Martha Wells's Blog, page 132
July 1, 2013
It's My Anniversary
So this month, twenty years ago, I became a professional writer.
I wanted to have more things to post this month but between the copyedit and proofs of the Star Wars novel (which has been moved up to a release date of September 24, I'm not sure I mentioned that here) and trying to finish the first draft of Emilie and the Sky World (the sequel to Emilie and the Hollow World) plus other stuff, plus the house plumbing disaster with the recovery that went from March to May, plus a nervous breakdown, plus more other stuff, I really didn't get a chance. I'm hoping to do some quickie book giveaways here and maybe other things later in the month. (Also since it's Gay Pride, Canada Day, and July Fourth this week, I'm not sure how many people are going to be online.)
But I thought I would mark the day by talking about how I sold my first novel, The Element of Fire.
(If this some of this sounds familiar, I also wrote about it on the Night Bazaar site a couple of years ago when The Cloud Roads first came out.)
A couple of times lately I've been asked when I knew I wanted to be a writer, and the answer is I'm really not sure. I remember writing Godzilla fanfic when I was in elementary school and making giant multi-page maps of Monster Island. I think making up stories was always something I wanted to do.
I wrote fanfic all through college and some original short stories. I submitted the short stories in various places and always got rejected. (I was never able to sell a short story until after my second book (City of Bones) came out.)
After college, I was working full time at a job doing programming and computer support when I started writing The Element of Fire. I wrote at work during slow periods, waiting for programs to run or for someone to call for help. I didn't have a home computer at that point. I printed out what I'd written during the day and took it home to read over and edit, and then hand wrote new material on the weekends. Steven Gould and Laura Mixon lived in College Station at that point, and I used to get together with them and a few other people to do a writers workshop every few weeks. Steve Gould was writing Jumper at that time and I was bringing new chapters of The Element of Fire every time the workshop met.
When I was writing at work, my boss, who was a big SF/F fan, knew what I was doing and read the books as I wrote them. We were crammed into a space slightly larger than a walk-in closet with two mainframes plus workstations, a server, and other equipment. It was also cold and noisy, due to the intense air conditioning and air cleaners needed for the mainframes. The large HP printer was an important source of warmth essential for fighting off hypothermia. (I wrote The Element of Fire, City of Bones, and half of The Death of the Necromancer in that room. My hearing and my sinuses never quite recovered, but it gave me the ability to write under just about any conditions and ignore distractions. Even now, when I write at home, I need some kind of noise in the room and often write with the TV on.)
(It was very helpful to be encouraged by my boss. Every time I've done a panel that gets into the topic of finding time for writing, there's always one or more audience members who ask what to do about someone they live with who actively discourages their writing, and/or goes out of the way to interrupt or stop them while they're doing it. Once when I was at home working on The Element of Fire, an ex-friend/roommate saw what I was doing and said, "Oh, you'll never finish that." Well, I did.)
Steve and Laura moved to New York, and while Steve was still working on Jumper he was contacted by a relatively new agent, Matthew Bialer with William Morris. Steve wasn't ready to talk to an agent at that point so he recommended me to Matt. Matt called me, I sent him the first half or so of The Element of Fire, and he agreed to represent it when it was done.
It went to a couple of publishers, including one who at first showed interest, then ended up turning it down because they felt they were overbought on first novels. Tor offered for it and finally bought it, though there was a contract dispute that stretched for months (or centuries, as if felt at the time) (it was sort of a preview of what my later career crash would be like, except that went on for a few century-years).
The book finally came out in 1993, with a lousy cover and not so great back cover copy. It was a nominee for the Crawford award and the Compton Crook/Stephen Tall Award. It was eventually reprinted in French, Russian, Spanish, Polish, and Italian.
I like the ebook cover Tiger Bright Studios did much better, so here it is:
I wanted to have more things to post this month but between the copyedit and proofs of the Star Wars novel (which has been moved up to a release date of September 24, I'm not sure I mentioned that here) and trying to finish the first draft of Emilie and the Sky World (the sequel to Emilie and the Hollow World) plus other stuff, plus the house plumbing disaster with the recovery that went from March to May, plus a nervous breakdown, plus more other stuff, I really didn't get a chance. I'm hoping to do some quickie book giveaways here and maybe other things later in the month. (Also since it's Gay Pride, Canada Day, and July Fourth this week, I'm not sure how many people are going to be online.)
