4 ms·

"But the point I wish to make is that if you decide to become a professional writer, you must, broadly speaking, decide whether you wish to write for fame, for

"But the point I wish to make is that if you decide to become a professional writer, you must, broadly speaking, decide whether you wish to write for fame, for pleasure or for money." Is that the same for devs?

caminante 4y ago
Seems like a false tri(?)lemma. Ian said pleasure/money. Why not ALL three?
- Archelaos 4y ago
  Actually Fleming became famous too, but most of it was posthumously. Maybe one should ask oneself what one wants to achieve first.
- pessimizer 4y ago
  Because without a priority, you have no means to make a decision when the goals conflict. If what's most important to you is having cake, you might have to limit how much of it you eat. If you instead value eating cake more, you might have to give up on the idea of keeping it.
  - caminante 4y ago
    > Because without a priority, you have no means to make a decision when the goals conflict. <Can't have cake and eat too> You're mixing a zero sum concept with the on-topic hypothetical. I can buy fame with money or convert fame to money. It's not even zero sum.
- runevault 4y ago
  Because, often (though not always) you have to write in a different way to get them. It is hard to write well enough to make money purely for pleasure, as the editing/etc process can be a grind trying to make everything smooth and pleasant to read. And with caveats the writers that are most famous tend to be ones who write big L Literature, which rarely makes significant money but is the stuff you hear about on TV in the news etc. There are exceptions but it tends to require more than a little bit of luck to hit the zeitgeist in a way to work out. Take for example Brandon Sanderson. Outside SFF I doubt almost anyone has heard of him but dude makes millions.
szundi 4y ago
Counter-example: Harry Potter
- gamegoblin 4y ago
  I think authors like JK Rowling, Stephen King, etc are the exception that prove the rule. The vast, vast, VAST majority of authors are ones you have never heard of, eking out a living.
  - kevinh 4y ago
    Those exceptions don't prove the rule. They prove that there _isn't_ a rule, but merely a high likelihood. An exception that proves the rule would be a statement like "Parking permitted between 3-5 PM."

caminante 4y ago

Seems like a false tri(?)lemma. Ian said pleasure/money. Why not ALL three?

Archelaos 4y ago
Actually Fleming became famous too, but most of it was posthumously. Maybe one should ask oneself what one wants to achieve first.
pessimizer 4y ago
Because without a priority, you have no means to make a decision when the goals conflict. If what's most important to you is having cake, you might have to limit how much of it you eat. If you instead value eating cake more, you might have to give up on the idea of keeping it.
- caminante 4y ago
  > Because without a priority, you have no means to make a decision when the goals conflict. <Can't have cake and eat too> You're mixing a zero sum concept with the on-topic hypothetical. I can buy fame with money or convert fame to money. It's not even zero sum.
runevault 4y ago
Because, often (though not always) you have to write in a different way to get them. It is hard to write well enough to make money purely for pleasure, as the editing/etc process can be a grind trying to make everything smooth and pleasant to read. And with caveats the writers that are most famous tend to be ones who write big L Literature, which rarely makes significant money but is the stuff you hear about on TV in the news etc. There are exceptions but it tends to require more than a little bit of luck to hit the zeitgeist in a way to work out. Take for example Brandon Sanderson. Outside SFF I doubt almost anyone has heard of him but dude makes millions.

szundi 4y ago

Counter-example: Harry Potter

gamegoblin 4y ago
I think authors like JK Rowling, Stephen King, etc are the exception that prove the rule. The vast, vast, VAST majority of authors are ones you have never heard of, eking out a living.
- kevinh 4y ago
  Those exceptions don't prove the rule. They prove that there _isn't_ a rule, but merely a high likelihood. An exception that proves the rule would be a statement like "Parking permitted between 3-5 PM."