Seanan McGuire (seanan_mcguire) wrote,
Seanan McGuire
seanan_mcguire

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3 myths about writing.

Just three days remain before the official North American release of A Local Habitation [Amazon]|[Mysterious Galaxy], which has been cropping up in stores around the US as we get closer and closer to release day. It's been fun, in that way of things that are both glorious and flat-out terrifying. Whee!

In honor of day three, and because I am a predictable creature, I give you today's entry in the countdown. Enjoy.

3 Myths About Writing.

3. Writing is easy. After all, we all have ideas, and we're all smart people, so we should all be able to write books, right? Sadly, this is not the case. Writing may be easy, but writing well is damn hard, and even with as much practice as I've had, I'm constantly aware of how much more practice I need if I want to get really good. Whoever first said that it was ten percent inspiration, ninety percent perspiration was very right. This does not relieve my urge to punch them in the nose.

2. All real writers are inaccessible and intellectually difficult. I periodically get people asking me when I'll stop writing to "what's hot" and start writing what's in my heart. You know what? My heart is full of fairy tales and zombies and blonde girls in high heels kicking monsters in the head. My heart is full of snappy dialog and cinematic tropes and screams in the muggy summer air. I am a real writer. It's just that what I really want to write about is occasionally the Fighting Pumpkins cheer squad, a hitchhiking ghost with a thing for cheeseburgers, and genetically engineered parasites. And that's okay.

1. Good writing will always be recognized. Sadly, this is also not true. There are a lot of books released every year, and a great many of them will be excellent, yet somehow manage to go essentially unnoticed by most of the reading public. This is a crying shame. This is the fear of every working author, at least at the beginning of their careers, because what if you do the best you can do, what if you're hailed as an amazement and a rediscovery of the written word...and you fail anyway? This is why authors are a little bit crazy. Be kind.
Tags: contemplation, making lists, writing
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  • 37 comments
1. Good writing will always be recognized.

In a perfect world, every good book would get the mega word-of-mouth following that Harry Potter and Twilight got. The internet makes it easier to tell everyone you know how much you love Book A, but you've also got everyone you know telling you how much they love Books B, C, and D.

To do my part, I plan on posting about my three favorite current series (Toby, "Love at Stake," and "Sisters of the Moon") sometime this weekend.
And I thank you for it.
And another early ALH spotting -- at the last Walden Books in Arizona. Actually, they had all three books that go in the display, just no display.
Woo!

xanath

7 years ago

fatherofdragons

7 years ago

Re: inspiration/perspiration -- it was Edison, and please, please punch him in the nose. We will all stand up and salute you. He was an annoying man.
Yessir!

alicetheowl

7 years ago

A blonde joke to help relieve the tension.

New Orleans Crabs...

A man boarded an airplane in New Orleans with a box of frozen crabs and asked a blonde, female crew member to take care of the box for him. She took the box and promised to put it in the crew's refrigerator.

He pointedly advised her that he was holding her personally responsible for the crabs staying frozen, mentioned that he was a lawyer, and proceeded to rant at her about what would happen if she let them thaw out.

Needless to say, she was annoyed by his behavior. Shortly before landing in New York , she used the intercom to announce to the entire cabin, "Would the gentleman who gave me the crabs in New Orleans , please raise your hand?"

Not one hand went up ... So she took them home and ate them.

Two lessons here:



1. Men never learn.
2. Blondes aren't dumb
Current music: Tricky Pixie rehearsing in the next room.

*FLAILS WITH ENVY AND ALSO LOVE*

Also, I love you very much for writing the following:

You know what? My heart is full of fairy tales and zombies and blonde girls in high heels kicking monsters in the head.

You are awesome.
Aww. Thank you. :)
Writing is easy.

HA HA HA HA HA HA!

:kneeslapper:
I know, right?

mariadkins

7 years ago

keristor

7 years ago

mariadkins

7 years ago

If writing was easy, I would be a published author by now. Yeah, right. Reading is easy. Especially your books.
Glad you think so. :)
This does not relieve my urge to punch them in the nose.

You'd need a TARDIS or similar... Thomas Edison said it back in 1903; he was quoted posthumously by Harper's in 1932. It is ironic that the perfecter of the light bulb said that, since a light bulb is 10% light and 90% heat...
"Writing is easy. You just stare at the paper until your forehead bleeds." - I've seen this attributed, with various wording, to a bunch of different writers.
And it's always true.
Yeah, anyone that thinks writing is easy needs to try it sometime for something other then emails and leters. Real writing be it fiction, non-fiction, or techinical is hard and unforgiving.

But then there are readers like myself that delight in finding a voice who writes a book that pulls us into their universe, makes us their own play thing on a wild roller coaster, and who leaves us gasping for air at the end of the book and reaching for the next one, that is months away from being get-able.

That is a wonderful way of putting things. Thank you!
If writing was easy, I would have at least finished a novel by now. I might have even finished a trilogy. And change. That would be niiice... That would be awesome.
People are so strange. 'Writing a novel is easy.' 'Wasn't learning Chinese really hard?' I've not had as much trouble with the latter as the former. Also, Chinese words are pretty.

seanan_mcguire

7 years ago

Yep, writing's easy. That's why I'm nearly four years over my original deadline trying to finish this one book. Never mind the other three or five manuscripts I've got to work on as well.

"But you finished three manuscripts when you were younger!" Ahah. Key word there: younger. When I didn't know beans from bullshit about the craft, and thought I could turn out long, wordy monologues to make up for the lack of description, use description instead of characterization, and use characters to make up for not having anything resembling motive or plot. Yeah, back then. ::facepalms:: Sorry, do not want.

I finished A Local Habitation last night. :D I've got some sketches to do and a few more chapters to revise, and then I'm off to do a few reviews. Loved it.
I totally get your do not want. I, too, was faster before I learned to be slow.

Glad you enjoyed A Local Habitation!
Fighting Pumpkins cheer squad, a hitchhiking ghost with a thing for cheeseburgers, and genetically engineered parasites.

If that fits the category of "what's hot" I am inclined to view that as a positive review of the state of Western Civilization.

Amazon has delivered my preordered copy of "A Local Habitation" though I have not yet read it.
Woo-hoo!
(here via jongibbs Friday favs)

"I periodically get people asking me when I'll stop writing to "what's hot"
and start writing what's in my heart."

Jo March syndrome. Dear Jo was impossibly happy writing and publishing her highwaymen tales of pirates and swashbucklers until that freaking Prof. Bhaer came along and told her she'd never be a real writer until she wrote 'what was in her heart.'

Gag me. I always hated Prof. Bhaer.

Thanks for a great post.
Very welcome.

(I hated him, too.)
Well, that would be the reply I would give to anyone who tells me to 'stop writing that generic high fantasy stuff and write what you love'. Because that is what I love--warrior princesses, good-hearted thieves, prophecies, supernatural creatures, ect. Not to mention throwing in a few other things, like a housemaid running around shooting plant ghouls with a pistol and a quirky half-naaid emperor being stalked by his evil-sorceress ex-girlfriend. I have weird ideas sometimes.