3 myths about writing.
Feb. 27th, 2010 01:17 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
seanan_mcguireJust three days remain before the official North American release of A Local Habitation [Amazon]|[Mysterious Galaxy], which has been cropping up in stores around the US as we get closer and closer to release day. It's been fun, in that way of things that are both glorious and flat-out terrifying. Whee!
In honor of day three, and because I am a predictable creature, I give you today's entry in the countdown. Enjoy.
3 Myths About Writing.
3. Writing is easy. After all, we all have ideas, and we're all smart people, so we should all be able to write books, right? Sadly, this is not the case. Writing may be easy, but writing well is damn hard, and even with as much practice as I've had, I'm constantly aware of how much more practice I need if I want to get really good. Whoever first said that it was ten percent inspiration, ninety percent perspiration was very right. This does not relieve my urge to punch them in the nose.
2. All real writers are inaccessible and intellectually difficult. I periodically get people asking me when I'll stop writing to "what's hot" and start writing what's in my heart. You know what? My heart is full of fairy tales and zombies and blonde girls in high heels kicking monsters in the head. My heart is full of snappy dialog and cinematic tropes and screams in the muggy summer air. I am a real writer. It's just that what I really want to write about is occasionally the Fighting Pumpkins cheer squad, a hitchhiking ghost with a thing for cheeseburgers, and genetically engineered parasites. And that's okay.
1. Good writing will always be recognized. Sadly, this is also not true. There are a lot of books released every year, and a great many of them will be excellent, yet somehow manage to go essentially unnoticed by most of the reading public. This is a crying shame. This is the fear of every working author, at least at the beginning of their careers, because what if you do the best you can do, what if you're hailed as an amazement and a rediscovery of the written word...and you fail anyway? This is why authors are a little bit crazy. Be kind.
In honor of day three, and because I am a predictable creature, I give you today's entry in the countdown. Enjoy.
3 Myths About Writing.
3. Writing is easy. After all, we all have ideas, and we're all smart people, so we should all be able to write books, right? Sadly, this is not the case. Writing may be easy, but writing well is damn hard, and even with as much practice as I've had, I'm constantly aware of how much more practice I need if I want to get really good. Whoever first said that it was ten percent inspiration, ninety percent perspiration was very right. This does not relieve my urge to punch them in the nose.
2. All real writers are inaccessible and intellectually difficult. I periodically get people asking me when I'll stop writing to "what's hot" and start writing what's in my heart. You know what? My heart is full of fairy tales and zombies and blonde girls in high heels kicking monsters in the head. My heart is full of snappy dialog and cinematic tropes and screams in the muggy summer air. I am a real writer. It's just that what I really want to write about is occasionally the Fighting Pumpkins cheer squad, a hitchhiking ghost with a thing for cheeseburgers, and genetically engineered parasites. And that's okay.
1. Good writing will always be recognized. Sadly, this is also not true. There are a lot of books released every year, and a great many of them will be excellent, yet somehow manage to go essentially unnoticed by most of the reading public. This is a crying shame. This is the fear of every working author, at least at the beginning of their careers, because what if you do the best you can do, what if you're hailed as an amazement and a rediscovery of the written word...and you fail anyway? This is why authors are a little bit crazy. Be kind.
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no subject
Date: 2010-02-27 09:25 pm (UTC)In a perfect world, every good book would get the mega word-of-mouth following that Harry Potter and Twilight got. The internet makes it easier to tell everyone you know how much you love Book A, but you've also got everyone you know telling you how much they love Books B, C, and D.
To do my part, I plan on posting about my three favorite current series (Toby, "Love at Stake," and "Sisters of the Moon") sometime this weekend.
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Date: 2010-02-27 11:09 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-02-27 09:33 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-02-27 11:09 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-02-28 01:54 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-02-28 08:36 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-02-27 09:41 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-02-27 11:09 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-02-27 11:35 pm (UTC)But not right now, because it's cold and dark out there.
Simply because you are so Awesome
Date: 2010-02-27 09:49 pm (UTC)New Orleans Crabs...
