Tag Archives: perseverance

The Holy Grail of Creativity

Author's Perspective Doing Good in the World Guest Posts Motivation Self-Awareness Starting a Career The Writing Life No Comments

A guest post by Brian Herbert.

There are many pieces of advice I could give to myself if I were a new writer at the start of my career.  From the perspective of decades later and millions of words in print, there is much I could say about the decisions I have made, the paths I have taken, the worlds I have created, and the characters who inhabit them.  I could encourage the fledgling writer to be observant and keep a journal, to write every day, and to develop a thick skin, so that he doesn’t give up, even in the face of having his stories rejected repeatedly.  I could lengthen this list considerably with tip after tip .  . details about how to plot, how to build character files, how to build suspense, and how to market his stories.  Structural and practical details, and they would be useful.

But there is an even more important piece of advice, one that I consider to be the most valuable of all.

It has been said that a writer should not write for money, that this should not be his first thought when a piece is created.  In this line of reasoning, if he discovers and nurtures his talent, the money is sure to come later.  Eventually, he will receive piles of cash; he just needs to write without getting paid much for a while, and the income will come later.  This advice is interesting on the surface, but if a new writer really has creative integrity, he will not expect the money to come at all.  Such a possibility will not even be in the back of his mind.  He will be engaging in the creative process for an entirely different reason.

In writing, as in art, many people copy the work of professionals they admire.  Art students sit in museums trying to replicate the works of great masters, seeking to learn their painting techniques.  Would-be fantasy writers read Tolkien over and over, and then produce stories that mimic the works of the master.  They say they were “inspired” by Tolkien.  This happens in other literary genres as well—mystery, adventure, romance, science fiction, mainstream.

Many writers are looking for a handy formula, on which they can hang their own words as a sort of façade—a way of masking the fact that they are not being original, and perhaps that they are not capable of being original.  Some musicians do this, and produce works that sound very much like those of others.  It happens throughout society, with one product looking very much like another one.  Automobile after automobile, house after house, commercial after commercial, book after book, movie after movie.

If something sells, it has countless imitators.  But I would tell the new writer that taking this path would be selling his creative soul.  If he were to take that route—be it in art, writing, music, or any other art form—he is not truly being himself; he is trying to become someone else.  The most important thing a writer of integrity can do is to have the courage and honesty to find himself, and to express that self in words.

Originality is a noble goal.

I’m not saying it’s easy to attain this objective.  Corporate publishers want material that is similar to other material they have published “successfully” (i.e. that has made money), and writers naturally fall into that trap.  In order to sell their stories they think they must copy, because another writer has made a name for himself that way, and writers are desperate to be successful, and to be paid well.  So they replicate the works of others (like taking a recipe and changing an ingredient), and make excuses for doing so.  After all, certain ideas are already out there being copied, and writers are getting away with it, so why not jump on the bandwagon?  Why not be “inspired” by a writer you admire?

There are many temptations leading the would-be writer onto that course, telling him to do exactly this.  If he takes the bait, he rationalizes doing so in any number of ways.  People are good at rationalizing, at finding excuses for less-than-noble behavior.

Admittedly, I’m being idealistic, considering the trickiness and laziness of human nature.  But I’m talking about human potential here, about a writer’s own personal potential.  I would encourage him to try going inward, instead of picking the ideas of others like fruit from a tree.  Try going deep inward.  Have the courage and the patience to do this, and see what is there.  Look for integrity and originality, in the deepest regions of personal consciousness.  A person might find a real pearl there, instead of an imitation.

The new writer might ask how this can possibly be accomplished, if he needs to make a living.  The bad news is, that for this approach, he might need to keep his day job for awhile, and perhaps for much longer than that.  Think of the great artists and writers who never found commercial success in their lifetimes, but stuck to what they believed in anyway.  They stayed the course, knowing deep within that they were creating important works, and that one day they would be recognized.  This type of writing from deep within, this type of artistic expression, should not be done for money, not in the near term or in the long term.  It should be done for an entirely different reason.

It should be done for the holy grail of creativity, in a heroic effort to find the writer’s own originality.  It has been said that each of has at least one interesting story to tell, at least one book within each of us.  I would also like to think that each human being has at least one original thought.

I’m not going to tell a new writer how to accomplish this inward journey, only that he should make the attempt for his own sake, no matter how arduous it is.  After all, if I were to provide detailed instructions on how to attain the holy grail of creativity, it would be a formula, and that’s exactly what we are seeking to avoid.

