Thoughts on writing, from the late J.D. Salinger

[matrixrefugee]

Taken from a news item on the Verizon homepage:

"There is a marvelous peace in not publishing," J.D. Salinger told The New York Times in 1974. "Publishing is a terrible invasion of my privacy. I like to write. I love to write. But I write just for myself and my own pleasure."

I have to say, I can't help but agree with him. I've rooted through bookstores and libraries, looking for a book on how to overcome fear of being rejected by publishers, and so far, I have not come up with *any*. That is my one big fear about getting published: the rejection slips. A lot of you saw how I fell apart earlier this week when some canon-Gestapo-wannabe came out of the logpile and browbeat me over a minor detail. Now imagine me trying to get something published and getting rejection slip after rejection slip. My dad's work-buddy "Dana" told the story about his "Uncle Steve", who got twelve or fifteen rejections for his first novel, and in frustration, he tossed his manuscript into the wastebasket. Then his wife, Tab, pulled the manuscript out, dusted it off and sent it to one more publisher, who bought it. I just don't think I have that kind of determination. I can see myself falling apart after the third rejection slip and swearing off trying to get published at all, maybe even swearing off writing entirely. Maybe I take my work too seriously, but I can't help feeling that my work is, in a way, an extension of myself, and that to reject my work is to reject a part of me, and by extension, reject me. Maybe I'm limiting myself, but sometimes, the only way to handle your fears is not to face them. I don't see any shame in admitting your limitations, as long as you can find a way to work and be fulfilled within them. The human spirit doesn't always have to defy the odds in order to triumph: sometimes just wanting what you've got is better than getting what you want.

People tell me I could be a very famous and successful writer, but I look at the tabloids, or even closer to home (sort of), at Dana's Uncle Steve and the crazy things he has to do to maintain his privacy (he's told us stories about fangirls camping on Uncle Steve's lawn and coming to the door at weird times. He's mentioned death threats and the hidden exit that Uncle Steve had built into an office that he used as a place to write, in case someone caused him any trouble. I don't think I could do that. I mean, I would like to be published, and I would like to have my work well known, but there's a too-fragile human behind the words and I'm not sure she's strong enough to handle the rough spots of publishing...

Comments

[sethanikeem.livejournal.com]

And these days, there is a huge amount of pressure from publishers for authors to be very public & very accessible. The days of Uncle Steve's type of author are numbered. There are a rare few out there who are in the current market who manage to remain reclusive and still carry a fanbase. But it's harder and harder to sell your work each year if you cannot already show a decent fanbase or at least a willingness to stick your face in the public eye as often and as aggressively as possible to build one. It's possible to compromise -- to be out there but still be genuine, to live a life in the public eye yet still protect certain aspects of privacy, but that's a difficult balancing act.

And even if you're not in the public eye, with the Internet's amazing ability to turn everyone into a critic, should you have a thin skin and accidentally check some of the inevitably brutal comments that will appear in Amazon reviews or on forums ... that can really ruin your day.

If you have someone you can trust to be the front man, perhaps write your work and let them handle the grueling process of submission & rejection?

--M

[matrixrefugee.livejournal.com]

The problem is, I'm really on my own here: I'm rather isolated, even in my own community (working-class/rural-semi-suburban town). I tried networking through a writing group, but that fell through when the group disbanded (plus, I was the only urban fantasy writer in the group which ranged from a guy who was taking a shot at writing a romance novel, to an older woman who was hoping to publish a book of family yarns). I've considered getting an agent, but I've been told that's really more applicable if you're writing a novel, whereas I'm looking at several possible short stories and/or short novels (I tend to lose steam badly when I'm in the third act of a novel, but I realize that I can handle shorter stories better). My mother has offered to handle the matter of sending things out and dealing with the rejection slips, but she has her own baggage to deal with and I feel odd about giving her this job on top of everything else. To say nothing of my indignation over how a certain author whose skills are little better than those of a fourteen year old on fanfiction.net even got her poor excuse for a manuscript *LOOKED AT*, let alone published (especially when an article in Writer's Digest listed the top five reasons why manuscripts get rejected, and the top reason was "poor writing").

By any chance... care to take a guess at who Uncle Steve is? :: Mysterious smile::

[sethanikeem.livejournal.com]

I got to see his first submission ever -- the first page of the story was framed in Forrest J. Ackerman's house. Of course, he signed things Stevie, back then. :)

It's a brutal profession. And even I find the agent-search to be demoralizing. I've managed to skate by without one only because my non-fiction stuff is such a niche market that my publishers will actually deal with an unagented author. For first-time writers, you pretty much have to have the first book done to start looking for an agent anyway. And if you want to shoot for any of the bigger publishing houses, you will have to have an agent. Tor will still take unagented authors and I've heard good things about them from the folks who publish through them.

However -- very few places will take collections of short stories even from established writers these days. They are less popular than novels. It's not impossible, but it severely diminishes your chances for an acceptance.

