Amanita
Maester
This is a question I’ve been asking myself after reading the recent ”žPublishing Myths“ thread and after reading the newest book I’ve bought.
Are we putting too much pressure on ourselves while striving for perfection? Reading through this and other forums on writing you only have a chance of getting published if you write a book in perfect style (whatever this is supposed to mean), edit countless times, accept claims by other people that your writing is bad, that you’re a beginner and change it in ways others think are necessary. And then we’re asking ourselves why books like Twilight, Harry Potter or Eragon gain such success while doing so many things wrong.
The last book I’ve read is a German fantasy book by a new author. It’s the first book of a trilogy with a rather open ending. The protagonists have reached an insight and are save for the moment, but the problems aren’t even nearly solved. The author has a strong tendency to start including philosophical thoughts that don’t really suit the viewpoint characters. (An illiterate soldier and a young nomadic herdsman.) Those are distracting from the plot and I tended to skip them. I’d surely have pointed this out as a thing to change on the Showcase and most of you probably would have done the same.
Still, this book has been published by a mayor German publishing house and has even made it to my small town bookstore with its two rows of fantasy books. And despite of the flaws that were noticeable, I really liked the story and characters and will probably read the sequels when they come out.
The book could have been even better if he had changed some things, but it was received well enough the way it was. A quest for personal improvement would require eradicating such flaws of course, but the wish to get your story published obviously does not.
Some books with even worse stylistic flaws are out there and bought and I don’t know what makes those writers reach the goal that so many authors fail to reach.
The thought that the best and hardest workers will win out in the end, is a comforting one of course, and the idea that it might be mere lack or good connections is not, but I’m not sure if it really applies in this business and I’m wondering if many of us aren’t standing in our own way by overanalyzing and criticizing and spending time on this that might be better spent writing.
What are your thoughts?
Are we putting too much pressure on ourselves while striving for perfection? Reading through this and other forums on writing you only have a chance of getting published if you write a book in perfect style (whatever this is supposed to mean), edit countless times, accept claims by other people that your writing is bad, that you’re a beginner and change it in ways others think are necessary. And then we’re asking ourselves why books like Twilight, Harry Potter or Eragon gain such success while doing so many things wrong.
The last book I’ve read is a German fantasy book by a new author. It’s the first book of a trilogy with a rather open ending. The protagonists have reached an insight and are save for the moment, but the problems aren’t even nearly solved. The author has a strong tendency to start including philosophical thoughts that don’t really suit the viewpoint characters. (An illiterate soldier and a young nomadic herdsman.) Those are distracting from the plot and I tended to skip them. I’d surely have pointed this out as a thing to change on the Showcase and most of you probably would have done the same.
Still, this book has been published by a mayor German publishing house and has even made it to my small town bookstore with its two rows of fantasy books. And despite of the flaws that were noticeable, I really liked the story and characters and will probably read the sequels when they come out.
The book could have been even better if he had changed some things, but it was received well enough the way it was. A quest for personal improvement would require eradicating such flaws of course, but the wish to get your story published obviously does not.
Some books with even worse stylistic flaws are out there and bought and I don’t know what makes those writers reach the goal that so many authors fail to reach.
The thought that the best and hardest workers will win out in the end, is a comforting one of course, and the idea that it might be mere lack or good connections is not, but I’m not sure if it really applies in this business and I’m wondering if many of us aren’t standing in our own way by overanalyzing and criticizing and spending time on this that might be better spent writing.
What are your thoughts?