Showing posts with label myths. Show all posts
Showing posts with label myths. Show all posts
Sunday, March 17, 2013
Thursday, July 07, 2011
Myth or Reality?
I read this blog post last week about myths of writing that kind of irked me. It started out well enough. Item one was that reading and writing alone weren't enough to make people good writers. That education classes shouldn't be forgotten. This one I could get behind because I took a lot of writing classes--in high school, in college, after college. I also read a lot of craft books.
Then the blog post completely derailed for me. Myth two according to this male writer (I think of SF/F, but I'm not 100% sure) is that authors write what their characters tell them. He insisted that characters only do what the writer has them do and that any surprises are because of the writer's awesome subconscious at work.
Dude, maybe your characters are happy to let you move them around like cardboard cutouts, but mine are not. Mine will bring the story to a complete halt until I change what they don't like. You can call this my writer's subconscious at work if this makes you feel better, but I know differently. You suggest that I should write my character putting a gun to her head and pulling the trigger, then delete it later. That I could do this without any problem because my characters are not real and not in control.
Ha! My heroine lowered the gun to her side, looked at me and said, "Are you freaking nuts?" She didn't pull the trigger, she wouldn't even lift the gun to her head.
SF/F Writer Dude, I counter with this question: If your characters aren't real to you, what can you do to make them come alive? What can you do to give them more depth and dimension?
Myth three, according to him, was that there is no magic in storytelling and that writing an outline/synopsis/etc doesn't steal the magic.
I can agree with him to an extent, but not completely. There is magic in storytelling. That's what the surprises are. I don't think throwing together a synopsis steals the magic, I actually like having a synopsis after about the third chapter of the actual story because having a road map is nice. A detailed outline? Maybe one that's 60 pages long? (Yes, there are authors who do this.) If I'm writing 60 pages, my story is done. It's told. It's time to write another one. So for me, over detailing the story before I write does kill something. It kills what makes it magical to me--the discovery, the wonder, the surprises.
I'm afraid I couldn't read any farther. Not only did I disagree strongly with item 2, but his tone really put my back up. It was the "I'm right about writing and if you don't agree with me you're doing it wrong" attitude. I learned early that I was never going to write the way the "experts" said was right. When I tried, I hated writing enough to want to quit it all together. So I do it my way--no matter how wrong it is--and I enjoy it.
Anyone beginning writer who's reading this, just know that there is no right or wrong way to write. If it works for you, it's right for you. His process is right for him and it works for him. Yea for him. But just because my characters are real and in control, just because I don't want to write the story in abbreviated form before I write the real story, doesn't make my way wrong. And no other writer--no matter how successful they are--gets to tell me I'm not following the "one true way." He doesn't get to tell you this either.
Then the blog post completely derailed for me. Myth two according to this male writer (I think of SF/F, but I'm not 100% sure) is that authors write what their characters tell them. He insisted that characters only do what the writer has them do and that any surprises are because of the writer's awesome subconscious at work.
Dude, maybe your characters are happy to let you move them around like cardboard cutouts, but mine are not. Mine will bring the story to a complete halt until I change what they don't like. You can call this my writer's subconscious at work if this makes you feel better, but I know differently. You suggest that I should write my character putting a gun to her head and pulling the trigger, then delete it later. That I could do this without any problem because my characters are not real and not in control.
Ha! My heroine lowered the gun to her side, looked at me and said, "Are you freaking nuts?" She didn't pull the trigger, she wouldn't even lift the gun to her head.
SF/F Writer Dude, I counter with this question: If your characters aren't real to you, what can you do to make them come alive? What can you do to give them more depth and dimension?
Myth three, according to him, was that there is no magic in storytelling and that writing an outline/synopsis/etc doesn't steal the magic.
I can agree with him to an extent, but not completely. There is magic in storytelling. That's what the surprises are. I don't think throwing together a synopsis steals the magic, I actually like having a synopsis after about the third chapter of the actual story because having a road map is nice. A detailed outline? Maybe one that's 60 pages long? (Yes, there are authors who do this.) If I'm writing 60 pages, my story is done. It's told. It's time to write another one. So for me, over detailing the story before I write does kill something. It kills what makes it magical to me--the discovery, the wonder, the surprises.
I'm afraid I couldn't read any farther. Not only did I disagree strongly with item 2, but his tone really put my back up. It was the "I'm right about writing and if you don't agree with me you're doing it wrong" attitude. I learned early that I was never going to write the way the "experts" said was right. When I tried, I hated writing enough to want to quit it all together. So I do it my way--no matter how wrong it is--and I enjoy it.
Anyone beginning writer who's reading this, just know that there is no right or wrong way to write. If it works for you, it's right for you. His process is right for him and it works for him. Yea for him. But just because my characters are real and in control, just because I don't want to write the story in abbreviated form before I write the real story, doesn't make my way wrong. And no other writer--no matter how successful they are--gets to tell me I'm not following the "one true way." He doesn't get to tell you this either.
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Mythbusting
I was reading comments on an article posted online about romance books and realized there are a lot of misconceptions about authors out there. That made me think, hey, why not dispel them? Or at least give it a try.
1. Authors are rich and once they have a couple of books out, they can quit their day jobs and live on easy street--if they can't do that after their first book sells.
