Breaking Out
Recently I unveiled one of my largest fears to a good friend of mine. He's an aspiring writer as well, and he has a unique sense of humor and perception that could translate into some very interesting and readable work.
I told him that for a long time I've had the worry that I won't produce a work that's unique or original, that has a spark of something that myself as an individual can bring to a novel that nobody else could. An original voice, perhaps. In other words, I like how my first book turned out but it isn't special. I didn't try too hard to sell it and my last rejection came from an editor who said that while the writing is publishable, the plot and the characters didn't overwhelm her. Still, she says, it should be able to get me an agent and blah blah blah.
The book languishes in the drawer mostly because I agree with her. I think the best way to get published is to write something that demands to be published. An unpublished book that is just as good as some published ones doesn't mean it is itself worthy of publishing. Whatever it says has been said. My first book just didn't say enough.
A selling author can get away with writing without risk and indeed, even writing the same book over and over, because of the fact that their established name on the cover will translate to a certain number of units sold. But these later works would never have broken them out. (This ties back to earlier posts about writers who write two good books and then settle into a routine of continuous mediocrity.)
One very good way to write that book that demands attention is to find that unique voice and give it what it needs to create something memorable. Analysis of "the novel" won't do it, nor would a mastery of grammar or even a certain flair with the language. I think the writer has to have it somewhere inside him, and then be brave enough to find it, bring it out, and give it its head. Every time I hear would-be writers talk about what publishers want or what's selling today I cringe because I can just sense the lemming-like mentality, the follow the leader mindset that puts the jackboot on not just the creative process but an individual's unique creative process.
Hopefully I'll find mine. Hopefully my friend will find his. Hopefully sometime in the future Joe Blow will be able to walk into a bookstore and find them both.
I told him that for a long time I've had the worry that I won't produce a work that's unique or original, that has a spark of something that myself as an individual can bring to a novel that nobody else could. An original voice, perhaps. In other words, I like how my first book turned out but it isn't special. I didn't try too hard to sell it and my last rejection came from an editor who said that while the writing is publishable, the plot and the characters didn't overwhelm her. Still, she says, it should be able to get me an agent and blah blah blah.
The book languishes in the drawer mostly because I agree with her. I think the best way to get published is to write something that demands to be published. An unpublished book that is just as good as some published ones doesn't mean it is itself worthy of publishing. Whatever it says has been said. My first book just didn't say enough.
A selling author can get away with writing without risk and indeed, even writing the same book over and over, because of the fact that their established name on the cover will translate to a certain number of units sold. But these later works would never have broken them out. (This ties back to earlier posts about writers who write two good books and then settle into a routine of continuous mediocrity.)
One very good way to write that book that demands attention is to find that unique voice and give it what it needs to create something memorable. Analysis of "the novel" won't do it, nor would a mastery of grammar or even a certain flair with the language. I think the writer has to have it somewhere inside him, and then be brave enough to find it, bring it out, and give it its head. Every time I hear would-be writers talk about what publishers want or what's selling today I cringe because I can just sense the lemming-like mentality, the follow the leader mindset that puts the jackboot on not just the creative process but an individual's unique creative process.
Hopefully I'll find mine. Hopefully my friend will find his. Hopefully sometime in the future Joe Blow will be able to walk into a bookstore and find them both.
posted by Rick Ollerman at 1:04 PM
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