Anger, Resentment, Bitterness. Do these work for you?

Nateskate · Jul 18, 2009

Have you ever picked up a book you wanted to throw? You could write better openings in your sleep, and write better lines by flipping a scrabble table.

Have you ever seen a popular story that is far less than your own, and yet they got all the breaks, and you didn't get any?

Did you ever finish a story to find out that someone beat you to the press with a similar bestselling story, and it undermined your own work?

Did you build a unique world only to find someone else built the same world, using the same concept, the same terms, even similar names?

There's lots more to get ticked off about; and that doesn't take into account all the waiting, changed ownership, and other pitfalls. Does it motivate you, or make you want to quit? How do you handle all the frustration?

scarletpeaches · Jul 18, 2009

Yes, I have experienced this annoyance at crap being published.

Yes, I used to get angry, bitter, resentful.

Yes, I still do. But these days I use it to motivate me in an "I'll show them how it's done!" sense. It's either that or go mad.

gonovelgo · Jul 18, 2009

I've had numbers one and two happen to me a few times. (Most recently with Noughts & Crosses, in case you're wondering.)

It's a pain in the ass, but I think you need to be able to cope with it or risk going nuts.

caromora · Jul 18, 2009

I've learned never to question someone else's success. What I consider crap, another reader might really connect with and love.

I do get a little antsy when I hear about someone writing a book with a premise similar to mine, but you have to let those kinds of things roll off your back. Five writers can take the same idea and come up with five completely different books. There's no use getting upset about stuff like that.

escritora · Jul 18, 2009

I like to read crappy books. It means my WIP has a shot.

lm728 · Jul 18, 2009

Agree with escritora, lol.
Agree with all the points above, Nateskate.

I have my own example:
I've recently read SLOANE SISTERS.
First off, it reminded me of the plotline of my trunk novel.
(I wrote my trunk novel when I was 11 or 12.)

The characters had around the same names. (My Kate was Anna Carey's Cate, my Lila was her Lola)
The characters had the same roles. (Kate/Cate had the same roles in the clique, Lila/Lola had the same roles in the clique)
The characters in her book even had a Greek-like friendship system, dammit.

The tone/voice/quality of my trunk novel and SLOANE SISTERS were around the same. The only difference was that one was written by an 11-year old (at the time), and another with a degree at NYU.

And another thing, was that I quit querying after around 20 queries. She probably did not. So technically, if I'd held on long enough, maybe my MS would have knocked SLOANE SISTERS out of its place...who knows?

MsGneiss · Jul 18, 2009

It neither motivates nor demotivates me. It's something that is counterproductive to think about, as it is out of my control. My work is the only place where I have power over the quality, so that's where I try to focus.

cwfgal · Jul 18, 2009

It's a waste of time to dwell too long on such things. Life isn't fair. And life is what you make of it. Take other people's successes and study them. Dissect, analyze, try to find what it was that made them successful and then see if you can find a way to incorporate that into your own efforts. Set your goals and keep working toward them. Don't get sidetracked by envy and bitterness, get motivated instead. Be realistic but persistent. And always stay open to your options, to criticism, and to advice.

Beth

bettielee · Jul 18, 2009

Are you talking about my sister?

Seriously. Anger, bitterness, resentment. That is the only 3 emotions she's capable of inciting in me.

Then again, sometimes I read a very horribly edited novel, and wonder, what the hell where they thinking? How did they miss this word used three times in the space of a single paragraph, or this sentence repeated virtually word for word... Yes, the author might have made the original gaff, but shouldn't somebody have stepped up and fixed that? It makes the writer look like an idiot. Especially if the rest of the work is good, and all the stupidity is in one or two chapters.

Ok. Did I just go off on a tangent there....?

K_Woods · Jul 18, 2009

1 pushes me to exasperation sometimes, 2 doesn't because I'm nowhere near the query phase yet, 3 might have in the past but I don't remember it, and 4 would have me doubting that the idea was that good in the first place if it was THAT similar. (Execution, of course, is a different matter.)

But the one thing that pushes me to actual anger is when an author is dishonest. There is one in particular that really, really irks me, but I'm not going to open that can of worms. (And boy, is it ever a can of worms, judging from past threads.)

Salis · Jul 18, 2009

Not really. I find any perceived injustice is usually because our perception is bad. We tend to look at our own writing and see only the good parts--when we look at other people's writing, we see only the faults.

CheshireCat · Jul 18, 2009

What's the point? All you can control is your own writing.

bettielee · Jul 18, 2009

CheshireCat said:
What's the point? All you can control is your own writing.

Absolute Truth!

Get back at the world by writing a good book you are proud of.

