Indifference

“The opposite of love is not hate, it's indifference. The opposite of art is not ugliness, it's indifference. The opposite of faith is not heresy, it's indifference. And the opposite of life is not death, it's indifference.” 
― Elie Wiesel

This is a quote I found on Goodreads.com. It didn't talk about writing, but the same principle applies here. What kind of book should be deemed as a failure? Not one that the readers strongly disagree with; not one that gets laughed at or resented. It's one that leaves only indifference in the readers' minds. One with which when they put it down, they say, "Okay, so?"

A lot of people mistake novel writing as an entertainment for an author. Authors who do treat it as an entertainment will end up as a failed author. No, even comedies root from the nature of imperfectness. It looks like we can create anything in our books, but in fact there is no running away from life. We have to face and taste every bit of life, be it happy or sad, even in a fantasy. There is no way to fool our conscience, to dodge responsibilities, to conquer fundamental rules. To write a good book, we must live another life, suffer its pain and accept its hopelessness, as if we hadn't had enough of our own life.

But the reward is worth the agony, if we see readers can no longer remain indifferent.