The Telling of Stories

I just finished polishing up a story that has been blocking my brain for the last month or so. I started the story on that borrowed computer that took a nose-dive. I'd only written about three paragraphs, had a pretty good idea of how it would end, then it was lost. Or so I thought.

The exact words I'd written were gone, but the story kept lifting her skirts, flirting with my brain until I finally grabbed that seductive whore and started writing. Now I have a completed story and absolutely no idea where to send it. The story is noir, but not crime. It should fit in a literary zine, but my words don't have that MFA sneer needed to fill one of their slots. It edges on horror but isn't horrific. And while it's about a woman's life and sacrifice it doesn't have the happy ending necessary to fit in a woman's magazine and to change it would crush the heart of the story. In the end, I love the story and I'm glad I finally wrote it, even if it never finds a home.

So, why do I bring this up? Because yesterday both Clair Dickson http://bofexler.blogspot.com/2009/07/markets-and-writing.html and Michael Bracken http://crimefictionwriter.blogspot.com/ mentioned much the same problem/question on their blogs. Which brings us around to the question we all ask ourselves. Do we write for the market or do we write the stories that need telling, even if they're only to satisfy our own need to write them?

If you're earning your living as a writer, following the guidelines and markets is a must. You need to sell to put food on the table and pay the electric bill. But, do you have to sacrifice the urge to write what pleases you in order to do this?

Ray Bradbury in the book "How to Write Tales of Horror, Fantasy & Science Fiction" tells the story of how "Weird Tales" published his story "The Lake" saying it didn't fit their magazine and he must promise to write a good old fashioned ghost story next time. He notes that he did go back to writing what they wanted but he was never really happy as a writer until he allowed himself the freedom to write what he wanted to write, the stories that were a part of him. If you ever get a chance to read his essay "The Thing at the Top of the Stairs", do so. He charts the course of his writing life and how he finally managed to find his own "voice" and stories.

Now here we all sit, fingers poised over the keyboard, wondering which path to take.