Cintia

Cintia asked Gail Carriger:

I'm an aspiring writer, but I'm dealing with two things: I get discouraged every single day because 96% of manuscripts are rejected, and I haven't had an idea for years, literally. There's too many people wanting to be writers, and knowing there's so much competition just kills me a little every day. When I get motivated, immediatly something appears about the industry that kills it. Any tips on how to deal with this?

Gail Carriger If you get published, it only gets worse. Being a full time freelancer (artist, author, etc...) is all about self motivation against nearly overwhelming odds. I find blind optimism works well, not to mention shameless self-bribery. I use chocolate.

William feather said, "Success seems to be largely a matter of hanging on after others have let go."

You want my secret? Stubbornness.

Yes, there are a ton of people who want to be writers. Very few actually ever finish anything. Fewer still take the steps necessary to edit and perfect their work properly. Be better then that.

More Answered Questions

Isabel E.

Isabel E. asked Gail Carriger:

Will Lord Akeldama ever get his own novel? He is my favorite character, and I imagine a lot of interesting things happen to him.

James Anthony

James Anthony asked Gail Carriger:

Just finished Competence last night, and can hardly wait to see what becomes of... well, I won't spoil it for those who haven't gotten there yet. I wanted to say that I loved how Prim /described/ the food items she purchased, rather than naming them. It was fun seeing how many I could identify by description. The only one I couldn't was the purple one, which she said she liked best. Was that one Passion Fruit?

Nick

Nick asked Gail Carriger:

Do you have a plan to write a story detailing the change in the world (aether/quintessence) we see between the victorian era books and the San andreas shifters books? A WW1 Parasolverse book or series sounds like a lot of fun in many ways, like blackadder with wertewolves and vampires thrown in. And the fallout from that would be an interesting topic.

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