more on writing
The thing about writing is, and I think this needs to be said, the rules have changed. You don't know this unless you've studied some regional history, but nonetheless, it's true.
A long time ago, what you did to become a successful writer was, you found a region and you became a kind of writer's community there. Now, this was good because writer's during this time, needed to live as bohemians and, therefore, the community was in some ways the patron of the artist. Now, this implies that the community gave a shit about the art, that the artists of the community gave a shit about art enough to produce good works, that there was someone who would eventually come along and carpetbag the artistic community, etc..
None of which exists anymore. First of all, there is no community support for an artist. No one's giving you free bagels because they like your poems. Art used to have an "in lieu of money" quality to it. It no longer does. Now, you will also need to make money and as I think we all know, making money makes the construction of art that much more difficult and that much more slow.
There are still artists working in communities but they suffer prodigiously from two things. Art has become political--and not in a good way. Here in Northampton, for instance, you have to write about the problems with being a gay transgendered mother in order for your stuff to be put on stage. I've seen quite a few material artists, but that's mostly woodworking, and woodworking is intensely commercial. So, there you are. Your community is expected to make something that a gallery can sell, and quickly, or it is supposed to prop up the local tenor of the area around it.
Finally, there were once these people who would show up and mine these talent pools, but where are they now? I watched a talk with a literary agent at our school who was attempting to mine the talent. Her basic point was that she published one good author a year and that what she was really looking for was the next Grisham or Steele. If you're writing about a young kid in his first years at Werewolf high, good on you; if not....
So, where are you supposed to go to foster your work? Literary mags? Please. No one reads those. This blog is better than some of the best literary mags except for its clout as a line on my C.V..
I think what finally needs to be said on this subject is that we have no responsibility to compare ourselves to those who went before us. They had it relatively easy. No wonder they got published at 20. What's more, getting noticed is a great incentive for writing. Nothing gets you moving faster than recognition. Without it, we're apt to feel a bit harrangued by the whole thing.
But if it comes late, at least you can bet that it will come. Read what's on the shelves. Go see what's in the theaters. Open up a New Yorker and read a poem. The stuff is crap. Most anything you do will be better than that. Someone is bound to eventually notice.
A long time ago, what you did to become a successful writer was, you found a region and you became a kind of writer's community there. Now, this was good because writer's during this time, needed to live as bohemians and, therefore, the community was in some ways the patron of the artist. Now, this implies that the community gave a shit about the art, that the artists of the community gave a shit about art enough to produce good works, that there was someone who would eventually come along and carpetbag the artistic community, etc..
None of which exists anymore. First of all, there is no community support for an artist. No one's giving you free bagels because they like your poems. Art used to have an "in lieu of money" quality to it. It no longer does. Now, you will also need to make money and as I think we all know, making money makes the construction of art that much more difficult and that much more slow.
There are still artists working in communities but they suffer prodigiously from two things. Art has become political--and not in a good way. Here in Northampton, for instance, you have to write about the problems with being a gay transgendered mother in order for your stuff to be put on stage. I've seen quite a few material artists, but that's mostly woodworking, and woodworking is intensely commercial. So, there you are. Your community is expected to make something that a gallery can sell, and quickly, or it is supposed to prop up the local tenor of the area around it.
Finally, there were once these people who would show up and mine these talent pools, but where are they now? I watched a talk with a literary agent at our school who was attempting to mine the talent. Her basic point was that she published one good author a year and that what she was really looking for was the next Grisham or Steele. If you're writing about a young kid in his first years at Werewolf high, good on you; if not....
So, where are you supposed to go to foster your work? Literary mags? Please. No one reads those. This blog is better than some of the best literary mags except for its clout as a line on my C.V..
I think what finally needs to be said on this subject is that we have no responsibility to compare ourselves to those who went before us. They had it relatively easy. No wonder they got published at 20. What's more, getting noticed is a great incentive for writing. Nothing gets you moving faster than recognition. Without it, we're apt to feel a bit harrangued by the whole thing.
But if it comes late, at least you can bet that it will come. Read what's on the shelves. Go see what's in the theaters. Open up a New Yorker and read a poem. The stuff is crap. Most anything you do will be better than that. Someone is bound to eventually notice.
posted by Monstro D. Whale at
7:11 AM
4 Comments:
Related to the literary magazine thought:
I've done some research on writing science fiction or fantasy for a magazine. The general consensus at these magazines' websites is 'don't bother to submit anything, because we don't accept unsolicited material and won't print it.'
About the only place authors in these genres would have a chance would be in L. Ron Hubbard's Writers of the Future contest.
That attitude from the magazines has made me think seriously about trying to start my own magazine dedicated to unpublished authors in those fields.
From a letter I sent to a friend a few weeks ago:
"Funny, but I always wondered how people got published. I used to think it had more to do with merit than anything else. Naive, I know. That evaporated quickly in grad school. I remember sitting in one class and noting that the majority of poets in the room had already been in Ploughshares, usually in editions that [famous poetess] was guest editing. Some deserved the recognition, of course. But with others, I sensed the fact of her doing them a professional favor."
Who knows if anyone will notice without an agent or a champion or a miracle? In today's writer's world, there's the whole marketing / self-promotional aspect, which requires a rare tenacity. In my own case, I guess I just get sick of all the marketing... I'm a marketing director, after all. When I get home, I hate doing any more marketing.
So, I fall back on Lulu, the new age's best answer to the self-publishing dilemma posed by the pre-Internet era -- namely, the path of being suckered by vanity presses. Lulu, IMHO, returns a bit of nobility to self-publishing (a path chosen, btw, by quite a list of famous authors from Atwood to Woolf). You no longer have to invest a cent in costly editors, deisigners, and of course book printing / inventory.
Of course, it would certainly be preferable to land an agent and actually sell a friggin' book like everyone else!!! So far, though, I've only ever written things of questionable marketability. My Lulu offerings include a novella (extremely unmarketable), a screenplay (marketable, but damn tough to make a sale if you're not based in L.A.), and (coming this week, I hope) a memoir (again, perhaps the time is past for this "creative nonfiction" genre, unless you're someone famous). My current project (about half done) is a standard, mainstream novel. I may shop it around a little, as that's probably the most marketable genre there is. If no one bites, I'll go Lulu with that too and move on. But the next one, which is forming in my head on a daily basis, is my "important" work, I think. And if it bombs, I'm going to have to start taking drugs or something.
Anyway, you may be onto something with that Werewolf High idea. Seriously, I know you're just kdding, but that sounds kind of marketable.
Well...two things. First off, a lot of people out there don't get their writings published and this happnes because it's hard...or because they have no talent.
Let's not forget that. A lot of people are without talent. As a matter of fact, I read a lot of books by people without talent, but I digress.
Trick one, I think, is contact every agent you possibly can with your best stuff. Until you've done that, you haven't really done anything. Sorry if that sounds harsh, but them's the breaks.
Second, you need to attend writer's conferences. There are tons of them and guess who's there trolling for talent: agents.
Look, I don't have all, or really any of the answers, but I do know what doesn't work and that's this "I'll write in private until someone notices that I'm a genius" bullshit. It doesn't work. just like anything else, you have to go out and shout your name at people.
Sucks, but that's it.
And yes, the high school for werewolves idea is awesome.
You could even have a character named Scruffy the Werewolf Slayer...
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