S.A. Rule's Blog: Authors in the frontline - Posts Tagged "writing"
...but I do.
The resentment some people - and it is particularly prevalent in the Uk - show writers promoting their work on Good reads still gets under my skin.
This is a site for book-lovers. Some of those book-lovers write books as well as reading them. They don't do it to make a fortune, they do it to share stories, thoughts, and images of the world.
I can only assume the snipers are all failed authors themselves who nurse a spiteful jealousy of anyone with a more generous spirit.
I have lots of reviews from readers who delighted in sharing my literary journeys; but it only takes the one naysayer to discount ten good reviews and make me wish I'd left the manuscripts in the cupboard.
Well, what's a blog for if not to have a good old moan? Perhaps, too, pessimism is a British disease!
The resentment some people - and it is particularly prevalent in the Uk - show writers promoting their work on Good reads still gets under my skin.
This is a site for book-lovers. Some of those book-lovers write books as well as reading them. They don't do it to make a fortune, they do it to share stories, thoughts, and images of the world.
I can only assume the snipers are all failed authors themselves who nurse a spiteful jealousy of anyone with a more generous spirit.
I have lots of reviews from readers who delighted in sharing my literary journeys; but it only takes the one naysayer to discount ten good reviews and make me wish I'd left the manuscripts in the cupboard.
Well, what's a blog for if not to have a good old moan? Perhaps, too, pessimism is a British disease!
It seems to me that one of the problems of the publishing industry at large is the desire of manufacturers (publishers) and retailers (book outlets) to treat books - stories - as a consumer commodity. A five minute wonder that sells like hotcakes today and is forgotten tomorrow, like the latest fashion items.
Books aren't like that. A good book stays with you long after you've read it; sometimes for life. I was sufficiently taken with a series of tales read in my childhood to name my daughter after one of the characters. The stories (the Punchbowl Farm series by Monica Edwards) were about a family trying to reclaim a farm that had been left to run wild. The backdrop was the conflict between the boy who wanted to bring in modern farming methods to make it a going concern, and his loyal sister who liked the wilderness it had become. It may of course be just coincidence that the young lady I named after the sister went on to do a degree in environmental science and now works for a British wildlife trust.
Stories are a vital part of the glue that holds society together - a good book can shape your thinking. We need to hear our own stories - everyday tales of love, loss and struggle. We need to hear other peoples' stories, to see how this global village of ours looks from their perspective. We need stories of wild imagination that test our capacity for excitement, horror, and romance. We need the "what if" stories that encourage us to imagine the unimaginable.
We need writing that entertains, but also that moves and inspires us. The pile 'em high and sell 'em cheap mentality does not give us these stories. Writing like most things is one part inspiration to nine parts perspiration, and serious writers need encouragement, support, training and investment to deliver their best work. It is my contention that the industry which makes its living from writers' talents is selling them short. In the process, I believe it is also damaging its own means of production.
Books aren't like that. A good book stays with you long after you've read it; sometimes for life. I was sufficiently taken with a series of tales read in my childhood to name my daughter after one of the characters. The stories (the Punchbowl Farm series by Monica Edwards) were about a family trying to reclaim a farm that had been left to run wild. The backdrop was the conflict between the boy who wanted to bring in modern farming methods to make it a going concern, and his loyal sister who liked the wilderness it had become. It may of course be just coincidence that the young lady I named after the sister went on to do a degree in environmental science and now works for a British wildlife trust.
Stories are a vital part of the glue that holds society together - a good book can shape your thinking. We need to hear our own stories - everyday tales of love, loss and struggle. We need to hear other peoples' stories, to see how this global village of ours looks from their perspective. We need stories of wild imagination that test our capacity for excitement, horror, and romance. We need the "what if" stories that encourage us to imagine the unimaginable.
We need writing that entertains, but also that moves and inspires us. The pile 'em high and sell 'em cheap mentality does not give us these stories. Writing like most things is one part inspiration to nine parts perspiration, and serious writers need encouragement, support, training and investment to deliver their best work. It is my contention that the industry which makes its living from writers' talents is selling them short. In the process, I believe it is also damaging its own means of production.
Authors in the frontline
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