Scenario, the first: You’re a dedicated literary agent with a genuine love for story, and you decide to start writing a blog (in just a few weeks arcaedia will be two and a half years old!) about your experiences in the world of publishing. One day while you are otherwise occupied, conversation erupts in the comments. Questions are asked. Advice is given. And acted upon. Hours later, after spending time on slightly more crucial tasks such as negotiating contract language and reviewing royalty statements, you take a break and peruse the responses and judge that the advice given to one new and unpublished author was Not Good ™. Further investigation of the giver of said advice reveals that they are also a new and unpublished writer with No Clue ™. It’s the blind leading the blind, and the milk has been spilt. The damage has been done, and is largely irrevocable. The naive and innocent new writer has most likely burned a bridge. Did the giver of the advice have that intention? There’s no way to be completely sure, but it doesn’t sound as if they were being vindictive. They were just uninformed. And hasty. And the writer who took their advice should have tried to find out if the person giving that advice had any credentials before they acted upon it.
Scenario, the second: You’re a writer with a new novel to sell and you need an agent. You follow all the rules and query your top choices and are lucky enough to have a few different agents respond and ask to read the material. After waiting agonizing weeks for their replies, the letters begin to arrive. Though the first few are rejections, some of them offer feedback. One agent says that while your character is flat and lifeless, your plot is quite compelling. The next says that the story moves too slowly, but they love the character. You get another that suggests you add an additional viewpoint character and take it out of first person. And so it goes. You find yourself paralyzed. Could one of these people be right? (It’s entirely possible.) Could they have seen some flaw, and if you fix it, will you be able to guarantee getting their representation and landing a sale? Solution? You tell everyone you have writer’s block. You take a tranquilizer and slip into a haze in front of the television set.
Scenario, the third: You’re attending a writers conference, and the featured speaker at lunch gets up and explains how they ignored every rule (either on purpose or because no one ever explained them in the first place) about how to get published. You hang on every word. They are a best-selling author with a number of books currently in print. Everyone loves their work (except for critics who don’t know any better). You theorize that if you, too, ignore the rules, the result will be the same. I assure you there are variables that speaker is not revealing. They may perhaps not even be entirely aware of every element that led to their great succeess. That’s not to say that rules should never be broken. Just that caution should be applied when doing so. Usually rules (or I’d rather call them guidelines like the Pirate Code) are there for a reason.
Scenario, the fourth: Share yours here. I have a few more in my bag, of course. However, I’m sure there are new stories out there, and they help everyone better understand where all this well-meant advice can go wrong….
I’ve recently seen a meme making its way around the blogosphere about the top ten things one has learned by writing. I might at some point come up with my top 10 things I’ve learned by being an agent, though I doubt it will be as witty and clever as some of the lists I’ve read. However, they are many and varied and there have already been a few who have commented that they are completely and utterly subjective. And offer conflicting conclusions. Just like all those books that are out there that tell one how to write a novel and how to get it published. There is a simply dizzying amount of advice. I know. I’ve contributed to it. Most of that advice is going to be from people who are genuinely trying to be helpful. Here’s what you need to remember, though. While respecting these people for sharing and giving of their knowledge and experience, be aware that every person is only one reader and/or one writer. Some of them are more experienced than others (particularly agents and editors, one hopes) and may have a broader foundation upon which to base their suggestions. But you have to remember they are only that. Listen for what resonates, and take what works for you — throw the rest away. Temper this with as much common sense and courtesy as possible and be ready to not always take the path of least resistance. And that’s my #1 best piece of advice. In the end, the first writer/reader/critic to listen to is yourself.
No related posts.
Rules?
There are rules (or guidelines)? Damn. Nobody told me. *shrug* Guess that plops me into the audience of “Scenario 3.”
I’m still quite clueless … but the ride has been great fun.
Writing is like sex. Not everyone comes into the big moment the same way.
A few years ago, a best selling, quite prominent author gave a speech pretty similar to the one you described. I sat there, absolutely apprehensive that someone who didn’t have her publishing and sales history might try any of the things she swore she’d done successfully. Without meaning to, I muttered out loud, “Does she think that anyone who isn’t her can get away with that?” An editor at the table, whom I noticed had been shaking her head through the speech, leaned over and said, “No. And trying it would be a good way to kill your career.”
Mary Stella — We may have heard the same speech. But I’ll admit I’ve heard variations on that theme more than once. I think the authors who say these things are trying to be inspirational. It occurs to me that it’s a much better speech to listen to than the ones where they go on about the odds that are stacked against you and how they stubbornly perservered against them.
I perpetrated one of those top-ten lists of advice in my blog, too. And not only am I sure some of it conflicted with other people’s advice, but it conflicted with itself.
#3. Your idea probably isn’t as good as you think it is.
#4. Sometimes, it is that good.
#5. Don’t try to write when you’re hurt/ill.
#6. Use these tricks to write when you’re hurt/ill.
All of which just proves, the most correct answer to any writing question is almost always, “It depends.”
What I hear most often is that there must be some “secret” to getting published. That you have to either know someone or have come up with some clever trick like sending your manuscript in a thigh high kinky boot with the note “Now that I have my foot in the door.” Since I sold my book. (I sold- ha-ha, agent sold, I ate to combat stress) I’ve been asked several times what was my in. When I keep pointing out that I just wrote a book and sent it to an agent- the wouldn’t believe me.
Scenario the second – all of these people could be right. If you have a mss that is not horribly, making two or three aspects of it good can make a great difference – and each of the readers might pick up on what _they_ think they can fix, or on what bugs them most.
Advice overload
Over on Romancing the Blog, agent Jennifer Jackson writes about how to decide which advice to listen to:
There is a simply dizzying amount of advice. I know. I’ve contributed to it. Most of that advice is going to be from people who are genuinely…
Since my personal Number 1 rule for getting published was Switch Languages and Write in a Second Language, I’m probably not the best person to give some general advice on how to get published. *g* But I have to tell you it’s way easier when you write in English — simply because you’ve got so much more possibilities to inform and educate yourself about this business.
Btw, Jennifer, I think it was you who sent me my first ever rejection letter in English. Which was really cool because at least it wasn’t in German! *ggg*
Way back when I was a music student, my jazz teacher asked the class how you make it in the music business. Everyone had good suggestions about working hard and studying things, but in the end he shook his head and said, “You’ve forgotten the most important thing — breaks.”
I’m beginning to suspect it’s much the same way in the writing world. Your manuscript lands on just the right desk at just the right time, and it is not better and no different than it was when it landed on the fifteen other desks.
I feel really dumb, but what is a meme? I see that term all the time and I’m blank.
As for situations like you described above, I’m not published, have never been able to go to a conference/meeting/etc, and haven’t actually heard advice from published authors. However, I do read a lot of blogs, essays, etc. and there’s so much conflicting information out there. Some authors stress how hard it is to get published and others make it sound like it’s a snap.
It would be really nice if everyone could get together, get their stories straight and then give a basic glossover for those of us (like me) who’ve never been published. It’s scary!
So very right!
I loved the last line – “In the end, the first writer/reader/critic to listen to is yourself.”