Story-telling
I will be totally and completely honest. I hate book signings (except when it's signings with kids--I adore talking to classrooms of little guys and gals--the best part of this job). And now that I've seen my name on the cover of about 20 books, it's still nice, but . . . I don't react. It is almost as if that happens to someone else. Some other person named Erica Orloff. And even when it was all brand-new, it just, to be honest, felt weird. I never imagined a career as a published novelist. I like making up stories. It's that simple. I sold my first completed novel--but there were others in drawers and unfinished . . . and I was content with that, too, because I simply liked hanging out with my writer pals in my critique group, digging the art of what it was we did.
Over my years as a book editor, I could often tell you whether someone was going to get published by their motivation. Dozens of times, I read queries for publishers and I met authors who wanted to hire me to edit their books, and they were in two camps. One contained people who were passionate about words and creating. They were usually people who loved reading. They wanted to hold a book in their hands and see their name on a cover. They may have even wanted the thrill of sitting at a table, signing books for people as some kind of validation of their craft. But the creating was the most important thing to them. A lot of them got published.
In camp #2 were the ego-driven authors. They, for the most part, couldn't pitch their books properly. A lot of time they chased what was hot in the market, not what they actually liked writing. They were, usually, ANGRY. Because everything they read was "crap" and the editors were simply blind. And more than anything, they wanted to "show them." And the reason they couldn't pitch their books properly it it was never about the story for them. It was about what the story could GET them--prestige.
We're all ego-driven to some extent. You do have to be able to present yourself as a public figure if you want to be an author, to believe you're good enough to publish, and so on. But I do believe it is never forgetting the passion of the story-telling.
So what is it that drives you? Is it the dream of holding a book in your hand? The craft? The idea of walking into a bookstore and seeing your book? A lifelong dream? The story-telling?
Over my years as a book editor, I could often tell you whether someone was going to get published by their motivation. Dozens of times, I read queries for publishers and I met authors who wanted to hire me to edit their books, and they were in two camps. One contained people who were passionate about words and creating. They were usually people who loved reading. They wanted to hold a book in their hands and see their name on a cover. They may have even wanted the thrill of sitting at a table, signing books for people as some kind of validation of their craft. But the creating was the most important thing to them. A lot of them got published.
In camp #2 were the ego-driven authors. They, for the most part, couldn't pitch their books properly. A lot of time they chased what was hot in the market, not what they actually liked writing. They were, usually, ANGRY. Because everything they read was "crap" and the editors were simply blind. And more than anything, they wanted to "show them." And the reason they couldn't pitch their books properly it it was never about the story for them. It was about what the story could GET them--prestige.
We're all ego-driven to some extent. You do have to be able to present yourself as a public figure if you want to be an author, to believe you're good enough to publish, and so on. But I do believe it is never forgetting the passion of the story-telling.
So what is it that drives you? Is it the dream of holding a book in your hand? The craft? The idea of walking into a bookstore and seeing your book? A lifelong dream? The story-telling?
posted by Erica Orloff at 5:06 PM
7 Comments:
For me, it's all about digging into the story world one shovel of dirt at a time and exhuming the fictional dream.
Typing THE END is nice. Seeing your name in print is nice. A paycheck is nice. But the real kick--the pleasure and agony and everything in between--is the journey. There's nothing more beautiful--or more frightening--than a virgin ream of paper. To take that and fill it with laughter, tears, joy, sorrow, pain, ecstacy, life, death...
Well, it's one of the things we live for.
I've been revising the first few chapters of my book as I get back into the swing of writing again after a long break, and I've gotta say that what keeps me going is the absolute awe I feel whenever I read what's been written.
Not awe in the ego, oh-look-how-fabulous-I-am way, but awe in the wow-look-there's-a-story, did-that-really-come-from-me way. It's humbling to see how the story can drive me places I've never been and show me marvelous things.
Jude:
Life is all about the journey. Art imitates life. Absolutely.
E
jk:
Every once in a while, I get that feeling, too. Recently, while working on my next Red Dress Ink title, I would just either laugh out loud, or the lead male character would be completely charming or sardonic in a scene, and I would just love it--but then realize, wait a minute . . . I'M writing him that way. :-)
E
It's all about the story for me.
Getting it right so I can savor it and exorcise it at the same time.
As for ego...Well, when I first started thinking about being an author, I wanted a girlfriend of mine to be the public persona so I could ghost write.
Not that I'm insecure or don't like relating to readers/people. Actually, it's the opposite.
It's just that all I want to do is write.
:) d
dana:
Hiring a stand-in sounds brilliant--a plan I've also considered. :-)
E
Hmmm, I guess I'd have to say it's a little bit of all those things. Mostly, though, I started writing again because the people in my head demanded to get out. They had a story they wanted me to tell and wouldn't let me alone until I did. And then once those people had their way with me, other ones came along and required the same treatment.
Whether I ever have the pleasure of seeing my name on a published book or not, I won't be able to stop writing. Yes, it would be nice if somewhere, someday, someone liked something I wrote enough to take a chance on sharing it with the world. And it's definitely a goal. But it's also a goal I doubt can ever be achieved unless you just write the stories YOU have to tell.
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