Why I write:
Aged 6: because the teacher told me to
Aged 18: to pass my exams
Aged 24: to vent about my job
Aged 26: to boast about my travels
Aged 29: to process cultural differences
Aged 33: to challenge myself with new creative forms
Aged 34: to get recognition from editors & readers
Aged 36: to gain authority through publishing
Aged 37: to help others write & earn a living
Aged 38: to spread the message of freedom & liberty
Aged 40: to express radical honesty about my life
Aged 41: ?
To be frank, infinite content, generative AI, and the fall of traditional publishing have left me in a quandary.
- I don’t feel motivated to write fiction.
- I don’t have a newsletter, an audience, or a routine.
- I’m not chasing the next big milestone or achievement.
‘Content’ is still a word I hate. It traps creativity in containers designed to generate monetary outcomes.
The great shifts in what, how, and why people read are becoming too rapid to navigate. All I know is that the true value of the words we consume always comes from biological lived experience.
We all have different reasons to write, and they are changing faster than ever.
But if we are blinded by the objectives of our work, we lose sight of what writing is: a process, an expression, a branch of ourselves extended to others.
Writing is human.
Never forget that.
Content is such a shit term. I'm glad you dislike it.
While the age of AI and slop is pretty miserable, I find that it hasn't changed the time I spend reading stories. I don't read as many as when I was younger, but I always have a novel or something I'm reading. And thus far, I don't believe I have enjoyed an AI generates story.
So it seems that we will still need people to write stories.
But for me, writing is how I think. The byproduct is something that other people can read. But it is not necessarily the reason I write.
I think keen readers will find great comfort in human stories (especially prr 2022 fiction). I find myself marvelling at the skill and beauty of it already.
I fear that in a few years, literary prose will become as alien as Shakespearean English to most slop consumers.
Oh, and yes, I have written many a rant about the disgustingly nebulous and flacid term 'content'.
flaccid! he said FLAAACCID!
NGL, that's a pretty rapid progression in motives, kudos for finding more inherent reasons for writing
maybe that's why I detest AI slop writing so much.
Thanks for the comment. Yes, I think the rapid progression in motivation was brought on by the light-fast changes in digital publishing, social media, and AI.
I, too, detest slop (even research dumps and article outline). The fucking hubris and wankerish phrasing of Claude does my nut in!
100%!
The faux-tellectual pretention of Claude makes me want to vomit
he's been in Bitcoin; time runs differently. Ages you faster
Because otherwise my brain would start coming out of my ears all gooey and so on and I’d die or something along those lines
Keep writing. Doctor's orders!
Because something inside of me desperately wants out.
That something, and the object of its interests, have changed across time... but it's still the same fascinating, uncontrollable, possessing life force waking up
Good to hear!
It's more than just an urge to be seen. Writers need to use control, deep thought, empathy, clarity.
I guess it's about the journey not the destination too.
Nowadays most people have similar content they share which makes writing concurrence rude.
Thanks for sharing!