McAnally's (The Community Pub) > Author Craft

Would you stop?

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Donna:
Words of wisdom from Miss Snark.

An excerpt

--- Quote ---You recognize that doing something difficult over and over again, and trying your utmost to improve is a worthy endeavor even if you fall short of your goal.
--- End quote ---

Josh:
Some great discussion so far. I've seen this type of discussion devolve into flame wars over who is a true writer or not, but of course I never expected anyone from this forum to track down that sticky sidewalk.

My own answer is similar to what a number of you have said so far. If I knew there was no chance of ever getting published, I wouldn't hang up my writer's hat. It'd just become more like a fly-fisher's hat to take down on the weekends and relax by the pond while trailing my line through the water.

Yes, part of it is asking yourself why you write. If it's for money, fame, women...well, rejection and all is going to hit that ego hard and hold up a cracked mirror to reality. But neither is it wrong, in my opinion, to set a limit for yourself in your efforts. Even Dean Koontz said that his wife gave him an ultimatum early in their marriage. He had five years to break into his writing career, or else he had to stop for the sake of their relationship. Of course, seeing where he is nowadays, we can see that effort paid off. But one has to wonder...what if he'd hit that five year mark and still hadn't made it?

Anyways, again this isn't a question to make yourself question your worth or talent as a writer, or to establish some inner cabal of "true writers." I'm simply curious if anyone out there had any specific mental limits or deadlines. At one point I joked to a friend that if I received 1,001 rejections without any acceptances, I might then have to cut back on the effort and time I'm putting into my writing. Meh. Make it 1,002. 1003? Please?

www.jrvogt.com

Mickey Finn:
A story about Uncle Harlan:

The man was, at one point, silly enough to publish his phone number in the back of one of his books. One day, a young writer called him up and asked (and this is from my memory, not his, so I'm paraphrasing and mutilating and otherwise boiling it down to its bare essence, so don't sue me if you know the exact words) why he couldn't seem to get published. He'd work, and he'd hone, and he'd sweat, and no one would buy his work. Why?
And Uncle Harlan replied, not having read a word of it, "Because it sucks, kid," and hung up.
That kid was Joe Strazynski.
Just because someone tells you your work sucks and will never see the light of day, does not make them right.  Or, more accurately, it may make the former right, but the latter?






(I've noticed I tend to drop into Ellison's voice when I write about him. THAT'S how much character this man has.)

Wolfeyes:
Me, I'm still young (not even twenty) but I love writing. Whether it's a tiny project I'll drop within a short while, a few skits, a requested script for VAing auditions (Nothing long of course and just for people on forum projects), fanfiction, plotting future projects (*nervous laugh* a LOT of projects....) and of course my big project, my fantasy novel. It's not like I'm a devoted prodigy that can't live without her work but I'd never be able to drop it completely. I write for myself mostly because I love my characters and my imagination won't let their stories die completely even if I don't spend all my time working on it. Would I like to get published? Hell yes. But who knows? My work may be crap for all I know. I'm not claiming to be talented.

Now, as for what this person would have to say to convince me to quit, they would have to try very hard. I'm a stubborn person sadly. I've been working hard on things like my big project and quitting even though I know it'd never get published is a even bigger waste than continuing to work and not get anything in return (physically at least). If anything, if this were someone like an older, experianced, writer, I'd say, "Thank you for being honest with me. Could you please tell me how to improve my work instead of expecting me to quit completely?"

etoiline:
I was going to post the link to Miss Snark, but it's been done already...

I would still write. There's just something about getting the words in your head down on paper (or onscreen, as the case may be) that makes me feel better. It makes me excited, calm, angry, exuberant, all sorts of things. It's an outlet for too much reality. And though one day I hope I can be a published author, just sharing my story with other people can be enough.

Writing is probably the thing I'm best at, right now, and I want to give it the chance.

~Cal

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