Alexander M. Zoltai's Blog, page 228

The Writer & Controversy . . .

I've many times directed my readers' attention to BestsellerBound Forums. Just click on it in the Top Tags cloud in the right side-bar to check out past posts…

A recent thread at BsB is called, Controversy: Avoid it or Embrace It?, and I strongly encourage you to read the many and varied responses from authors, readers, and publishers.

My latest book, Notes from An Alien, is full of issues that regularly cause controversy in human conversations. However, one of the authors at BsB said: "He does not shy away from controversy, though he also does not blatantly call one side right or wrong. He holds up the mirror and allows us to see for ourselves. Not all of us will see the same reflection."

It was gratifying to read that from another author since I worked hard to bring many issues, that usually spark contention, to the reader's attention without stirring unnecessary resistance.

My book is about a civilization that grows from devastating greed and war to an enduring peace. My goal was to show a possible set of paths that might be followed, not prescribe some dogmatic master plan.

There are many folk who, even at the bare mention of global peace, will immediately begin a rant about how humans are inherently war-like and peace is impossible. There are also many folk who, whether you want them to or not, will regale you with a litany of rose-colored slogans about peace that have not an ounce of practical worth.

In my opinion, too many people are sitting on the fence between these opposing views. Perhaps the fine edge of that fence can be transformed into a platform for rational effort, inspired will, and heart-felt service which can lead our battered globe toward a vision that has refused, through many epochs of human history, to die…

What are your thoughts and feelings on the possibility of global peace?

Before you leave your feedback in the comments, read this excerpt from The Promised Day Is Come by Shoghí Effendí Rabbání:

"The tumult of this age of transition is characteristic of the impetuosity and irrational instincts of youth, its follies, its prodigality, its pride, its self-assurance, its rebelliousness, and contempt of discipline.

"The ages of its infancy and childhood are past, never again to return, while the Great Age, the consummation of all ages, which must signalize the coming of age of the entire human race, is yet to come. The convulsions of this transitional and most turbulent period in the annals of humanity are the essential prerequisites, and herald the inevitable approach, of that Age of Ages, 'the time of the end', in which the folly and tumult of strife that has, since the dawn of history, blackened the annals of mankind, will have been finally transmuted into the wisdom and the tranquility of an undisturbed, a universal, and lasting peace, in which the discord and separation of the children of men will have given way to the worldwide reconciliation, and the complete unification of the divers elements that constitute human society.

"This will indeed be the fitting climax of that process of integration which, starting with the family, the smallest unit in the scale of human organization, must, after having called successively into being the tribe, the city-state, and the nation, continue to operate until it culminates in the unification of the whole world, the final object and the crowning glory of human evolution on this planet. It is this stage which humanity, willingly or unwillingly, is resistlessly approaching. It is for this stage that this vast, this fiery ordeal which humanity is experiencing is mysteriously paving the way."

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Tagged: BestsellerBound, global peace, Notes from An Alien, peace, reader, Shoghí Effendí, war, World peace

Who Should Deal With All The Crap ?

Our last post looked into the claim that self-publishing produces crap. I urge you to scroll down and read it…

There were a good number of comments and one of them said that another of them should be boosted up to a post.

Here's that comment :-)

"Crap is everywhere. Always has been; always will be. Sorting threw the crap is what takes me so long in the bookstore, the clothing store and the grocery store. To me, Mickey-D is crap, yet the business thrives. Nine-hundred-ninety-nine men out of a thousand should be thrown back into the lake, yet most of them eventually find a wife. Nearly 100 percent of all children are brats, yet their parents love them.

"On the weekends, my husband will rent several movies. It's not unusual for use to watch each one for 15 minutes, before rejecting them all, yet some of them are blockbusters. That can add up to a whole hour of crap. Go figure.

"Recently, I told my TV company to go take a hike. Ninety bucks a month for a load of crap. I don't think so. Here's my reality: shove it.

"Why do some people settle for crappy food, crappy clothes, crappy husbands, crappy kids, crappy programming and crappy books? I don't know, I really don't know. Why do some people, who haven't studied, bother to write down a load of crap, when some part of them has to know that it's crap? I don't know. It's a lot of work for a load of BS.

"Why do we keep our mouths shut when be stumble across crap? It's easier, I guess. We want someone else to take out the crap."

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Tagged: blog, blog comment, blog comments, blog post, crap, crappy, post, self-publishing

Is Self-Publishing Prone To Producing Crap ?

Since I'm self-published, you might think my answer to the title question is a big, "No!".

Actually, I think self-publishing can produce some fine books right along with all the crap :-)

One thing I feel is desperately needed, now that self-publishing is becoming so popular, is a better way for readers to judge the quality of self-pubbed books. Reviews can help, a little, but are too easy to abuse. We need some new method of reader appraisal–any ideas??