A man boarded an airplane in New Orleans with a box of frozen crabs and asked a blonde, female crew member to take care of the box for him. She took the box and promised to put it in the crew's refrigerator.
He pointedly advised her that he was holding her personally responsible for the crabs staying frozen, mentioned that he was a lawyer, and proceeded to rant at her about what would happen if she let them thaw out.
Needless to say, she was annoyed by his behavior. Shortly before landing in New York , she used the intercom to announce to the entire cabin, "Would the gentleman who gave me the crabs in New Orleans , please raise your hand?"
Not one hand went up ... So she took them home and ate them.
Two lessons here:
1. Men never learn.
2. Blondes aren't dumb
Re: Simply because you are so Awesome
Date: 2010-02-27 09:54 pm (UTC)Re: Simply because you are so Awesome
Date: 2010-02-27 11:09 pm (UTC)Re: Simply because you are so Awesome
Date: 2010-02-27 11:11 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-02-27 09:50 pm (UTC)*FLAILS WITH ENVY AND ALSO LOVE*
Also, I love you very much for writing the following:
You know what? My heart is full of fairy tales and zombies and blonde girls in high heels kicking monsters in the head.
You are awesome.
no subject
Date: 2010-02-27 11:10 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-02-27 09:51 pm (UTC)HA HA HA HA HA HA!
:kneeslapper:
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Date: 2010-02-27 11:10 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-02-27 11:59 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-02-27 11:15 pm (UTC)[1] OK, these days. When authors had to chip the letters out of stone, writing was hard. That's the origin of the term "hard copy"...
It's like when people asked me about flying a plane, "Isn't it hard?" Nope. Flying a plane is easy, taking off is harder. Coming down is really easy. Surviving the landing -- ah, now that's the tricky bit. What, you wanted the plane intact as well???
no subject
Date: 2010-02-28 12:00 am (UTC)YES
This!
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Date: 2010-02-27 09:55 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-02-27 11:10 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-02-27 09:58 pm (UTC)You'd need a TARDIS or similar... Thomas Edison said it back in 1903; he was quoted posthumously by Harper's in 1932. It is ironic that the perfecter of the light bulb said that, since a light bulb is 10% light and 90% heat...
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Date: 2010-02-27 10:03 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-02-27 11:10 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-02-27 10:50 pm (UTC)But then there are readers like myself that delight in finding a voice who writes a book that pulls us into their universe, makes us their own play thing on a wild roller coaster, and who leaves us gasping for air at the end of the book and reaching for the next one, that is months away from being get-able.
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Date: 2010-02-27 11:11 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-02-28 12:05 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-02-28 12:10 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-02-28 02:33 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-02-28 01:59 am (UTC)"But you finished three manuscripts when you were younger!" Ahah. Key word there: younger. When I didn't know beans from bullshit about the craft, and thought I could turn out long, wordy monologues to make up for the lack of description, use description instead of characterization, and use characters to make up for not having anything resembling motive or plot. Yeah, back then. ::facepalms:: Sorry, do not want.
I finished A Local Habitation last night. :D I've got some sketches to do and a few more chapters to revise, and then I'm off to do a few reviews. Loved it.
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Date: 2010-02-28 02:34 am (UTC)Glad you enjoyed A Local Habitation!
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Date: 2010-03-01 01:22 am (UTC)If that fits the category of "what's hot" I am inclined to view that as a positive review of the state of Western Civilization.
Amazon has delivered my preordered copy of "A Local Habitation" though I have not yet read it.
no subject
Date: 2010-03-04 04:43 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-03-05 06:11 pm (UTC)"I periodically get people asking me when I'll stop writing to "what's hot"
and start writing what's in my heart."
Jo March syndrome. Dear Jo was impossibly happy writing and publishing her highwaymen tales of pirates and swashbucklers until that freaking Prof. Bhaer came along and told her she'd never be a real writer until she wrote 'what was in her heart.'
Gag me. I always hated Prof. Bhaer.
Thanks for a great post.
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Date: 2010-03-10 08:21 pm (UTC)(I hated him, too.)
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Date: 2011-03-01 08:44 pm (UTC)