So many of us have the desire to write something that is read and cherished. We have books that we love, and we look up to and admire the writers that wrote them. It’s easy for us to seek the love and admiration that we give to the authors of our favorite books, and think that by writing the next great classic that we would also have that love and admiration.
But the truth is you’ll never become something original if you are trying to copy the path of someone else’s life. And most writers aren’t really trying to write great classics, they are just writing to the best of their ability, and for whatever reason is currently at hand. Based on a letter by Mark Twain, he started writing The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn primarily as a way to just have something to work on. A book that became a classic wasn’t written out of that motivation, Twain had simply honed his craft enough to where he was able to write a story that became canonized while just trying to keep himself occupied.
You don’t need to set out to write the next great classic, what you should do is write as best as you can, for the best reason you have. The words you speak come out of your heart, and a heart worth cherishing will produce novels that are worth cherishing.