But I thought I would mark the day by talking about how I sold my first novel, The Element of Fire.
(If this some of this sounds familiar, I also wrote about it on the Night Bazaar site a couple of years ago when The Cloud Roads first came out.)
A couple of times lately I've been asked when I knew I wanted to be a writer, and the answer is I'm really not sure. I remember writing Godzilla fanfic when I was in elementary school and making giant multi-page maps of Monster Island. I think making up stories was always something I wanted to do.
I wrote fanfic all through college and some original short stories. I submitted the short stories in various places and always got rejected. (I was never able to sell a short story until after my second book (City of Bones) came out.)
After college, I was working full time at a job doing programming and computer support when I started writing The Element of Fire. I wrote at work during slow periods, waiting for programs to run or for someone to call for help. I didn't have a home computer at that point. I printed out what I'd written during the day and took it home to read over and edit, and then hand wrote new material on the weekends. Steven Gould and Laura Mixon lived in College Station at that point, and I used to get together with them and a few other people to do a writers workshop every few weeks. Steve Gould was writing Jumper at that time and I was bringing new chapters of The Element of Fire every time the workshop met.
When I was writing at work, my boss, who was a big SF/F fan, knew what I was doing and read the books as I wrote them. We were crammed into a space slightly larger than a walk-in closet with two mainframes plus workstations, a server, and other equipment. It was also cold and noisy, due to the intense air conditioning and air cleaners needed for the mainframes. The large HP printer was an important source of warmth essential for fighting off hypothermia. (I wrote The Element of Fire, City of Bones, and half of The Death of the Necromancer in that room. My hearing and my sinuses never quite recovered, but it gave me the ability to write under just about any conditions and ignore distractions. Even now, when I write at home, I need some kind of noise in the room and often write with the TV on.)
(It was very helpful to be encouraged by my boss. Every time I've done a panel that gets into the topic of finding time for writing, there's always one or more audience members who ask what to do about someone they live with who actively discourages their writing, and/or goes out of the way to interrupt or stop them while they're doing it. Once when I was at home working on The Element of Fire, an ex-friend/roommate saw what I was doing and said, "Oh, you'll never finish that." Well, I did.)
Steve and Laura moved to New York, and while Steve was still working on Jumper he was contacted by a relatively new agent, Matthew Bialer with William Morris. Steve wasn't ready to talk to an agent at that point so he recommended me to Matt. Matt called me, I sent him the first half or so of The Element of Fire, and he agreed to represent it when it was done.
It went to a couple of publishers, including one who at first showed interest, then ended up turning it down because they felt they were overbought on first novels. Tor offered for it and finally bought it, though there was a contract dispute that stretched for months (or centuries, as if felt at the time) (it was sort of a preview of what my later career crash would be like, except that went on for a few century-years).
The book finally came out in 1993, with a lousy cover and not so great back cover copy. It was a nominee for the Crawford award and the Compton Crook/Stephen Tall Award. It was eventually reprinted in French, Russian, Spanish, Polish, and Italian.
I like the ebook cover Tiger Bright Studios did much better, so here it is:
The Death of the Necromancer on Black Gate
The complete text of The Death of the Necromancer in now online at Black Gate Magazine. Serializing the book online was a spur-of-the-moment idea at the Chicago WorldCon, and I'd like to thank John O'Neill for giving the book a home and for all the work to get it posted.
Part One - Chapters One through Five
Part Two - Chapters Five through Eight
Part Three - Chapters Nine through Thirteen
Part Four - Chapters Fourteen through Eighteen
Part Five - Chapters Nineteen through Twenty-Two
Some DotN facts:
* It was first released in hardcover by Avon Eos in 1998.
* It was a 1998 Nebula nominee.
* It was reprinted in French, Polish, German, and Spanish.
* There is a Sherlock Holmes theme. Nicholas was influenced by Professor Moriarty, Reynard Morane by Sebastion Moran, and Ronsarde and Halle by Holmes and Watson. Madeline has more than a bit of Irene Adler in her, but also Ellen Terry and Sarah Bernhardt. Madele is a retired wicked stepmother, with her own family responsibilities.
* The Element of Fire is set in the same world, but at some point in the past. One of Nicholas' ancestors is a character in it.