If you break it out, probably 1% of the authors make 90% of the money. Kind of like in Hollywood where Russell Crowe and Tom Cruise get huge contracts and other actors wait tables to make ends meet. I've had coworkers assume that I'm still working because I'd get "lonely" if I stayed home and wrote all day. This is my dream and I'm an introvert. Staying home alone isn't a huge hardship for me. ;-) Then throw health insurance into the mix for US authors. Unless the author in question has a spouse with good health insurance, that's a huge consideration when it comes to quitting the day job.
2. Conversely, there are a ton of people who believe authors have to pay to get published.
No. Vanity presses charge authors to print their books. The author ends up with a garage full of books that they can try to sell to their friends and coworkers, but the vast majority of them will not sell many copies, certainly not enough to get picked up by a legitimate publisher. Legitimate publishers do not charge the author anything, in fact, the author is the one who gets paid by the publisher. BTW, self-publishing and vanity publishing are two different things. If you're someone who wants to self-publish, do your homework. (And since this isn't something I'm interested in doing, I have no links or references. Sorry.)
3. Authors pick their covers and I should tell them when they hire a "bad" artist, so they choose someone better next time.
Oh, how I wish this were true. I get whatever cover my publisher decides to put on my book and I've never been successful in getting changes made. I've had a few covers that I've loved, but... Well, I'll leave it there. I'll also say that covers are apparently subjective. I saw comments online saying they didn't like one of the covers that I happen to love. Not only did this cover totally fit what I write, it also had people on it that actually matched my vision of the h/h. That's rare.
4. Authors know where their books are being sold and in what formats. If I can't find their book in the store or in ebook format or in my preferred ebook format, I can just contact them and they'll fix it for me.
I'd love to be able to help readers out, but the author is often the last to know these things. I also have no control over whether or not my books are released in ebook format. If I did, all of them would be available this way because I want you to be able to buy and read my stories in whichever way makes you happy.
I also can't really help you find where my books are being sold, not in paper and not in ebook. I'm not given this information, and when it comes to ebooks, well, I own a Kindle and pretty much just shop on Amazon. Other ebook venues are largely unknown to me and I end up googling to answer people's questions because I simply don't have that information. Sometimes I've spent hours trying to track down the answer for them to no avail.
5. Authors get so much fan mail that they don't need another email from me telling them how much I love their books.
We get a lot less than most readers think and it's not just me. I've talked to a lot of authors who say the same thing. If you love our stories enough to think about letting us know, please, email! There is literally nothing more awesome than a note from a reader saying they loved your book.
1. Authors are rich and once they have a couple of books out, they can quit their day jobs and live on easy street--if they can't do that after their first book sells.
If you break it out, probably 1% of the authors make 90% of the money. Kind of like in Hollywood where Russell Crowe and Tom Cruise get huge contracts and other actors wait tables to make ends meet. I've had coworkers assume that I'm still working because I'd get "lonely" if I stayed home and wrote all day. This is my dream and I'm an introvert. Staying home alone isn't a huge hardship for me. ;-) Then throw health insurance into the mix for US authors. Unless the author in question has a spouse with good health insurance, that's a huge consideration when it comes to quitting the day job.
2. Conversely, there are a ton of people who believe authors have to pay to get published.
No. Vanity presses charge authors to print their books. The author ends up with a garage full of books that they can try to sell to their friends and coworkers, but the vast majority of them will not sell many copies, certainly not enough to get picked up by a legitimate publisher. Legitimate publishers do not charge the author anything, in fact, the author is the one who gets paid by the publisher. BTW, self-publishing and vanity publishing are two different things. If you're someone who wants to self-publish, do your homework. (And since this isn't something I'm interested in doing, I have no links or references. Sorry.)
3. Authors pick their covers and I should tell them when they hire a "bad" artist, so they choose someone better next time.
Oh, how I wish this were true. I get whatever cover my publisher decides to put on my book and I've never been successful in getting changes made. I've had a few covers that I've loved, but... Well, I'll leave it there. I'll also say that covers are apparently subjective. I saw comments online saying they didn't like one of the covers that I happen to love. Not only did this cover totally fit what I write, it also had people on it that actually matched my vision of the h/h. That's rare.
4. Authors know where their books are being sold and in what formats. If I can't find their book in the store or in ebook format or in my preferred ebook format, I can just contact them and they'll fix it for me.
I'd love to be able to help readers out, but the author is often the last to know these things. I also have no control over whether or not my books are released in ebook format. If I did, all of them would be available this way because I want you to be able to buy and read my stories in whichever way makes you happy.
I also can't really help you find where my books are being sold, not in paper and not in ebook. I'm not given this information, and when it comes to ebooks, well, I own a Kindle and pretty much just shop on Amazon. Other ebook venues are largely unknown to me and I end up googling to answer people's questions because I simply don't have that information. Sometimes I've spent hours trying to track down the answer for them to no avail.
5. Authors get so much fan mail that they don't need another email from me telling them how much I love their books.
We get a lot less than most readers think and it's not just me. I've talked to a lot of authors who say the same thing. If you love our stories enough to think about letting us know, please, email! There is literally nothing more awesome than a note from a reader saying they loved your book.
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