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| Cover of The Hunger Games |
Writing Rant:
My friend Julia Barrett at http://juliarachelbarrett.net/ discusses good books she has read of late and others that were not so well written. Here is how I commented:
In the eighties everyone thought they could cook so they opened a restaurant or if they couldn't cook they opened a store.
In the nineties we all (me included) thought we could paint, so we took up a brush.
In the in the 20s e-publishing has made people believe they can write and also believe the only reasons they are not published is/are because : (choose all that apply) the publishers are stupid; agents are stupid; everyone but the writer is stupid, publishers; editors and agents do not accept unsolicited manuscripts or only take one genre; you have to know someone.
The fact is, it is hard to get published and it is easier to e-pub oneself. More people can write as essayists than can write fiction well. I constantly have someone, usually my mother, say, "Why don't you write a novel." To paraphrase the late Mitch Hedburg, that's like saying, "you cook, why don't you start farming?" Those are also people who think writing is easy and that authors once published are wealthy. They also use the phrase "We can send a man to the moon, why can't we _________."
I wish I could write fiction. I even have a title for a book and its concept in my tiny little head. And, that is where it belongs. Writing fiction requires innate talent AND practice. I have the innate talent of being able to pick up languages but it doesn't mean I can listen to it in a dialogue and then speak it. I advise people to learn to write, then try to publish via traditional means. If that fails, instead of assuming that the traditionalists are all stupid, please find someone who is neither an employee, family or friend and ask them to critique or beta read your work. Your family, friends and employees will not tell you what you need to hear.
If you then decide those people are stupid you need to seek professional assistance of another nature.
Also, not all traditionally published work is well written or a good story. There is a ton of mediocre crap out there. And not all e-pubbed work is poorly written or a bad story. I see a ton of both. Sadly, the e-pub I see has a higher proportion of badly written stories.
I said above that I had a concept and a title in my head. You cannot expect the title and a concept to carry a story to publication. It is not enough! As Julia says, you need a story that moves and character development.
Even if you practice a lot you may still never be traditionally published. I am never going to have a painting in the Louvre. I am over it.