* Nicholas and a few other characters from DotN appear in all three books of The Fall of Ile-Rien trilogy.
All the Ile-Rien books and short stories are listed here. Some of the short stories and a map of the Palace of Vienne are also online.
It's also available for $2.99US DRM-free on Barnes and Noble NookBook, Kobo, Amazon US Kindle, Amazon UK Kindle, Barnes and Noble UK, Kindle Canada, Kindle Germany, Kindle France, Kindle Spain, Kindle Italy and all the other international Kindle stores.
Part One - Chapters One through Five
Part Two - Chapters Five through Eight
Part Three - Chapters Nine through Thirteen
Part Four - Chapters Fourteen through Eighteen
Part Five - Chapters Nineteen through Twenty-Two
Some DotN facts:
* It was first released in hardcover by Avon Eos in 1998.
* It was a 1998 Nebula nominee.
* It was reprinted in French, Polish, German, and Spanish.
* There is a Sherlock Holmes theme. Nicholas was influenced by Professor Moriarty, Reynard Morane by Sebastion Moran, and Ronsarde and Halle by Holmes and Watson. Madeline has more than a bit of Irene Adler in her, but also Ellen Terry and Sarah Bernhardt. Madele is a retired wicked stepmother, with her own family responsibilities.
* The Element of Fire is set in the same world, but at some point in the past. One of Nicholas' ancestors is a character in it.
* Nicholas and a few other characters from DotN appear in all three books of The Fall of Ile-Rien trilogy.
All the Ile-Rien books and short stories are listed here. Some of the short stories and a map of the Palace of Vienne are also online.
It's also available for $2.99US DRM-free on Barnes and Noble NookBook, Kobo, Amazon US Kindle, Amazon UK Kindle, Barnes and Noble UK, Kindle Canada, Kindle Germany, Kindle France, Kindle Spain, Kindle Italy and all the other international Kindle stores.
June 27, 2013
A Few Links
* Factismals a daily science blog, with links to some of the citizen scientist sites.
* How Not to Talk to a Writer highly accurate cartoon.
* Digital Natives Still Tend to Prefer Print
While the digital natives are more likely to access the libraries' content via computer, the overall finding was that they still adhere to the desire to use a traditional library. According to the report, "Younger Americans' library usage reflect a blend of traditional and technological services. Americans under age 30 are just as likely as older adults to visit the library, and once there they borrow print books and browse the shelves at similar rates. Large majorities of those under age 30 say it is "very important" for libraries to have librarians as well as books for borrowing, and relatively few think that libraries should automate most library services, move most services online, or move print books out of public areas."
* The Tempered Joy Of Being Gay And Black On A Day Like Today
Thanks to the Supreme Court, DOMA’s dead, but the Voting Rights Act has been gutted. I wish I could celebrate in full.
* Prudence Shen, author of Nothing Can Possibly Go Wrong, on Comics, Robots, and the Troubling Teen Years
* How Not to Talk to a Writer highly accurate cartoon.
* Digital Natives Still Tend to Prefer Print
While the digital natives are more likely to access the libraries' content via computer, the overall finding was that they still adhere to the desire to use a traditional library. According to the report, "Younger Americans' library usage reflect a blend of traditional and technological services. Americans under age 30 are just as likely as older adults to visit the library, and once there they borrow print books and browse the shelves at similar rates. Large majorities of those under age 30 say it is "very important" for libraries to have librarians as well as books for borrowing, and relatively few think that libraries should automate most library services, move most services online, or move print books out of public areas."
* The Tempered Joy Of Being Gay And Black On A Day Like Today
Thanks to the Supreme Court, DOMA’s dead, but the Voting Rights Act has been gutted. I wish I could celebrate in full.
* Prudence Shen, author of Nothing Can Possibly Go Wrong, on Comics, Robots, and the Troubling Teen Years
June 26, 2013
Scribes and Sketchers
Yesterday afternoon I went to talk to a Scribes and Sketchers meeting, which is a teen program at the Clara B. Mounce Public Library in Bryan, Texas where teens can write or illustrate a book and get it published at the end of the ten week workshop. They have about seventeen teens enrolled in the program though a few were out yesterday. I did a talk with some tips about writing description, and answered a lot of questions about writing and publishing in particular. They were all really excellent questions. I wish the adults in writing programs would ask questions that good.