One light at the end of the tunnel is the fact that there are a lot of innovative options open to someone just starting out, if they're willing to risk establishing themselves in an unconventional part of the writing world as a launchpad to bigger things. Several authors have landed deals by first offering their work on sites like Podiobooks.com in installments. They built an audience and since the podiobook technically doesn't count as previously published work, it can get picked up. And I've got to say - -that is one supportive community.

[tomboy-typist.livejournal.com]

Friend, I feel your pain - my mentor, upon workshopping Epithet, said, first off, that though it was good it wasn't publishable material. I didn't think it was - it's unfinished, for one, but still, it was a bit of a bite.

One thing that makes me feel better about this is this rant of Cyrano's, which I'm going to shamelessly quote at you now:

By one small sonnet, 'stead of making many?
No, grammercy! Or flatter sorry bunglers?
Be terrorized by every prating paper?
Say ceaselessly, 'Oh, had I but the chance
Of a fair notice in the "Mercury"!'
Grammercy, no! Grow pale, fear, calculate?
Prefer to make a visit to a rhyme?
Seek introductions, draw petitions up?
No, grammercy! and no! and no again! But - sing?
Dream, laugh, go lightly, solitary, free,
With eyes that look straight forward - fearless voice!
To cock your beaver just the way you choose, -
For 'yes' or 'no' show fight, or turn a rhyme!
- To work without one thought of gain or fame,
To realize that journey to the moon!
Never to pen a line that has not sprung
Straight from the heart within. Embracing then
Modesty, say to oneself, 'Good my friend,
Be thou content with flowers, - fruit, - nay, leaves,
But pluck them from no garden but thine own!'
And then, if glory come by chance your way,
To pay no tribute unto Caesar, none,
But keep the merit all your own! In short,
Disdaining tendrils of the parasite,
To be content, if neither oak nor elm -
Not to mount high, perchance, but mount alone!

Also, I think it's great that your mum is being this supporting. My mother doesn't get involved with that - she'll support the academia (my excuse for writing), but not the creative bits of it. Even if she's herself an actress(sort of) and we have a painter in the family (her brother, not the person who died). Hah.

[nightofcydonia.livejournal.com]

Ah, the rejection letter. I know it well, albeit the 'sorry you didn't get the job' variety rather then the 'no, we won't publish your book' kind. Frankly, while the first few stung, after a while I stopped caring and developed a decidedly fatalistic attitude to the whole thing. If I get the job, I get it, if I don't, I don't. The latter is far more likely then the former and there's nothing I can do about it since it's generally decided by factors outside my control. I just shrug and apply for the next job that comes along. But then, I'm one of life's plodders. I accepted that I probably wouldn't win at anything when I was still at primary school but I kept going because giving up just doesn't occur to me. You can't control what other people think, you've just got to accept that most people are prats, tell yourself that this applies to publishers and that they'll be kicking themselves if you become a best seller (Rowling got rejected loads of times, imagaine what those that rejected her are thinking now), put your head down and keep going forwards.

As for the privacy thing, use a pen name and BS the publisher into thinking it's a good idea (I plan on employing the 'female author will put off male readers' line myself).

Oh, and if you ever get discouraged, let me know and I'll give you a kick in the butt. I've got bloodymindedness to spare after all.
~Weaver

[matrixrefugee.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I've joked about how the publishers who rejected JKR are probably collectively kicking themselves. And I've toyed with the notion of publishing under a semi pen-named based on the initials of my given names and my last name, since my mind inexplicably links that "Three initials and a last name" convention with fantasy (probably has something to do with growing up reading J.R.R. Tolkien).

I'm glad you've got my back on this: I need all the emotional support I can muster, particularly now. :: Smiles, appreciatively::

[matrixrefugee.livejournal.com]

I'm blessed that my mom was so willing to offer to help with the dry affairs of publishing, and I'd agreed with her that if I managed to get something published, I'd split the royalties with her for her efforts. I do worry, though, that she could veer into "stage mom" territory (in a good way, though, more like a "You must recognize my child's talent!" sort than a "push-the-kid-to-the-limit-of-endurance-or-decency" type, eg. kiddie beauty pageant nonsense, which is just unnatural and in my book constitutes a form of child abuse, though that's a whole other rant), as she can be fiercely protective of me.

And gotta love Cyrano for rousing rants. I've only read the play and have yet to see it in performance, but it's one I'd jump at the chance to see.

[matrixrefugee.livejournal.com]

I'm open to any and all possibilities for getting a start at getting my work out there: I've looked at Lulu.com as well, and I've considered the self-publishing route, but since I don't have much in the way of money, I was bit skeptical about investing in that, as well as trying to promote my work. My own modesty tends to get in the way of self-promotion; I guess that's just something I'll have to get over.

[tomboy-typist.livejournal.com]

Ah, yes. Well, if anything, this is all evidence that your mother loves you and has faith in you? And that's glorious, dude. ^^

Cyrano is utter love. If I want to write, it's all his fault. (And that rant? is the thing I go back to whenever I have to deal with writing-related wank.)

[nightofcydonia.livejournal.com]

Eh, don't mention it. I'd want someone at my back in your position (if I ever finish something and do battle with the publishers, feel free to return the favor).

~Weaver