There were a couple of interesting Twitter discussions this week. The first post I saw argued that any author claiming not to care about sales was lying. The second asked writers whether they hoped for fame from their writing. As we rapidly approach the publication day for Shifting Sands – which now has an Amazon page for you to purchase through, and a Goodreads page for reviews! – these questions feel particularly pertinent. What do I want out of Shifting Sands?
One side of me very much wants to say that other people’s opinions don’t matter with Shifting Sands because I’m proud of it. And I am! It was created to facilitate the evolving ebook idea and the fact that I, the writer, enjoy the story is more than I could want. The other side of me really, really wants other people to enjoy it as much as I do. But, because it is a research project, I don’t actually expect for that to happen. It’s what I want, but not what I need. This research is focused on my author identity and, while I hope to build a readership so that I can see more of the community side of authorship currently, it’s not the end of the world if that happens.
If I think about Shifting Sands as only text, I like it. Despite the constraints put upon it by the project, I do think it’s probably one of the best pieces of writing I’ve done. It still surprises me when I reread it. I genuinely enjoy the characters and think it’s an interesting experiment. If I’d been writing a more traditional book, rather than experiment in stability, would I have written it like this? No. If I’d written this as a normal novel, it would have been longer, the world-building would have been more in-depth, and I wouldn’t have been so obsessed with giving the characters equal numbers of chapters and so may have done more to create a concrete/obvious narrative structure. Would I have aimed for traditional over self-publishing? I’m not sure, but I probably would have investigated more. While fantasy, as a genre, makes up a good percentage of self-published books, romance continues to dominate and I have novel ideas in that genre I would have put forward for self-publishing over my fantasy plans. But I can see how doing this project has pushed me as a writer. Playing with this unconventional form has made me work harder due to the constant interweaving perspectives, each building towards a complete story but with none having a complete view of it. And the author performance is continuing to force the development of new skills, to get braver when it comes to promoting my writing, and to consider my options as a writer in the future. I’ve learned so much about self-publishing just in this past week and it honestly blows my mind a little. I may not think I’ve done everything perfectly, but I have still managed to do it.
So far, Shifting Sands is giving me everything I want from a research perspective. If I only ever gather a handful of readers who never quite reach the same level of passion for the story as I have, that’s fine. I don’t care about the money side – I’m happy to give each wave away for free to whoever wants and plan to only use the money earned to recoup costs. If I earn more than I’ve spent, I’ll be looking to donate a lot to charity (any suggestions for a charity to go for would be much appreciated). For my future work, I just want to reach the stage where I can happily live off my writing and go on nice holidays. On the fame side, I find the idea slightly terrifying. I’m happily more of an observer in life, so the idea of other people observing me is pretty much a nightmare. What if they can read my mind?
While I’m realistic about the limitations of the project and focus my aims appropriately, the hope remains that Shifting Sands will unexpectedly take off. I’ve lived in this world for the past couple of years and I’d love to have other people join me there. I want Game of Thrones-level speculation, with readers trying to work out who causes the City’s destruction, what sides the characters will end on, and which character lived when they were supposed to die. I want to know what ships exist (outside of the ones in my head), which characters are loved, who is hated. And I want readers to build the world in directions I hadn’t considered, creating a space for themselves and their imagination. To me, the ultimate dream isn’t money or fame. It’s fanfiction.
So, if you want to help me in my dreams, read and share the story with other people. I can’t wait to share this storyworld with you all on the 17th. Have fun!