Next thing I'm going to is a multi-author signing Friday July 26, at Murder by the Book in Houston, Texas, at 6:30 pm. I'll be signing Emilie and the Hollow World, and Joy Preble will be signing The Sweet Dead Life, Mary Lindsey Ashes on the Waves, and P.J. Hoover Solstice. If you can't be there and you want to buy a signed book, you can email or call the store and they'll ship one to you.
Next thing I'm going to is a multi-author signing Friday July 26, at Murder by the Book in Houston, Texas, at 6:30 pm. I'll be signing Emilie and the Hollow World, and Joy Preble will be signing The Sweet Dead Life, Mary Lindsey Ashes on the Waves, and P.J. Hoover Solstice. If you can't be there and you want to buy a signed book, you can email or call the store and they'll ship one to you.
June 25, 2013
Some New Books Out Today
* Cold Steel by Kate Elliott
Elliott wraps up her marvelous Spiritwalker trilogy (Cold Magic; Cold Fire) with triple helpings of revolution, romance, and adventure on an alternate Earth where elemental fire and cold mages vie for power, and revolution is in the air...Elliott pulls out all the stops in this final chapter to a swashbuckling series marked by fascinating world-building, lively characters, and a gripping, thoroughly satisfying story. Publishers Weekly
* The Golden Girl by Sarah Zettel
It's hard for a brown-skinned girl to search the Depression-era back lots of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer for a gateway to fairyland and harder still if both the Seelie and Unseelie courts are after her. It's 1935, and Callie LeRoux has journeyed to Hollywood from Slow Run, Kan., in search of her white human mother and black fairy father. A fairy kidnap attempt is foiled by none other than the famous Renaissance man Paul Robeson, a human who seems impervious to fairy magic. Kirkus
* Blade Reforged by Kelly McCullough
Aral the jack, formerly the noble Aral Kingslayer, is the best kind of hero: damaged, cynical, and despondent, yet needing only the right cause to rise from his own ashes. Alex Bledsoe
* The Lady of Han Gilen Avaryan Rising Volume II by Judith Tarr (The first book is The Hall of the Mountain King)
I read these when they first came out in the 90s, and they were a big influence on me.
Elliott wraps up her marvelous Spiritwalker trilogy (Cold Magic; Cold Fire) with triple helpings of revolution, romance, and adventure on an alternate Earth where elemental fire and cold mages vie for power, and revolution is in the air...Elliott pulls out all the stops in this final chapter to a swashbuckling series marked by fascinating world-building, lively characters, and a gripping, thoroughly satisfying story. Publishers Weekly
* The Golden Girl by Sarah Zettel
It's hard for a brown-skinned girl to search the Depression-era back lots of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer for a gateway to fairyland and harder still if both the Seelie and Unseelie courts are after her. It's 1935, and Callie LeRoux has journeyed to Hollywood from Slow Run, Kan., in search of her white human mother and black fairy father. A fairy kidnap attempt is foiled by none other than the famous Renaissance man Paul Robeson, a human who seems impervious to fairy magic. Kirkus
* Blade Reforged by Kelly McCullough
Aral the jack, formerly the noble Aral Kingslayer, is the best kind of hero: damaged, cynical, and despondent, yet needing only the right cause to rise from his own ashes. Alex Bledsoe
* The Lady of Han Gilen Avaryan Rising Volume II by Judith Tarr (The first book is The Hall of the Mountain King)
I read these when they first came out in the 90s, and they were a big influence on me.
June 24, 2013
ApolloCon and More
I went to ApolloCon this weekend, and generally had a good time, except that I had an allergic reaction Friday night and it kind of put a damper on the weekend for me. I didn't really feel like going out in the evening so missed the parties and other events. I did have some great panels, especially the one on Archetypes, Stereotypes, and Caricatures on Saturday, and the one on SF/F transportation on Sunday.
I'm back now, and looking at a very busy week. The big thing is I need to finish writing Emilie and the Sky World, the sequel to Emilie and the Hollow World.
***
Excellent news:
* Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch has been optioned for a TV series: Once More Into the Breach
***
Things going on:
* Part four of The Death of the Necromancer has been posted on Black Gate Magazine.
* This is the last week for the kickstarter for the Knight in the Silk Purse anthology. This is a sequel to Tales of the Emerald Serpent, (Amazon.com, NookBook), and if this kickstarter is successful, I'll have a story in the anthology.
