Fame or Fortune? Which Would You Choose?

By Shane W. Smith

Fame or fortune? Seems a natural question to pose to a writer at the start of their career.

But I had a lot of trouble answering it, and I want to break down some of the reasons why, beginning with:

What does it mean to be a writer?

This was a question posed to me very early on in my university studies, and it’s one that almost the entire class floundered with. The lecturers hastened to assure us that anyone who writes can call themselves a writer without fear of embarrassment or contradiction.

I struggled with this for a while longer, convinced that there must be some distinction between Stephen King and myself, and also between myself and someone chalking the Specials board. In the end, the existential angst nearly took me down, so I decided to leave that question for wiser minds, and just focus on what writing was to me.

Writing was a tremendous source of fun and catharsis for me. I had been writing since before I began preschool, and had never lost the taste for it. In addition to the draft novels I was preparing, naval-gazing journals, self-indulgent short stories and lousy teenage poetry were all equally rewarding for me to write. But I quickly learned that for me, it wasn’t enough to just write. I wanted to say something. I wanted to learn something. I wanted to be read.

And yes, I wanted to be published and to make money. I wanted to be read... but even more than that, I was desperate to avoid the drudgery of the administrative career path laid out before all graduates living in their nation’s capital... and money was the only way to do that.

But when presented with the titular question (Fame or fortune... which do you prefer?), I realised – much to my surprise – I don’t really want much of either.

I’d like to make a modest wage from my writing – a replacement salary – but not so much that I can just sit back and do nothing, because I fear losing the drive, the urgency, the necessity, and then: losing writing itself.

And I’d like to have the respect and some small acclaim from the writing community and a decent circle of readers, but I don’t want to be a celebrity. I take great comfort in the simple pleasures of life: family, stability, solitude – I fear the impact that stratospheric fame would have upon all these elements of my life.

If I had to choose between fame and fortune, with no third option, I would choose fortune... because at least I can give that away!

Stanley Myres, Chancellor of the galactic Senate... Elam Padakan, Overlord of exiled superpower Padakan House... Young Ross Tillman, a student on Messar... When civil war erupts on Messar, these three men are drawn into the conflict. And as their paths begin to intersect and tangle together, they come to realise that the galaxy has very different plans for all of their dreams. The Lesser Evil is a graphic novel that examines what it means to have a dream... and what that dream can end up costing, regardless of whether it comes true.

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Genre - Science Fiction / Graphic Novel
Rating - PG13


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Website http://shanewsmith.com/

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