That will show the world!

scarletpeaches · Jul 18, 2009

CheshireCat said:
What's the point? All you can control is your own writing.

The point is, any strong emotion can be used as fuel.

Someday, I shall take over the world.

brokenfingers · Jul 18, 2009

I just had that happen to me with a WIP. I just re-tweaked it to make it different.

Of course, if I'd been 90,000 words in, I'd probably not have been as calm about it.

Toothpaste · Jul 18, 2009

Jealousy is pointless, especially for me (as I have my own personal motivational reasons for doing what I do).

Nonetheless I feel it acutely.

Something I'm working at, and yes, I utterly despise the emotion, but I'm human. How to work at it, well, you just have to let it go. Easier said than done though. And I kind of get annoyed with people who think otherwise.

Try to fight it, it's not worth the energy. At the same time, it's really tough to fight, so don't beat yourself up about it when you do feel it.

CheshireCat · Jul 18, 2009

scarletpeaches said:
The point is, any strong emotion can be used as fuel.

Someday, I shall take over the world.

Never let it be said that I stood in your way.

Seriously, though, any professional writer encounters so many negative situations during a career in publishing that it's fairly unproductive to waste energy on someone else's writing or career.

Believe me when I say you'll find fuel to spare just being enraged about stuff concerning your own career.

Phaeal · Jul 18, 2009

Whenever I come across a successful book that I think is crap I try to analyze what made it successful. (I do this in the cafe at Borders, so I don't have to buy the book.)

In my experience with said analyses, the popularity never hinges on quality of writing. It always hinges on something in the topic or plot or theme of the book that appealed to a big segment of the public, that tickled the segment's collective psyche just so. That ability (conscious or not) to pull the right strings and push the right buttons is what makes the blockbuster writer. I've heard it said that Michael Crichton was one of the very few writers who could hit on the timely blockbuster topic just about every turn at bat.

Anywho.

Analysis makes me feel better. Then I go ahead and write whatever it is I want to write, as well as I can write it. Eventually I hope to hit some of those psychic buttons myself.

Matera the Mad · Jul 18, 2009

Hey, I just figure, "If this crap got through, I've got a helluva great chance!"

Ken Schneider · Jul 18, 2009

Yes I've read book that I didn't like very well.

But, the people who mattered liked it.

aadams73 · Jul 18, 2009

Doesn't really faze me, to be honest. I just keep my head down and concentrate on what I can control.

Kievah · Jul 18, 2009

I don't even bother questioning why a particular writer is published (whether a novel rocks or sucks is entirely subjective). It's not about whether or not published writers "deserve" the break. These writers are on the shelf because they presented a publisher with a product the publisher believes will bring a profit. Literary ability and artistic merit have little to do with it (not that I am insinuating published writers don't display either; most sell for their merits)

As someone mentioned earlier in this thread, it is especially helpful to analyse novels for what works and what doesn't. Apart from writing, this is how I improve.

KellyAssauer · Jul 18, 2009

Nateskate said:
Anger, Resentment, Bitterness. Do these work for you?

Work?

Heck, them's the only things keeping me going!

As far as my writing goes though, I couldn't care less what's popular or blockbuster, that's not my target audience. I'd probably consider it the end of my career if one of my works ended up on the best-sellers list!

NeuroFizz · Jul 18, 2009

I do see books that have amateurish writing in places. I see problems with accuracy in research. I see mistakes here and there. It does bother me, but not to point of anger, resentment, or bitterness. It is, and will always be, a constant in such a subjective business. Hopefully a minor constant, but one nonetheless.

But here is where I take a slightly different path (as usual) than what I see here and in other comments at AW. I think taking these emotions as a motivation to "show them all" is a strange form is self-discipline indeed. I don't approach the pursuit of excellence in writing with the idea of how I will show how I am better than writer A or writer B. To me the pursuit of excellence is only about showing that my writing is better than my previous writing. In other words, that I am constantly improving. The pursuit of excellence in writing should be an internal matter, not a game of extrenal comparison or one-upmanship. I certainly do take a critical look at the works of others authors, but as a way to learn--both ways to do things and ways to not do things.

witchunter88 · Jul 18, 2009

I don't feel any anger, resentment or bitterness towards any author. That's not only counterproductive, but blinds you from learning something they could teach you. Instead of scoffing at their writing, or uninspired characters, I try to learn what exactly made their work so dynamic. I don't believe that "mediocre" writers can reach the bestseller list. The mediocre writers are the ones left at an agent's slushpile.

Because despite what naysayers say about them (basically every bestselling author), they WERE able to captivate an audience and make a living from it. That's not only admirable, but motivates me to learn what methods of writing, plot and characterization made their story such a success.

Anger, Resentment, Bitterness. Do these work for you?

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