***
Books/stories I have out now:
* The Siren Depths, the third in the Books of the Raksura, is out in trade paperback, ebook, and audiobook.
* Emilie and the Hollow World, a YA steampunkish fantasy, is out in trade paperback and ebook.
Stuff you can do that helps writers:
People ask about this occasionally so I thought I'd mention it again here.
* if you liked the book and you bought it online, leave a review. On Amazon especially, these reviews and ratings can make a big difference in the system Amazon uses to recommend books.
* tell your friends and rec the book to them if you think they'd enjoy it.
* if you want to read a book in hardcover or ebook at your local library and they don't have it, request it. Some libraries have forms on their front desk or you can do it on their web site. Libraries generally welcome requests like this. (For example, a lot of libraries have The Cloud Roads, but since The Serpent Sea and The Siren Depths weren't sent out for library journal reviews, they don't have them, but will usually get them if you request it.)
I'm back now, and looking at a very busy week. The big thing is I need to finish writing Emilie and the Sky World, the sequel to Emilie and the Hollow World.
***
Excellent news:
* Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch has been optioned for a TV series: Once More Into the Breach
***
Things going on:
* Part four of The Death of the Necromancer has been posted on Black Gate Magazine.
* This is the last week for the kickstarter for the Knight in the Silk Purse anthology. This is a sequel to Tales of the Emerald Serpent, (Amazon.com, NookBook), and if this kickstarter is successful, I'll have a story in the anthology.
***
Books/stories I have out now:
* The Siren Depths, the third in the Books of the Raksura, is out in trade paperback, ebook, and audiobook.
* Emilie and the Hollow World, a YA steampunkish fantasy, is out in trade paperback and ebook.
Stuff you can do that helps writers:
People ask about this occasionally so I thought I'd mention it again here.
* if you liked the book and you bought it online, leave a review. On Amazon especially, these reviews and ratings can make a big difference in the system Amazon uses to recommend books.
* tell your friends and rec the book to them if you think they'd enjoy it.
* if you want to read a book in hardcover or ebook at your local library and they don't have it, request it. Some libraries have forms on their front desk or you can do it on their web site. Libraries generally welcome requests like this. (For example, a lot of libraries have The Cloud Roads, but since The Serpent Sea and The Siren Depths weren't sent out for library journal reviews, they don't have them, but will usually get them if you request it.)
June 19, 2013
More links I've been meaning to post
* Lee and Low Books: Why Hasn’t the Number of Multicultural Books Increased In Eighteen Years?
* Juliet E. McKenna: Nigella – a perspective from a woman with 30 years martial arts experience.
* Radish Reviews: How Not To Have a Conversation
In my experience, when someone is calling for “civility” they are doing so because they’re more interested in upholding the status quo than they are about actually listening to why people are angry or upset.
* PopSci: Today's Best Science Fiction Writers Imagine The Future. There's some great art in this post, too.
* NYT: Firebrand for Science, and Big Man on Campus: On TV and the Lecture Circuit, Bill Nye Aims to Change the World
* Studio Time: Monday and Being Meat
We are always human beings, but we are not always treated as human beings. Sometimes our actions, our words, our thought processes, are shaped directly by the way we're treated. And sometimes the way we are treated is terrifyingly similar to the way a cat treats a mouse. They are the predator; we are the prey. They are hungry; we are meat, fixing to happen.
* Juliet E. McKenna: Nigella – a perspective from a woman with 30 years martial arts experience.
* Radish Reviews: How Not To Have a Conversation
In my experience, when someone is calling for “civility” they are doing so because they’re more interested in upholding the status quo than they are about actually listening to why people are angry or upset.
* PopSci: Today's Best Science Fiction Writers Imagine The Future. There's some great art in this post, too.
* NYT: Firebrand for Science, and Big Man on Campus: On TV and the Lecture Circuit, Bill Nye Aims to Change the World
* Studio Time: Monday and Being Meat
We are always human beings, but we are not always treated as human beings. Sometimes our actions, our words, our thought processes, are shaped directly by the way we're treated. And sometimes the way we are treated is terrifyingly similar to the way a cat treats a mouse. They are the predator; we are the prey. They are hungry; we are meat, fixing to happen.
