Encouraging Frustration?

Yeah, she described commercial fiction as "drivel". Ha. Reveals her bias, don't you think?

So she thought she was slumming by writing that book? Lovely. Sounds like all those people who say they want to write a romance because they think it will be easy.

Bubastes said:

In her comments, she said it was her attempt at writing chick lit (probably because she thought it would be easy to "slum" by writing commercially)? It reminds me of people who try to write romance for the same reasons.

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Argh. *headdesk*

Though to be honest, the market does matter, to an extent. But that should come *after* the book's written, as I have had to learn myself the hard way. Trying to fit it into a slot beforehand only leads to trouble, imo. Not always, of course, but if you've got contempt for genre writing, I think it ends up showing, and vice versa as well.

IMO, of course. Truth, truth, truth. Always tell the truth. If you're not a genre writer, then you aren't, and you shouldn't try to be, imo, in order to get an agent or a publisher. Let your work be what it is. If it's good enough, someone eventually will publish you. I firmly believe that. Whether or not it's the work you're currently shopping around or not is another question, but I still believe it.

Maybe because I have to, I don't know.

Writing is like any other skill - you learn - and improve - by doing. And if our letter writer really wants to see a rah-rah, you're so amazing and perfect and "you're the bestest writter in the whole wide world!!!!111!" kind of site, just check out any of your average fanfiction sites and read some of the reviews. (Yes, sometimes they'll tell you that you suck, but you have to really really suck...and I'm speaking as someone who's perpetrated more than her share of bad fanfiction ) I'm here to improve. I may or may not ever write something publishable, but I'm not going to have a shot at it at all if I don't learn how to do it.

As for the other blog post - I can understand being frustrated and bitter, but wow. The sad part is that she very much reminds me of a former co-worker, a person I tried to be nice to because I had to work with her closely, but who everyone else avoided. She had no idea how much harder she was making it for herself with her toxic attitude - and wondered why all the senior managers, including some she technically supported, went to me instead when they needed help with something other than a basic meeting. And seriously, I'd be wary of slagging off the very people who could be helping me...

ETA - and what's so wrong about writing something that people want to read? Seriously? Who says just because something's popular, it's automatically crap?

I'll give a shot at trying to interpret what the writer was meaning to say:

"There are people on the board who should post less and lurk more. There are people who have no actual interest in serious writing but who ask serious questions anyway."

First sentence explained: there are recurrent topics and stickies scattered through the forum, so a little bit of exploration can answer a lot of common questions about the craft and the industry, hoping to diminish loaded and already answered questions such as "ow do i get n agunt lol?" - although it is a perfectly legitimate question, it's also one for which an answer exists and can easily be found, and asking the question again in a topic of its own only clutters the forum. So the writer is probably trying to say "When you sign up, take your time, take a good look around and get your bearings. Don't jump headfirst and ask for the map when it might be right in front of you but your head had been too busy charging ahead to notice."

Second sentence: among our members are those who pursue writing as a casual hobby, or who write but with minimal effort compared to the average. Of course, there is no rule that dictates what one is to do with his knowledge of the craft, but it remains that it's a bit disenheartening to answer the questions of one person and at the same time fully knowing that he will either disregard your advice or quite simply forget to check back on the thread. Such events are relatively rare here as far as I know, but I can't help but exclaim a "Meh..." whenever I recognize such a thread - chiefly among them being those written bi 1 hoo writez liek dis, kind of like someone asking you a firearm question while he's merrily chewing on the business end of a loaded pistol, to whom it's best to remain quiet and nod your head rather than tell him in his face that he's doing it wrong.


In the end, it's simply an outline of the things that happen on any forum at all; not just AW.

I'm too lazy to read all the comments, sorry. I just want to add my two cents to the original OP that I was quite surprised to see that post yesterday. I'm glad Jessica made it clear she didn't agree, and I especially liked her line that the internet didn't open in Jan '09. She's a smart lady, too bad she doesn't represent my genre.

The anonymous writer was not me. Honestly.

You have no proof...

