I was in the third grade when I received my first journal. And, while I couldn’t articulate at the time, that was when I discovered writing as mechanism to self-soothe. Writing helped me, and it still does.
But that doesn’t mean my journals are worth reading. When I’m journaling, I’m an “indulgent writer.”
What is an Indulgent Writer?
An indulgent writer is someone who allows his or her writing to be guided by his or her needs as opposed to the needs of the reader.
Writing in journals is typically indulgent—it’s all about you. It's helpful for psychological, emotional and intellectual reasons, but it’s not necessarily going to get you published.
And that’s OK.
But if you plan for others to read your work, being an indulgent writer may be a problem. In those cases, the audiences' experience with your work is as important (probably more) as your own.
Signs You May Be an Indulgent Writer
- You love the English language
- You use writing to self-soothe
- You’re political
- You love when people read your work
- You’re in love
- You’re grieving
- You have an MFA, Ph.d. or consider yourself to be an intellectual
- You’ve already published a wildly successful book
My guess is that if you consider yourself to be a writer at all, at least one of the above applies to you (at least four apply to me). That’s cool, we all write for a reason.
How to Check Your Indulgence
We all have indulgent tendencies, which is normal. Just remember to check yourself by asking questions such as:
- Did I write this because it moves the story along or because it’s a perfectly crafted phrase?
- Is this scene necessary or did I include it to advance my political views?
- Does this story actually make sense or am I just using this draft to figure out how I’m feeling?
- Does what I’m writing improve the story or am I being an indulgent writer?
Which “indulgent writer” signs apply to you? Let me know in the comments.
PRACTICE
Take fifteen minutes to write something with a specific audience in mind and write for that audience. Share in the comments section below.
When i write i think a lot about my readers. Will they like? Sometimes i delete text until get perfect phrase. But i know it is not possible to make everyone laugh and prefer just to write.
I find that it improves the writing “process” as much as it does the “product”, to have clearly thought about AND DECIDED, in advance, whether I am writing for public consumption or for personal satisfaction.
Merely regurgitating words on a page simply will not do when it is intended to be read and appreciated by others, and that takes meaningful decisions and mental discipline, from start to finish. However, no such constraints apply to journaling for personal purposes only. (Think a bit about it though – will your heirs and biographers read it at some future time?)
Clearer thinking makes for more lucid writings.
When I started my blog I was not indulgent, I was overly so. My perspective was: I love what I am writing and people will love it too. Thing is it was so blind it wouldn’t go further than my bedroom door. The book [non-fiction] is the by-product of that process of coming out of denial like a butterfly from a cocoon. Now my reader has a face, a car, I follow her in her daily chores. Question is: what if I identify so much in her that I end up, once again, writing for me? – Francesca
Perhaps I am an indulgent writer. Definitely when I write poetry; this is all about the way I’m feeling. At times when I see the need to lift out a certain flaw in human nature, I often couch it in a humorous tale such as “The Hazards of Wish Counseling” where a bottled genie is found by a teenage girl — who wants all the things teenage girls want. Instantly. The genie tells her you have to work at it if you want to keep good things.
As to writing what you like and/or targeting an audience: we need to write what we want to read. We can’t go too far wrong this way. So we need to read a lot, but especially in the genre that appeals to us. I feel this way we’ll be more prepared to write it.
Today’s exercise is to write something with a specific audience in mind. Well, some genres are more formulaic than others. Take Romance, for example:
When Felicity meets the handsome hunk, Mark Driscoll, she’s not impressed. He strikes her as egotistical, maybe a playboy and a heartbreaker. To top it off, she wonders if he’s behind the inexplicable disappearance of company funds. So she avoids him like the plague through the first two chapters.
