One of my great rants is on why authors should not teach "how to get published" workshops. The flip side is I don't think agents should teach "how to write novels" seminars either ... unless they are published novelists.
I'm not a novelist. The closest I come to feeling your writing pain is doing long form blog posts, and I only do those once a week.
I do however keep my eye peeled for interesting posts on the craft of writing because it helps me talk to writers about why something may not work.
Here's one from Susan Adrian's blog on fear.
5 comments:
Hey Janet!
Just make sure, when you get to pick your next life, that you don't sign up to be one of my characters. The poor things never get the easy or carefree path.
Right smart, that Susan is!
What about "total fear of submission to an agent?"....I don't care what anyone says, writing the book, putting thoughts and feelings on paper is the easy part...writing "just the right query" and submission to an agent....that's the heart breaker.
I have an absurd fear of moles.
(The mousey kind, not the hinkies on your face kind.)
Still. I'm not certain how much literary chutzpah and angst I can wring out of that.
Maybe if the mole was carrying a glock...
'The flip side is I don't think agents should teach "how to write novels" seminars either ... unless they are published novelists.'
Good post, but I'm not sure about the point above. Al Zuckerman is an a-list agent (he reps people like Michael Lewis and Ken Follett) and though he's not a novelist he's published a good book teaching writing skills called WRITING THE BLOCKBUSTER NOVEL. You could also extrapolate from your post that editors should not be relied upon for expertise on writing novels, because they're not novelists. But that seems off-base. I think many of us writers would judge advice from agents based on its merits, and also the stature of the person it's coming from.
Post a Comment