My brain is currently a sieve. I can’t formulate a coherent thought to save my life. The fact that we’re going to move 2800 miles *waves to Seattle* in three weeks and I’m up to my ears in brown packing boxes and Styrofoam peanuts may have something to do with it. Anyhow, I hope you’ll forgive that I’m recreating a post from my personal blog. However, I swear it’s not simply laziness and lack of brainpower prompting this– it’s just I feel so strongly about the topic. Anyhow, here we go:
“No one will want this.”
Machito & His Afro-Cuban All-Stars
“No one will want this.”
Willie Colón
“No one will want this.”
Richie Valens
“No one will want this.”
Freddy Fender
“No one will want this.”
Linda Ronstadt
“No one will want this.”
Ricky Martin
“No one will want this.”
Selena
“No one will want this.”
Gloria Estefan
Recently, I was absolutely absorbed watching a fantastic PBS/BBC produced program called, Latin Music USA. I don’t expect that everyone reading this is going to be as fascinated as I was– after all, it hits hard on a couple of major aspects of my being: my Latin background and music. But if you have any interest whatsoever in history or music or the cultural melting pot of the United States from the 1930s on and the enormous part that Latin music played in it, I cannot suggest this highly enough. You can watch it on the website (the website is exceptionally done– lots of resources to be discovered) and again, for me, it was fascinating. So many different aspects of it, but one of the things that I found most fascinating was the line I used as this blog’s subject and that I repeated above those various names.
Those fabulous artists, at some point in their careers, all heard those five damnable words: “No one will want this.” They may have been just starting out. They may have achieved a measure of success but wanted to try something different. But they all heard those words from the people who allegedly knew the market. Who knew what the public wanted. And they all refused to accept those five words and kept plugging away and harassing and taking their music to the people and they all enjoyed massive successes and maybe more importantly, they all pushed that door open a little further. That door that the people who “knew better” were so reluctant to open. These artists, they shoved their foot in the crack, held it open and shouted through, “We’re here and we’re representing a lot of people and we know what those people want. Come on, we’ll show you.”
And boy, did they ever.
Being me, I can’t help but relate it to writing. Because it’s become an all-too-oft-repeated refrain.
“No one will want this.”
Or its fraternal twin, “I have no idea what to do with this.”
And so often, it’s the people in the offices and towers making those decision who have no idea what the people want because they don’t know who “the people” are. It was stunning, really, how those people just didn’t realize the potential of the audiences out there—how hungry they were for something different yet with un sabor familiar (a familiar flavor).
“No one will want this.”
Anyone who writes, I would recommend they watch this because ten will get you twenty, if you write anything remotely different, you’re going to hear a variation on “no one will want this.” It might be an agent or editor. It might even be a contest judge, but the likelihood is, you’re going to hear something like this. But if you watch this documentary, you’ll hopefully remember how those artists refused to accept those words.
Thank goodness.
So I leave you all with a question: What has been most inspirational for you– that’s kept you going in the face of what seem like insurmountable odds?
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Awesome topic, Barb! Stories like this always remind me of what some producer wrote in his notes during one of Fred Astaire’s early auditions: “Can’t sing. Can’t act. Dances a little.”
Not quite the same as you were talking about with pushing boundaries, but it relates in that part of what plays into some people’s inability to accept the new and unfamiliar is their reliance on their own subjective viewpoint. I.e., “I don’t understand/like this, so it has no value.”
It’s very inspiring when people refuse to be stopped by comments like that, and brings home the fact that in this business, as in most, persistence is key. That, and sticking to what you love to do, will eventually get you somewhere, nine times out of ten.
I so agree about the Latin Music USA program! I recorded the four hours and watched them at my convenience. I wish that I had had such a wonderful video history when I was teaching high school Spanish. My favorite Christmas video also came from PBS–La Pastorela. It is perfect for the last day (or two because of the running time) of classes before Christmas vacation, especially in a Catholic school.
I also agree with your point about “No one wants this.” There is no law or rule that requires product manufacturers to put two or more languages on their labels. Why do they do it?–to appeal to speakers of those other languages, to sell more of their products. The English-Spanish bilingual speakers in the USA will buy books in Spanish and they will buy books written in English that have settings they know.
Kay
Great blog, Barb, and loved the clip from the show.
Faye
Never give up — never surrender!!
Ooh! I received both “No one will want this” and “I don’t know what to do with this” from contest judges, agents and editors before my first book sold. I’m still no Linda Rondstadt (oh, Lord, do you remember what she sounded like and looked like on Tumbling Dice?), but maybe someday!
Awesome – thanks for the inspiration. I just read the January issue of Writer’s Digest and I recommend it because in celebrating 90 years, they quote brilliant writers from the past who are just as appropriate – if not more – today.
And I know just what you mean – I can’t quite fit my stories into any one genre – still hoping that somehow romantic women’s fiction will be the answer but it’s confusing when you read submission guidelines trying to choose which to target – romance or women’s fiction?