Writers are Degrading Themselves

As a writer, I am sometimes sickened by how much writers are willing to degrade their work to satisfy their agents, publishers, and audiences. This is one of reasons I am very reluctant to let others see my work because I don't want to hear that I should change this or that. I feel it it's grammatical things have to correct it's fine but not when it's uprooting a mass apart of the plot or a scene or a character. Because we as writers put so much effort, time, creativity into creating a story, and it gets dissected and analyzed by readers and agents and if they don't like it then it doesn't sell or worse, doesn't get published. That's a really cruel way to shoot down someone's work they've worked on for years. But you're supposed to get used to that right? Endless piles of rejection letters before someone says yes. There is always the option of self-publishing but if readers don't like your book, you still don't have any audiences. 

I will first talk about why I feel writers degrade their own work just, so they can get more readers and get published. Everyone wants to get published nowadays and be famous and acclaimed. The biggest audience of readers nowadays are mostly young adults. What appeals to young adults nowadays are usually fantasy, science fiction, and romance. Young adults usually go crazy over vampires and magic. I mean it's normal because everyone imagines of falling in love with a vampire or demon or whoever. It's the well young adults think when they buy books, they fall in love with the hot demon who kills everyone who threatens those they love. It's normal from a reader's point of view. I want to read books like that once in a while as well. 

However, when every single YA book is about the same themes and plot it gets irritating. A lot of new and good authors who wrote YA books or going into this genre tend to degrade not only their writing. But they're also degrading men and women as well. A real man is supposed to be like this. Make a character like this to make young adults love them and the book. Publishers and agents tend to look for things that will sell like Twilight or The Hunger Games. 

It's just like a bandwagon for writers to jump on whatever they see is selling like hotcakes. Some are willing to toss out authentic ideas and things in the plot to make their books more likable and eye-catching. That really depresses me. Aren't writers all supposed to have their own unique voice? We shouldn't be copying the styles of others. I am sure not all young adults want to read about fantasy and heartbreaking love stories right? Why should we sacrifice our style and writing and ideas and succumb to what others want from us? Shouldn't we challenge or at least take a risk and put books out there to see how they will turn out? 

Now then I feel that as writer, I would never want to degrade my work or change and twist it to someone's liking. I'll work with them but I'll try to still keep the traditional planning and plot of a piece of work. I put all my heart and energy into each story and I don't want to jump on any bandwagon. Did Austen, the Brontes, Steinbeck ever worry about what others thought of their work? No, they wrote to tell a truth and to prove points. When you think of it, it is similar to I'm voicing my opinions and showing you the ugly truth and if you don't like it so be it. 

Writing is sharing our inner thoughts, feelings, questions, and things we want to talk about. And if this is what everyone is thinking about: vampires, demons, magic, and nothing much else..we have a problem. Where did all the genres of realism, romanticism, and satirical go?  Authors of centuries ago would be really disappointed in what is going on today with writers.