Somebody must have sold a mailing list of writers. I got an offer for Writers Digest and Poets and Writers in the same day. I haven’t heard from either one in years, haven’t subscribed for even longer.
Writers Digest I stopped buying because I got nothing out of it. It’s really meant for beginners. Poets and Writers I stopped buying because the information inside targets writers more literary than me.
Having been on the receiving end of literary snobbish sneers–genre? eew!–I find the pull quotes on the insert of the P&W mailing amusing.
My rebuttals:
Quote:
“I’m very tolerant of stillness. I’d rather not move my hands just to move them. I’ll wait for the right thing.” – novelist Jonathan Lethem.
Rebuttal:
While waiting for the muse might be the right answer for some people, in others it would mean productions stands still. Sometimes you just have to force it in order to get through a logjam.
Quote:
“If you have a story to tell, the most important thing is the story, not the form you use to shape it.” – poet Patricia Smith
Rebuttal:
Of course form matters. A story in poetry is far different from one in prose, and both are different from one on the stage or screen. In any case, if this were believed, then genre fiction would be on equal footing with literary fiction in terms of respectability and selling 5 copies of a book would not be worn as a badge of pride.
Quote: “My advice to writers would be to aggressively seek the truth–forget about your ego–and do one more draft than your agent tells you to.” – Jonathan Karp, publisher of Twelve.
I almost didn’t respond to this one. Karp and I agree on 2/3 of this quote, and looking at the website for Twelve, I kinda dig the business model. Still, I was unable to find submission guidelines nor payment policy. (Twelve publishes novels). However, I do take exception to the last phrase in the quote.
Rebuttal:
Who has the ultimate responsibility over the fiction? Whose name goes on the cover? The agent may suggest or ask, but may not tell you to do anything. The agent works for the writer.
Quote:
“Poetry is when the animal bursts forth, inflamed. It ain’t always pretty.” – poet Dean Young.
Rebuttal:
Honestly, I don’t know what that means. Literally inflamed animals bursting forth isn’t just not pretty, it’s rather disgusting. But what I suspect he means is that raw emotion on the page delivers a message to the reader, but you don’t need poetry for that. It can exist in any form. And often is pretty.
Quote:
“I think you’re an artist because you have to be an artist. I don’t think it’s ever been easy.” – literary agent George Borchardt
Rebuttal:
But why is an agent saying this? Of course it isn’t easy or everyone would do it. But it isn’t necessarily art. It’s also a science. It’s also being a smart businessman. It’s being a craftsman–and there is a difference between an artist and a craftsman. It’s all of these things and more. Every writer and every writer’s process is different. And besides, in some cases it’s not a question of must be artist, often it’s the tenacity of want to be artist.
So there is today’s tempest in a teacup. <-- It ain't art but I know what I like.