June 16, 2013
Sunday
I posted a couple of photos to my tumlbr from yesterday:
Went to a very fun wedding yesterday. It was about a two hour drive from our house, so we left early so we could have lunch at the Salt Lick Barbeque in Round Rock, which is a rare treat for us. It was in the 90s but cloudy and just cool enough to sit outside. The food was wonderful and I was so full I ended up not having any dinner last night.
Second photo is a friend who was cosplaying Clark Kent at the wedding. You can’t see them but he’s also wearing awesome Superman cufflinks.
* Part three of The Death of the Necromancer should be posted on Black Gate Magazine this evening.
Part One is here and Part Two is here.
***
I'm not a member of SFWA anymore (I dropped out a few years ago when I couldn't afford the dues), but if you are, you should read this link: Calling for the expulsion of a SFWA Member
***
Books I'm looking forward to:
* Cold Steel by Kate Elliott will be coming out on June 25. This is the end of her Cold Magic trilogy and I've really been looking forward to it.
* Catriona McPherson has a new Dandy Gilver mystery coming out on July 4. I'm not sure when it's out in the US, but it's available from Book Depository UK, which has free shipping.
* The new book in Ben Aaronovitch's excellent fantasy/mystery series is coming out in the UK in July, but the US edition has changed publishers and will be pushed back to next year. But it looks like the British hardcover should be available again through Book Depository UK on July 25: Broken Homes. I'm going to order it as soon as possible because I CAN'T WAIT.
Went to a very fun wedding yesterday. It was about a two hour drive from our house, so we left early so we could have lunch at the Salt Lick Barbeque in Round Rock, which is a rare treat for us. It was in the 90s but cloudy and just cool enough to sit outside. The food was wonderful and I was so full I ended up not having any dinner last night.
Second photo is a friend who was cosplaying Clark Kent at the wedding. You can’t see them but he’s also wearing awesome Superman cufflinks.
* Part three of The Death of the Necromancer should be posted on Black Gate Magazine this evening.
Part One is here and Part Two is here.
***
I'm not a member of SFWA anymore (I dropped out a few years ago when I couldn't afford the dues), but if you are, you should read this link: Calling for the expulsion of a SFWA Member
***
Books I'm looking forward to:
* Cold Steel by Kate Elliott will be coming out on June 25. This is the end of her Cold Magic trilogy and I've really been looking forward to it.
* Catriona McPherson has a new Dandy Gilver mystery coming out on July 4. I'm not sure when it's out in the US, but it's available from Book Depository UK, which has free shipping.
* The new book in Ben Aaronovitch's excellent fantasy/mystery series is coming out in the UK in July, but the US edition has changed publishers and will be pushed back to next year. But it looks like the British hardcover should be available again through Book Depository UK on July 25: Broken Homes. I'm going to order it as soon as possible because I CAN'T WAIT.
June 14, 2013
Information is Your Friend
Scott Lynch is being wise about the process of becoming a professional writer here: Being good can be a shortcut. There is no shortcut to being good.
Most of the publication-hungry folks I've ever met have struck me as honest, receptive, and realistic, but there’s always a tiny minority I can spot by the nature of the questions they ask and the statements they fixate on. They’re not interested in hearing about hard work, study, or self-improvement. Their eyes glaze over when I talk about concepts like effort or practice. They want nothing to do with developing actual skills, and in a few cases they don't even want a damn thing to do with me or my work. They just want me to tell them how to duck under that imaginary velvet rope.
There are a lot of bits I want to quote but I'm going to stop with just one more:
Look, read this next bit very carefully: Famous useless idiots get book contracts all the time. Let us assume that we are not famous useless idiots, you and I. Therefore their situation is not germane to ours. Terrible, terrible writers also get book contracts all the time; this is because there’s no accounting for taste and because there is no accounting for taste and because, if you dig, there is no fucking accounting for taste. I can’t teach you how to get hit by a meteorite; I can only tell you about the "actively try to not be a terrible writer" approach, because it's how me and most of my peers end up on the shelf at Barnes & Noble. This situation, which is my situation and, not to put too fine a point on it, YOUR situation if you’re unpublished and want to kill that 'un-,' is defined by the following equation:
Hard work + self-awareness + perseverance = MAYBE
What he said. And you can also look at Jim Hines' First Novel Survey, which collected data about how writers sold their first novel, how long it took them, and dealt with myths about the process.
