelf. Then, I can sit in my armchair, as an old woman and hand it to my grand kids with the words, 'See this? I wrote it.' Personal achievement is the standard for my success; I wrote down a dream I had, it developed into a story and when I finished it, my hubby said 'Why not get it published?' Sales, royalties and an international best seller would be the icing on the cake.
Ooh cake...
 
Jennifer Stone said:
For me, I'd be happy to see my ms in print, even if it's one copy for my book shelf. Then, I can sit in my armchair, as an old woman and hand it to my grand kids with the words, 'See this? I wrote it.' Personal achievement is the standard for my success; I wrote down a dream I had, it developed into a story and when I finished it, my hubby said 'Why not get it published?' Sales, royalties and an international best seller would be the icing on the cake.
Ooh cake...
Click to expand...
Yeah, cake does sound good actually.
 
Jonathan Franzen defines writing as 'a form of communion between people who will never meet.'

That's why I read - to find those moments when others articulate experiences you can relate to - and I think it's the best definition I've seen of successful writing. If a reader feels a connection to the author or the human experience through a book that's a powerful thing and, personally, it's made a huge difference in my life.
 
Jason Byrne said:
You have set out to tell a story, and have come unto a place wherein you feel you have said what you set out to say, and in a way with which you are satisfied.

You, sir, are a writer. No doubt about it.

That is the place to which I have also come recently, and only recently have I started to actually identify myself as a writer to strangers and acquaintances.

But I agree. I made a cover and had a copy of two of my books printed for myself, and a few people are now asking for the opportunity to buy a copy as well. I would then be a published author. But that's not success. I'm not really going to bother with self-publishing yet, because for me, I won't feel as if I've succeeded until a major publication company venerates my work by esteeming it worthy of publication bearing their name.

It doesn't even have to be book after book! If just one book achieves this, I will be forever happy. Margaret Mitchell published only one book in her lifetime — Gone with the Wind.
Click to expand...

Good points, Jason.

Do you write? Then you're a writer.

How you define success is a personal thing. I think I'm a successful writer. I've written multiple short stories and two full length manuscripts. Those novels were something I thought out of my reach just two years ago. Echoing Jason's sentiment, I will be a successful published author when I land an agent. But that's a future thing :)
 
Jennifer Stone said:
For me, I'd be happy to see my ms in print, even if it's one copy for my book shelf. Then, I can sit in my armchair, as an old woman and hand it to my grand kids with the words, 'See this? I wrote it.' Personal achievement is the standard for my success; I wrote down a dream I had, it developed into a story and when I finished it, my hubby said 'Why not get it published?' Sales, royalties and an international best seller would be the icing on the cake.
Ooh cake...
Click to expand...

That's how most people define success. A facebook update of struggle and journey is not nearly as 'liked' as the fanfare surrounding a publishing contract.

As for cake, I always eat it :oops:
 
Good question, and I have never set out to define it. That's bad I know. Goals have to be defined to be goals. Writing this is difficult as I'm listening to a Paul Weller interview as I'm corrceting my speling...

For me, it would be to be able to live comfortably - Goin Underground - sorry about stream of consciousness - on the back of my writing. Definiton of compfrtable is 60% of average UK income (that's the definition of poverty).

Wine was good...music better...writing...?
 
Each step is a success in its own right.

  • The first time you complete a short story or novel is a success.
  • Your first short story sale.
  • Your first competition shortlisting or win.
  • Your first personal response or full request from an agent or publisher.
  • Signing with an agent.
  • Getting a book deal.
  • Self publishing your book.

I could go on. Basically achieving whatever writing goal you have set yourself is a success. We are all writers but we all write for different reasons and therefore our goals will all be different.

For me, each time I achieve on goal I set myself another.
 
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