The Business Side of Art: Learning What You Never Meant to Learn

Writing a book sounds simple when you are standing outside the process.

You have a story. You sit down. You write it. You become an author.

Then you discover everything else that comes with it.

In this Indie Life contribution, Dorin D. takes a humorous, and sometimes wonderfully exasperated, look at the unexpected lessons that come with becoming a writer, from agents and publishers to marketing, formatting and the conventions of writing in a language that isn't your first.

Rather than quietly accepting every rule, Dorin questions them, challenges them, and ultimately comes back to the reason he started writing in the first place: to express what feels natural to him.

His advice?

Write what your heart tells you to write and don't worry too much about the trolls.

The Business Side of Art: Learning What You Never Meant to Learn

I’ll start writing, I’ll become an author!… Oh, that’ll be such fun, so easy to
do! Well, that’s what I thought, at least..

But… oh, dear! I was wrong! Oh, so wrong! And I’ll tell you why.

Firstly, there are some, let’s say, traditional hurdles to take care of, like
finding an agent or publisher willing to take a chance on you. Then comes marketing your work and finding the right audience for it. But the biggest challenge, for me at least and certainly for others like me, with English not being their first language, is learning how to “correctly” format their thoughts.

Huh! And here I was, thinking writing was meant to be about freely expressing what you want.

Wrong again!!!

Turns out, writing implies that you’ll be constrained by some obscure,
unwritten laws. You need to do it a certain way; your paragraphs should be a certain distance apart; your sentences have to be of a certain length, or at least, this is what I understood when offering my ideas up for criticism. And criticism I got! Plenty of it!

And, strangely, not criticism regarding WHAT I wrote, but nit-picking, complaints
that my novel can’t be read in the format it was presented in, that my characters’
thoughts were fractured... well, of course they are fractured! It’s how we think! No
one thinks in big chunks, digging up some fancy words, do they?

But I digress. So, to continue my line of thought, for someone with English
not being their first language, writing is kind of a chore! Honestly, not writing per se, but “arranging” the words of the work in a format that “satisfies” the masses.

Trust me, the way a book is presented differs a lot, depending on which language
you are writing it in. For example, let’s get an ad-hoc “extract”.

“Well, well, well, we meet again,” said Doctor Zipper.

“Trust me, doc, it was not my intention,” responded Mr. Ragdoll.

He added: “Who would have thought you’d leave your watch inside my stomach?
Now I’m... ticking! ...Again!”

Now, you see, that is the English formatting. (Or at least I hope it is!)

But, if you were to write the same thing in Spanish, that would be:

-Well, well, well, we meet again.-said Doctor Zipper.

-Trust me, doc, it was not my intention.-responded Mr. Ragdoll.

He added:-¿Who would have thought you’ll leave your watch inside my stomach?
¡Now I’m... ticking! ...¡Again!

And if you’d conform to the Romanian formatting, the result would be:

• Well, well, well, we meet again. - said Doctor Zipper.
• Trust me, doc, it was not my intention. - responded Mr. Ragdoll.
  He added:
• Who would have thought you’ll leave your watch inside my stomach? Now I’m ... ticking ! ... Again !

So, you see, there’s not a heaven-to-hell difference between the three of them, but,
and I learned this the hard way, if not “properly” formatted, it is enough for your
piece to be deemed “unreadable”. And, trust me, reasoning that “that’s why editing
exists” will get you nowhere.

Personally, I don’t like restrictions, and I’m running from conformism like a
bullfrog runs from an obese stork approaching the lake! For me, creating a written
work is about expressing what I feel, what I think is flowing naturally. Yeah, I admit, I love to throw some bizarre and absurd dialogues and situations. There, I said it! Happy now?

And, in my personal opinion, why should these “unwritten laws” even
exist anyway? I am pretty sure the first man ever to write a poem got a real
bollocking, pardon my French, from the other cavemen who complained “This no
right. No dialogue. Why rhyming? No readable!”

So, this is what I’m doing. I am writing what I feel. And if others don’t like
it... well, no one compels them to read my books, no? So my advice, which I warn
you, you might be better off ignoring, is to write as your heart tells you to do, and
don’t worry about the trolls.

About Dorin D.

Dorin D. is a writer and creator of stories that often refuse to follow quite the usual path. Originally from Romania, after travelling the world working on cruise ships, but now based in the UK, with a strong IT background, Dorin has spent much of his working life in care-home catering, while also developing a long-standing interest in creative projects.

Although he published a volume of poetry in Romania in the late 90s, he began writing fiction later in life, in 2026, discovering along the way that creating a story involves rather more than simply having a story to tell. His writing is shaped by humour, unexpected ideas and a willingness to find his own way of doing things, even when that means questioning a few conventions along the way.

Creator of characters such as detective Homer Lockshels and Jim the Coloured Butterfly, his current writing ranges from cosy mysteries to children’s rhyming books.