Peggy’s comment last week about writing fiction being the only creative hobby that society drives you to make lots of money has fired up my Intellection to understand this problem. You can be a “Sunday Painter,” enjoy creating paintings off your off time, and maybe make money and maybe not.

With writing today, fiction writers are expected to:

  • Be a writing machine
  • Produce lots of books
  • Market the books
  • Live off the money the books make

When I was growing up, I started writing when I was eight years old. My great uncle, Ernie Rydberg, was a former pulp writer, though he always had day jobs. I loved the idea of creating all day (without understanding the reality of that).

A well-meaning relative said that fiction writers never made money writing.  He steered me into writing where I could make money…if I could break in. Because I lived in Los Angeles, that was screenwriting. But I would have to learn to write a script a week to be successful (this was the relative’s advice).

So I started writing a script a week. Computers were just becoming available. I wrote scripts on the old WordStar program, then on a Commodore 64. The scripts were sitcoms and movies primarily. So I wrote a complete story, beginning to end, anywhere from 50 to 120 pages every week.

The relative knew someone who knew a producer then working on Family Ties. I wrote a Family Ties script and we met. He’d done the meeting as a favor for the friend, but it came through that he didn’t want to be there. I understand now about being put on the spot and knowing it wasn’t going anywhere, But then, it was the tipping point for the burnout that was already heading my way. I didn’t write for two years. The well was completely dry.

I ended up writing fan fiction for a while because I could have fun. No one cared, even about quality, as long as they got a continuing adventure with the characters they liked. The zines were still paper, and most editors produced one a year. Once the internet took hold, the fans demanded production because the technology permitted instant access. One writer struggled to keep up with the sudden demand. She’d been a decent writer before, but with the demand, she got really sloppy. She stopped writing stories she enjoyed and focused on producing stories, riddled with typos.

Writing has always had this problem. But why is it different from painting or knitting, just to name a few?

With a painting, you have to travel to an art store and buy the paints and other supplies. Then you do the physical act of painting. You might have to let the paint in some sections dry before you can work on a different color.

Most creative endeavors have several physical aspects like the actual movement to do the creativity and supplies. This has built-in limitations, including supply availability and your budget.

But writing? When the typewriter was invented, people started using it to write. They also started using typewriters to do office work. We segued into computers, with about the same result. The only requirement was the one tool, and a software program that came with the tool.

Writing has another issue that comes into play. If you’re an artist, your canvas sits on an easel. People can see the artwork in process. If you knit, people can see the pair of socks you’re making. If you play a guitar, people can listen to you play.

Writing? You can’t see the creativity in action or experience it until it’s published.

Lawrence Block brings up the same point in his book Telling Lies for Fun & Profit. Though he also notes that most writers don’t have fun writing to start with. Could this be the source of the problem?

Writing is much maligned, sometimes by the writers themselves or the people around them. Some writers find unfriendly territory with family or friends. There are many stories about writers being discouraged by how they’re treated. Each time someone sees the writer, they might ask, “Is it finished yet?” driving home that publication is a must.

This has resulted in some emotional trauma for many writers. They see publication as validation to all these negative voices. But if you’re shooting for traditional publishing, first you have to find an agent in an increasingly shrinking fiction market. You also have to be careful not to get scammed. Then that agent has to find a publisher and that market is small. If the agent can’t find one, he drops the writer and the process starts over. It can take many years.

This encourages writers to make bad decisions because of emotion. During the early days of the gold rush, writers jumped on with Publish America, not understanding they were signing their rights away for 7 years and that they were the PA’s market, not readers. They would do bizarre things to sell books like leave them in public bathrooms  or even slipping copies in at the bookstore (not sure how this is selling). One writer intentionally signed up with a scam agent, knowing this, saying that it was their last chance get published.

Of course, indie allows writers to self-publish their books. Many start out focusing entirely on “It must sell” the day it’s published. If the sales numbers are disappointing, they drop money on Amazon ads because that’s what everyone does. On unmoderated writing lists and hashtags, these writers spam other writers with “Buy my book” like this is their audience. I’ve been asked to do reviews by authors who never bothered to even see what I wrote.

A writer from a past critique group thought that a book just needed to marketed correctly to sell. Therefore, there wasn’t any reason to work on craft. He never thought it was important (and still submits to agents and paying magazines and gets form rejections while another critique group tells him his writing is great).

I’m finding now that despite the fact that there are tons of indie books out there, I struggle to find authors I want to read more from. Some of this is personal taste, obviously. However, I find many books forgettable. Too many have the same voice, even with varying characters.

Other issues:

  • Minimal world building in urban fantasy
  • No mention of weather or time of the year
  • Minimal five senses
  • No metaphors

I’m not nitpicking. These make a story stand out. Without them, the story sounds like every other story.

But these craft skills are hard to learn, and not easy to teach in a culture of impatience. People want a checklist, which the other areas like marketing and word goals work well for that.

Worse, for the breakneck pace of publishing, learning some craft skills can take a lot of time. Sometimes years.

Dean Wesley Smith noted in several of his classes, and probably his blog, that if your books stop selling, it’s not a matter of more marketing, it’s because you stopped learning craft.

We may be seeing a reckoning coming. The online market shifted, and writers who went exclusive are now going wide to find more readers–instead of working on the craft side.

Maybe we need more Sunday writers who take pleasure in exploring the craft.