Writing for Robert Parker When I wrote the entry titled "The first paragraph," I had just gotten a piece accepted by a literary review, and I was worrying that literary writing had become too academic, in the sense of becoming a craft produced by trained members of a collective academy.

Now I think a big part of the problem is the nature of the audience for an amateur writer. It's hard to imagine anyone reading a lit review who isn't either an agent thumbing through looking for someone to puff, or another writer appraising the competition. Everything devolves to craft, because one despairs of engaging such savvy readers in any way other than by demonstrating mastery with the well-worn tools of the trade.

A victory in these conditions is less than completely satisfying. It just feels like you've managed to briefly impress the jaded. Writing for a lit review is like playing a football game in a stadium emptied of everyone except for a couple dozen sportswriters and a few players from other teams.

Perhaps it's not the academic form of literary writing that bothers me, but the audience available to an amateur.

At the same time, a writer's awareness of this audience encourages a certain approach to writing. It leads us to see ourselves as wine-makers instead of football players. A wine-maker would hardly resent the chance to create wine only for a select group of wine-tasters and fellow vintners.

As it happens, I enjoy wine more than I like football, but as a writer I'd rather be a football player than a wine-maker. I don't need my readers to fill a stadium, but I'd prefer a less specialized audience.  ¶ 9:12 PM