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Monday, February 2, 2009
Will the real writers please step up?
*Argheiogbh*
*Coxswain clears her throat, looks around nervously, and tries again*
"Arrghheighehhk"
*Coxswain looks in dismay at all the pirates, going around their scallywagging and double-fisting glittery hoo-haas without the slightest attention. She shimmies to the top of the mast, does a martini-spin all the way down, then lands in a heap at the bottom.*
"What's she doing?" Terri whispers to Cap'n.
"I think she's trying to pole-dance," Hellion answers.
"Oh god," Sin says. "Maybe she needs more lessons."
*Coxswain leaps to her feet and dusts off her hands.* "I was trying to get your attention. Didn't you hear me?"
"Were you trying to say Arrgh?" Lisa asks.
"We just thought you were chocking," Sin says."
"It's okay, honey," Marn says. "You can be a pirate even if you can't say Arrgh yet."
---------------
As many of you know, I'm a new pirate, and strangely, my experience of being a new student is much like my experience being a new pirate.
On the first day, during the orientation, our professor sits all of us new students down in rows and looks at our shiny, eager faces. "You all want to be writers," he says.
In unison, we all nod frantically. "Yes, of course we want to write. We're willing to do anything. Learn anything. That's why we're here."
"I want you to think long term," he says. "Think back ten years ago, and think ten years from now." He pauses and looks at our still shiny, smiling faces. Then he drops the bomb. "Because I know that each of you in here knew you wanted to be a writer ten years ago, or you wouldn't be here today."
Twelve heads bob in unison. Mine is the only head that stops bobbing. Ten years? I think in a panic. Oh no! I didn't know I wanted to be a writer ten years ago. What if I'm not a real writer? What if I don't belong here?
"And think forward," the professor says. "What will you be doing ten years from now? Will you be writing?"
This time, I nod my head vigorously as every other baby-writer in the room. This question I can answer, because I know for sure I will still be writing ten years from now. Published or unpublished, rich and famous, or few enough fans I can thank them all personally, it doesn't matter. I'll still be pulgging away at the keyboard.
This conversation, as I'm sure you've guessed, got me thinking about what it means to be a real writer. There are criteria out there, of course. To be RWA PRO, you have to have submitted a full manuscript; to be PAN, you must have earned at least a thousand dollars on a single book. To be a member of the Writer's Guild, you must have published at least twice. But do any of these criteria make one a more real writer than anyone else?
Of course not! A writer is someone who writes. So I calmed down in my orientation, realized that even if I couldn't have definitively said ten years ago, "I want to be a writer," it didn't matter. And if I keep at it, the day will come when I can answer the question, "So what do you do?" with "I'm a writer," instead of fumbling for a one-word description of my day job.
So just for fun, where were you ten years ago? Do you have any personal criteria for being a writer, or answering the question "What do you do?" with the phrase, "I am a writer."? How about ten years from now - any expectations? (personally, I'm holding out for the jet pack. All pirates need jet packs. Right?)
*Coxswain clears her throat, looks around nervously, and tries again*
"Arrghheighehhk"
*Coxswain looks in dismay at all the pirates, going around their scallywagging and double-fisting glittery hoo-haas without the slightest attention. She shimmies to the top of the mast, does a martini-spin all the way down, then lands in a heap at the bottom.*
"What's she doing?" Terri whispers to Cap'n.
"I think she's trying to pole-dance," Hellion answers.
"Oh god," Sin says. "Maybe she needs more lessons."
*Coxswain leaps to her feet and dusts off her hands.* "I was trying to get your attention. Didn't you hear me?"
"Were you trying to say Arrgh?" Lisa asks.
"We just thought you were chocking," Sin says."
"It's okay, honey," Marn says. "You can be a pirate even if you can't say Arrgh yet."
---------------
As many of you know, I'm a new pirate, and strangely, my experience of being a new student is much like my experience being a new pirate.
On the first day, during the orientation, our professor sits all of us new students down in rows and looks at our shiny, eager faces. "You all want to be writers," he says.