And I wanted to add this:
One of the things I liked about the DFW Writers Conference I went to in May was how many of the attendees already seemed to get these points. The goal of the conference for most people is to sign up for pitch sessions with the attending agents or consultations with the editors there. But while all this is going on, the pro writers, agents, and editors are teaching classes and giving seminars, and there are opportunities to ask questions and get information on not only the craft of writing (one of the classes I taught was Dialogue Basics, the other was worldbuilding) but also the publishing process and how the industry works.
Once you put in the ten years give or take of hard work to develop your writing skills, knowing how the industry works is kind of important. Scott touches on this in his post, but if you knew someone who said they wanted to be a doctor, but they didn't know they had to go to medical school first, that would be weird, right? Or if they knew being a doctor involved curing people, but they didn't know what the process was for doing that? Or if they rented an office and got a stethoscope and a lab coat, and thought that was all they needed? That wouldn't be rational. Especially as all the information about the process for becoming a doctor is readily available online. It's kind of like that for publishing.
If you want to be a pro writer, knowing as much as you can about publishing is important. Really important. And it's more important now to stay up to date, since the publishing industry is going through so many fast changes. And in a lot of ways, I think it's even more vital for people who are committed to self-publishing. If you're self-publishing, there's no agent to explain contracts or tell you what a distributor is and how distribution works (yeah, it's important to know that), no editor or editor's assistant to answer questions or explain what things mean, and to tell you what you need to do and what you don't. You're on your own, and there's a whole cottage industry out there who make a lot of money off people who want to self-publish, by selling them things they don't actually need and telling them stuff that isn't true.
If you want to sell your writing, you have to approach it like a job, because it is a job. You have to work on refining your craft and your abilities in the way that works best for you. You have to research how the industry works and what to expect. You have to stay up to date on that information. You should behave like a professional, whether you're selling work to publishers or self-publishing.
(Seriously, if you save your professional behavior for your day job, and behave like a giant entitled badly-raised baby in the writing world, it doesn't say good things about your commitment to your career. Would you want to work with someone at a day job who was a giant entitled badly-raised baby? No, people who work in publishing don't want to do that either.)
(I think about this when I watch Top Chef or Project Runway, and see people who are clearly making life a miserable hell for the other contestants and the production staff and treating the clients like dirt and skirting as close to the edge of cheating as they can without getting caught, and then somehow think this won't effect the way future employers perceive them.)
Anyway, information is your friend. I have a list of links on my web site Publishing Information for Beginning Writers which I hope is a good starting point.
Most of the publication-hungry folks I've ever met have struck me as honest, receptive, and realistic, but there’s always a tiny minority I can spot by the nature of the questions they ask and the statements they fixate on. They’re not interested in hearing about hard work, study, or self-improvement. Their eyes glaze over when I talk about concepts like effort or practice. They want nothing to do with developing actual skills, and in a few cases they don't even want a damn thing to do with me or my work. They just want me to tell them how to duck under that imaginary velvet rope.
There are a lot of bits I want to quote but I'm going to stop with just one more:
Look, read this next bit very carefully: Famous useless idiots get book contracts all the time. Let us assume that we are not famous useless idiots, you and I. Therefore their situation is not germane to ours. Terrible, terrible writers also get book contracts all the time; this is because there’s no accounting for taste and because there is no accounting for taste and because, if you dig, there is no fucking accounting for taste. I can’t teach you how to get hit by a meteorite; I can only tell you about the "actively try to not be a terrible writer" approach, because it's how me and most of my peers end up on the shelf at Barnes & Noble. This situation, which is my situation and, not to put too fine a point on it, YOUR situation if you’re unpublished and want to kill that 'un-,' is defined by the following equation:
Hard work + self-awareness + perseverance = MAYBE
What he said. And you can also look at Jim Hines' First Novel Survey, which collected data about how writers sold their first novel, how long it took them, and dealt with myths about the process.
And I wanted to add this:
One of the things I liked about the DFW Writers Conference I went to in May was how many of the attendees already seemed to get these points. The goal of the conference for most people is to sign up for pitch sessions with the attending agents or consultations with the editors there. But while all this is going on, the pro writers, agents, and editors are teaching classes and giving seminars, and there are opportunities to ask questions and get information on not only the craft of writing (one of the classes I taught was Dialogue Basics, the other was worldbuilding) but also the publishing process and how the industry works.
