Day 270: Who will write the next all-time Classic?

Over the past few days, I've been to a few more Bath Literature Festival events and have seen quite a few authors speaking about their work, about writing process and about books in general.

One interesting question that came up in the The Classics talk on Wednesday was who writers write for. Books like Rebecca by Daphne De Maurier and War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy  have been entertaining readers for decades, but did their authors imagine that their stories would still be enjoyed in the 21st Century? Were they writing for us or were they writing for their own generation?

I think this idea is really interesting. When I write my stories or even my blog entries, I am writing for you, right now, for the youth of this generation, not those who are going to live in 50 years time, but maybe other people do write with future generations in mind, trying to make it timeless. I wonder if they have a reader in mind as they sit there, plotting and creating characters. Perhaps these things just happen. To plan to be a international best seller decade after decade is probably not the best way to write, but what do I know?

If you wrote/are writing a book, who would/are you writing for? Do you have someone in mind? Do you write for yourself? Something to think about...