So, as I said in yesterday’s post, ‘I’m terminally tired of reading about how to write the book that will make my fortune, sell millions, sell at all.’
I’ve confessed that in my weaker moments I get drawn in by the hype. ‘Of course I want to sell my books – what author doesn’t? So the hype catches my attention, tugs at my insecurities and sensitivities, stirs my suspicion that all’s not fair in books and publishing and leaves me wondering why not me? Why haven’t I written a best selling book? Why haven’t I written a book that publishers are fighting over? Why am I not feted and literary festivaled?’
But then it dawns on me that the people telling me how to write a book that makes millions are hoping to make millions by selling me their book; CD, bootcamp, etc and I know again just why I haven’t written that book…
Here’s reason number two:
Call me foolish but I write freely allowing the story to grow under my pen, allowing it to find a life of it’s own. I plan yes, but not in micro detail from beginning to end before I even start writing . Where is the joy in that?
Brava! Marvellous 2 You have articulated here so powerfully what many of us feel. The truth is that we writers are the sometimes gullible consumers in this new industry of ‘advice to writers’. To follow the advice leads us down the road of writing a 21st Century brand of inferior pulp fiction to be sold like soap, rather than continuing on quest to become better, deeper and stronger writers producing work to be proud of which might sell in tens or twenties or hundreds to discerning readers who are looking to be entertained, interested and – dare I say – enlightened, This is in the very best traditions of popular fiction since novels were first written for more widespread consumption..
Selling in small numbers the very best tradition indeed!! Thanks Wendy for this pwerfully put endorsement.
Bravery, and yet more bravery. Would not the acorn quiver if it quite reasonably looked up at the oak tree and thought ‘never will I’? And yet, it does. It’s not the gap between the scribbled fib and the best seller list that keeps me awake at night these days. It’s the arid thorny road of learning and growing as a writer, taking my fill from the oasis when it presents itself not to be a mirage. And for that reason, I’ve put away the novel for a collection of stories this year, because that’s where the open pen is leading me.
Good luck with that – stories can be very rewarding.