The Reluctant Author

Why I Don’t Write for Algorithms (And Why You Shouldn’t Either)

It is easy to lose the thread of your creative voice in a world where “engagement” is king. We are told to write for trends. Optimize for SEO. Chase viral hashtags. While those things can help your work get seen, they can also choke the soul out of your writing if you are not careful.

1. Algorithms Are Not Your Audience
An algorithm does not read your work. It does not care about nuance, craft, or how long it took you to bleed that paragraph onto the page. It wants patterns. Predictability. Clickbait. Your audience, the real readers, want truth. Voice. Risk. Something that feels alive.

2. Art Made for Trends Ages Like Milk
The hot topic of the moment is tomorrow’s cringe. If you are constantly chasing what is trending, you are always behind. Authenticity, on the other hand, is timeless. People remember how a piece made them feel, not whether it hit the right keywords.

3. Your Weird Is What Makes You Memorable
You do not stand out by sounding like everyone else. That one paragraph that feels “too raw”? That strange idea that does not fit a genre mold? That is your gold. Algorithms do not reward weird, but readers absolutely do. Be unhinged. Be poetic. Be deeply you.

4. Writing for Robots Will Break You
Burnout does not just come from writing too much. It comes from writing too strategically. If every post, paragraph, or caption is written for metrics, you will start to lose the thread of why you are even doing this in the first place.

Conclusion:
I am not saying ignore the tools. We live in a digital world, and visibility matters. But do not let the algorithm sit in your writing chair. Do not hand it the pen. Write first for the ones who need your voice, not for the machine. The audience you are meant for will find you. Maybe not immediately. Maybe not at scale. But they will find you, and they will stay.

The Line Between Inspiration and Imitation: Walking It Without Losing Your Voice

As creatives, we do not work in a vacuum. Every writer is a reader first. We are shaped by the books that broke us open, the authors we admire, and the stories that made us whisper, I wish I had written that.

So where is the line between inspiration and imitation? And how do we make sure we are honoring what moved us without becoming a shadow of someone else’s work?

Inspiration Is Inevitable and Necessary

Every artist is a collage of what they have consumed. That is not plagiarism. It is humanity. Maybe it is the sharp dialogue of a Tarantino film, the unsettling atmosphere of Shirley Jackson, or the character grit in Stephen King’s quieter moments. Those influences become tools in your kit. You absorb. You twist. You reimagine.

Good writers borrow structure. Great writers reinvent tone. The best use inspiration as a spark, not a stencil.

Imitation Happens When You Write from the Outside In

If you are trying to sound like someone else, your voice gets muffled. That is imitation. It often shows up when we are insecure, when we second guess our own rhythm or reach for what seems popular instead of what feels true.

If you are writing a story that looks good on paper but feels hollow in your gut, ask yourself: Whose voice is this really?

Your Voice Is Not Found. It Is Built.

There is no moment where your voice simply appears, fully formed and glorious. It is forged word by word, draft by clunky draft. You will mimic. You will over edit. You will cringe at your own metaphors. Eventually something will click. Not because you chased originality, but because you finally trusted yourself.

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