I love writing and over the years I've taken great care to learn the craft. I wasn't always as good as I am today, although at this time, if I'm to be honest, I probably thought I was. In past blog's I've discussed the craft of writing in regards to my development, noting that I developed within the craft by taking the hard criticisms leveled at me at one time, and instead of becoming offended that someone wasn't saying I was brilliant, realizing I could do better and pushing myself to do so.
Everyone can write. We learn the basic skills in school. But should everyone be published? This question has also made me uncomfortable, and the topic was one I swore I'd stay away from, for fear of offending some. I didn't want to appear elitist. I should also note that despite the fact I believe I've risen to the level of being publishable, and have received encouragement in that regards from some in the industry, I believe we're never as good as we can be and should always be striving to improve our skills.
So, why am I addressing this topic now?
I recently paid too much attention to a thread on a social media site where the questions was asked, "Is everyone a writer?" The thread went on forever, and the one thing I did note was from time to time when someone suggested, yes, everyone can write, but not everyone should publish, that quality of work should be a factor, they were quickly shot down. Dare anyone believe that there should be a social contract between the writer and reader in regards to quality? I've posted two books on Amazon-Kindle and, yes, I'm asking readers to buy them. It's not an outrageous sum that I'm asking, but it is still a portion of the reader's hard-earned money that they don't want to throw away or waste. As a writer, if I'm asking for your dollars, as well as your time, do I not have an obligation to ensure that I'm putting out a professional product? Of course, I do.
Aside from that thread, I was also recently sent an eBook by one of the many sites popping up looking to capitalize on the self-publishing eBook revolution. They claim to be the equivalent of a real publisher with the same standards for publishing. What little I read of this one author wasn't anywhere near those standards, as I understand them. And it's here that I'm uncomfortable. Who the hell am I to say that?
Who the hell am I?
I'm a lifetime reader, so, I guess, whether I write or not, I'm allowed that opinion and expect a certain standard to be met and executed by those writer's I commit my time and money to.
Having developed as a screenwriter, I'm a stickler for knowing the basics. For instance, one page of a screenplay is believed to equal one minute of screen time (it's not an exact science but that's the rule). As such, a screenplay should be no less than 90 pages in length and no longer than 120 pages (unless you've all ready established yourself and can get away with writing a two-and-a-half-hour or three-hour movie). Your screenplay also has to be formatted correctly and the font a specific size. I had a friend who read screenplays for a Casting Agent and he told me the first thing he did was open the screenplay and see if it was formatted properly, then flip to the last page and see how long it was. If it was 130 or 140-plus pages, he'd just toss it in the garbage. The thinking was, if the writer hadn't bothered to research what was or wasn't proper or acceptable, chances are the screenplay wasn't worth reading.
There are expectations in the book writing world also. I discovered there is a format Agents and Publishers prefer when looking at a manuscript, and that in reading books by new authors they expect a minimum of 80,000 words and no more than 120,000 words (word count can differ based on type of book; Young Adult Fiction doesn't have to be 80,000 words, but less) This is the comfort zone for adult fiction. I bring this up as the eBook I was sent was only 40,000 words. Despite being horribly written, by the standards of the industry it was 40,000 words short of being considered a full-length novel. (I should note that in scanning it I did come across a sex scene. There is something disturbing about reading a poorly written sex scene that seems unreal and comic at the same time).
Now, I applaud the writer for actually sitting down and writing those 40,000 words. I know a lot of people who claim they want to be writers but never actually sit down and write anything. I wasn't meant to read this eBook, but take note of the formatting, but I can't help but consider the disservice we're giving the writer by allowing him to think what he wrote was publishable. Will he even improve if there's no Editor or Publisher pushing him and holding him to a standard? At least someone saying, it's got potential, but it's not ready yet; take another run at it.
The truth is, writing is hard. It's something you have to work at and develop. I'm Canadian (eh?) so I'll use the analogy of hockey here. Everyone can play hockey to differing degrees of ability. All you need is a ball and a hockey stick and you're playing. Now, some of us play hockey well; we have skills, but put us up against a professional hockey player who has truly learned the craft and he'll run circles around us. As good as we think we are, there's a difference between professional and the minor leagues; good in the minor leagues, even great in the minor leagues, isn't always good enough for the majors.
Writing is the same. First off, if you're going to write books or screenplays, along with being able to string sentences together, you need to learn the craft of story structure and plotting/pacing. You're also going to discover that a first draft is rarely perfect. Writing is in the re-writing, the editing and the re-writing. Polishing a book takes time and effort. The book like the one I mentioned above, I suspect, was probably an unpolished first draft. I'm like any other writer, once I've finished a first draft and fully mined that idea, it's exciting to move on to the next idea, but like I said, if you're asking a reader to spend time with your work and spend money on it, there is a social contract where your duty is to put out the best, most professional product possible (and, yes, even if you do this, there will be those who still won't like it, but at least not because it was a half-assed effort).
The final thing that prompted me to write this blog was looking on Craigslist and other sites and seeing how little those who need writing value it. If you're advertising that you need a writer, I assume it's because you can't write at a professional level. Nonetheless, you believe those with that skill should write for you for free or for so little money it's insulting. What this tells me is that writing and the ability to do it well is a highly under-appreciated talent. Maybe that is why there are a lot of writers just publishing without worrying about holding themselves to a certain standard.
I'd say just about everything we do well in life is the result of developing that skill. Presently a great deal of under-developed skills is crowding the self-publishing eBook marketplace. I say write, for God's sake, WRITE! If you all ready have that spark, that's great, but push yourself; learn the craft and don't settle until you've spent enough time in the minor leagues that you're now ready to join the major league and put out work that readers will gladly spend both their time and money on. We need standards, as we also need to respect the written word and its power to entertain, move and enrich the lives of those of us who enjoy losing ourselves in the various worlds and characters we stumble across.
And, as for me?
Am I just being an elitist jerk? Who the hell said I've successfully made that leap into the major leagues, and deservedly so?!
I guess, in time, the reader will tell me. All I can say in my defense is I've done my homework, I've put in the time, and I've endured the criticism to get to the point where I feel I can confidently honour my end of that social contract and entertain the reader. I look forward to the readers letting me know if I've succeeded.
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