More Advice You Don't Need
Dec. 27th, 2012 03:50 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jack_babalonWell a lot of authors on here are doling out advice about the craft and I figure I'd throw in my 2 cents while I wait for someone to post another meme about that grumpy cat or a headless photo of some scantily dressed woman for me to thumbs up. Lucky you:
1. When a prospective publisher says - 'no simultaneous submissions accepted' - what s/he means is you'll be hearing back from them somewhere between six weeks to five years. Give or take a day.
2. Want instant feedback, accolades, or criticism? Cool, all you have to do is walk away from the keyboard pick up an instrument or a paint brush and have at it.
3. Zombies, zombies, zombies... and maybe a vampire to spice things up.
4. Respect your editor. Sure no one's ever put down a book and said - 'Wow! That story had no typos and the grammar was impeccable." But on the other hand when you see them it distracts from the experience as a whole. Imagine your favorite movie if every other scene had a boom mic hanging in the shot or if the actors had their costumes change inexplicably during a conversation. It sort of reads like that (and before you bitch about the grammar to some of my narrative posts - keep in mind they are first drafts and I charge nothing for them other than your time.)
5. "Always open a spoken word piece with a quote" ~ Said no great writer ever.
6. Stealing from one artist is plagiarism, but when you steal from a bunch at once while adding a new perspective of your own - well that's just part of the process. Remix don't reuse.
7. Was writing the piece fun for you or an obligation? Because like it or not the work will answer that question for readers no matter how you spin it.
8. It's hard out there for a word pimp. Like many artists in many fields, recent advances in technology means you're going to be basically working for free. Your favorite songs can be downloaded for free, that awesome photograph is yours for the taking with a click of the 'save as' and now most novels can be pirated with just as much ease. It sucks, it really does and it negates much of the influence the artist has in our society by ensuring a creative field is tantamount to choosing to beg for change. Oddly enough the people who bitch the loudest about 'socialism' will be guilty of it. I suggest getting into video game work if you want to make those Benjamins... otherwise you gotta do it for the love.
9. Stop posting pictures of famous authors with captions about their advice on writing and write something. Shit, I've knocked out three short stories in the last week alone and even if you think they suck or you didn't have the time to read them, it sure beat rereading some dead white guy's advice for making art in a world that has long since passed.
10. Know when to hide posts like this from your editors, publishers and their friends;)
1. When a prospective publisher says - 'no simultaneous submissions accepted' - what s/he means is you'll be hearing back from them somewhere between six weeks to five years. Give or take a day.
2. Want instant feedback, accolades, or criticism? Cool, all you have to do is walk away from the keyboard pick up an instrument or a paint brush and have at it.
3. Zombies, zombies, zombies... and maybe a vampire to spice things up.
4. Respect your editor. Sure no one's ever put down a book and said - 'Wow! That story had no typos and the grammar was impeccable." But on the other hand when you see them it distracts from the experience as a whole. Imagine your favorite movie if every other scene had a boom mic hanging in the shot or if the actors had their costumes change inexplicably during a conversation. It sort of reads like that (and before you bitch about the grammar to some of my narrative posts - keep in mind they are first drafts and I charge nothing for them other than your time.)
5. "Always open a spoken word piece with a quote" ~ Said no great writer ever.
6. Stealing from one artist is plagiarism, but when you steal from a bunch at once while adding a new perspective of your own - well that's just part of the process. Remix don't reuse.
7. Was writing the piece fun for you or an obligation? Because like it or not the work will answer that question for readers no matter how you spin it.
8. It's hard out there for a word pimp. Like many artists in many fields, recent advances in technology means you're going to be basically working for free. Your favorite songs can be downloaded for free, that awesome photograph is yours for the taking with a click of the 'save as' and now most novels can be pirated with just as much ease. It sucks, it really does and it negates much of the influence the artist has in our society by ensuring a creative field is tantamount to choosing to beg for change. Oddly enough the people who bitch the loudest about 'socialism' will be guilty of it. I suggest getting into video game work if you want to make those Benjamins... otherwise you gotta do it for the love.
9. Stop posting pictures of famous authors with captions about their advice on writing and write something. Shit, I've knocked out three short stories in the last week alone and even if you think they suck or you didn't have the time to read them, it sure beat rereading some dead white guy's advice for making art in a world that has long since passed.
10. Know when to hide posts like this from your editors, publishers and their friends;)