In unison, we all nod frantically. "Yes, of course we want to write. We're willing to do anything. Learn anything. That's why we're here."
"I want you to think long term," he says. "Think back ten years ago, and think ten years from now." He pauses and looks at our still shiny, smiling faces. Then he drops the bomb. "Because I know that each of you in here knew you wanted to be a writer ten years ago, or you wouldn't be here today."
Twelve heads bob in unison. Mine is the only head that stops bobbing. Ten years? I think in a panic. Oh no! I didn't know I wanted to be a writer ten years ago. What if I'm not a real writer? What if I don't belong here?
"And think forward," the professor says. "What will you be doing ten years from now? Will you be writing?"
This time, I nod my head vigorously as every other baby-writer in the room. This question I can answer, because I know for sure I will still be writing ten years from now. Published or unpublished, rich and famous, or few enough fans I can thank them all personally, it doesn't matter. I'll still be pulgging away at the keyboard.
This conversation, as I'm sure you've guessed, got me thinking about what it means to be a real writer. There are criteria out there, of course. To be RWA PRO, you have to have submitted a full manuscript; to be PAN, you must have earned at least a thousand dollars on a single book. To be a member of the Writer's Guild, you must have published at least twice. But do any of these criteria make one a more real writer than anyone else?
Of course not! A writer is someone who writes. So I calmed down in my orientation, realized that even if I couldn't have definitively said ten years ago, "I want to be a writer," it didn't matter. And if I keep at it, the day will come when I can answer the question, "So what do you do?" with "I'm a writer," instead of fumbling for a one-word description of my day job.
So just for fun, where were you ten years ago? Do you have any personal criteria for being a writer, or answering the question "What do you do?" with the phrase, "I am a writer."? How about ten years from now - any expectations? (personally, I'm holding out for the jet pack. All pirates need jet packs. Right?)
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52 comments:
I think it depends on who asks me. I'm a writer to my friends, my family. Random people who don't know me, I'm a stay at home mom.
Which of these descriptions is more frustrating or makes me feel like banging my head on the wall more, I'm not sure.
I think I won't be able to say that "I'm a writer" until I publish something.
But like you, ten years from now I'll still be hacking at the keyboard. I don't imagine I'm going to be able to stop.
I don't think though that not knowing 10 years ago is a detriment, Hal. I think I knew when I started reading romance seriously, that happened to be almost 20 years go now. When did you know?
Ten years ago I was not thinking about writing at all. I wasn't even reading romances. So, I guess I'm not a real writer according to your teacher, who sounds like an idiot. :)
Marn - I had the same thought, that I won't be able to really say "I'm a writer" until I have something published.
Twenty years ago? Wow! I'm a new convert - really just in the past year that I finally figured out that this is what I want to do. I was halfway through law school applications at the time, so it came as quite the shock. *g*
Maggie - another new convert! You're absolutely write that ten years is not important. But I was surprised, when I started asking around, how many people did know they wanted to write ten years ago. Youngsters like us are just getting a jump on them :)
I only discovered that I wanted to write about four years ago, but I call myself a writer because it's what I love to do. Even if I never publish, it's a part of me just like nursing.
Great blog Hal. Welcome aboard! Nice pole work:)
Happy 1st blog, Hal!!! Welcome to the ship!
Very thoughtful blog. I am a writer. But I view being a writer as more of a personality trait than an occupation. He's a thinker, she's a doer, he's a talker, she's a ... writer. That's me.
I can recall putting together my mother's 70th birthday party over 13 years ago. I came up with the idea for everyone in our family to write her a personal letter. I received several calls from siblings asking me what I was talking about. After I explained, several of them said... I can't write - you're the writer. One of my brother's actually said can't we just all chip in money and buy her something really nice! LOL He's the doer!!!!
So, I guess even though not a lot of people know I'm writing an mss, that I write regularly (okay semi-regularly...okay, okay not at all lately), a lot of people know what I am. And even if I never get published I always know what I am. A writer! It's a good feeling.
