Once upon a time, I didn’t feel the need to share these updates. I actually felt that, if I did share updates, it was just taking away from the end product and my writing time and whatever else.
But now I do like sharing these updates, because the world is very different from, say, 3 years ago. There is so much stuff. I mean, supply hasn’t been a bottleneck in most markets for a long time–way more than 3 years–but in the past 3 years, that trend has been accelerating. There is going to be more and more of everything.
That is totally fine. I am against the artificial choking of supply. (Because, who is going to choke it? Some random self-proclaimed gatekeepers? If that had resulted in market satisfaction, the current overflow of supply wouldn’t have been possible. The truth is that gatekeepers of any field have never satisfied the totality of all markets; that’s impossible; the gatekeepers have their tastes and only people who share those tastes can be satisfied in such an artificial environment.)
That said, there do exist markets where I still perceive organic shortages, and they are, to put things in a succinct way, the market of “people who give a fuck in a way that I want them to give a fuck.”
Everyone has the right to not give a fuck, of course. Everyone also has the right to give a fuck in the way they want, not catering to anyone else.
What I’m saying is that the way I myself want fucks to be given (is that even a phrase…?) is a market that hasn’t been satisfied yet.
For example, the other day, I heard a publisher say that readers are too stupid to read 3rd person narratives, because they don’t want to think enough to put themselves in other people’s shoes. Because of Tiktok. Because people are lazy. Because people just want to be entertained.
This publisher makes a lot of money. A lot of people want their stuff. So, in their mind, they have every reason to believe that they are speaking the truth. I have no desire to stop them.
However, I have no desire to partake in that market either. I have said this before and will say it again and again: it makes me feel good to think that people who enjoy my stories are the opposite of how that person describes their market. I think my people are absolutely fucking intelligent. My people are bright, brilliant, and shiny. They glow. They are probably attractive too. And abundant. Frankly, it feels counterintuitive to me that stupid people can be entertained at all. Therefore, my people aren’t stupid.
Anyway. There will be more and more stuff, forevermore. I think these writing updates might, at some point, help with navigation. For people who give fucks about the same things I give fucks about, maybe these updates will give a broader picture.
I have a very specific worldview. My stories unfold within that worldview. And the process through which I tell them unfolds within that worldview.