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May 31, 2005 Rarely does a week transpire on UK without a contributor expressing a desire to be published, frustration at not being published, or a boast of their lofty POD status. Without exception, and I don’t know why this is so, every one of those contributors would not be included near the top of my "most publish-able" UK contributors list. Oddly, the best writers, in my opinion, contributing to UK talk very little about being published. I have never considered writing as a profession except in contemplation of this article and while reading others’ on the subject. Most of my opinions on the subject come from common sense or observations of a very good friend, Mark Henricks, who has earned a living writing since we graduated college +20 years ago. Ignoring the accepted practice of withholding an opinion unless asked, I’ll offer mine to those aspiring artists in the UK audience. Writing as a career and writing for personal fulfillment are totally separate concepts, do not attempt to combine them until after your first Pulitzer, National Book Award, etc. The odds of commercial success as a fiction writer for one without "credentials" or an industry presence are only slightly higher than winning the lottery – invest accordingly. Credentials would include specific expertise (for example: Tom Clancy’s knowledge of military/intelligence), celebrity (pick an autobiography), or academic status (maybe an Ivy League English professor). Credentials, save for celebrity, pall in comparison to industry contacts. The odds of a successful, steady career writing non-fiction are much greater but still improve even more – to the point where one could even be hopeful – with those same credentials and industry contacts. Note that my friend graduated from one of the top journalism schools with honors and then moved to New York for several years to establish the contacts he now leverages as a non-fiction business writer. Without those assets, it is doubtful he would be a writer. An unknown with no credentials mailing manuscripts to editors should save their stamps. Subscribing to the infamous warning against "joining any club that would have me as a member", that same non-credentialed unknown should be instinctively suspicious of any publisher offering their services – just as the naked Emperor should have suspected those fraudulent tailors of the Hans Christian Anderson story. Although practicing one’s chosen craft is certainly recommended, of equal value is observation of your competitors – reading. Read a lot, preferably many of the classics. Although modern writing bears less resemblance to classic literature every day, most successful authors are still classically trained and merely couch those proven style elements in modern day jargon. Keep your day job. In fact, if I had one bit of advice for an unknown author without those credentials who stubbornly fights to be published, it would be, "don’t." Then, when he/she stubbornly refused my advice, I’d offer a second bit of wisdom, "go back to school, a good school, and graduate with distinction, then start at the bottom and expect success late in life and borderline poverty until then." Finally, I offer a warning – do not overlook one critical component; you actually need to know how to write. Translating those magnificent ideas in your head onto paper/CRT, is not just an inconvenient side issue, it is the issue. As many of you have pointed out, I write terribly with too many misspelled words and poor grammar. While I humbly agree, I’m still of the opinion that most UK contributors write worse than I. As an extreme example, a frequent UK contributor (recently expelled) claimed to be an author and her posts were essentially incoherent babble. A number of other author wannabes here write so poorly that editors would surely just shake their heads in amazement at the nerve of the submission. If you want to be a professional writer, spelling and grammar skills are required – and more! One should understand the concept of a paragraph, and how to logically segue from one to the next. A plot is not optional, character development is not a waste of time. One’s goal should be writing that allows the reader’s unimpeded progress while imparting every idea intended. The reader should not need to consistently re-read sentences or passages to evoke their true meaning – it’s almost as if your writing is a treadmill that enables the reader’s effortless stroll through your story. In my generation, our society has created an amazing class within the population – those who believe themselves deserving of recognition simply because they desire it. "Little Johnny," we say, "you can be anything you want to be." Well, guess what? Little Johnny can’t write worth a sh*t and making him believe he can be a writer anyway is wrong. Companies like PublishAmerica pander to those undeserved egos and the rest of us suffer the resulting bloviation. ------------ About the author: Ron Lewis is a software salesman extraordinaire, albeit habitually unemployed, with no significant accomplishments at age 47 other than two wonderfully talented children who take after their mother. All his friends note his keen insight, bad eyesight, doggedly jaded disposition, and rugged bad looks. A third person seems to recall that he talks too much. Email: grnacres@direcway.com Tell a friend about this site! ------------ All articles are EXCLUSIVE to Useless-Knowledge.com and are not allowed to be posted on other websites. ARTICLE THIEVES WILL BE PROSECUTED! |
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