The real business of writing is "writing"
July 28, 2008
I recently got an e-mail from a writer who said she wanted to get started; but she had no idea how agents and publishers and editors worked. The short answer is, of course, agents and publishers and editors have nothing to do with writing. They have to do with the “business” of writing. Anyway, here’s a bit of my reply:
Being a writer is the simplest thing in the world. You can start right now if you want. Ask yourself what it is that writers do…then do it. And do it every day. Writing is a "practice." Being a writer is also a "way of being" in the world. You move through your life differently. You observe – you're curious about everything, you listen to conversations….you dream and you are always asking: "what if?" And you like to play with words. You like the sound of words. You like experimenting with words. You will, if you be a writer long enough, run into doctors or accountants at parties who will say stupid things like: "I'm going to write a novel when I retire." -- which totally negates the years of hard work and "practice" you've been doing. They don't know what they're saying. Try to resist the urge to punch them. They likely won't write anything. I use the word "practice" on purpose. Because this is a "practice," just like a doctor's practice. As for agents, and publishers and editors… these are all down the road. They come along after you've written something. Simply though…Agents represent your work to the world. They usually want an exclusive contract which states that anything you produce while you are with them, they get to try and sell. They have connections to publishers and they will give publishers a deadline (which is something writers alone can't do). They usually charge 15 per cent. Some of the bigger publishers won't accept manuscripts unless it comes through an agent. This probably saves them a lot of time. Publishers buy your work by offering you an advance against sales -- which you never have to pay back. Then, the writer gets a certain percentage of the sale price of each book (called a royalty)…but this only kicks in once the advance has been covered. There are a range of publishers in Canada from small, to huge. Most of us start off with a small press. Editors work for the publishers. They will work with the writer to help make an already pretty good book better. They'll move things around, ask hard questions, make suggestions…and the writer looks at this and decides what to do. I have been lucky so far, in that most of my editors have understood what it is I was trying to do (sometimes they understood it better than I did – or they reminded me of what was at the heart of the book when it started out…). These are "substantive" editors. They worry about the content. They make sure everything makes sense…that the story works. Later on, a copy editor will go through the book word-by-word to make sure everything is spelled right….and so on. (But your writing should be almost error free…Never send a manuscript off with spelling mistakes….or typos…this is unprofessional and you always want to be professional).
The Bottom Line
The first thing is to write something brilliant -- something wonderful…and all the rest will fall into place. It really is about capturing the imaginations/hearts/ or stirring the curiosity of readers with your first line, your first paragraph, your first page....The best way to learn how to write is to write. Write every day. And read everything you can get your hands on. Every genre. Books. Websites. Magazines. Poetry. Tx msgs. If you read something that blows you away, figure out how the writer did it. There are some good books on writing that I love: 1) Natalie Goldberg's Writing Down the Bones is great. 2) On Writing by Stephen King is brilliant. 3) Negotiating with the Dead by Margaret Atwood is my favourite. This is horribly incomplete. Others (the above books for a short list) have said all of this with more eloquence, elegance and assuredness. I hope this helps a bit. Writing is a wonderful practice. There’s nothing like that feeling of fulfilled emptiness after a great morning of writing.
2 Comments
2. Moira had this to say: Aug 11, 2008 ~ 10:52 ~ #
A cabin on the lake at Nakusp, a good book, our dearest friends just two doors down, and my lovely husband. Life doesn’t get any better than that.
I just wanted to thank you for writing the ‘good book’ part of my vacation. Our friends had already read it & loved it, so I thought you’d like to know.