Over the past several months, I’ve eavesdropped on a handful of conversations about the state of the Catholic literary culture today.  Whether it’s the Catholic presence in film, journalism, literary fiction or genre fiction, the lament is the same: Not enough of us, and not enough of us putting out good work.

Now it can’t be as bad all that, because I have easily twenty excellent Catholic books — fiction and non-fiction– on my shelf waiting to be read.  My feed-reader is perpetually overflowing, and I don’t even subscribe to half the blogs and news sources that deserve my attention. Any place that niche-publishing thrives, Catholic writing thrives.

I do see some big holes in mainstream news and film.  I suspect this is because of the massive financial investment required to play. It doesn’t take as much time or money to churn out a blog post or a book, or produce a little YouTube video; running a TV station or launching a major motion picture is a different ball game.  The sheer number of people and quantities of cash required is tremendous, and thus you need a critical mass of faithful Catholics to make it happen.  This is an evangelization problem, not a literary problem.

(That said: There is a ton of excellent work being done in Catholic media.  Don’t knock it.)

The Catholic Writers Guild exists to tackle this problem from both ends. We help Catholics cultivate their writing skills and get their work to market.  This not only builds the Catholic literary culture today, but that literary culture in turn evangelizes.  Which increases the number of faithful Catholics, which increases the number of faithful Catholic writers, which . . .  you get the picture.

So what should you write?

It is easy to get sidetracked by arguments about “What we need most in Catholic writing.”  Is there too much campy genre fiction, and not enough highbrow literary fiction?  Or the other way around? Too many Catholic-genre, overtly religious DVD’s, and not enough general-audience films with universal themes?  These kinds of quibbles point to something much bigger: People want good stories. 

We will always hunger for more of the kinds of stories we love.  That is at it should be.

But here’s the trouble: You, the Catholic writer, cannot survey the market, determine something like, “I see there has not been a major action-adventure film featuring a Dominican nun, a large family, and a Gulf War Veteran who loves Gerard Manley Hopkins — I think I’ll write one of those, since that’s what we need next.”

The reality is this: You’ve got certain kinds of stories inside of you. A certain voice. Certain tastes.  Certain experiences that color your world.

It doesn’t matter “what the world needs next.”  What you have to give the world is one thing: You.

Write the story that you’ve got.  Write the genre that comes out of you. Write it with the kind of plot, the kind of words, the kind of voice that you love to read, over and over and over again.  (Hint: Before your opus is ready for public consumption, plan for it pass to before your eyes about thirty times.)

Just Say No to Lousy Writing

First draft?  Lousy as you wanna be.  Finished product?  Make it as good as you possibly can.

Now as a writer you’ve got a solemn right to produce a pile of drivel that is purely for your own entertainment.  You’re a writer, and sometimes you write for that audience of one.  Do it.  Spend some time writing just for fun.

You also, in your public work, have a right to write for a small audience.  So let’s say your genre is “Catholic Sci-Fi Parodies with Obscure Philosophical References for People Who Study Egyptology.” No problem. There’s only three dozen people in the world who read that genre, but thank you Internet, you can reach those three dozen.

But please do not try to whittle down those three dozen further by tacking onto your genre-description, “And who don’t mind that there’s no plot, at all, and never did care for punctuation anyway.”

From Aspiring to Accomplished: How?

You learn to write well by doing two things:

  1. Writing.  Every chance you get.
  2. Studying the craft.  Learning specific ways to make your writing better.

If you are an aspiring writer, I hope you’ve registered for the CWG’s online conference.  It’s the go-to place for Catholic writers wanting to improve their writing and marketing skills.  Take as many classes as you possibly can.

I’d also encourage up-and-coming writers to join the Catholic Writers Guild.  Our members-only Facebook group has taken off over the past several months, and has become an active writing support group for everything from beginner Q&A, to submission questions, to mutual help in promoting each others’ works.

How Good is Good Enough?

Something I hate about writing is that moment when you have to walk away from a piece and hit the ‘publish’ button.  So many times I’ve sighed and said, “Well, I guess this is as good as it’s going to be.”

There’s a fine line between humility and stupidity, and I try my best to stay on the better-edited side of that line.

A realistic goal for every writer is this: I want my next piece to be better than my last one.  I want to be able to go back to something I wrote five years ago, and cringe.  I want people to be able say, “Her work has really improved over the years.”  I want to finish my writing career at the top of my game.

Is that your goal? The Catholic Writers Guild is here to help you.

Avatar photo

Jennifer Fitz is the author of The How-to Book of Evangelization: Everything You Need to Know But No One Ever Taught You from Our Sunday Visitor and Classroom Management for Catechists from Liguori Publications. She writes about all things evangelization and discipleship at jenniferfitz.substack.com. For updates on where else to find her, visit JenniferFitz.com.

4 Replies to “Writing for an Audience vs. Writing for Yourself”

  1. Jen, this is excellent advice–very balanced! You can’t always make a living writing for yourself (although I think it’s going to be easier than ever now that the market is truly global), but you can only write your best when you are writing from the heart. I have started plenty of columns or blog posts where I’ve felt like I was saying, “Blah, blah, blah.” Then I’ve scrapped them and written something I was really excited about.

    I find that it’s hard to tell what your audience wants. I sometimes write a post I think my readers will love and I get no comments. Other times I write really quickly because that’s all the time life is giving me, and my audience thinks it’s awesome. Just like in the spiritual life, I can’t control the outcome. I can only do my part the best that I can do.

    Each of us has a unique perspective on life. We can each bring something fresh to Catholic literature.

  2. Thank you very much for this. It helps a lot for someone like me who has not published a thing despite writing so many drafts and is very nervous about doing so.

  3. Jennifer, I needed this post – this exact one! – this morning. 🙂

    In one discussion about what makes literature Catholic, I was struck by Sherri Antonetti’s definition, which I hope she doesn’t mind my sharing here: A story which reveals truth, shows a love for beauty and the innocent, even if it is by the absence of either, and which ultimately reflects the reality (that) love is stronger than death, and grace abounds, even in suffering.

    Lots of latitude. People are different, both as writers and as readers. What touches one person leaves another cold, and vice versa.

    Your advice in this blog is so spot on that I’m copying it for my personal cheerleading file, along with Sherri’s. Especially this: It doesn’t matter “what the world needs next.” What you have to give the world is one thing: You

    Thank you.

Comments are closed.