Like a lot of us, I write for myself. Whenever I start thinking about what other people want or how they might react, I freeze up and can't write at all. I do hope that my stories will reach people who connect with them, but I can't control that.

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I write for myself and I share for connection. Doing the writing and sharing the writing serve different functions for me. I feel that difference most when I'm doing other creative things that I don't share. Writing just happens to be a form of creativity that fulfils both desires.

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#PretendPanel I write for myself but, let's be honest, I wish I had more of an audience to write for 😅

#WritingCommunity #WritingPrompts

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I write for myself. But bigger than that I write for the people like me.

For the people who know what it's like to feel different and weird and struggle to accept yourself. Who feel like they don't have a place in the world.

I've felt all of that 🫂🫂💜

#pretendpanel I write for whoever wants/needs the stories I tell, especially fellow queer and ND people. I write for people that need to know they’re not alone, in whatever way you want to interpret that ❤️

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Me.

I'll read it more than anyone else. So, I better love it.

You never know what other people may find in your work, but you are your most reliable variable. Write genuinely.

There's a reason why marketing language *feels* disingenuous: Because it is.

#WriteSky #WritingCommunity

#pretendpanel First and foremost, me. I write because it makes me happy. I don't write to please anyone else. I try not to pay attention to all the things in my books readers say they hate, because it's for me.

But I also write for community because queer stories matter and should be shared/told.

Myself, mostly. I write the stories I want to write, without thinking about marketability. (probably why I made 3 dollars last month 😭) But if other people want to read and buy my weird little queer and Black stories, that's cool too!

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Hello, #PretendPanel!

I think we write for 'little us'. The kid who told so many stories that their nickname was 'the boy who called wolf'. The kid who stayed lost in a fairy tale realm to avoid their fucked up reality. We write so that 'little us' feels like they've FINALLY embraced their purpose.

Mostly for myself. Partially for my late Grandmother, who was a story teller, too. A couple of my favourite stories are exactly the sort of thing she would have loved.

For readers who love historical setting, tales of the weird and strange, folklore, outsiders, vulnerable people
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#pretendpanel I write because I love it…it’s my favorite way of expressing myself, always has been. Also, I enjoy telling stories, exploring ideas & themes I find important or simply intriguing, and delving into fantasy (like ideal relationships) but with a touch of realism.

#writingcommunity

#pretendpanel Oct 3rd

Mostly my own vanity, it seems.

#WriteSky

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For myself and people like me (us unhappy few.)

It’s self-expression.

I do think about the reader at various points to decide how I should approach a thing and what I want to do with it, but it’s mostly to Get It Out.

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-the 90s kids! I was born in the late 80s, entering our 40s (how is that possible?) and my essays also appeal to younger audiences as well. I don't want to talk down to anyone, but the neurodivergent community is really my platform for writing.
You have a VOICE here.

#WritingCommunity #pretendpanel
Another tough question!
My writing audience would be for younger adult audiences, even though I'm 38- I tend to be writing all over the place, either mainstream YA or sci fi and fantasy new adult and adult. My nonfiction/memoir essays are for my generation...

I write for me and for all those who feel the way I do about story, who want to revel in intimate explorations of the strange, the nonhuman, and find the beauty in it. I write for the freaks like me who love cosmic horror and cosmic wonder in equal measure #pretendpanel

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I increasingly write for friends I have shared projects with. During periods when I have less motivation, knowing they're waiting for the next chapter keeps me at the keyboard. When I'm giving attention to my solo creations, that's for me, because I just enjoy creating things.

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Me, mostly. At this point also for Susan, a friend who reads chapters as I write them and tells me how much she loves them 💜

When it comes to the editing and self-publishing phase I will hire an editor and make sure it's readable for a larger audience to some degree. But 1/2

I write to tell the sort of stories I like.

Sometimes it is to make a point. Sometimes it is to preserve some bit of local lore or history that might be lost.

Mostly, I write for me.
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