![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
It seems like anyone publishing or reading your work wants to know how you, the author, categorizes your fiction. I don't like the boxes. I use them because they're easy and people understand them: love stories, sci-fi stories, fantasy stories, shy girl meets dangerous guy, earth battles invading alien forces, boy discovers he's a special wizard.
*Sigh*
I want my novel to be more than that, more than the space reserved in the pigeonhole lineup of countless books being pitched to agents and sold to readers. Essentially then, what every writer wants to write is a breakout novel. Not the big publicity team, not the shiny cover, but a story that will rock readers worlds so hard that they're left wondering how you did it and when you can do it again.
And so, I forge ahead to work on book #2 the best I can and each time I stop and start, I feel like I get closer. That's why, with all the fear of rejection from readers, agents, and editors, writers just can't stop writing because we love what we do and there's always this impression that we're getting closer to creating something special.
What a great feeling to stand over a cliff, hanging in the moment right before a big jump!
Can you tell I'm looking forward to going home and working on book #2 tonight? :) I will take a break for Grey's Anatomy though.
I'm not one of those writers who hates TV. I don't mind watching a good drama/comedy (Grey's Anatomy, thy name is Love) and it feels good to settle in for a Law and Order, Twilight Zone, or Star Trek marathon when the weather is too cold and dreary or too hot and balmy to play outside.
Now that the current television season is going on hiatus for the slew of summer reality shows (ick), I'm sad that a few of the shows I found interesting and/or entertaining are not coming back:
"Miss Guided" (aired just seven episodes on ABC)
"Jericho" (ran for one season on CBS, got cancelled; fans protested; CBS brought it back only to cancel it for good after the second and final season)
"Moonlight" (ran just one season on CBS)
Now, my tastes run across the board. I like comedies, mysteries, dramas, sci-fi (Battlestar Galactica, you ARE my father!) so I always look forward to my favorites returning and discovering something new. I liken it to picking up a book recommendation.
After reading this article posted on Jade's blog, I realized just how similar Hollywood's movie and New York's publishing industries are.
Beginning writers are often in the same position as new television shows. Beginning writers need local and national publicity--so does a new series. Beginning writers long for the perfect place on a library or bookstore display shelf--television shows live and die by the days and times they're aired. Sometimes too much hype will turn a reader off--sometimes, television shows are best left at short 2 minute intervals. (Hello, Geico Cavemen!)
The comparison goes on and on because right down to it, both industries are driven by profits. They have to make money, which means that if sales or viewership aren't up to par, executives will cut their losses.
Regardless of these cuts, there will always be a new television season with new lineups, or a publisher hoping to showcase new voices. Here's to many new seasons for all writers, new and previously published!
*Sigh*
I want my novel to be more than that, more than the space reserved in the pigeonhole lineup of countless books being pitched to agents and sold to readers. Essentially then, what every writer wants to write is a breakout novel. Not the big publicity team, not the shiny cover, but a story that will rock readers worlds so hard that they're left wondering how you did it and when you can do it again.
And so, I forge ahead to work on book #2 the best I can and each time I stop and start, I feel like I get closer. That's why, with all the fear of rejection from readers, agents, and editors, writers just can't stop writing because we love what we do and there's always this impression that we're getting closer to creating something special.
What a great feeling to stand over a cliff, hanging in the moment right before a big jump!
Can you tell I'm looking forward to going home and working on book #2 tonight? :) I will take a break for Grey's Anatomy though.
I'm not one of those writers who hates TV. I don't mind watching a good drama/comedy (Grey's Anatomy, thy name is Love) and it feels good to settle in for a Law and Order, Twilight Zone, or Star Trek marathon when the weather is too cold and dreary or too hot and balmy to play outside.
Now that the current television season is going on hiatus for the slew of summer reality shows (ick), I'm sad that a few of the shows I found interesting and/or entertaining are not coming back:
"Miss Guided" (aired just seven episodes on ABC)
"Jericho" (ran for one season on CBS, got cancelled; fans protested; CBS brought it back only to cancel it for good after the second and final season)
"Moonlight" (ran just one season on CBS)
Now, my tastes run across the board. I like comedies, mysteries, dramas, sci-fi (Battlestar Galactica, you ARE my father!) so I always look forward to my favorites returning and discovering something new. I liken it to picking up a book recommendation.
After reading this article posted on Jade's blog, I realized just how similar Hollywood's movie and New York's publishing industries are.
Beginning writers are often in the same position as new television shows. Beginning writers need local and national publicity--so does a new series. Beginning writers long for the perfect place on a library or bookstore display shelf--television shows live and die by the days and times they're aired. Sometimes too much hype will turn a reader off--sometimes, television shows are best left at short 2 minute intervals. (Hello, Geico Cavemen!)
The comparison goes on and on because right down to it, both industries are driven by profits. They have to make money, which means that if sales or viewership aren't up to par, executives will cut their losses.
Regardless of these cuts, there will always be a new television season with new lineups, or a publisher hoping to showcase new voices. Here's to many new seasons for all writers, new and previously published!
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
From:
no subject
Yay optimism! Good to hear as we work away at our next novels. :)
"there's always this impression that we're getting closer to creating something special."
I agree! That's what makes it so addictive, right? It's a good feeling.
From:
no subject
From:
Your Story
Keep writing! I'm enjoying it.
And I promise to get my critique in today!
From:
Re: Your Story