So this writer is saying no one has the right to grow and learn? Sites like AW have a purpose to teach and inform. Just like any other line of work we need guidance, support and the like.Said person might as well be saying we should stay uneducated. As if anyone was born to know everything before they were taught. I'm sorry but this person needs to harp in the dark.

An influx of crap means more of the good writing will get less attention. That's probably the true tragedy of it all.

But if it is the economy that's causing all this, as the blogger suggests, why? Have any of these so-called amateur writers looked into how much the average first-time writer makes on a novel annually these days? Probably better off having a garage sale...

Wait.

I also know what this writer is saying. Why do people ask questions that could be easily answered by researching on Google? It takes no learning style to research and figure it out yourself. I know some members that interpret writers like that as lazy writers with no potential.

Blue, dear, that's not what we're talking about. You've asked a lot of questions in your time here at AW--some of which could be answered on Google. So...careful there, young 'un.

At any rate, it's very easy to complain about the entire rest of the world trying to get their manuscripts published and far less easy to work on your own material until it's ready to be seen. That's how I read the email from the anonymous AWer. *shrug* Could just be me though.

MacAllister, Thanks very much for establishing and maintaining this forum. I, for one, am very grateful for such a source of information and education and I can assure you that my writing has improved because of it.

The poster is clearly jealous, and maybe a little unhappy at recent rejection(s) they might have received and clearly believes the competition is inferior. It's a "Woe, woe, woe is me" kind of post and attitude that is typical amongst many who believe they can write, but who refuse to take the lessons they can learn here and apply them to their writing. After all, their writing is perfect in its original form as it flows from their pen or through their fingertips onto the screen. There's nothing they can learn from us here at AW, right?

Good writers aren't born, they're made. They're made through years of rejection, learning, and honing their craft. They're made through years of life experience and taking chances and learning about what it means to be human and about the human experience.

Some people don't get it or won't get it. They have convinced themselves that they are not just good writers, but great writers.

And some people say I'm arrogant...

FOTSGreg said:

MacAllister, Thanks very much for establishing and maintaining this forum. I, for one, am very grateful for such a source of information and education and I can assure you that my writing has improved because of it.

The poster is clearly jealous, and maybe a little unhappy at recent rejection(s) they might have received and clearly believes the competition is inferior. It's a "Woe, woe, woe is me" kind of post and attitude that is typical amongst many who believe they can write, but who refuse to take the lessons they can learn here and apply them to their writing. After all, their writing is perfect in its original form as it flows from their pen or through their fingertips onto the screen. There's nothing they can learn from us here at AW, right?

Good writers aren't born, they're made. They're made through years of rejection, learning, and honing their craft. They're made through years of life experience and taking chances and learning about what it means to be human and about the human experience.

Some people don't get it or won't get it. They have convinced themselves that they are not just good writers, but great writers.

And some people say I'm arrogant...

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Well said. If I had not found AW through google.......well, I sure wouldn't be making decent money every week freelancing. I've asked some really stupid questions here and probably will again in the future. I just hope all you fine people are still here to answer them. I will be forever grateful to this place.

The Lonely One said:

An influx of crap means more of the good writing will get less attention. That's probably the true tragedy of it all.

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I don't know if good writing will get less attention. It really takes very little time to toss away bad sample pages, etc. You don't have to read beyond the first 1-2 paragraphs to know that someone can't write decent English, etc., which BTW is more than capitalizing the first word of your sentence and putting a period at the end.

I think it just means it may take LONGER to hear back. But good writers will always stand out from the bad & mediocre.

I think that the person who asked Jessica F didn't really get it.

But then I think that there are people who get impatient with what they think is amateur stuff.

BTW -- I think AW is a great place to go for info and help. People here are incredibly generous with their time and knowledge no matter who asks for it. I don't think that equates to encouraging people with unpolished mss to query everyone.

The Lonely One said, An influx of crap means more of the good writing will get less attention. That's probably the true tragedy of it all.

That assumes that slush readers cannot determine what is good writing from what is not.

I guarantee you that is not the case.

If anything, the influx of crap increases the chances that the pony in the manure pile is going to stand out that much more.

I mean, if there's a manure pile, there must be a pony in there somewhere, right? Well, it's the slush reader's job to wade through that pile looking for the pony.