Hi Lisa! Thanks *g*
Excellent definition of being a writer - it's just part of you. Just something that's got to be done, and it's going to happen whether the world ever notices or not, right?
Hello Irish! A personality trait - another great way to think of it. Some people do (your brother's reaction would be the same as my husband's - can't we just buy something? Or even better, can't you write it and sign my name? lol), and some people write. I may not have known ten years ago I wanted to write novels, but I've always loved putting words on paper. I think I was the only kid in my school who got excited about research papers *g*
Normally, being asked a question like "What were you doing ten years ago?" would cause me fits due to my shotty memory. However, in this case, I have no problem remembering. I was pregnant! LOL! Yeah, I was producing a WIP, just not of the book variety. LOL!
I sat down and wrote my first words of a Romance novel somewhere around '91 I think. A Western that opened with a woman winning a poker game and the hero having to save her from the bad sports who didn't like losing to a woman. Didn't make it past a few pages (hand written in a journal) but the idea was there. It took 15 more years to take it seriously.
For a long time I told myself if I ever get a computer, I'll write one. Well, got the comp in '06 and shortly after, caught this bug. Now, I just have to follow through.
Since ten years from now is when my kiddo will be off at college and I'll have all kinds of time on my hands, I have no trouble seeing myself still writing then. And if all works out, I'll be traveling and writing at the same time.
Great blog, Hal! Nothing like a graceful entrance to get things going. ;)
Hi Terri! Preggers, huh? Definitely memorable. Another kind of WIP in which no matter how much you plot and plan, you still flounder in the middle (i.e. the pre-teen and teen years).
Oh, writing and traveling at the same time - can you imagine sitting in little cafes in Paris or Prague and writing?? How much fun!
Maggie says: "So, I guess I’m not a real writer according to your teacher, who sounds like an idiot."
I think I'll second that. :) And Mags, you're a real writer too. This whole have to know from the time we leave the cradle thing is a little ridiculous. I think I realized it when I read my first full length, when I was in middle school. But, I don't think everyone's like that. Some girls don't even pick up romances until later in their lives.
And honestly, I don't want to write anything else, so if I hadn't found romance until later, well, I probably wouldn't have wanted to write until later either.
'Cause really, all that literary fiction crap, who wants to own up to writing that? LOL!
*Marnee, off to patent her, "My Romance Novel Can Kick Your Literary Fiction's Ass" bumper sticker.
(Of course no offense to those who do write literary fiction. The opinions expressed in my comment are strictly my own. I couldn't write that stuff, though, honestly. I think I'd have to take myself much more seriously.)
PS, Hal, I'd like to see myself sitting anywhere with no time constraints or other obligations and writing. It needn't be a cafe in Paris, it could be a broom closet, the side of an active volcano, whatever. I'd dig it.
Hal - She's hitting double digits this summer. Please do NOT bring up the tween/teen years. Thankyouverymuch.
I was thinking more along the lines of one or two big trips a year then having time to write the rest of the time. When I'm not running a major company. :) What? I can do both.
Marn - I think I could write straight fiction. There's a ton of angst in that stuff. LOL!
I'm sure you could, Ter! :) I just know that when I read literary fiction that I can't imagine thinking up some of the parallels some of them do.
I read Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time this past week and I was so amazed at the Haddon's literary techniques. I can't imagine coming up with anything like that. Honestly, I don't want to come up with anything like that, though I do appreciate his talent.
Now you went into all the English Major speak and lost me. Parallels? Techniques? I didn't know there was going to be a quiz...
Ter, we'll just hide in a corner until they get done talking about all this other stuff. LOL
Welcome aboard Hal!! Great debut blog! Much better than mine was. LOL
Ten years ago, if you'd asked me if I was going to be writing seriously (okay, half-assed seriously) I'd laughed in your face.
