Sunday, October 3, 2010

Think Twice

All---

Think twice.

Think twice when you say something on your blog.  Especially if you're trying to be controversial, ironic, or counter to prevailing wisdom.  Make sure you understand  how your words might be interpreted, and then make sure you're okay with that.

Successful agents, think twice about your jaded perspective on the publishing industry and how difficult it is for you to find material you want to publish.  Often the best artists are the most sensitive.  This is as true for writers as it is for other art forms.  Do you really want to discourage the best writers from getting their material to you, by feeding into their fears and insecurities?

Published authors, think twice about your cynical commentary about what it's like to "make it."  I know you think you're giving us a reality check.  I know you think you're being clever.  I know you think you're giving us tough love.  But really, you're just puking all over our dreams.  Telling us they're either unattainable or not worth it.  Is that really what you want to do?

As-yet un-agented authors, think twice about what advice you give.  I think many of us have insights on the craft and process of writing, and maybe even into some parts of the business side.  When you get right down to it, though, we're still un-agented and so the one thing we are not qualified to talk too much about is how to get an agent or what agents like/dislike.  We may think we've learned a lot and that we want to share that with others, and there's a safe way to do that, but we need to be careful about misleading others in our same position by speaking with too much authority about something we only know second- or third-hand.

Okay, that's a bit more of a rant than I usually like, but I'm in a weird spot right now with my writing (for reasons entirely separate from these issues) and I felt like just growling for a bit.

Next time, peace, love, and applesauce.

.Nevets.

9 comments:

  1. If it's gotta be applesauce, I'd prefer it baked in a double chocolate cake. Two layers. With ganache filling. And a tall glass of milk. Two percent.

    ReplyDelete
  2. @Clarissa - Not sure it came from the healthiest place, but I do think it's sound. lol

    @B - Daggone. I think I need a glass of milk just reading about that cake.

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  3. We all need a reminder once in a while that just because we can't "see" our audience, doesn't mean they don't physically exist. I've read a few posts lately that make me want to link this back to people.

    Thanks for the advice - healthy or not.

    .......dhole

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  4. I agree, you made me laugh, and now I'm ready to go make some applesauce. Thanks!
    Growling now and then isn't so bad . . . especially since you spread your growl around equally. :-)

    ReplyDelete
  5. It's a good reminder.

    I'm usually pretty good about ranting my emotions to my journal rather than my blog, but I think I needed a reminder about dispensing advice in all of my unagented glory. I'm a research scientist, so I tend to think if I've done my research, I qualify for wisdom. But research does NOT equal experience.

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  6. @Donna - it's very easy to forget that the readers of our blogs and the readers of our fiction are real people, and that their emotional interaction with what we write is incredibly real and powerful. I think about this quite a bit, actually, considering the dark nature of so much of what I write.

    @Golden Eagle - Xie xie ni!

    @Tyrean - As long as you promise not to make your applesauce too chunky. ;)

    @Margo - As an anthropologist, I would definitely applaud the notion of research not equaling experience. It'w why we do participant observation. :) lol But as for bloggers, I think there is a temptation to frame our rants in such a way as we trick ourselves into feeling like they constitute advice...

    ReplyDelete
  7. I hope people gather that I'm not an expert, just a blind man trying to find my way. However, I think this also applies to fiction which is less directly instructional, but still can have significant effects on people. Your reply to Donna indicates that you see this as part of the think twice. I've expanded on this somewhat here as I tried to think on this from that perspective.

    ReplyDelete

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