If you were a writer, which would you rather be?

[Shade]

I do not believe you can start out with every intention of being a fraud and a 'hack' and get to being an extremely successful and extremely rich author

This is probably true (see my point above about writers generally doing the best they can). However the example of Bernard Cornwell, hugely successful (at least in the UK) author of the Sharpe novels, is instructive. In this interview, he tells how he just copied his favourite books to a formula when he started out:

In 1979, having decided that he would write a novel on Wellington's army, he scoured the bookshops for works on this theme but came back empty handed. So, instead, he took three of his most cherished books, two from CS Forester's Hornblower series and one by someone else he can't now remember, and made it his mission to work out exactly how they had been constructed.

When I suggest that there must be great skill involved in writing books that appeal to millions of people around the globe, Cornwell has none of it. That's because, he says, all he did to learn the skill was shamelessly rip off his favourite books. "I literally broke each one down, marking their structure on big, coloured charts. I noted down where there was action, where there was flashback, where there was romance and so on."

After two months of deconstruction, Cornwell was confident that he had worked out the magic formula. He was now ready to begin writing. "For the first two or three books I had the chart pinned up above my desk. So if I was worried, for example, whether a scene was going on too long, I'd look up and see no, theirs went on longer. It was a crutch, rather than something I slavishly followed. I've lost them now, actually. That really pisses me off."

 

[namedujour]

So now you've become a successful writer. Will your self-respect somehow get lower now? You know you've done your best, and despite everything, you're successful. Do you still accept your checks, despite knowing in your heart others think you're a fraud and hack?

ds

Probably it will. I'm a (anonymous, thank you) published author whose first book was finalist for an award, and has received mostly five-star reviews. (Not a lot of bucks yet, but I get satisfaction out of fan emails.) My agent informs me that I must write a sequel, which I have begun to do, even though I was prepared to branch into completely different areas and had felt the original book didn't need any further bother.

So I will not be writing what I want to write. I will be writing what I am told to write. This is pretty much the case out there.

Furthermore, should I buck them all and write what I damn well please, something not even remotely like the first book, the public will theoretically disown me. Case in point being the Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon. Enough of that, she thought, and wrote a mystery.

I didn't have to go far to gauge public sentiment when I pulled up the Amazon reviews for Lord John and the Private Matter. Here is the most recent one (there are more and more and more like this):

Being used to action and plot from Gabaldon's previous novels, I have been quite disapointed in this book. It almost looks like she cannot write short stories... Too much was missing. She touched many subject on the surface and the private matter was not all that exciting. I love Lord John's character but this novell did nothing good to it. And when you get to the end expecting maybe something good... you are even more disapointed. It's just blahhh! Of course, I will most certainly read the next one of this trilogy, but I will not buy it. I'll borrow it from a friend or the library. It's not worth paying for. Too bad. I really look forward to the next book on Jamie and Claire though...​

Her success with the Outlander series probably ensured her failure with Lord John. I haven't read that book, but I'm sure it doesn't deserve all the one-star reviews it received from fans of Outlander. So, under advisement by her agent and publisher, she will no doubt revert back to more familiar territory to please her fans. When you do that, it stops being "creative" and begins to be "business" I think. Maybe the quality won't be affected, but the author's heart isn't necessarily in it, and that's what the works lose. Self-respect may go down the tubes too, depending on the satisfaction level of the author in cranking out books from a mold for money.

So I'm grappling with that very question. As I'm toying with it, I'm working up "heart" for the sequel to the first book, hoping to strike a balance. But given my druthers, I'd rather shoot for immortality than money. Perhaps I ultimately will succeed at both, but I'd prefer the immortality - and the fan emails.

 

[Kookamoor]

And, for category number one, just what is the name of that guy who wrote The Bridges of Madison County?

Robert James Waller - but you should really read some of his other work before judging him on one enormous success. His 'Old Songs in a New Cafe' collection of short stories is one of my favourite books of all time.

 

[direstraits]

namedujour, given that you've published your first book, and it's already established that you can write to a point where you can get nominated for awards, why not branch out and do something 'you damn well please' under another name? Your publisher wouldn't be taking any more risk than he would if you published something which is dramatically different from what you're known for anyway. Your publisher, after all, took a chance on your first novel.

What I find interesting is you're saying you prefer to be less well known but get fan mail and not want your books sell to fantastically well, because it's probably a matter of self-respect.