On some level, I've been writing since I was old enough to keep a diary. On another level, I wrote poetry from the age of 12. Now, not that any of my poetry made the least bit of sense, but I suppose it was a way of expressing my horribly angsty feelings.
Wait. I just admitted that I had feelings. I must retract that comment.
Hal, don't worry. I've only been writing fiction since 2006. That's what? Not even three years? My three year anniversary is March 13, three days before I got my FF.net ID. The only thing that defines a writer, is the words they put on a page. And we all know you can do that.
I didn't mean to scare you, dearest. :)
Kids would always ask me when I taught if a writer put things purposely in their works, death symbolism or religious symbolism or whatever. I always believe, and especially believe now that I'm working on my own stuff, that yes, it has to be thought through to be effective.
10 years ago I was...temp working, and writing long hand if I was writing at all. No home computer. Still working on the "book of my heart", my first draft of Lucy's story. (And let me just say that book has gone SO MANY incarnations you wouldn't believe it's the same book I started with. I'm much happier with it now, so to speak, than I was before. There was too much of my youth and cynicism in my first drafts of it.)
I've wanted to be a writer since I was 9 or 10. I was in 5th grade when I decided I wanted to be a writer. Our teacher read us Bridge to Terabithia. We wrote in journals. We made up poems. I loved it all. And possibly in 2nd grade I wanted to be a writer--because I remember writing a little fiction piece for class and I specifically asked my dad how to spell 'horse' (before boys, horses were my passion). So he spelled horse for me, and I inserted it into my story. Unfortunately I didn't ask him how to spell 'jumped'--and Hooked On Phonics isn't a perfect system, let me just say. So my story featured a horse and rider (me, obviously) who GUMPED a creek. (I was much more action packed in my youthful writings.)
Terri - oh jeez, double digits? I'll keep quiet, I promise! lol. And yes, of course you can write, travel, and run a company - after all, if you're running the company, then you get all the assistants and secretaries who do the work while you travel. Easy *g*
Marn - I'm of the opposite opinion. I often do something (not as terrific as the literary people) and after writing it realize it's a technique I never even thought about but it works. I'm sure if I thought ahead and planned, it might be better, but it's more fun to have it happen by accident. LOL!
Thanks Sin! Though I'm sure your initiation blog was quite awe-inspiring.
I posted my first little baby-chapter on ff.net on Feb. 5th of 2007 - almost two years ago. Wow, that's it? For some reason, it feels so much longer than that.
And you admitted to those teenage angsty feelings - you can't take it back now!
Hellion - you gumped a creek! That's so great that you were writing so young. At that age, I'd decided to be a doctor and a missionary to China (yikes - I would have been terrible at both those professions)
OMG, speaking of literary work no one would want to own up to--we were playing Mental Floss (a board game) last night, and this showed up as a question: True or False: 40,000 words in Gates of Paradise, by Jerzy Andrzejewski (Polish, 1960) is a novel, consisting of one sentence with no punctuation.
And it was true.
So glad this was NOT required reading. Just saying.
I must have been the only child who never heard of Bridge to Terabithea until the movie came out. And I think phonics are great. LOL!
*raising hand* I never heard of it until it came out as a movie either, Terri!
Wow. LOL! Even Henry James threw in a comma now and then.
Marn - I always wondered too, if all that stuff literary authors do was planned or not.
I'm with Terri - sometimes little things like that happen, which I had in no way planned. When I was getting my story critiqued at school, one of the women was going on and on about this beautiful symbolism of this young child and her innocence and then her death. I'm nodding along and smiling, and in my head thinking, "I just needed a character to kill and threw her in. But great!" lol
40,000 words in one sentence! See, this is why I can't read literature.
One sentence and the entire book.
And someone just beat out this person. They wrote 150,000 words; no punctuation; one sentence--the whole book.
WHY? What is the point of that?
It's stuff like that I don't get.
Though some literature is so beautiful I cry. (Have I raved about Beloved this week yet?)
Apparently, the longer the sentence, the bigger your brain. :)
Oh, dang.... If that were only true.... You should see some of the complex (rambling?) sentences I need to fix in second draft....
