Agh.... Is this rude to do?

mirrorkisses · May 2, 2008

I know that a lot of editors also post/read as well as general writers, so I have to ask a bit of advice concerning "the real world" and being a writer.
I was reading this snark post
http://misssnark.blogspot.com/2007/03/unpubbed-novelssocial-pariah.html

I never talk about my current work in public, except to say I'm working on a novel, or how much I've written. I only discuss it if a person asks, and then not much at all, because I tend to have a complex about it.

But when it comes to talking about writing, I go on and on about it. I am an intern right now, and I intern at a small publisher full of writers/post-english majors, and I guess I talk about writing so much because I feel really happy to finally be around people in real life that also write. (I never talked about writing so much at other jobs.) So... Is this considered rude for me to talk so much about my love of writing, or that I am interested in getting published?

BTW, it's clear to them that I am not in publishing for the benefit of an "in" to get published, and I would never talk about my novel to them to try to get them to publish me, which would just be really unprofessional. It's very obvious that I love editing.

Matera the Mad · May 2, 2008

I think the blogpost is pretty good advice, as far as talk in general social situations. I don't talk to very many people about my interesting educational experiences with my computer for the same reasons. In the right setting, with the right people -- and that will not be the same for everyone -- one can babble happily away all day. That's what forums are for

Shweta · May 2, 2008

My sense is that it's easy enough to tell enthusiasm apart from pushiness, and surely enthusiastic new people are a good thing.

But my sense is also that when we are enthusiastic, we might overestimate other people's interest. So maybe watch for signs that other people are maybe not as involved in the topic? Do they talk about writing as much as you do? Are they listening with their eyes gleaming, or glancing at the clock? I'm learning to look at stuff like that with my family

icerose · May 2, 2008

If people ask, I tell. I'm pretty enthusiastic about my work. Now if I could just get my confidence to match it...

ishtar'sgate · May 2, 2008

I don't bring up the subject but if people ask I'll talk to them about it - at least until their eyes glaze over

Linnea

A. J. Luxton · May 2, 2008

Ehh, I have an opposite problem -- random people ask me about what I'm working on when I don't really want to be talking about it. They get all excited, and I just want to go hide: listening to people talk about a work-in-progress is sort of painful for me -- embarrassing, in the way of, I don't know, having a younger sibling try to watch when you're having sex. Sort of spoils the moment if you don't keep the door shut tight and locked.

I usually prepare a canned answer that doesn't invite much questioning or involves prattle about worldbuilding.

Honestly, I suspect this problem will crop up less now that I've finished the MFA. During it, people kept asking me what I was doing in school ("writing") ("writing what?") ("a novel")...

A very few times, during the course of a thing, I'll have a productive conversation about it with other writers or creative types.

Phaeal · May 3, 2008

Heh, I saw two cool things yesterday, but talking about them made my lunch companion's eyes glaze over. The first was a big guy in a Red Sox T-shirt immersed in Confessions of a Shopaholic. I said, "Whoa, look! A jock reading chick-lit." My friend nodded absently and, being in the right mood, I said, "You don't even know what chick-lit is, do you?" To which he replied, "Nope." Me: "Then why didn't you ask?" He: "Because I didn't care."

Then, in the parking lot, I saw a great window sticker on a car: just the outline of the famous Archaeopteryx fossil uncovered in the Solnhofen limestone in Bavaria. No text to tell what it was, but unmistakeable to the paleontology geek (guilty!) I said, "Hey, look! Archaeopteryx!"*

He was not impressed.

Well, unfortunately, talking about your writing to most people is about as productive.

* I want a window sticker of Anomalocaris.

Jackfishwoman · May 3, 2008

I only speak publically about my writing when I'm asked.... and even then, it is hard for me to verbalize.

But it sure is nice to be able to *gab with my fingers* with other writers here on AW forum!

mirrorkisses · May 3, 2008

well I feel a little better now after hearing what you all think. The snark post got me a bit worried, but I guess she's more referring to talking about an unpublished novel as if it were your best friend and you have nothing else to talk about, heh, which I know I don't do.

mirrorkisses · May 3, 2008

Jackfishwoman said:
I only speak publically about my writing when I'm asked.... and even then, it is hard for me to verbalize.

But it sure is nice to be able to *gab with my fingers* with other writers here on AW forum!

yeah, here is the only place I feel secure talking about my work. I get really insecure talking to others about my writing (who aren't writers) because they expect that Ive got a plethora of works, and a lot of people ask to read them... Other people just don't care.

Smiling Ted · May 3, 2008

It's interesting. I have the opposite problem. I used to have to restrain myself from going into my pitch when people asked me, back when I was writing screenplays. Now, after more than a year alone in a room working on a novel, I feel like a castaway who's just been dumped onto Fifth Avenue: clumsy, thick-tongued, unable to articulate. And not all that interested in what they have to say. Maybe that will change...

Agh.... Is this rude to do?

mirrorkisses

Matera the Mad

Bartender, gimme a Linux Mint

Shweta

Sick and absent

icerose

Lost in School Work

ishtar'sgate

living in the past

A. J. Luxton

Wibbly-Wobbly. Timey-Wimey.

Phaeal

Whatever I did, I didn't do it.

Jackfishwoman

mirrorkisses

mirrorkisses

Smiling Ted

Ah-HA!