I'd like to think that people like Dan Simmons, who writes (Horror, Scifi/Fantasy, whatever), can write in multiple genres and still maintain his ability to draw fans, should be something an author can aspire to. If diversity is what the author wants, that is.

I can understand if an author does well, s/he is tied to the genre and is marketed like a brand. If I can, I'd want my first couple of novels to do well, and with the money, I'd be able to finance other books written maybe under a pseudonym, so I can write stuff without the branding attached to a 'famous' name.

But I know I cannot get beyond 'It was a cold and stormy night.'

ds

p.s. If you turn out to be Guy Gavriel Kay pretending to be modest, I'll probably kill myself.

 

[StillILearn]

Yeah, who wrote Bridges of Madison County?

I know a couple of women who would love to have his babies, but I think maybe they think he's Clint Eastwood.

I wonder if anybody ever wanted to have Robertson Davies's babies?

 

[namedujour]

namedujour, given that you've published your first book, and it's already established that you can write to a point where you can get nominated for awards, why not branch out and do something 'you damn well please' under another name? ...
p.s. If you turn out to be Guy Gavriel Kay pretending to be modest, I'll probably kill myself.

Great idea. When will I have time to do that while I'm writing a sequel? I know. I'll wait until I'm dumped and no longer under contract with anyone.

PS. No, I'm not Guy Gavriel Kay. You can put the pills and the razor back in the cabinet.

 

[direstraits]

Great idea. When will I have time to do that while I'm writing a sequel? I know. I'll wait until I'm dumped and no longer under contract with anyone.

And what better way to do that than to start your new novel right now?

PS. No, I'm not Guy Gavriel Kay. You can put the pills and the razor back in the cabinet.

Oh good. It was very tiring holding on the window ledge.

ds

 

[Umbrella]

Well, first of all, my job wouldn't be as a professor or whatever it was suppose to be. And I have no plans of becoming a famous book author, or if I'll ever write a book. Hm. If I could choose, I'd be the bass player of a poetic and respected underground rock band. That would be nice, even if it has nothing to do with this topic. Yeah well, Winnie the Pooh is gay so it doesn't really matter.

 

[namedujour]

<<And what better way to do that than to start your new novel right now?>>

Have you ever written a book? Do you know that you get completely and utterly focused?

When I'm writing seriously (which I'm gearing up to do shortly) I can't even read. During the entire six years it took me to write my first book, I read no more than three books, and probably finished one of them. My entire focus was on plot construction, and execution of that manuscript. I could have recited the entire 300+ pages of the completed manuscript without prompting because there was a constant tape running through my head, with alarms going off ("Grammatical error in this scene. Go back and fix it." "This would work better if you do that. Go back and change it.") And that was when I was NOT writing. Everything not related to the book was an unwelcome distraction and pulled my focus away from the task at hand, which was to finish.

Even reading, which I'm addicted to, became an irritant.

So I'm wrapping up a few books that have been laying around, will finish them, and will probably not read another book for years.

Perhaps there are writers who can write two books at a time. There are writers who knock out six books per year. God bless them, but I am not one of these.

Though I appreciate your suggestion.

 

[direstraits]

Uhm... namedujour, when I said 'what better way to do that than to start your novel right now', I meant it as a joke. You were saying you'll wait until you get dumped before start writing a book you wanted, right? So I said, what better way to get dumped than to start your novel right now, which would contravene your publisher's directive, and thus dumping you.

Hence you can start your own novel!

See, it just isn't the same when you have to explain your joke.

No, I've not written a book (anonymous or not doesn't matter). I write something else entirely different, and do not make money out of it by choice. I, too, get my share of fan mail.

ds

 

[mehastings]

mehastings - if you're the first kind of writer, you'd have enough money to do whatever it is you wanted, whether it is not to go on signings, or not to appear in large groups. The world is your oyster. Not everyone who's wildly successful goes around parading themselves to drum up sales they don't need.

Now, having explained that you could still do whatever you wanted, do you want to be in the first or second group of writers?

I'd still be the second because I'd want to write something of quality. I wouldn't want to be another Nora Roberts pumping out formulaic novels that everyone loves. I'd take blending in over crap peddling any day.

 

[StillILearn]

different, and do not make money out of it by choice.

ds! You're a Geek scholar!

 

[direstraits]

Noooooooo! I'm not (a) G(r)eek! I play sports! I'm coooool!!!

And don't tell CaTom!

ds

 

[StillILearn]

Still, laughing.