Don't brag, Marn. We already know you have the biggest brain on the ship.
Welcome aboard! I knew someone would figure out how ta haul yer blog from the depth!
Ten years ago, I knew I wanted ta write. Tho I wasn't writin', much. Same as 40 years ago. (Yes, I'm that ancient.) But in those 40 years, I've spent time writin' and time doin' other things with writin' tucked away in the back of me head. Waitin' for the spark.
A one sentence novel? Sounds like me DH and his English college courses...he's a computer enginer, so the stuff goes on and on and on and on. Geek speak without a break.
I used ta write essays and term papers in the summer, ta be ready fer school! (I was hooked on gold stars...)
Hi Chance! Yep, Marn figured out how to post for me *g* Glad somebody else had fun turning in all those school papers early! lol
Ter says: "Don’t brag, Marn. We already know you have the biggest brain on the ship."
Ah, the brainwashing is still working....
Congratulations on your first blog, Hal! I look forward to many more.
The OED defines a writer as "A person who can write; one who practises or performs writing; occas., one who writes in a specified manner."
Works for me. I'm always skeptical of one-size-fits-everyone claims. I've thought of myself as a writer since I started writing poems and stories; I was six, and most of you weren't even born. I don't think that makes me more,or less, real a writer than someone who decided last year to start writing.
I do have part of a coming-of-age book that is literary fiction that I may get back to someday, Marn. But I promise that I use punctuation. :)
Re symbolism: When I was an undergrad in an American lit course with a prof we were all a little bit in love with, we read "Mr. Flood's Party," a poem by Edwin Arlington Robinson.
The prof asked us what the two moons meant in the line "with only two moons listening." Typical English majors, we had many profound ideas about symbolism, among them the moon of the past and the moon of the present, the moon of illusion and the moon of reality, dual moons to contrast the isolation of Mr. Flood. The prof grinned and said, "My dear English majors (as he always addressed us when he thought we were taking ourselves too seriously), you're missing the point. He saw two moons because he was drunk. Start with the literal." Good advice that I try to keep in mind when it comes to symbolism.
Janga - LOL! That's hilarious. I definitely think there is a fine line when it comes to literary analysis, that fine line between what could be possible and what is just a far stretch.
And I'm sure you're coming of age story is phenomenal. WIth or without punctuation.
Ha! Janga! Wonderful. I remember in my American Lit classes, all the symbolism stuff... Then an essay test where I got an 'A' (patting self on back still!) but when we went over the answer it wasn't at all what I had deduced. I asked the prof why I got the good grade and he said I backed up my answer with proof that made sense.
It was an eye-opener to the idea that the experts, who tell us what things mean, aren't any more 'right' that what we see. Just have the proof to back up your vision.
I loved that teacher.
Hi Janga! Wow, six - you've known a long time! Great story - there's definitely a point of reading too deep into a story!
*LMAO!* I love that! "My dear English majors..." I would have loved that professor. *LOL*
I heard a story that made me laugh--about Robert Browning. Someone asked him what he meant in this poem he'd written (the questioner offering up various ideas of symbolism, et al) and Browning responded, "When I wrote that poem, it was between me and God. Now only God knows."
Yeah! That's how it should be! Only God knows...hee, hee.
I don't have any English professors in my past, but I had Sr. Eleanor (affectionaly called Sr. Skelator) and Sr. Barbara (affectionatly called Sr. Bubba). They both kept life interesting in HS. LOL!
I remember Sr. Eleanor putting someone in a headlock once. Though I can't remember why. She was a tiny little thing and taught me the joy of editing. Since she made us edit the life out of our papers until they were perfect.
Great blog, Haleigh!!
Ten years ago I was pregnant, and had a twenty month old. Yikes! I can't belive my baby hits double digits this year.
I have always known I was a writer, even if I didn't have the time/energy to write.
