Writing to Sell, Part II
As I said in my last post on this topic, Robert Jordan once told me to only write what I wanted, and to ignore what fans and patrons wanted from me.
With all due respect to a giant of fantasy literature whom I admire greatly, Mr. Jordan was wrong.
On the other hand, some of my friends, and even marketing people and editors I deal with now seem to think that the needs and wants of the market should be a writer’s first and foremost concern.
With all due respect to these experienced industry professionals, they are wrong, too. As with everything in life, the true path lies in moderation.
When I was in High School, I had an art teacher, Mr. Blackburn, who profoundly affected me. I found him harsh and off-putting at first, because he treated his students like adults, and demanded that they respect him and themselves enough to really make an effort in a class many people took to just coast to an A.
But when I look back at a lot of the artistic values I now hold dear, a great many of them come from that class. Take care in both the creation and the presentation of your work. Don’t take shortcuts. Think and prepare before you start putting anything on the paper or canvas. And if you’re going to break “the rules”, that’s fine, but not until you have mastered them.
Writing to Sell is my rulebook, and even though I often choose to ignore its advice, I do it with an understanding of how it will alter story structure in a way that will hopefully lead me to a desired result.
So let’s talk about the book a bit. First off, it’s very obvious that it was written in the 50’s, with sections about cleaning your typewriter ribbon and references to a wife’s role in the kitchen that you just have to forgive as part of being written in another time when things were a little different than today. To the casual reader, these things may be a sign that Meredith’s advice on writing is dated as well, but I heartily disagree. Even the sections on typewriter care teach good values that can be applied to the modern day. Defrag your computers and run a virus scan, people!
The first four chapters of the book discuss writing in very general terms, and give insight into the publishing industry and how it works. For a book written half a century ago before the computer revolution, it is amazing how little has changed. By lifting this veil, Meredith personalizes those nameless, faceless people who judge others’ writing and act as the gatekeepers to fame and fortune. He reminds the would-be author that while their script may be the most important thing in the world to them, it is just one of many sitting on the editor’s desk, and they have a LOT of work do do on scripts they’ve already bought before they can sit down, usually on their own free time, to read through submissions. Cut them some slack and don’t take it personally if they send you a form letter rejection.
Chapter five is probably the most important, in my opinion. I can sum it up in 4 words: Shut up and write.
Writers, and I know this from personal experience, are always looking for excuses not to write. Writing is hard, and we convince ourselves that it is this magical well we can only tap if a long list of circumstances are just so, and that the quality of our work will suffer if they are otherwise.
This is bullshit. No one cares if you are tired, or hung over, or the kids are making a racket in the next room. It doesn’t matter where you are, or if you are writing on your favorite computer, a crappy laptop, your cellphone, or a legal pad. If you’re serious about being a professional writer, quit your bitching and get to work. You’ll find that when you read it later, the writing you produced under strained circumstances is not significantly different in quality from what you produced when wearing your lucky sweatpants in an empty house with your special music playing. Meredith also offers suggestions to help kick-start you in strained circumstances. Different things work for different folks, but it’s a good exercise to experiment and see what works for you.
Chapter 6 is one of the dated ones I mentioned, talking about typewriter care and the like, but do yourself a favor and don’t skip it. In addition to several pieces of advice that are as true today as in 1950, the essence of the chapter, taking pride in the mechanics and presentation of your work, is an important one. If you don’t care enough about your manuscript to make it presentable and easy for people to read, why should an editor or agent care about it, either?
Okay, that’s enough on WTS for now. I have a book to write myself. I’ll get into story structure with part 3 of this gods-only-know-how-many-parts-series.
Wow; I hadn’t even seen that cover! WRITING TO SELL was revised at least twice, a newer Harper edition in the 70s or 80s, and then for a Writer’s Digest Books edition in the mid 1990s. I don’t know if the chapters are the same in all of those. The middle edition would still talk about typewriters and the like, but the one from the 1990s was updated a little so the chapter talks almost interchangeably about cleaning the keys on the typewriter and then midway thru switches to a discussion of printer ribbons.
Shortly before I was fired from the Scott Meredith agency in 1994, I was a little surprised that I wasn’t invited in to a meeting the agency’s owner Arthur Klebanoff had with the head of Writer’s Digest; it was the kind of meeting/subject matter that I was usually part of. But I buttonholed the WD guy in the hall and suggested he consider doing something with the book. I’m not sure the 1995 edition would have come about otherwise; I doubt reissuing the book was high on Arthur’s mind. Of course within a few weeks time I was able to discern why I hadn’t been invited to the meeting…
Yeah, I have the 1987 version myself, which was the second revision. Meredith mentions word processors, but you can almost see the words “new-fangled” written between the lines.
I first experienced the “shut up and write” argument from physical exercise. The human body has the same binary relationship that art does. It doesn’t care if you’re tired or not in the mood. You either put in the gym time and it develops, or you don’t and it doesn’t.
It’s a powerful lesson. Victor Davis Hanson’s essay on “resistance” (in ‘The War of Art’ which I think I sent you) puts it rather eloquently.
I was pretty shocked to find in my copy that Meredith argues against doing histories and/or background work on characters, unlike every other writing book I’ve read. I guess to him, plot dictates everything, including who your characters are, so knowing your plot is all that matters. I guess if a writer has what-my-character-ate-for-breakfast-itis, Writing to Sell is the proper shot in the arm. Good medicine for look-how-cool-my-world-is-itis as well.
Yeah, that’s one of the things I diverge somewhat from Meredith on, but I think he has good reasons for feeling as he does, and I will discuss that when I next post on this topic.