On Maintaining High Standards
"You should write for the market. You should write what people want to read. Forget about that "making a beautiful work of art stuff."
The above is the message I get from so many writing "gurus" who e-mail me to buy their works of writing advice. All falsehoods have a measure of truth in them, since what is false is parasitical on what is good. Otherwise, the false would have no appeal.
The truth in the above advice is that it is a good idea to be familiar with contemporary trends in literature, and that includes which books are selling well. If a popular subject or theme intrigues you, write on it--you may have a better chance of selling your book. There is nothing wrong with taking one's own interests into play (including monetary interests) in considering a book topic, and unless you are self-published, most publishers consider the money aspect of utmost importance. While that was not the case when publishing was "a gentleman's profession," it is the case today. Writers must learn to live with that.
What is wrong about the advice in the first paragraph is that it can be interpreted as a call to forget about artistic quality. Do you, as a writer, care about your craft? Do you care about putting out the best written work possible? Do you want to write a beautiful and lasting work of art or a flash in the pan that dies out along with the bestsellers of novelists known in their day, but who are now long-forgotten? If you as a writer go only the commercial route, you will burn out unless you are passionate about the works you are writing. You can be concerned about the potential commercial success of a work as long as you do not sell your artistic soul to the highest bidder. Do not shortchange yourself and your readers for royalties. Do not be so snobbish that you are only going to focus on "artistic purity" at the expense of a chance to actually sell your book. Always write your best quality work without compromising your artistic standards. The "Golden Mean," the middle way, is often the best course of action to take.
The above is the message I get from so many writing "gurus" who e-mail me to buy their works of writing advice. All falsehoods have a measure of truth in them, since what is false is parasitical on what is good. Otherwise, the false would have no appeal.
The truth in the above advice is that it is a good idea to be familiar with contemporary trends in literature, and that includes which books are selling well. If a popular subject or theme intrigues you, write on it--you may have a better chance of selling your book. There is nothing wrong with taking one's own interests into play (including monetary interests) in considering a book topic, and unless you are self-published, most publishers consider the money aspect of utmost importance. While that was not the case when publishing was "a gentleman's profession," it is the case today. Writers must learn to live with that.
What is wrong about the advice in the first paragraph is that it can be interpreted as a call to forget about artistic quality. Do you, as a writer, care about your craft? Do you care about putting out the best written work possible? Do you want to write a beautiful and lasting work of art or a flash in the pan that dies out along with the bestsellers of novelists known in their day, but who are now long-forgotten? If you as a writer go only the commercial route, you will burn out unless you are passionate about the works you are writing. You can be concerned about the potential commercial success of a work as long as you do not sell your artistic soul to the highest bidder. Do not shortchange yourself and your readers for royalties. Do not be so snobbish that you are only going to focus on "artistic purity" at the expense of a chance to actually sell your book. Always write your best quality work without compromising your artistic standards. The "Golden Mean," the middle way, is often the best course of action to take.
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Bits and Pieces: Book Reviews and Articles on Writing, Horror Fiction, and Some Philosophy
The blog of Michael Potts, writer of Southern fiction, horror fiction, and poetry.
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