Activity

While I agree with what @josiah said, I don’t know if I could personally do it.

Also, I feel like there are potentially two things going on in our minds when we hear the phrase “writing for money”. On the one hand is writing for money, which @briannastorm mentioned. In this scenario, your entire approach to writing could be interpreted as carefully calculated in order to bring in revenue. To me, this messes with the writing process (which is an art, not a business) by introducing an economic consideration/motivation. This I could never do, and I would argue that any Christian writer who approaches things in this way is falling very far below their potential and lacks an integrated vision/understanding of their Christian identity. A little harsh, perhaps, but I apply the metric to myself.

Then on the other hand, there is what @hope-ann seemed to be talking about. For me, that is a quite different scenario, although I would still find it difficult to wrestle through all of the ramifications. For example, say that an opportunity pops up where I can make some money and get some exposure by writing an entertaining story that just has to be a good story and is not required to be anything more. I think I could do it, but I would hesitate if that opportunity happened right now in my overall (nearly nonexistent) writing career.

Here’s why.

As a heretofore unpublished author, if my first bit of writing that got any kind of exposure were to be a story and nothing more, it would begin to create an ‘author profile’ in people’s minds. And to be frank, I don’t want people to think of me as someone who simply writes a good story. I want them to get a glimpse of my deeper passion and greater goals.

In the later stages of a writing career, however, I don’t think it poses nearly as much of a difficulty to write a story that is simply fun and entertaining. Your previous stories have already put you squarely into the place that you want to be as an author, and a little thing on the side isn’t going to *hugely* effect that.

[However, that would not hold true if you began to consistently write for money in the long term, thus betraying the reputation you had built with your previous writing.]

For example, the short story that I wrote for Story Ember’s inaugural contest is a story that is heavily allegorical. It is not an allegory, but it is quite heavily allegorical (see the Allegory vs Symbolism thread for the distinction between the two). When it is published on the site in two weeks time, it will be the only story I have had published! As such, it will begin to craft a picture of what kind of author I am in the minds of those who read it. But the thing is… in general, my stories are not so heavily allegorical as “Endbringer”. So I need to be aware and mindful of my reader perception, so that I can begin to find a niche as time goes on and more of my work is published (hopefully!).

In summary, I guess what I am trying to say is that the ramifications of writing for money are more important than the act or story itself may be.

Even if you are writing for money, it is my belief that nearly all truly good stories are such because they tap into archetypes of divine Truth and History. Not all good writing is that way, but all good stories are. So, writing for money does not mean you necessarily have to sacrifice that, although it will effect the depth of the themes and truths wrestled with.

As for me personally – although I could write for money, theoretically… I hope that I wouldn’t. It would be internally inconsistent, and if there’s one thing I want of my writing, it is consistency to my most deeply held beliefs. I want my writing to portray the most pure and consistent expressions of my own beliefs and values – beliefs and values that I live out in my daily life so imperfectly. For me, writing deeply and thoughtfully is a beautiful process of simultaneous self-exploration and self-expression… a moment of consistency unmarred by the distractions and failures of my daily life. In my writing I can bring to life the evil I hate and pit it against the truths I love… and watch the truth win out.

The stated and intended purposes of my writing is (or ought to be) for myself, as a form of self-expression; for God, as worship, exaltation of his Truth, and humble sub-creation; for others, as a ministry and a rewarding experience to them; and for money last, as a potential way to make my living.

Thinking through and coming to realize that money and career are last place in my personal approach to writing convinced me that I probably shouldn’t go into editing as a career. I tinkered with that plan for the first few years of my college education, but in order to get to a place where I could consistently choose to work with authors and stories that I was personally invested in and passionate about, I would (potentially/likely) have to spend years accumulating experience editing stories that I had no personal vision for, and in many cases would flatly disagree with… which would completely sucker punch my entire desire to involve myself in the Christian writing scene in the first place.

Because I’m edging away from becoming an editor (which is {fixing} writing for money), I think it wouldn’t be very consistent for me to turn around and start writing for money. Writing is about passion, truth, change, and beautifully-crafted, deeply-effecting stories. It’s not about money.

And I hope it never gets to be that way for me, too.