It didn’t take long
after I started writing in earnest before I discovered that non-writers do not
understand writers on certain crucial issues. Here is my top ten list.
1) Writers anxiously
await non-writers’ opinions of our work when we let them see it before sending
our story or book out into the cold, cruel world. We will not assume that they
liked it if we don’t hear from them. The longer it takes to hear from them, the
more we fear the writing is terrible.
2) Writers cannot control our characters. They
have a will of their own. Yes, we are creating them. Yes, we build the world
around them. But then they take over. To push them to act in a manner contrary
to their nature is to invite a revolution, or even worse, a complete strike
a/k/a writer’s block.
3) Writing is not
nearly as lonely a profession as non-writers think. We meet fellow writers
through many types of organizations – local, regional, national, and virtual. Various
list-serves and other contacts keep my email box humming, while on-line
communities on Facebook and Twitter keep up a running dialog between authors.
4) Our fellow mystery
writers are not competitors but colleagues. Business people selling products
have the hardest time with this concept. Unlike laundry detergent, where buying
Tide means I’m not buying Gain, buying Book A does
not mean a reader will not buy Book B and then Book C. The more
enthusiastic readers of mysteries out there, the better.
5) Finishing the first
draft is only the first step in writing a book. After that, developmental
edits, copy edits and proof reading remain. We may have to rewrite our book yet
again to satisfy agents or publishers. And yes, the rewriting and editing can
take longer than writing the first draft did.
6) Writing is hard work.
It requires time and dedication. While writing, we are not free to discuss
homework, our plans for next weekend, what we want to watch on TV or whose turn
it is to walk the dog or take out the trash. We may not even hear the
non-writer the first three times he or she speaks.
7) NaNoWriMo. To be
fair, not every writer gets NaNoWriMo either. (NaNoWriMo is short for National
Novel Writing Month, where hardy souls set a goal of writing an entire novel
during the month of November. NaNoWriMo has become quite the annual writing
event.)
8) Receiving an email
from a fellow writer is a friendly wave that lights our souls.
9) We write because we
can’t not write. Our writing won’t let us alone. Yes, life interferes at times and we put it aside for a while but we are always
compelled to return.
10) A subtle bond
exists between writers that transcends political beliefs, religion, race, creed
or life-style. Only fellow writers understand the power, the pleasure and the
pain of putting your ideas on paper and watching them take flight. A fellow
writer understands the euphoria of being in “the zone.” Frustrated by writer’s
block? Fellow writers have been there,
done that. A fellow mystery writer won’t bat an eye when you post a question on-line
asking about the best way to kill someone, the best weapon to use and what
poisons work best.
My kids and their spouses are appreciative of my writing successes, but rather...wary. My first anthology publication was a short story set during a New Orleans wedding weekend that shared similarities with my son's wedding (without the scheming bridesmaids). With my daughter's upcoming beach wedding, they're bracing themselves for another wedding murder story.
ReplyDeleteThanks in so many ways for writing this column for today. My immediate family understands how I listen to people at the next table or think about how something simple, like a baby carriage, can become a means to transport something evil, but my extended family questions the joy I'm getting from writing and didn't understand when I incorporated all of their names - I mixed up first and last names - into my first short story that sold. I thought I was paying tribute to them, but one in particular felt I was invading her privacy (maybe because I caught all of her haughty characteristics before I made her the corpse).
ReplyDeleteFun post, Nancy. Non-writers don't understand that our main character isn't us. When I first started writing, I felt really self-conscious that people would think my main character was me. Or that my mother was the model for the dreadful mother in my book. I almost felt I needed to put a note at the beginning that my mother was wonderful and not like the mother in my book.
ReplyDeleteMost of the non-writers who have commented to me on my writing are of the "I can't even begin to conceive of writing a short story, much less a whole book. More power to you."
ReplyDeleteBut then, many of them are not exactly avid readers, so they might say the same thing about reading a whole book, too.