Write Away

I don't think a story requires an audience. A novel that has never been read by anyone who wasn't involved in creating it is still a novel. Unless said people are counted as the audience in that case.

I write because it's fun. It's like reading a book. I look forward to seeing what's going to happen next. It's different since I have control over it but there are still surprises. It's sheer entertainment. Whenever I'm sad that a book that sounds interesting doesn't exist, I get to write it and experience that story.

I just don't see why an audience is a defining characteristic of a story.

I find this line particularly interesting:

But that's the kind of writing that's a diary even if you're couching whatever it is you're saying in fictional terms.

I have what I call my "fiction diary". I have always liked the idea of keeping a diary but I was never very good at it, so what I do instead is each day I write a short piece inspired by whatever stands out about my day.

It feels very different from my novels.

I'm also just having trouble understanding this idea in general. So the novels I wrote before are actually more like diaries because I had no plans to show them to anyone else? But if I revise them and show them to people, that would transform them into legit stories?