I read an article a while back by an author associated with Writer's Digest: The "Self-Pub Is Crap" Debate, by Jane Friedman. She begins by stating two common viewpoints:

Most self-published work is crap. Anyone can "publish" their e-book and call themselves an author. None of these "books" are edited. It's a huge pile of crap that's just getting harder and harder to sift through. (God save us from the crap!)

Traditional publishing produces a lot of crap. Their standards are declining, and they don't even know what readers want. They are "out of touch" and unneeded gatekeepers.

I recommend reading the full article. She reaches a fairly solid conclusion :-)

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Tagged: Jane Friedman, publish, reader, reader opinions, self-published, self-publishing, traditional publishing, Writer's Digest

Kids, Libraries, and Book Reviews…

If you're a writer, do you plan to still be writing in ten years?

If you haven't yet published, do you think you will within ten years?

If you're published, do you think your books will still be read in ten years?

I ask because I watched a video with young people giving book reviews and it taught me, as a writer, quite a bit about who might be reading my work in ten (or fewer) years…

A woman named Debbie Norton from Texarkana, Texas wrote a grant proposal and won $200 to make a video in her classroom to support collaboration with her library.

Her grant was sponsored by Follett Software Company and her proposal can be viewed on the We Are Teachers site.

As you watch her video, The Living Library, ask yourself when these kids will be reading something you've written…

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Tagged: book review, Debbie Norton, Follett Software Company, library, review, teachers, Texarkana, video

Looking Past Limits . . .

Whether you're reading, writing, or publishing, the worst thing that can happen is to believe in a "limit"…

Limits on your reading will make you miss meanings.

Limits on your writing will hobble the story.

Limits on publishing will kill a book.

I found a wonderful video by an amazing woman. A woman who soared past a potentially grave limitation.

Watch and soar with her :-)

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Tagged: author, blind, book, Caroline Casey, publish, reader, story, Ted Talks

Where's The Gate? ~ More Thoughts On Publishing…

I recently published my book, Notes from An Alien.

I published it…

Even though FastPencil is listed as the publisher, they are far from a traditional publisher. For instance, they don't have the Rights to my book; I do.

I've written a number of posts comparing Self-Publishing with Traditional Publishing. You can type "traditional" into the search box up there in the right corner or just click this link to see them. The most direct comparison I make is in the post, Traditional VS Self Publishing ~ Some Thoughts…

I keep track of what Joel Friedlander says on his blog, The Book Designer. Recently he brought attention to a new label in the publishing world in his post There Are No Gatekeepers, There Are No Gates.

That new tag is "Nongatekept authors".

Of course, the gatekeepers of traditional publishing are the agents and editors and publisher's marketing staff.

You can find plenty of articles claiming these gatekeepers are there to assure the reader they're getting a book that's worth their money–well-written, well-edited, possibly even of lasting literary value…

One question that seems to be ignored quite often is: Can't a self-published author provide all those things to their readers?

Our society is dripping with fears–economic, political, social, and literary. Some people (especially in the mainstream houses) are afraid of authors who decide to do, on their own, what the traditional publisher has so often done.

And, since fear often breeds lies, many folk are now claiming that the ease of publishing will rob the reader of literary quality.

I'll let Mr. Friedlander speak to that fear:

"The myth of the noble gatekeepers is exactly that, of course. There never were bastions of cultural authority in this country, empowered to pass judgment on their fellow authors. But if you face year after year of rejection, it can be seductive to think there are.

"The problem is that this worldview completely dismisses the fact that publishing is a business, and publishers businesspeople. Books that find a home with profit-oriented publishers can be defined this way: books that might sell enough to make the publisher a profit.

"That's the reality of gatekeeping, no matter how romantic it may sound. Publishers who make no profit are no longer in business. The business of business is profit, pure and simple."

I heartily recommend reading his whole post…

What are your feelings and thoughts on being Nongatekept?

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Tagged: author, FastPencil, Gatekeeper, Joel Friedlander, publish, self-publishing, The Book Designer, traditional publishing

Nifty Writer's Tool + An Excuse To Laugh

I know…

There shalt not be two topics in one blog post.

Well, there are only two topics in that title up there but there are three topics in this post :-)

First:

Today is the Book Launch Party for Notes from An Alien in the virtual world, Second Life. There will be people from all over the world gathering on Book Island for Door Prizes, Fireworks, Live Music, Dancing, and All-Round Fun :-)

Second:

I found a really cool little piece of free software for creative writers: SLang

Here's what they say about it:

"SLang is a story-creation tool, primarily of interest to writers. SLang stands for 'Story-Language'. It is a story-creation tool, similar to an index-card tool but much more sophisticated. It allows you to break your story down into 'events', each of which will have a block of text describing the event.In addition you can have any number of alternative versions of these text blocks for each event. SLang allows you to mark an event as 'excluded' rather than having to delete it from the project, so you can come back to it later.SLang allows you to define special rules for each event called dependency-relationships. These define which events depend on which others. SLang can then examine all the rules, and then put all the events in a sensible order automatically, and show you how it made its decisions.Alternatively you can put the events in order manually. Either way, you can then generate an RTF or TXT file containing the whole story. Because of the way SLang allows you to specify dependency-relationships between events, SLang allows you to experiment with which events get included in the story and which don't, so you can experiment, generating alternative routes through your story.The 'Find shortest/longest path' utility finds out what events are required to reach a specified event in the story, and lists them in chronological order, thereby enabling you to deal with individual threads.SLang can now export to ScriptMaker (a screenplay tool, free from the same website). This export facility creates an annotated 'framework' for your script."

