Transcript:

Over the past couple of years, it has become unmistakably clear to me that there are too many writers out there writing for the main, and perhaps only, goal of getting published.

Listen, it’s great if getting published is ONE of your writing goals, but for it to be your only goal? That’s why we have AI writing books right now.

Don’t get me wrong, imagining getting a book deal and seeing your book on a bookstore shelf is a fantastic way to motivate you to finish your manuscript when times get tough, especially the slog that is Act 2.

But I’ve also seen many writers crippled by the fear that they are so far behind that they’ll never catch up or that they’ll never see their books published. Because of this, one of my main goals as a writing coach and teacher has been to help people realize all the good that can come from writing and completing projects, even if you never make a career or get famous from your writing.

Today, we’ll be diving into four beloved authors in literary history, authors you’ve probably studied in school or read for fun, who died before ever knowing their writing mattered to the world. We’ll look at their stories, what writing gave them, and why your words matter—even if no one’s reading them… yet.

Hi, I’m C. Sloan Lewis, your virtual writing coach, and my goal is to help you not just improve your writing, but to support you as a writer. Welcome to my channel!

Emily Dickinson – The Private Poet

I first want to talk about Emily Dickinson, not only because I relate a lot to her and her poetry or because I’ve been using some of her poetry in my most recent work in progress, but also, her poem “I’m Nobody Who Are You?” encapsulates the main idea of this video:

I’m Nobody! Who are you?

Are you – Nobody – too?

Then there’s a pair of us!

Dont tell! they’d banish us – you know!

How dreary – to be – Somebody!

How public – like a Frog –

To tell your name – the livelong June –

To an admiring Bog!

To put it succinctly, Dickinson was a recluse and only published a few poems in her lifetime. About four years after her death in 1886, the first edition of her book of poems was published. Her poems exploded in popularity, and she soon became a household name.

Whether I’m teaching Gothic or American Literature, Emily Dickinson’s name always appears on the curriculum because her work is so important to our literary canon.

But in life, she was just a woman who enjoyed writing poems (prolifically, with over 2,000 written), baking bread, and gardening. She was a nobody in life, but her poems were still a great source of joy, and she seemingly enjoyed being a nobody.

She didn’t write to be famous, she wrote because that’s who she was.

Franz Kafka – The Reluctant Writer

If you made it through middle school, high school, and college without reading Franz Kafka’s The Metamorphosis or The Trial, congratulations on accomplishing such a feat.

Kafka is also known for the term “Kafkaesque” which is used to reference a surreal situation in which bureaucracy has taken control by overpowering people in a disorienting way. The Twilight Zone and Black Mirror have numerous examples of “Kafkaesque” in their episodes. However, I digress.

Not only did Kafka publish very few works in his time, but he even asked a close friend to burn the remaining work that he himself hadn’t burned due to his destructive levels of self-doubt. It’s estimated that he destroyed about 90% of his writing throughout his lifetime, which, for someone like me who studies literary history, breaks my heart. This is one of the many reasons I tell writers in my life to keep everything they write.

But Kafka didn’t write to become famous. It’s clear he rarely let anything into the hands of readers. Instead, his writing was a way to process his anxieties, the alienation he felt in his world and time, and the existential dread most people, but especially writers, deal with regularly.

Whether out of the goodness of his heart, knowing that Kafka’s work was important, or to make money publishing it, Kafka’s friend did not destroy any of the writing Kafka left behind. Despite Kafka’s self-doubt and other misgivings about his writing, readers and historians can read The Trial, The Castle, and Amerika, which otherwise would have simply been turned to ashes.

Zora Neale Hurston – The Cultural Keeper

Zora Neale Hurston is best known for her novel Their Eyes Were Watching God. If you haven’t read it yet, please add it to your TBR pile. It’s a fantastic novel. But did you know that Hurston died in relative obscurity? She was even buried in an unmarked grave in 1960 and only gained wide recognition in the 1970s thanks to the advocacy and essays of author Alice Walker, who wrote The Color Purple.

During her life, Hurston was a folklorist and anthropologist who celebrated the richness of Black Southern culture and dialect. Her work preserved the voices of a community that might otherwise have been erased from the literary record. She wrote plays, essays, short stories, and novels, often without much acclaim or payment. But she still continued because the stories themselves mattered.

Writing gave Hurston a way to celebrate where she came from and to create space for Black female characters with agency and inner lives—a revolutionary act in her time that paved the way for more Black female protagonists. Even when no one was reading, her words kept a culture alive.

One of my favorite quotes about writing comes from Hurston, when she said, “There is no agony like bearing an untold story inside you.”

She didn’t know the impact her writing would have on the Black community and the world as a whole, but she did know that her words couldn’t be left unsaid.

Stieg Larsson – The Posthumous Bestseller

Finally, let’s talk about Stieg Larsson, the Swedish author of the Millennium series—The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played with Fire, and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest. These books became international bestsellers and were adapted into several films. But Larsson never got to see any of that success. He died of a heart attack in 2004 before any of his books were published.

Larsson worked as a journalist, often investigating far-right extremist groups, and much of his fiction tackles corruption, misogyny, and injustice. He wasn’t just writing thrillers; he was writing with purpose.

Though he didn’t know if anyone would ever read them, he still wrote a complete trilogy. Writing was his way of making sense of a chaotic world and shedding light on the systems he felt needed to be exposed, while exploring themes of violence against women, mental illness, and the importance of journalism in a democracy.

He didn’t write for fame. He wrote because he knew there needed to be more voices speaking up against the injustices in the world.

Writing Is Worth It—Fame or Not

So what do these four writers have in common?

They weren’t chasing clout. They weren’t writing because they thought it would get them on bestseller lists or TikTok book tours (granted, none of them probably could have even conceived an idea like TikTok). They wrote because writing gave them something—solace, insight, a sense of purpose, a way to make meaning out of their lives and the world around them.

And I believe that’s the heart of writing in any form.

Writing isn’t just about getting published or having thousands of followers. It’s about:

• Letting go of what’s inside you
• Exploring what it means to be human
• Finding joy and healing in expression
• Leaving something behind—even if no one finds it right away

As I like to tell my students and clients: “Success isn’t just publication, it’s what you leave behind.”

Outro

You don’t have to be famous for your words to matter. Your writing might be helping you—and maybe even someone else—more than you know.

So I’d love to hear from you:

What’s a reason you write, even if no one’s reading? Let me know in the comments.

If this message inspired you, click the like button, subscribe to the channel, and share this with a fellow writer who needs the reminder. We’re all in this together, writing our hearts out, one word at a time.

You’ve got some writing to do, so I’ll see you next time. Ta-ta!