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FAITH AND THE UNPUBLISHED WRITER
by
H. E. SMITH
Writing isn't easy. Writers are misunderstood, patronized, looked down
on, and discouraged. There isn't one of us who hasn't been told "Why
don't you go and get a real job?"
by some well-meaning friend or relative. Even when phrased delicately,
that doesn't change the meaning. You can call shit "feces," but that
isn't going to change the stink.
In addition, writers have to deal with the nuts and bolts of writing.
Plotting, characterization, worldbuilding, theme, dialogue, the list
goes on. This isn't always simple or easy. A stubborn character can
block your work-in-progress for weeks. Very few non-writers understand
how much work actually goes into writing a short story or novel. Most
non-writers seem to think writers sit down at the computer and words
immediately start flowing from their fingertips without any effort
whatsoever.
Faith is fundamental to the profession. When faced with so much
opposition, writers need to have faith in themselves and their work. If
you want to be a published author, you'll be faced with rejection.
There isn't an author alive who hasn't had his work rejected at one
point or another. I've had nearly 100 rejections so far and am not
giving up. I know my work is good and will eventually sell. Jean Auel's
bestselling Clan of the Cave
Bear was rejected by over 20 publishers before she sold it. S.
L. Viehl received 1500 rejections on miscellaneous works before getting
published.
Publication takes persistance and faith.
Some pro-published authors advise new writers seeking publication to
write to the market. IE, look at what's currently being published and
write something like what they've already bought, but different. Don't
push the envelope, don't ask hard questions, and keep your work tame.
Some authors don't outright say
this, but they do it in their own published work, and when they make a
point of advising new authors, it has the same effect.
Now, for conservative genres like romance, there might be something to that.
There are barriers in traditional romance that just can't be crossed. A romance
must always have a happy-ever-after for the hero and heroine; else it's
not romance, but mainstream (or fantasy/science fiction if it happens
to be paranormal or futuristic romance). GBLT relationships are still
not accepted by traditional romance publishers, nor are other
alternative lifestyles like polyamory. If you write these, you're
better off looking at marketing them mainstream or to specialty small
presses.
Even so, romance as a genre is more open today than it was, say, 20
years ago. Even the most conservative and tight-laced of romance
publishers, Harlequin/Silhouhette, is opening up and branching off into
edgier territory with lines like Blaze, for erotic romance, and their
excursion into fantasy with Luna.
However, genres like fantasy and science fiction are traditionally open
to new things. During the Golden Age of science fiction, writers broke
new ground and went places society hadn't before explored. While many
Golden Age classics might seem tame to modern readers, it's important
to take the period there were written during into context.
Science fiction and fantasy is innovative; it's the genre most known
for pushing the envelope. Historically, it's challenged cultural taboos
of the day. SFF explores important issues in depth, whereas mainstream
fiction has a distinct tendency to go for shock value instead.
Speculative fiction is a vision of the future.
On newsgroups and forums over the Internet, I see people complaining
that when they go to their local bookstore, they have difficulty
finding anything new that's good. I'm an avid reader as well as a
writer, and there have been very few books that attract me by premise,
and half of those, the writing is enough to make me put it back on the
shelf. I see a lot of rehashed stories out on the market, and not much
originality. Jacqueline Carey and Anne Bishop are two recently
published authors I can think of offhand who are that original.
Because of this, numerous people moan that the industry is dying. It's
not. It's gone stagnant. The two are not the same. Rehashing same old
without taking chances and doing something new keeps the industry
stagnant.
When authors advise new writers to tone their work down, or give them
that example, that just sets them up for failure.
Don't write to the market. Write what the market wants. Write what
drives your heart and soul. Write what makes your blood burn and your
skin sweat. Don't tone it down, or you will rob it of everything that
makes it strong and reduce it to a rehash.
Believe in yourself.
The industry needs to change. It needs to grow. New ideas, strong and
wild and passionate and free as the unchained mind, will change the
industry, like Heinlein did, or Tolkein. This isn't the first time the
market has gone stagnant. A new wave of writers always follows.
This is the 21st century. We are the next generation of writers. We are
the Next Wave.
If you get tempted to tone down your writing, change it, de-emphasize
something integral for fear of what people might think or that it might
be too much--don't. I know of one published author who changed her
lesbian main character to straight because of her agent's crit. The
agent told her that he couldn't sell a book with a lesbian main
character because she would be unsympathetic to readers.
I think Mercedes Lackey would beg to differ, what with the popularity
of her Last Herald-Mage
trilogy, which features a gay hero.
When an agent, or anyone, tells you to tone your work down--that's a
major warning sign. Some things should not be compromised. If the
original vision of your book is a beautiful woman, the toned down
version is that same woman with her belly slashed open, guts dangling
out, eyes gouged, nose sliced off--maimed and broken and not even a
shadow of its greatness.
A book that takes chances may be harder to sell, but breakout novels
take risks, as Donald Maass repeated in Writing the Breakout Novel.
Controversy sells. Look at the popularity of Harry Potter. While it was
popular among children at first, it didn't become an adult hit until
the controversy started, and adults read the books to find out what all
the fuss was about.
Don't tone down the controversial elements, because that may well be
what makes your fiction rise above the rest. Controversy will change
the field. Don't silence your soul because of what people might think.
Believe in yourself. We are the future. We have wings, and now is the
time to fly.
Copyright © H. E. Smith, 2003.
All rights reserved.
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