Once you put in the ten years give or take of hard work to develop your writing skills, knowing how the industry works is kind of important. Scott touches on this in his post, but if you knew someone who said they wanted to be a doctor, but they didn't know they had to go to medical school first, that would be weird, right? Or if they knew being a doctor involved curing people, but they didn't know what the process was for doing that? Or if they rented an office and got a stethoscope and a lab coat, and thought that was all they needed? That wouldn't be rational. Especially as all the information about the process for becoming a doctor is readily available online. It's kind of like that for publishing.
If you want to be a pro writer, knowing as much as you can about publishing is important. Really important. And it's more important now to stay up to date, since the publishing industry is going through so many fast changes. And in a lot of ways, I think it's even more vital for people who are committed to self-publishing. If you're self-publishing, there's no agent to explain contracts or tell you what a distributor is and how distribution works (yeah, it's important to know that), no editor or editor's assistant to answer questions or explain what things mean, and to tell you what you need to do and what you don't. You're on your own, and there's a whole cottage industry out there who make a lot of money off people who want to self-publish, by selling them things they don't actually need and telling them stuff that isn't true.
If you want to sell your writing, you have to approach it like a job, because it is a job. You have to work on refining your craft and your abilities in the way that works best for you. You have to research how the industry works and what to expect. You have to stay up to date on that information. You should behave like a professional, whether you're selling work to publishers or self-publishing.
(Seriously, if you save your professional behavior for your day job, and behave like a giant entitled badly-raised baby in the writing world, it doesn't say good things about your commitment to your career. Would you want to work with someone at a day job who was a giant entitled badly-raised baby? No, people who work in publishing don't want to do that either.)
(I think about this when I watch Top Chef or Project Runway, and see people who are clearly making life a miserable hell for the other contestants and the production staff and treating the clients like dirt and skirting as close to the edge of cheating as they can without getting caught, and then somehow think this won't effect the way future employers perceive them.)
Anyway, information is your friend. I have a list of links on my web site Publishing Information for Beginning Writers which I hope is a good starting point.
June 13, 2013
Links I've Been Meaning to Post
* SF Signal: Mind Meld: LGBT Themes in Fantasy and SF – Recommendations
* N.K. Jemisin's Continuum Guest of Honor Speech
My father was afraid for me to come to Australia.
He mostly made jokes about it — “Good, you’ve got dredlocks, maybe they won’t think you’re Chinese”, stuff like that. But I know my father, and I know when the jokes have a serious undercurrent.
* Theodora Goss: On Bluebeard
Charles Perrault gives us a moral, clearly marked "moral," at the end of the tale: "Curiosity, in spite of its appeal, often leads to deep regret. To the displeasure of many a maiden, its enjoyment is short lived. Once satisfied, it ceases to exist, and always costs dearly." I ask my students, is that really what we learned from the story?
No, they tell me. That moral doesn’t make sense. If Bluebeard's wife hadn’t been curious, she would never have known that he had killed his previous wives. And although he tells her that he’s going to kill her because of her curiosity, and we can infer that he killed most of his other wives for the same reason, what about the first wife?
* Chuck Wendig: Terrible Minds: 25 Things To Know About Sexism & Misogyny In Writing & Publishing
* N.K. Jemisin's Continuum Guest of Honor Speech
My father was afraid for me to come to Australia.
He mostly made jokes about it — “Good, you’ve got dredlocks, maybe they won’t think you’re Chinese”, stuff like that. But I know my father, and I know when the jokes have a serious undercurrent.
* Theodora Goss: On Bluebeard
Charles Perrault gives us a moral, clearly marked "moral," at the end of the tale: "Curiosity, in spite of its appeal, often leads to deep regret. To the displeasure of many a maiden, its enjoyment is short lived. Once satisfied, it ceases to exist, and always costs dearly." I ask my students, is that really what we learned from the story?
No, they tell me. That moral doesn’t make sense. If Bluebeard's wife hadn’t been curious, she would never have known that he had killed his previous wives. And although he tells her that he’s going to kill her because of her curiosity, and we can infer that he killed most of his other wives for the same reason, what about the first wife?
* Chuck Wendig: Terrible Minds: 25 Things To Know About Sexism & Misogyny In Writing & Publishing