Di
Hi Di! Two kids - yeah that does suck up both time and energy, doesn't it? lol. I think it's great that you've always known - it would have saved me a lot of time and years in school for other careers!
I was thirteen ten years ago and still in my I'd-rather-pour-acid-in-my-eyes-than-be-a-writer stage. But I still did it for fun.*shrugs*
Also, interestingly enough, I was still stuck in my -romance-novels-are-trash stage.
Alot can change in ten years.
Great blog,Hal!:)
Great first blog, Haleigh!
Ten years ago, which was THEN ten years after knowing I was going to to be a writer (can you follow? lol) I'd given up on writing after finishing a short story for a writing course. I was all proud of myself for having written that beginning, middle and elusive THE END. I thought, NOW I'm a writer. Everything was going to fall into place. Only problem was, it wasn't any good. lol I received comments from family that it was rather "dry" (hey - - perking up - - maybe it was actually a great literary work! But no - - coming back to earth - - I don't really think so), and then I sank into an odd period of years where I thought non-fiction was the way to go. Along the lines of those who can do, and those who can't teach, I thought I'd write a great how-to book - - on how to write a romance novel. It took me a while to realize the credibility problem of trying to tell someone how to do something I hadn't done. :) But fiction, and ROMANCE, kept calling. So, a few years ago I crept back in with at least one lesson learned; don't talk about or show your work to non-writers! And I think that when you call yourself a writer is a HUGE question of confidence. On my angry days, I think, okay, so if I'm only a writer when I'm published, what the heck was I during the years I was actually writing?? So for now, I'd say I'm a "closet writer." lol
My first full length novel is almost finished. I don't think it's "dry" but even if it doesn't sell, I'll keep writing. No, I don't think I'm at that place where I'd say I write solely for my own satisfaction - - hell yes, I want others to BUY my story! But if I know anything, it's that I can't quit. So, ten years ago I was obsessed with finishing, but now I know, writing the words THE END or not, I'll still write.
Melissa
Where was I ten years ago? I was writing multi-media based corporate training materials for a number of companies in NYC. Did I want to be a writer at that time? I had a one hour and forty-five minute commute by train and I never cracked open a book of any kind. I read the paper, did the crossword puzzle and slept. In that order.
I was also pregnant for most of that year with my second child.
Did I have a burning to be a writer? No. Sure I wrote as a kid in grade school and dabbled in adolescent angst filled poetry. I was editor of both my high school and college literary magazines. That was the extent of it all.
It was only when I began reading again for pleasure did I begin to formulate stories in my mind and decided to try my hand at it. I'm still at it.
Where will I be in ten years? Published. I don't know for how many years. It took Christina Dodd ten years before she was published and Anna Campbell wrote for 27 years before she was published. These stories both act to encourage and discourage me. I'm leaning towards encouragement. If they and so many others of my favorites can do it, I am confident that I can too. I have to be. The alternative is not an option.
Kelly - thirteen?? Wow! Good thing you decided you like romance novels, huh? Though when I was 13, I'm sure I was the same way (I used to skip any steamy scenes in romance because they were so "naughty* - lol!)
Melissa! Hey! So I noticed that you story about your journey in writing didn't include "and then I met hal, the best CP ever!* LMAO! You're manuscript is definitely not dry - no worries there anymore! And I for one am happy you've returned to writing.
Santa - wow "multi-media based corporate training materials" - that sounds a little bit like my day job. Except I train construction workers, and not NYC corporate employees - lol.
I totally know what you mean about not being sure if those time-lines are encouraging or discouraging. On the one hand, it goes to show perseverance pays off. On the other hand, 27 years?? I don't know if I'm nearly so dedicated as Anna. I want to be, but wow! That's dedication.
And one more pirate who admits to angst-filled teenage poetry!
Definitely my bad not to have mentioned “and then I met hal, the best CP ever!" Very true. :)
All you pirates take note, this girl's on my dedication page. :) Haven't you all imagined who you'd thank when you made it?
ahh! And you're going to me on mine :)
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