Yes, ok I’ve heard the old ‘people who only try writing to
make a quick profit will never make it’ truisms many times before, and I’m sure
most ‘wanna be’ or beginner writers would agree with this. You have to want to
write first, and then want to become good enough at the craft through diligent practice
and learning to become publishable. And although everyone’s definition of ‘publishable’
is different, it’s only really the editors/publishers definition that matters.
I may be wrong here, but I seem to have noticed a distinct
lack of the ‘fun’ part amongst the new wave of ‘beginners’ lately. Now, to set
the scene, I would consider myself a beginner writer, and have done so for at
least the past ten years. I say I’m a beginner because during this time I’ve
only just scuffed the surface of the magical mystical publishable barrier.
Although I would consider the substance (telling a cohesive story) and the technicality
(the craft aspect) of my writing to have improved during that time I will
always still see this as learning until the increasingly unlikely event of me
getting a publishing deal. It’s the last level of fine punctuation and grammar editing
that remained my biggest bug-bear, and I can’t afford to personally employ a professional
editor. But hey, that’s just me being grumpy again.
The point I’m trying to get at is that I’ve come across a
lot of very driven young writers (in experience if not years) on various
web-sites and forums lately that are intent on getting their first Novel
published. They seem to have the common traits of pushing very hard to get
their work finished and edited very quickly, and are equally as focused of aligning
themselves with agents and learning the publishing industry as they are with honing
their writing... Now I’m not saying this commitment isn’t a laudable trait. I
would freely admit that they are definitely a lot more driven and focused than
I am, but they do seem to have a very dismissive attitude to anyone who doesn’t
share their world view. Yes, fiction writing is very much a hobby to me, and I
have no expectations of it ever becoming a full-time vocation. In the grand
scheme of things very few people make a living out of fiction writing, and I
can’t help but think that a significant amount of these, very goal orientated
and focused, people are in for a big reality-check. They may be talented, but at
the end of the day the writing industry is very much a commercial animal, and as
such it’s just as money-focused as any other. Personally I’v never made any
more than pocket-money, and don’t think I ever will, but that really isn’t the
point for me.
Like many other writers, published and unpublished, I write
primarily because I want to, because I like to tell a story. But that’s why it’s
something I keep coming back to whenever I can find the time. I’m not saying it’s
for some form of internal therapy; I want people to read and enjoy my work, I want
to make it as good as I can; and of course I want it published. Being published
both facilitates and validates all the reasons I write for, and rightly or
wrongly, also seems to bring a certain degree of legitimacy to the work.
One thing we do seem to have in common is the belief that
writing is work. It can be fun work, but anyone who doesn’t see it as a job of work
is ether very talented and extremely lucky, or more likely not focused enough
to seriously have a shot of becoming good enough to write at a professional and
commercial level. If that sounded derogatory it wasn’t intended to be. The writing
world can be harsh. Even self publishing your beloved manuscript can result in scathing ‘reviews’ from people who read as being barely literate. If you put
it out there in any form you should always be prepared for the worst. People
will read a 30 to 50K story and point out the one spelling, grammar or punctuation
mistake they have found... Then say you should have spent some time editing it...
Just hold your breath and count to ten.
Given the current climate of publishing change I think
writing now seems like a much more acceptable and achievable career path for a
wider range people: possibly spurred on by the recent ‘rags to riches’ stories of
a few well known and very successful authors. Initially this influx sound’s
like a good thing. Authors have historically always seamed to be a bit of an elite
group, and the further back you go the more ‘elite’ and exclusive the group
gets. Maybe it is about time general Joe Public got in on the act. There are a
lot more ‘how to’ writing books and web-sites and courses etc available
nowadays, so obviously the Market for this is there. The Internet has had a big
influence in persuading people that there is money to be made in writing, and
this probably isn’t a lie. I just wonder how realistic the prospects of much of
these people being able to attain the heady heights of ‘Published Author’ are.
So what will the future hold for this new wave of
wannabe-authors? Well realistically for many it will be disappointment. But I
do think more people seem to be setting themselves up for this. Many of this
new breed are very money and fame focused, possibly at the expense of them
taking the time to fully learn their craft properly first. Many also seem to
have come straight for academic writing course backgrounds with high aspirations
of ‘breaking into the industry.’ Again laudable goals, but from what I’ve
learned over the years this may be a somewhat misguided view. Writing is an
industry and there are many people who have the talent and skill to knock out a
steady stream of ‘paperback pulp’ books. No I’m not being derogatory here, it
does take skill and talent to make a living out of pulp fiction, and I dare say
some of these new authors will possess the necessary skill and determination to
succeed at whatever literary level they are aiming for. I just can’t help
thinking that we are gearing up for a lot more disappointed writers that ever.
At what point will this new “I’m going to become a successful writer,” bubble
burst?
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