seanan_mcguire (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
seanan_mcguire) wrote2011-02-24 07:41 am
seanan_mcguire) wrote2011-02-24 07:41 am
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5 things I wish I'd known when I started this crazy ride.
Well, here we are. Late Eclipses [Amazon]|[Mysterious Galaxy] is officially five days from release, and most of those days are part of the weekend, which means they'll pass in like, eight minutes, flat. The point of no return is sending nice postcards, and wishes we were still there. Sadly, we've passed it. In honor of passing things, here are five things I wish I'd known when I started publishing (but am probably glad I didn't).
5. By the time you've survived peer critique, the agent search, submissions, and editorial, you're pretty much accustomed to bad reviews. You'll never be used to them, but they're no longer the shocking "but...but...but I'M THE PRETTIEST PRINCESS" catastrophes they were in the beginning. This will do absolutely nothing to prepare you for the bad reviews which have nothing whatsoever to do with your book. Bad reviews I have received: "This costs too much, so it sucks." "This book had no sex in it and I wanted sex, so it sucks." "No one told me this book would have fairies in it." There is no avoiding these reviews. No matter how much you want to.
4. Everyone in the world is going to assume that you, as author, have a great deal more knowledge and control than you do. You will constantly be asked questions to which you will not have the answer, and some people will not believe you when you tell them that really, you don't know. Also, if you're wired anything like me, you'll start having trouble not snapping at people after the seventy-fifth time you're asked something. This is a problem, unless it was the same person asking the question seventy-five times. In that case, snap away.
3. Again, if you're wired anything like me, you'll probably have become a writer because you enjoy writing. It's what you do for fun. Yay, writing! This becomes a little complicated when suddenly, writing is also your job. Sadly, the odds are good that after about six to eight months of existential angst, you'll find yourself unwinding from a long session of writing by...writing something else. On the plus side, your agent will love you.
2. An awful lot of traditional publishing is "hurry up and wait." Patience is a virtue. So is the ability to distract yourself with bad television.
1. It never stops being terrifying, exciting, and basically the most interesting thing going on in your world. It may, however, stop being terrifying, exciting, and the most interesting thing in the world for your friends. Be prepared to buy interest with chocolate.
5. By the time you've survived peer critique, the agent search, submissions, and editorial, you're pretty much accustomed to bad reviews. You'll never be used to them, but they're no longer the shocking "but...but...but I'M THE PRETTIEST PRINCESS" catastrophes they were in the beginning. This will do absolutely nothing to prepare you for the bad reviews which have nothing whatsoever to do with your book. Bad reviews I have received: "This costs too much, so it sucks." "This book had no sex in it and I wanted sex, so it sucks." "No one told me this book would have fairies in it." There is no avoiding these reviews. No matter how much you want to.
4. Everyone in the world is going to assume that you, as author, have a great deal more knowledge and control than you do. You will constantly be asked questions to which you will not have the answer, and some people will not believe you when you tell them that really, you don't know. Also, if you're wired anything like me, you'll start having trouble not snapping at people after the seventy-fifth time you're asked something. This is a problem, unless it was the same person asking the question seventy-five times. In that case, snap away.
3. Again, if you're wired anything like me, you'll probably have become a writer because you enjoy writing. It's what you do for fun. Yay, writing! This becomes a little complicated when suddenly, writing is also your job. Sadly, the odds are good that after about six to eight months of existential angst, you'll find yourself unwinding from a long session of writing by...writing something else. On the plus side, your agent will love you.
2. An awful lot of traditional publishing is "hurry up and wait." Patience is a virtue. So is the ability to distract yourself with bad television.
1. It never stops being terrifying, exciting, and basically the most interesting thing going on in your world. It may, however, stop being terrifying, exciting, and the most interesting thing in the world for your friends. Be prepared to buy interest with chocolate.
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I was taught to take situations like these, and just twist them that half crank more to really see the whack for what it is. You would not question someone complaining about it not being a sentient Madagascar Palm for their pointy enjoyment - because that's CRAZY. So are bad 'reviews' like this. Nucking futz as you will.
4. My two cents is this is envy of the knowledge and control you DO have - and I don't think you're singular about the snapping. When it really gets bad, head for the absurd. Start a page of tally marks to wave in people's faces. Why yes, yes I have. (In my world, I'm the place everything begins and ends and I have to know where the bodies are buried...so everyone asks me why it don't work. Over and over and over and - )
1. Best thing I got out of my creative writing class in my freshman year. Writers may create incredible things, but they are boring as dirt at cocktail parties because all they want to talk about is what they're working on. And can't tell you the best parts, of course. So read the sports page and be prepared to discuss the scores with great enthusiasm. Yes, you get to be an excellent actor in the process. It'll be useful in a story someday. True story.
Oddly enough, I took Lindt truffles into the fan fic panel over the weekend. Bribe? ME?
Last year it was cupcakes. ^^
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Thankfully,
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Best training ground for faking it until you make it, I swear. (The Dodgers are dem bums, for the Cubs it's always next year and the Red Sox are AWESOME. There. I just got a beer.)
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