C
Chessie
Guest
Hi fellow Scribes. This area of the forums seemed like the appropriate place for my question: what constitutes a new/inexperienced writer?
This morning, I was reading a writer's blog and one of her posts left me wondering. It was a post on how writers benefit from writing short fiction. She says that, instead of focusing on novel length works, new writers should do mostly shorts and learn how to write. She then goes on to say how selling short fiction makes more of a return than novel works, BUT that NEW writers shouldn't self-publish their works and by no means was she suggesting that they do. She was pretty adamant about that...and it confused me after her post.
So, I guess this thread is meant to start a discussion of some sort and also gain some clarity. Like, I don't consider myself a new writer. I've been at this writing thing since basically childhood, and although I haven't published anything, I have had short stories recognized in contests before. (Always a bridesmaid, but never a bride) But because I am unpublished, I shouldn't try to get my short stories self-pubbed either according to her post. Yet, I have written A LOT and I have queried in the past...so because I haven't been published I'm still considered inexperienced?
Her post angered me a bit. Why go on giving advice suggesting that new writers should do something and then say "hey, this isn't for you. You should put in 10,000 hours of writing before you try to publish anything". I found this post discouraging. So much so, that I clicked out of the blog after having read other posts of hers all morning (she shall remain anonymous).
Maybe I misunderstood her message, but I don't think so. What do you folks think? It would be lovely to gain some clarity on this.
This morning, I was reading a writer's blog and one of her posts left me wondering. It was a post on how writers benefit from writing short fiction. She says that, instead of focusing on novel length works, new writers should do mostly shorts and learn how to write. She then goes on to say how selling short fiction makes more of a return than novel works, BUT that NEW writers shouldn't self-publish their works and by no means was she suggesting that they do. She was pretty adamant about that...and it confused me after her post.
So, I guess this thread is meant to start a discussion of some sort and also gain some clarity. Like, I don't consider myself a new writer. I've been at this writing thing since basically childhood, and although I haven't published anything, I have had short stories recognized in contests before. (Always a bridesmaid, but never a bride) But because I am unpublished, I shouldn't try to get my short stories self-pubbed either according to her post. Yet, I have written A LOT and I have queried in the past...so because I haven't been published I'm still considered inexperienced?
Her post angered me a bit. Why go on giving advice suggesting that new writers should do something and then say "hey, this isn't for you. You should put in 10,000 hours of writing before you try to publish anything". I found this post discouraging. So much so, that I clicked out of the blog after having read other posts of hers all morning (she shall remain anonymous).
Maybe I misunderstood her message, but I don't think so. What do you folks think? It would be lovely to gain some clarity on this.