McAnally's (The Community Pub) > Author Craft

Too Much Reading About Writing

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Kali:
It seems to be truer of writing than other art forms that most people feel an audience is required or it doesn't "count" somehow.  A picture painted is still art whether or not it's hanging in a gallery.  A pianist who sits down to play for an afternoon in his living room is still playing music even if he doesn't tour or perform concerts.  But writing doesn't 'count' unless it's been published.  neuro's not alone in that thinking (though I don't presume to say the other interpretations are neuro's as well), it just seems odd to me.  Writing is held to a different standard.

*shrug*

belial.1980:

--- Quote from: Kali on July 06, 2010, 03:43:19 AM ---It seems to be truer of writing than other art forms that most people feel an audience is required or it doesn't "count" somehow.  A picture painted is still art whether or not it's hanging in a gallery.  A pianist who sits down to play for an afternoon in his living room is still playing music even if he doesn't tour or perform concerts.  But writing doesn't 'count' unless it's been published.  neuro's not alone in that thinking (though I don't presume to say the other interpretations are neuro's as well), it just seems odd to me.  Writing is held to a different standard.

*shrug*

--- End quote ---

If you feel happiest writing for yourself then that's what you should do. It's just that a lot of the people here (myself included) have aspirations of becoming published authors. If that's not your thing, it doesn't make you less of a writer. It's still in your blood and it's something that makes you happy. I think that's great and I absolutely don't think anybody would discount your work.

::Tangent alert:::

Check it out: years ago I wrote for a collaborative community called Chiaroscuro. Chiaroscuro was a fictional city full of vampires/werewolves/assorted denizens of the night. All characters were original and the authors wrote stories about their characters and posted them for others to read. I wrote a character named Zack, an absent minded paranormal investigator. It was fun but honestly the stuff I wrote was complete crap. I put my heart into it, but it was pretty amateur.

However, even though it wasn't any good by publishing standards it impressed some of the others and—what do you know—I got my first fan. A lurker on the site who was too shy to write but read all the threads requested my email from the mod. She wrote me to tell me that she really loved one of my stories. I know that's a really insignificant thing but that was a big deal for me. And when I think about it now, it still is. I shared something with her. I created something that affected her and for a little while Zack and the rest of the characters I invented were real to her; they mattered. What I wrote made her feel something.

Me personally—some day I'm going to write for a living. It's not about money. I don't have aspirations of being the next J.K. Rowling or anything. But I really want to write stories and share them with other people. I want to affect them, like I affected my "first fan." That's what I'd like to do with my life.

So, publishing doesn't appeal to you. You write; therefore you are a writer. Don't let anyone tell you different.

Starbeam:
To address the original post, most of the books about writing that I've read only slightly make mention of getting published.  Mainly because the books I've read are more a collection of essays by authors about writing for them, like "Zen in the Art of Writing" by Ray Bradbury.  I also have another by Terry Brooks.  The books I have that do place an emphasis on getting published are books that I couldn't make myself finish.

And as for writing itself, I do it because I feel like crap and start going into a depressed phase when I don't.  It has a very noticeable physical and mental affect.  As for getting published, it's the best way to share the story.  There's a really good article/essay by Donald Maass called Storytellers and Status Seekers that talks about the two different people that try to get published.  It's in an writing magazine I read some months ago, and also has been printed as part of the forward of Fire in Fiction, or something like that, don't have the book in front of me.  But it's something worth reading.

meg_evonne:
Someone posted this on twitter.  Thought it appropo to our thread.  As Starbeam says--everyone had their own way...

‎"There’s a common notion that self-discipline is a freakish peculiarity of writers—that writers differ from other people by possessing enormous and equal portions of talent and willpower. They grit their powerful teeth and go into their little rooms. I think that’s a bad misunderstanding... What impels the writer is a deep love for and respect for language, for literary forms, for books." {Annie Dillard] 

belial.1980:

--- Quote from: meg_evonne on July 09, 2010, 01:36:37 PM ---Someone posted this on twitter.  Thought it appropo to our thread.  As Starbeam says--everyone had their own way...

‎"There’s a common notion that self-discipline is a freakish peculiarity of writers—that writers differ from other people by possessing enormous and equal portions of talent and willpower. They grit their powerful teeth and go into their little rooms. I think that’s a bad misunderstanding... What impels the writer is a deep love for and respect for language, for literary forms, for books." {Annie Dillard] 

--- End quote ---

I'll agree...but no matter how much you love it, I still think there's a lot of self discipline and teeth gritting involved.

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