Brian and Jan HerbertGuest Writer Bio:  BRIAN HERBERT is the author of multiple New York Times bestsellers. He has won several literary honors including the New York Times Notable Book Award, and has been nominated for the highest awards in science fiction. In 2003, he published DREAMER OF DUNE, a moving biography of his father Frank Herbert that was a Hugo Award finalist. His acclaimed novels include SIDNEY’S COMET; SUDANNA, SUDANNA; THE RACE FOR GOD; TIMEWEB; THE STOLEN GOSPELS; and MAN OF TWO WORLDS (written with Frank Herbert), in addition to the HELLHOLE Trilogy and thirteen DUNE-series novels co-authored with Kevin J. Anderson.  In 2013, Brian published OCEAN, an epic fantasy novel about environmental issues (co-authored with his wife, Jan). Brian’s highly original SF novel, THE LITTLE GREEN BOOK OF CHAIRMAN RAHMA, was published by Tor Books in July 2014.

It Takes a Tribe

Author's Perspective Doing Good in the World Nancy Greene Reflection Starting a Career The Writing Life 1 Comment

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We get it into our head that writing is a solitary art.When we first dreamed of being a writer, who saw themselves as sitting along in a cabin banging on a typewriter? Come on. I see you over there. Put your hand up. You know it’s true.  Okay, put your hand down. If you were really advanced in your dreaming you’d have acknowledged on the edges that at some point other people come into the picture – an agent, a publisher, the reader. But that was way downstream. This whole creative gig. It could be done alone. Right?

Not.

It’s time we stopped kidding ourselves.

We lose writers – good writers – every day from the profession because they “go it alone.” While actually putting your butt in a chair and writing will almost always be a solo activity (even in a collaboration you are responsible for writing your part) the path that leads you to your keyboard and beyond is filled with other people. Spouses, significant others, and friends give us support, we may bounce ideas or our outline off them. We confer with experts to ensure our writing is accurate enough to be believable. We work with dozens of people to hone the story, the prose, the cover, the blurb, and all the lovely marketing bits. We need our readers.

But the biggest thing your writing tribe does is keep you going when you are in a low spot.

This past week I was in a low spot. I’d been rejected from two anthologies.   Two of my stories had been rejected from different anthologies.  I was sincerely happy for everyone who made it in but the rejection cut deep. Mostly though, I’ve had some stuff hanging over me for a while and it was coming to a head. I felt so alone. All my husband’s attempts to calm me put me into full-out panic attacks. (Sorry, honey.) So, I did what I’ve never done before. I asked my writing tribe, this tribe, for help. Now, I didn’t really tell them what was happening just that I was going to be facing a ton of adversity in the next 24 hours. The outpouring of support was humbling. Their words of encouragement, thoughts and prayers gave me the strength to go through that trial with grace and a sense of peace. My Tribe had my back. I wouldn’t have come through the crisis without them.

At the same time our Facebook group was discussing another writer the profession had lost because going alone had broken her spirit.  She went so far as to announce the death of her pen name. She didn’t have a support group. It broke many of our hearts. It’s a huge loss.

It shouldn’t have happened.

The advice I’d give my younger writing self? Even more than “don’t listen to your high school English teacher. You absolutely can and did write the story that touched her heart.”? It’s this:

Surround yourself with like minded-people who are going through or have already gone through what you are going through.

With your Tribe you can accomplish anything you work for.

Ask for and accept help. This is not a a  sign of weakness but of strength.

Know you aren’t alone.

 

YOU ARE NOT ALONE.

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Own Your Choices

Author's Perspective Balancing Acts Craft & Skills Guest Posts Motivation Reflection The Writing Life 1 Comment

A guest post by Peter J. Wacks

I’m taking a break from working on a Veronica Mars Media Tie In story to sit down and contemplate the following request:  ‘If you could go back in time and speak with yourself as a new writer just starting out, what’s the most important piece of advice you would give yourself?’ The makes me think a lot of things.

First thing it makes me think, though, is that it’s a trick question.

I have accomplished a lot of what I have set out to do, and I have done it because of the failures I have embraced.

I manage Wordfire Press because I had the temerity to have a company fail in the game industry, over-hiring from a group of friends until it crashed itself under the weight of payroll. Without that failure… I never would have learned to abandon caution in your dreams—while laying groundwork—plans within plans—to protect your creative child in reality.

Without the frustrating failure of my first book The Divine Prank, which ended up in the trash as a 100,000 word partial manuscript under the first printing of Neil Gaiman’s American Gods, I wouldn’t have learned the hard edge of fight that lets me never back down, and always find a way through… that same edge that pushed me to sell tens of thousands of copies of my first book, Second Paradigm, by hand. It’s also what gave me the edge and strength to say no to a 2,000 book print run with a $2,500 advance from the big six and say, I’m not going to change the plot structure, I’m going to self-publish it instead.

