Labels: advice for writers, ego, humility
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Colleen Coble writes romantic suspense with a strong atmospheric element. A lovable animal of some kind--usually a dog--always populates her novels. She can be bribed with DeBrand mocha truffles.
Denise Hunter writes women's fiction and love stories with a strong emotional element. Her husband says he provides her with all her romantic material, but Denise insists a good imagination helps too.
Diann Hunt writes romantic comedy and humorous women's fiction. She has been happily married forever, loves her family, chocolate, her friends, chocolate, her dog, and well, chocolate.
Cheryl Hodde writes romantic medical suspense under the pen name of Hannah Alexander, using all the input she can get from her husband, Mel, for the medical expertise. For fun she hikes and reads. Out of guilt, she rescues discarded cats. She and Mel are presently taking orders from four pampered strays.
8 Comments:
I’m sure I have no room to talk. I suspect I come across that way, but my sister is the only one with nerve enough to say anything.
But as someone who doesn’t have 40 books to his name, let me say that it seems to me that the industry conditions people to be like the woman you described. Rule #1 is that you don’t ask someone what they think of your story, because they don’t have time to tell you. Rule #2 is that you must have an elevator pitch. Rule #3 is that you must stand behind your work, even when no one else will. Rule #4 is that you must have a list of famous authors who will write blurbs for your book. By the time you do all of that, there isn’t much room for humility.
Okay, who are you and what happened to the real Timothy Fish? After two years you're finally showing us a little of your real self? What you do is learn to do these things with modesty (fake it if you have to.) And when you're with other writers, let your guard down. You're not with them to promote yourself, you're there to share your ups and downs. Yes, promote online, but if you do too much of that it comes across wrong. Find other writers you like and promote each other. And having a list of famous authors who will write a blurb? I'm sorry, but I'd find another editor. If they can't trust their own instincts about your book, they shouldn't be editors.
So with writers, don't promote. Just be yourself. You need friends, not fans, in the writing community.
Sorry for butting in, Kris ;-)
Fake modesty. Okay, that one caught be off guard. I don’t even know where to go with that one. I mean, yeah, you’re absolutely right that there’s no reason for all that among fellow authors. But it isn’t quite so simple.
One of the fascinating truths of life is that when you’re in the limelight you never see yourself as important, but those watching do. The unpublished author with the big ego probably looked at the published author of 40 books and saw her as an important person with important friends in the industry who could potentially kick start her career. Naturally, the other side of that exchange looks at the unpublished author and sees a peer.
VERy Cool SHOT!
Timothy, trust me, she did not see me that way. In fact, most unpublished say to themselves, oh she only publishes for the CHRISTIAN market, what does she know? Or worse yet, that I write ROMANCE -- which these types generally view with disdain. Some of the most talented writers out there write genre fiction. And they make good money at it, but these people think they're Shakespeare. (Who I don't personally care for. LOL)
I'm not trying to be negative here either. And I didn't want her to gush over me at all. I wanted her to think about the BUSINESS of writing. It doesn't matter how genius you are, you still need to think about the business of it. Even if you plan to self-publish, how can you ensure you won't lose your shirt to a bad publishing company?
She had been with all these Hollywood types (famous behind the scenes people) and she went on and on about how they don't tell you who they are! But she found out.
That's because it can be hard for that kind of big writer to NOT be used. (Not that I would know.)
I don't think anyone should quit. I think writing is good for the soul. I think real writers would write if no one read a WORD. But if your only goal is publication, you have to think about the business/marketing aspect of a publisher.
Kristen,
I'll write that off as a bad assumption on my part. I assumed she was something like so many of the unpublished authors I encounter who are so anxious to get published and when someone who looks even remotely respectable says something about the way writing should be, they start patting the person on the back and saying, "Yes, that's right. I try to do that in my writing." But you can tell that they didn't think through what the person was saying.
I've been nervous and made a fool out of myself in front of writers and editors. That's par for the course. LOL
Oh! That reminds me of one time at a conference at lunch. Mel was attending with me. I got my food first and found a seat beside Francine Rivers, because I'd met her previously and found in her a comforting presence--someone who never looks down at less published authors. We were talking away when Mel joined me. He was trying to figure out who I was talking to, so he checked her badge. His eyes bugged out and he tapped me on the arm. "Sweetheart," he whispered, "do you know who you're talking to?" Overcome with excitement, before I could reply, he leaned across in front of me and said to Francine, "Do you KNOW who you ARE?"
And then there's the time he chased Jerry Jenkins down the hall at CBA (when it was CBA) asking to take his picture. I hid.
The best thing to do as a writer wanting to be better published is attend conferences, be truly humble about your own work, and be willing to rewrite.
I once sent a manuscript to Frank Peretti, early in my writing years. It's humiliating now to think about it.
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