Monday 7 December 2009

The Golden Opportunity for Unpublished Writer

As I was sitting in the bus today, brainstorming a script idea for my WB assignment, the thoughts behind the title of this post came to me. I have never attempted a script before. While I don't mind trying it, my dream remains to write books. But I am glad that I am going to try this. Just as I am glad that I have tried poems, short stories of various genres and novels in various genres. This is the golden opportunity we have as unpublished writers. Currently, we don't have any writing income so we don't expect it. However you are paying the bills, it doesn't depend on the story you write. So right now, you have the freedom to try whatever the hell you want. You have the freedom to experiment. See if you find yourself falling in love with a genre or a form that you never considered before. If your book gets published tomorrow (congratulations), it's fantastic, and possibly your dream come true. But with that publication, there will be expectations. Your agent/publisher/reader will want to see similar things from you - unless you write mainstream fiction. Yes, you can write different things and you can diversify, but I don't think you can do that after just one book. You need to give people a chance to recognize your name as a brand name. So if your first book is a mystery, the chances are, everyone wants your second book to be a mystery too. But what if you suddenly fancy writing a science fiction? Well, you can't. At least not without spending a whole lot of extra time, because you have got a deadline for a mystery novel. But right now, while you are unpublished, you can write absolutely anything you want. You can take the time to decide what you enjoy writing most. You can take the time develop ideas that might not go anywhere, or even take the time to find new ideas even though you already have fifty of them waiting. So my point behind all the rambling is that as much as we want to get published, let's not forget to enjoy this period of being unpublished. The analogy that comes to mind is about single people - ok fine, single women - who worry a lot about finding the right man before a certain clock stops that they forget to enjoy the freedom of single life. When you are married, you will have the experiences of married life, so while you are waiting for the right man to come along, you might as well have fun being unattached. Same thing with writing. Publication will bring its own joys and pains, but until then, enjoy the journey to publication. Learn. Grow. Experiment. WRITE.

8 comments:

  1. Such good advice! How fitting for writing, but for any creative business/passion actually! :) The don't let yourself be pigeon holed mentality. :) Write for YOU instead of writing for what we deem the masses. Those are great thoughts to close out 2009!!

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  2. So true. When I was single, I loved being single. I was never one of those "must find a husband right NOW" kind of women. Now that I'm married, I enjoy being married.

    The gist of it being, be content with where one is *now*. Live in the present, not in the past or future.

    I think often of all the responsibilities that will come should I ever get published - scary stuff, that. And I do fall into the "trap" of wanting be published yesterday, but only because I'm dissatisfied with my current job. It's a fine line to walk though.

    Good reminder.

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  3. Good post. I write short-short stories I hope will be published, but I also experiment with writing I find interesting. Sometimes an editor gets confused and publishes one of those too. :) Knowing what an editor/agent wants isn't always easy to figure out. I hope this site will help writers in that regard -- http://sixquestionsfor.blogspot.com/.

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  4. What a nice post. I've had a lot of teachers tell me this exact same thing. I think that, when we do get published, the key is to keep this sort of mindset because they only way to produce good writing, at least in my opinion, so to follow whatever it is you are excited about, even if it doesn't make good business sense.

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  5. Thank you all. I am quite surprised this post got such a response, because I thought it was just a bit of rambling. But nice to hear that you guys feel the same.

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  6. Great post and very true. I am enjoying this part. I wrote a mystery, an adult paranormal and now YA paranormal. I think YA is where my heart is, but I wouldn't have known that had I not written those other drafts!

    Sometimes I do wish for that single girl to resurface- she was a bit more spunky and skinnier...LOL :o)

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  7. Erica,

    I miss the skinny part too ;)

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  8. Don't we all ;o) I swear I turned 30 and my body went to hell!

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