Should you compromise for commercial writing to get published?Utsudo believes that once creative work involves commerce, it’s bound by numbers and the market. Editors once asked her to rewrite a story using the same characters. Having experienced how harsh publishing can be, she chose not to give up on any possibility; after rewriting it, she got a contract — and understood this is the price of chasing a dream.

Translated from Utsudo’s original Chinese column.

My works are like my children

　　From the spark of an idea to a finished work, it takes countless rounds of brainstorming and struggle, plus a lot of time polishing, before it can finally be shown to everyone (though many more works never get formally published and can only be shared online).

　　To me, calling my works my children — lives I’ve nurtured — is no exaggeration.

　　While creating them, I grew a lot alongside the characters, solved many problems, and buried some of the hardships I couldn’t digest in real life. Whenever I leaf through my past works, I can always find my past self in small details and passages.

　　To me, writing is alsopart of my diary。

　　I’m sure it’s not just me — probably every creator feels the same way?

　　Creating is a great outlet for the soul. It has healed my past self, and I can even share it with everyone, so people facing similar difficulties can relate and step out of the shadows together.

The struggle when creativity meets commercial writing

　　Butonce creative work involves commerce, you may not be as free.

　　After all, there are many more hurdles, plus real-world numbers to constrain you. The wings that soar over the sea of imagination can’t fully spread; sometimes you give things up to “cater to tastes,” and worse, your work may be changed beyond recognition.

　　This is a struggle nearly every creator who wants to make a living from their work faces sooner or later, and I’m no exception.

Being asked to rewrite my work

　　I once had a work whose characters the editors loved, but the plot didn’t match what they had in mind. So they asked me whether I could create a new story using the same characters.

　　Earlier on I probably would have said no outright. But having experienced how harsh this industry can be, I told myself I must never give up any possible hope, so I agreed.

　　I rewrote the story — though it went from a series to a single volume QQ

　　Side note: before I sent the unrevised version to the publisher that wanted the rewrite, I’d submitted it to another publisher, which never even acknowledged receiving it. I assumed it had sunk without a trace and didn’t follow up — then about six months later, an editor there added me on Skype and asked whether the manuscript was finished…

　　But by then I’d already finished the rewrite and signed the contract. Too bad XD

　　But having a working relationship doesn’t mean everything goes smoothly from then on. Both editors who appreciated my work later left, and one of them seems to have left publishing altogether.

The price of chasing a dream

　　A work you’ve poured tremendous effort and time into won’t necessarily find someone who recognizes it, and even if it does, it won’t necessarily do well… It’s disheartening when others don’t believe in a work you bled for, but all you can do is encourage yourself to keep trying — that’s the price of chasing a dream.

　　After so many years of writing and countless rejections and setbacks, I still haven’t learned my lesson. What am I going to do?

　　Guess I’ll just have to keep writing until I give up on this life (hey

　　I really want more people to see my work. If there’s even a slight chance they’ll come to love it, I’d be so happy QQ

　　Writing is long and lonely, and I don’t even know whether the manuscript in my hands will ever see the light of day — but I just want to write. Maybe I simply enjoy writing quietly alone, chatting with the voices in my head. Whether relatives look down on it as an unprofitable job, people lament it as a sunset industry, or I’m tormented by writer’s block — I can endure it all!　

　　Conclusion: hmm, what a masochist

　　Anyone who loves writing stories must be at least a bit of a masochist — admit it already!

　　(looks left, looks right)

　　— What?! It’s only me?!

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FAQ

Further reading (in Chinese)

• Previous: #07 (in Chinese)
• Next: #09 (in Chinese)
• Start from the beginning: #01 — Utsudo’s debut
• Column introduction
• Utsudo’s books

About the author

Utsudo is a Taiwanese light novelist and novelist VTuber with more than ten years in the industry and 40 commercially published print books. Her novel 《遺失的情書》 received a 2022 Ministry of Culture youth creative award. The 《嘿！聽說妳在鬼島當作家》 series records her experiences as a novelist in Taiwan.

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