Do You Write For Yourself Or For Others?

[Glenn_44]

Honest question. Do you actually write for yourself, or are you thinking about how others will read it?

[ArVeeDee]

Started for myself. Stayed for the reactions. I hate admitting that, but yeah

[QuantumKnight]

I have a little idea book. its usually by my bed for those 3am creative sessions (that you will have forgotten by morning)

[VB]

If I think about readers too much, I freeze. So I pretend no one will ever see it... and then post it anyway

[Jeffy]

There's no pure version of either. Even writing "for yourself" is influenced by everything you've read and heard

[Mike]

I don't know about that. I had something similar happen.

Cheers for sharing.

[QuietNomad]

That is one way of looking at it. Totally get that.

Proper useful that

[LegendaryLuca49]

Writing for myself is the starting point, but the little hope that someone else connects with it is always there. A poem can sit in a notebook for years and still feel alive when one person reads it and says it reminded them of something.

There is a funny contradiction though. The moment you start imagining the audience too much, the poem starts wearing a little suit and tie instead of being itself. Nobody wants a poem that sounds like it was approved by a committee

[DeadChat]

For me it changes depending on the piece. A silly little poem about a bad cup of coffee is mostly just a way to laugh at the day, while something more personal might be written because there is a feeling that needs somewhere to go.

Sharing it afterwards is the interesting part. You find out that a line you thought was just about your own experience can land differently for somebody else. That surprise is half the fun.

[LostTom30]

The answer is probably both. Writing only for yourself can be freeing because there is no pressure, but writing with zero thought for a reader can sometimes become a diary entry with fancy formatting

A good poem feels like a conversation. It begins in one person's head but leaves the door open for someone else to walk through and see their own memories there.

[Jess30]

The best poems I have written were the ones where I forgot anyone might see them. Trying to impress readers usually makes every sentence heavier than it needs to be.

Then someone reacts and suddenly the private thing becomes shared. That moment when a stranger understands a feeling you never explained properly is pretty special.

[Henry10]

There is a danger in saying we write only for ourselves. Even choosing words is a kind of communication. If nobody else mattered at all, we could just keep the thoughts as random notes.

That said, chasing likes and praise is a quick way to drain the life out of writing. The poem has to work for the person holding the pen first