*Bad books that get tons of award nominations, because the authors write popular blogs. Wow. Before there were blogs, how did anyone ever get award nominations?
*Bad books that get tons of attention because the writers are running with the "right" crowd in New York. But which right crowd? The geek-right crowd? The left-right crowd? The right-right crowd? No wonder I never got tons of attention.
*Writers who claim to be writing literature (unlike the rest of us) who are bitter because they aren't getting the sales and attention they deserve. They have to wait until they're dead and can be studied in depth by professors of literature. They could speed up the process by dying, of course. (Hostile. Sorry.)
*Writers who are mesmerized by their own brilliance ("My book is just what I want to read, but I can't find among the crap on the bookshelves at B&N") but money-grubbing agents and editors don't dare give them a chance. I sometimes write what I want to be reading because I can't find it at the store--but I don't have the patience to look very hard.
*Writers scheduled for their autograph sessions with Big Name Authors whose snaking lines will keep anyone from finding their fellow authors. I've met some very nice people that way.
*Writers who moan that so many editors want to take them out for meals and sekrit talks they simply can't get any rest. No, really. I used to do the expense reports at Tor; there are only about three of these writers in existence, and two of them are dead.
The weirdest part is, a couple of those posts sort of cross circuited--one of the so-called "in group" posting about not being able to get an agent, and a popular blogger about not being able to get a contract.
Maybe there's a large case of grass is greener going around.
It was just moanful nonsense, and not to be missed :-)<--ETA, which I realize is a totally ambiguous thing to say. What I mean is, not worth missing, eminently missable.
Oh, it's not just the sf community. I was at Mythcon a couple weekends ago. It being a small con, we shared the space with cheerleaders for a couple of days. Standing in line before breakfast, I heard some of the girls chattering, and overhears some gossip that could have mapped over some of the post-con talk about in-groups and scheduling favoring the elite few. I'm sure it maps over any kind of get together. Hierarchy is so much a part of human nature, and measuring worth is not like math, where 'five' is 'five' to everyone. One's good book is another's snore.
Thanks--I was in some kind of funk when I wrote it; my experiences in general have been much more pleasant.... I was focused on the negative that day....
Definitely a 'grass is greener' thing. Contacts and a large readership will open a few more doors for you - the agent reads it directly when it comes in instead of the assistant working their way through the pile in order - but the project still has to appeal to the publisher. I know two published writers who are agent-less - so not even 'get a contract first' works.
ow. Before there were blogs, how did anyone ever get award nominations?
ooh, I love quizzes! Totally rock at Trivial Pursuit, so my answer is -- they pulled random names from a hat, and then invoked Pratchian spells from long-lost Atlantis which would streak out in pink streamers and green puffy explosions, find the first person with that name and totally remake their reality so that they have in fact written a book that could be nominated for the award. That's my answer and I'm stickin to it.
a bit more seriously -- this whole award business. It is flattering to get recognition and it is nice to win, of course, but last year when I interviewed Gene Wolfe he really put in it perspective for me. He asked me, Have you read so-and-so? And I said, never heard of him, why? And he said, he won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 19blahblah.
On the other hand -- the Homeric epics, Lewis Carrol, Mary Shelley, John Keats, Robert Louis Stevenson, etc. I don't know and don't care if they won awards but I have read their stories and loved their stories at some time in my life. Andre Norton is an SFWA Grand Master and Robert Frost is the most lauded American poet of the 20th century. I fell in love with their writing without knowing that. That does kind of put it in perspective.
They have to wait until they're dead and can be studied in depth by professors of literature. They could speed up the process by dying, of course.
Wow. Before there were blogs, how did anyone ever get award nominations?
*Bad books that get tons of attention because the writers are running with the "right" crowd in New York.
But which right crowd? The geek-right crowd? The left-right crowd? The right-right crowd? No wonder I never got tons of attention.
*Writers who claim to be writing literature (unlike the rest of us) who are bitter because they aren't getting the sales and attention they deserve.
They have to wait until they're dead and can be studied in depth by professors of literature. They could speed up the process by dying, of course. (Hostile. Sorry.)
*Writers who are mesmerized by their own brilliance ("My book is just what I want to read, but I can't find among the crap on the bookshelves at B&N") but money-grubbing agents and editors don't dare give them a chance.
I sometimes write what I want to be reading because I can't find it at the store--but I don't have the patience to look very hard.
*Writers scheduled for their autograph sessions with Big Name Authors whose snaking lines will keep anyone from finding their fellow authors.
I've met some very nice people that way.
*Writers who moan that so many editors want to take them out for meals and sekrit talks they simply can't get any rest.
No, really. I used to do the expense reports at Tor; there are only about three of these writers in existence, and two of them are dead.
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Maybe there's a large case of grass is greener going around.
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(I think it's time for bed...)
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I dunno, not enough experience to have data. I get to so few big events.
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ooh, I love quizzes! Totally rock at Trivial Pursuit, so my answer is -- they pulled random names from a hat, and then invoked Pratchian spells from long-lost Atlantis which would streak out in pink streamers and green puffy explosions, find the first person with that name and totally remake their reality so that they have in fact written a book that could be nominated for the award.
That's my answer and I'm stickin to it.
a bit more seriously -- this whole award business. It is flattering to get recognition and it is nice to win, of course, but last year when I interviewed Gene Wolfe he really put in it perspective for me. He asked me, Have you read so-and-so? And I said, never heard of him, why? And he said, he won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 19blahblah.
On the other hand -- the Homeric epics, Lewis Carrol, Mary Shelley, John Keats, Robert Louis Stevenson, etc.
I don't know and don't care if they won awards but I have read their stories and loved their stories at some time in my life.
Andre Norton is an SFWA Grand Master and Robert Frost is the most lauded American poet of the 20th century. I fell in love with their writing without knowing that.
That does kind of put it in perspective.
They have to wait until they're dead and can be studied in depth by professors of literature. They could speed up the process by dying, of course.
lol! made my day, thanks:)
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