Third:

There are two of my blogging buddies I immediately thought of when I watched a video recently.

First was Karla Telega. She works at and succeeds brilliantly with writing humor.

Second was Simone Benedict. She writes about her life in Kansas (among other topics) and instills a natural sense of playfulness into her posts.

So, here's the video that reminded me of Karla and Simone:

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Tagged: free software, Kansas, Karla Telega, Notes from An Alien, Second Life, Simone Benedict, Writers Resources, writing software

Interview With A Very Strange Author…

Darcia Helle, the Founder of the Forums at BestsellerBound, has posted an interview with me–and, yes, I am a very strange author :-)

The interview gives some background into my mindset during the writing of Notes from An Alien and my deepest thanks go out to Darcia for the sensitivity and wisdom of the questions she asked…

Darcia is aided in her efforts at BestsellerBound by two other resident authors, Stacy Juba and Maria Savva.

All three authors have been interviewed on this blog and I encourage you to read those interviews as well as the special post I did about their Site, BestsellerBound Forums ~ Your One-Stop Place To Connect :-)

By the way, BestsellerBound is for Readers, Writers, and Publishers…

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Tagged: author, author interview, BestsellerBound, Darcia Helle, Maria Savva, reader, Stacy Juba, Writers Resources

Is The Novel Dying?

I've included two short videos in this post. One of Philip Roth, one of Paul Auster–both award-winning novelists.

It will take you about six minutes to watch both. I would *Love* to read your comments about them.

Does one of them "win" the debate?

Are both partially right?

Or, are both dead wrong?

Philip Roth: The Novel is a Dying Animal

Paul Auster: Why Roth Is Wrong About the Novel

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Tagged: Man Booker, Man Booker International Prize, novel, novels, Paul Auster, Philip Roth, Pulitzer Prize, video

Learning How To Be An Author Means Much More Than Reading About How To Write…

Here I am again, out on the limb I'm so used to–sharing what I think…

I think learning to write means Way more than reading about how to write. It also means more than just writing every day.

Let's be clear, writing regularly to hone one's craft and reading competent authors' views on the profession definitely have their place in a writer's growth.

Yet…

There's a lot more to learn–about life, about people, and about yourself.

I found a blog post about the average age at debut publication for 29 authors. It's a shame the blog appeared to die about three years ago…

For those authors, the average age of their debut was 32.

When I was in my late teens and early twenties, there was a common saying about age, "Don't trust anyone over thirty".

I think the reason for the saying is that certain things usually happen around that age–a certain sprouting of maturity, a decided seriousness that begins to take hold, the beginning of a sober search for a solid identity.

By definition, youth is not maturity and the youthful spirit tends toward a carefree attitude which keeps the identity somewhat amorphous.

Of course, all generalizations are prone to falsification in specific instances. Yet, many generalizations have the germ of possible truth.

So, obviously, there are writers who mature in their early twenties. There are writers who know more at thirty than most writers will ever learn. And, there are writers who break all the "rules"…

Still, knowing as much as possible about life is critical to a writer's craft. Learning, at depth, what makes people the way they are is the solid ground of creating living characters. And, knowing oneself, though a task that never ends, is the component of a writer's knowledge which brings everything to its proper place.

I'm still out on that limb and feel like admitting one of my basic beliefs: Writers are writers before they know they are. The urge to use words creatively is a disposition of a person's character. Not everyone with that proclivity will end up pursuing writing but the people who labor, day after day, to craft new realities had the inclination before they learned what to do with it.

My favorite author, C. J. Cherryh, was 34 when her first book was published. She's written over 60 and won numerous awards.

I'll leave you with a few words, from The Night Bazaar, by Ms. Cherryh:

"Writing drives your interests in life. When they ask who wants to ride the elephant, you know suddenly you really need to do that, more than just about anybody. I draw the line at jumping out of perfectly good airplanes, but that's because I'm a bit of a klutz, and if anybody would screw up the ripcord, it would be me.

"Travel is good for you. Meeting unfamiliar situations is bread and butter to you. Where do you get your ideas? You inhale them, breath by breath, and stale air is just not good for creativity."

I can't avoid leaving you with one more, ever so insightful, Cherryh quote:

"Deal with the Devil if the Devil has a constituency–and don't complain about the heat."

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Tagged: author, authors, C. J. Cherryh, how to write, writer, writers, writing craft, writing life