Mark is equally suspicious that Felicity may be such a sloppy bookkeeper that she’s responsible for the disappearing funds. Or she’s embezzling. Every time he tries to pry into this, he finds her so snarky and resistant — even though she is disturbingly gorgeous. He responds to her attitude with annoyance, which only aggravates her more
In Chapter Three, the bad guy comes along and pushes Felicity off the bridge as she’s walking back to the office. Mark, having a sweet family picnic with his sister in the park below, jumps in and rescues her. From this point on, even though Felicity still finds his arrogance unbearable, she sees him as a decent guy — and keeps having flashbacks of how good he looked standing on the riverbank soaking wet.
Mark, unaware that she was pushed, is saying to himself, “Can you imagine her being such a klutz as to fall off the bridge?” Still, she looked pretty good, too… NO, he won’t let himself go there. When they do meet again he fights the attraction by keeping his responses rudely blunt.
Until he discovers the truth about her falling off the bridge, then the two of them together catch the thief, then they get their act together and announce to all their friends that they’re getting married. We then assume they live happily ever after.
I’ve been writing in a journal since 2008. Initially it was a travel journal … But I enjoyed it very much and since then I never stopped journal writing. However when it comes to writing a story or a blog, I find it very difficult to give myself that nudge. I’m not sure if that makes me an indulgent writer, but I certainly write to soothe myself.
As to writing something with an audience in mind well here it is:
I grew up with three brothers and a sister. We had our good times and of course as everyone else … the bad times. I am the youngest so because of that I always thought of myself as the one person who’d always stay young. I never imagined what life would be when I turned 24.
Last week I did and it finally dawned upon me that I was indeed not young anymore. My decisions were going to get harder. And everything I did or did not do was going to affect me. I was surrounded by very hardworking diligent people. People who seemed to know what they were doing. I watched them as they accomplished many things … It made me feel small. It still does. I’ve always thought of all the things I wanted to accomplish, things I thought I could do when I was older. But now I am … and those dreams and thoughts, are still thoughts. Everyone around me was doing better than me. They all had successful careers and were pushing beyond the boundaries of work. I too have a job; and though it is a good job … It isn’t what I aspired for myself.
I always wanted to write a children’s story book. My illustrations are all that I have that boost my confidence over the days. But even with that, I feel as though I am always stuck in that no accomplishment phase. I think I lack self inspiration, and I hope that perhaps this community would be the key to opening myself up to accomplishing what I’ve always dreamed of.
This pulls at my heart. Please know that, at 24, you are YOUNG. You have a blank slate in front of you. Do what makes you happy. Now. Please don’t wait until you’re my age (53) and realize how much time you’ve wasted. I still believe in my dreams, but I wish I had had some confidence and worked a bit harder at those dreams when I had some energy. Also, and this is so important: Stop comparing yourself to others. You are not them. You don’t want to be them. You are the only “you” there is, and you have your own special gifts. Live YOUR life. 🙂
Thank you Laura. You’re right. But how time flies! I have just started with my new story and I really thank you for your encouragement. I never thought I’d make it to the first 1000 words- but here I am.
Thanks again for your words. I hope your writing is also going well and that you’d find the inspiration to get it out there for everyone to read 🙂
When I write for my blog I try to think about what people want to read or what they need to read. Sometimes I write it for entertainment value, or to impart some semblance of personal wisdom. Other times I write just for the fun of it and I hope that someone else enjoys it.
When I write fiction it is both indulgent and not. I write it to entertain and to tell a story. I enjoy the story a lot usually, it’s my hope that others will enjoy it as well.
I fit at least four of the above characteristics.
Hey, I think you can always combine the two.
JK Rowling said she wouldn’t let her readers influence what she wrote: she wasn’t going to give it an “and they all lived happily ever after” ending, because the story wouldn’t allow it. But even though she didn’t budge on that, Harry captivated millions.
I’m most definitely an indulgent writer.
Out of the list, these are the ones that apply to me.
-You love the English language
-You use writing to self-soothe
-You love when people read your work
-You’re in love
I write because it makes me feel like I have a purpose, and perhaps that makes me indulgent but I don’t think that’s a bad thing. However, every word I write is to move the story along.