Young Writers Society

I'm always really interested in hearing the goals of writers. I know a lot of us on here probably want the same thing (to be published! to be read!), but it goes deeper than that, too. I'm curious to hear what you're really after. Adoring readers? Film adaptations? If your wildest writing dream were to come true, what would it be?
And if that dream is not listed in the poll, please comment below cuz I want to hear it!

I write mainly poetry but I also dabble in other areas as well. I write for fun. I don't have a drive to become an author or to become famous, I want to write for myself and maybe at the very most obtain a small niche community of people who enjoy my poetry or writing and that's the most I can ask for. I'm not ambitious in that sense and never have been. I just enjoy the art and I have a passion for writing.

My wildest writing fantasy is to write poetry or a novel or a couple of pieces of writing that I'm truly happy with and to help others improve and be content with their own writing.

Kays wrote:I write mainly poetry but I also dabble in other areas as well. I write for fun. I don't have a drive to become an author or to become famous, I want to write for myself and maybe at the very most obtain a small niche community of people who enjoy my poetry or writing and that's the most I can ask for. I'm not ambitious in that sense and never have been. I just enjoy the art and I have a passion for writing.

My wildest writing fantasy is to write poetry or a novel or a couple of pieces of writing that I'm truly happy with.

That's really interesting! It's always nice to hear about people who just write for the sake of writing. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't at least partially motivated by the idea of being traditionally published.

It sounds weird, but for my Author's Darling novels, my biggest dream is to see them turned into animated films. Something about the nature of animation in the film industry just seems more true to them than live-action does.

But I'll never finish those, so that's not...really my dream.

My dream is to reach one person with my writing -- maybe more, but one would be nice -- and to change their life, and make them look differently at the world around them. My favorite author in the world changed my life like that, and if I could do that for even one person, my goal would be complete.

Whether that's through traditional publishing, self-publishing, novels, short stories, lyrics... I just want to change someone for the better.

Lareine wrote:It sounds weird, but for my Author's Darling novels, my biggest dream is to see them turned into animated films.

Oh wow, I literally had that exact same goal when I was younger! I even wrote about it somewhere on YWS a few years ago. Having one of my stories turned into an animated movie was far more interesting to me than the idea of a live-action film, and I always had a very specific version in mind: it would be hand-drawn animation (not CGI), and it would be a musical, and it would be Disney. Some dreams might just be too beautiful to come true, though—especially since most of my writing is not exactly feel-good, light-hearted Disney fare. XD

I know it's pretty ambitious, but I want my books to someday be as popular as the things that J.K. Rowling has written. The money I would get isn't my reason, though it would certainly be nice to write as a career. What I hope to have someday are the same type of dedicated fans that Harry Potter has. Seeing the diverse and amazing things they create would bring a smile to my face everytime I was feeling down. There's certainly other series out there that have a large amount of fans, but anyone who has spent some time on the fandom side of the internet knows that Harry Potter takes the cake.

Writing isn't my passion entirely, so filmmaking combines writing, music, acting, costume design, and visual production. Everything I love.

My dream is definitely to make a living off of my writing, with the hope that my stories will wind up doing some good by touching people, connecting with them, or even just taking their minds away from the stresses of life. I would *love* to be traditionally published, to work with an editor, to go on book tours and see fans. My biggest dream is to see my books in the public library. That's sort of my "I've made it" mark.

(Actually, the specific scene I have in mind is that I'm taking my kids to the library - because I really want kids - and one of them comes back holding a book and says "look Mommy, it's your name on the book!" and it's one of my books. Like, that scene encompasses the two major things I want in life.)

Thing is, I'd also love to be an editor. The idea of getting to work with an author, to help someone's book become that much better and then watch it get published and watch its success, even if it's not my book, is really exciting to me.

saentiel wrote:I know it's pretty ambitious, but I want my books to someday be as popular as the things that J.K. Rowling has written. The money I would get isn't my reason, though it would certainly be nice to write as a career. What I hope to have someday are the same type of dedicated fans that Harry Potter has. Seeing the diverse and amazing things they create would bring a smile to my face everytime I was feeling down. There's certainly other series out there that have a large amount of fans, but anyone who has spent some time on the fandom side of the internet knows that Harry Potter takes the cake.

Same here! It's definitely ambitious, but every time I see how passionate Harry Potter fans are, I always think, "That's what I want."

Writing isn't my passion entirely, so filmmaking combines writing, music, acting, costume design, and visual production. Everything I love.

Yeah, I'm in a similar boat. I do want to publish a book(s), but I always imagined writing to be my side gig/hobby while I'd do something else full-time—and I was pretty sure when I was younger that my full-time job would be something in the film industry, pretty much for all the reasons you mentioned.

My biggest dream is to see my books in the public library. That's sort of my "I've made it" mark.

(Actually, the specific scene I have in mind is that I'm taking my kids to the library - because I really want kids - and one of them comes back holding a book and says "look Mommy, it's your name on the book!" and it's one of my books. Like, that scene encompasses the two major things I want in life.)

AWW THAT'S SO CUTEEEE. Now I kind of want to steal that dream...

I have to agree with @Kays. I write for fun. My poems though, express my feelings and help me deal with emotions. I want it to mean something to other readers though. I want readers to be able to feel what I say in my poems, and be in with the MC in my stories.

I have a very specific ambition in mind...

once, a few years ago, a well-respected, popular YA author, bullied and essentially stalked me online. Some of you know who this is, but for the moment, let us call her She Who Must Not Be Named.

I got over it, but have hated her and everything about her, understandably, I feel, ever since.

My ambition is this. Become a best selling author, the kind of person that other people want to do book tours and signings with. Get invited to a major fantasy/YA event, to which she has already been invited. Let their people know that I won't be attending if she's there. Because I am more popular and sell more books than her, and it's an either/or situation, they disinvite her.

She contacts me, asks me why. I silently slide print-offs of everything that happened towards her. I tell her never to approach me again. I let everyone else in the industry know about it.

I go back to my writer/doctor double life, content with my revenge.

I just want to be published, but published by a pretty well-known publishing house, like Penguin Random House or Little, Brown & Co., etc. I think then I will feel like I've made it, because I would be published with a house that also published the books that I grew up with and/or continue to read. Just one book - that's all I ask.

It's been a huge dream of mine for as long as I can remember. In fact, when I was about ten years old I called about 10-15 publishing houses in Canada, the USA, and the UK asking if they would publish my novel. Of course, at the time, I didn't know what an agent was and my writing was not very good, but the people I spoke to were really kind and supportive, and a couple even humoured little me by asking to receive the manuscript by e-mail. I got some very encouraging e-mails back.

StellaThomas wrote:My ambition is this. Become a best selling author, the kind of person that other people want to do book tours and signings with. Get invited to a major fantasy/YA event, to which she has already been invited. Let their people know that I won't be attending if she's there. Because I am more popular and sell more books than her, and it's an either/or situation, they disinvite her.

She contacts me, asks me why. I silently slide print-offs of everything that happened towards her. I tell her never to approach me again. I let everyone else in the industry know about it.

My name is Inigo Montoya! You killed my father, prepare to die!

@Master_Yoda I do believe that from now on She Who Must Not Be Named will be known as the Six Fingered Woman.

At @StellaThomas totally going to see that movie tonight, it's playing in a local theater!

I write because I love writing, but obviously being the next JKR is my grandest, most out-there fantasy. However, I genuinely would love to have enough of a fan base that I could read loads of fanfic about my own stories and characters. I'd love to see what people come up with, what they wish had happened with characters, what alternate universes they imagine for these characters. That would be so much fun.