I got bitched out for not "writing to market", and while I know full well I'm just writing to a DIFFERENT market, I am kind of worried that my fanfic background has left me not really trying to appeal to a wide enough audience for commercial success. Is this something I need to worry about a lot, and if so, what's the way to go about it?
i think ur fine like you said, someone who's mad at you for not writing to a market is obviously not the market that you're attempting, either consciously or unconsciously i wouldnt worry ab it too much, striving solely for commercial success is a surefire way to hate everything you do
Yeah, I'm just worried that focusing on what I like to write will preclude all commercial success. I doubt it would, but the people who said it were unpleasant and I worry.
i mean, i know someone who wrote samus/little mac fic and then sanded off the numbers enough to sell it as origific so....
Mm. It's the same problem I was having before with the smut thing, because I noticed I had sold a couple over the year I broke off doing it and wanted to try again but I'm having the same problems. What I get out of writing explicit scenes is totally different to what their usual purpose is, and the mindset of what the market wants is really alienating to me, and I don't know how to convert it into the mindset I can use. When I do fanfic, it's a thought experiment, both a way of exploring characters I already like and a way of exploring the idea of specific actions at a safe remove. The way it's done in mainstream is way too personal, what I can write in that state becomes very limited, and the mainstream not only handles a lot of those aspects in ways I find actively frightening or angering but tells me I'm broken or stupid for not liking them :(