There are a dozen other examples I won’t cite, because you get the point. What else does the question make me think of? What about successes? What about learning curve?

The second thing it makes me think is, what successes have I had that I could have amplified?

That is another slippery slope. The largest frustration I have dealt with when it comes to success is that I was a better writer in 2008 than I was in in 2012. I spent so much time on marketing and promotion that my writing style regressed.

I got worse.

Talk about frustrating! I couldn’t sling my stories as well! …Which forced me to study my style and start coauthoring with others to regain my skills and find new techniques.

It

Was

Awesome!

I am so much better now than I could have been by myself. Each author I have worked on a project with has amplified my skills. How could I give that up? Why would I give that up? More importantly—if I hadn’t been faced with my own lesser skillset, would I have been able to learn what I have, could I have embraced the growth? I don’t think so. Which ties back to failing your way forward, and we are back to our first answer.

The third, and final thing, that the question makes me think on is what I like to call the ‘Hallmark’ factor. What platitudes are out there that seem trite until you REALLY need to learn that lesson, at which point they become incredibly poignant? And how the heck do I generalize a very personal lesson to a large audience in such a way that they gain something of value out of it?

Don’t forget your personal relationships?

Sleep is important too?

Never give up, never surrender!?

And there it is, the one thing we can ALL learn from. But it is not something that any of us need from the past. If you are here reading, or in my case writing, then you haven’t given up. You haven’t surrendered. But…

Writer, musician, artist, actor… the title of a creative almost synonymous with the phrase self-doubt. So let’s not focus on a lesson for the past, but instead focus on a lesson for the present and, more importantly, for our future selves.

Every failure isn’t a failure. None of them are. They are just weapons your future self can use to create success. Be it a month, a year, a decade, or a lifetime of fighting, you are remarkable – because you haven’t given in! Because you fight, you learn, you grow, and each step that feels like it is a step back, is, in fact, something you will look back on in the future and say “Wow, I’m glad I learned that lesson then!”

Own your choices. Only you can. And every choice, good or bad, is what will, in the end, give you the strength to succeed… and you will, because you have been strong enough to not give up.

Write on.

~Peter J. Wacks

Guest Writer Bio:
Peter WacksPeter J. Wacks, the managing editor of Kevin J. Anderson’s WordFire Press, is a bestselling cross genre writer. He has worked across the creative fields in gaming, television, film, comics, blogging, and most recently he spends his time writing novels.
When he isn’t working on the next book he can be found hanging out with his kiddo, practicing martial arts, playing chess, or fighting with swords. He also loves Angry Birds and drinking IPAs with friends.
You can find out more about Peter at his website, which he rarely finds time to update:www.PeterJWacks.com

 

Beating the Learning Curve

Craft & Skills Frank Morin Motivation Reflection Self-Awareness The Writing Life No Comments

Better choiceLast month we explored the many reasons we love being writers and some of the things that help keep us motivated. Now that we’re filled with optimism and eager to get back to work, hopefully we can find ways to work smarter.  The reality of writing every day can be tough, but we’re ready to face the truth.

Truth Number 1: Becoming a professional author takes a long time.

Writing is a process, an evolution of skill and craft and voice and a hundred other components all merging together to become something brilliant. It’s one of the few jobs that usually requires years of investment with no real promise of a profitable return to show at the end. Most people who follow the Muse and begin writing a novel never even finish. Those of use who do then learn that the writing of the novel was just the beginning. Still we slog ahead, motivated by those moments of excellence that remind us why we love what we do, and encouraged by the second universal truth of writing.

Truth Number 2: Determination and consistency matter more than simple brilliance.

Every established author repeats the same mantra: keep writing. Those authors who keep trying, keep learning, keep producing will eventually find some measure of success. This is a truth that is easy to lose sight of when we get discouraged by yet another rejection or by those debilitating second thoughts and self doubt. Just keep going and we’ll get there.

Of course some of us take longer than others. Writing is a learning curve, but some writers seem to enjoy a gentler slope. The rest of us make mistakes that delay our progress or we just take a while to learn important foundational principles. Could we have shortened our up-front investment time by learning things sooner, by seeing clearer?

Probably.

So this month we are going to share advice we wished we had received earlier in the process. Imagine findingBack to the future a way to go back in time to visit yourself as a brand new writer, just starting out. Imagine we handle that time paradox well. Assume that we don’t just decide to focus our energies on making a quick fortune investing in all the things our older selves could predict would be winners. In fact, we focus the brief message only on writing.

What would we say?

What advice or encouragement would we give ourselves? What could we do to help ourselves find a better way to success, a greater mastery of craft? Would we even try?

This month, we’ll find out.