|
17th July 2007
Inglath
Cooper
What does it take to write books for a
living?
How can you make sure you take care of your
gift?
So what does it actually take to make it as a
selling writer? And beyond that, what does it
take to ride out the tough spots in a highly
competitive field?
These are questions I get asked on a regular
basis from readers, as well as people who are
just plain curious about someone who chooses to
sit alone for hours at a time, creating
characters and whole lives out of thin air.
Admittedly, they're good questions. Following
are nine qualities I believe are important in
someone who wants to write novels for a living
and make it a lasting career.
1. An absolute, bordering on abnormal,
love of books.
We book fiends are easy to spot. We're the ones
who make several trips a week to Barnes &
Noble --yes, we like the coffee, but we're
really there for the books. We peruse the new
fiction titles with the same gleam in our eyes
miners must have had when sifting for gold.
Panning our findings for new authors whose
stories might, just might, live up to those
we've labeled our favorites. There's always the
possibility we'll find a diamond somewhere in
there. And when we do, it reinforces our
determination to find another.
2. An absolute love of
writing.
That is, a true appreciation for the stringing
together of individual words to paint a picture
for a reader, a picture that conveys our vision
of the world as it is or as we would like it to
be.
I wrote my first story at age nine on my mama's
old manual typewriter. I still remember how it
felt to finish it, the thrill of stacking up
the pages that were visible evidence of the
mini-world I had created.
From my earliest memories, I wanted to write
stories that did for someone else what my
favorites did for me. Show me another world.
Bring to life people I'd be thrilled to
know.
But how could someone like me be a writer? In
my mind, writers were on par with neurosurgeons
and physics professors, something way beyond
reach for a small-town girl like me.
It wasn't until I was a junior at Virginia Tech
majoring in English that I admitted to myself
this was what I wanted to be. I wanted to be a
writer. I wanted to write books. Farfetched as
it sounded. I think for a long time I didn't
tell anyone. It just seemed too preposterous,
as if they would laugh at the idea, and with
good reason. I started my first manuscript
while I was in college, longhand in a dark blue
spiral ring notebook. It was set on an island
somewhere, and I'm sure I would now find it all
but unreadable, even though at the time, it was
invaluable to me, proof that I could put a
story on paper.
3. The desire to be the best writer you
can be.
If you're just starting out, give yourself
permission to learn how to write without the
pressure of thinking about getting published.
When I wrote that first manuscript in college,
my goal was to get published. I not only wanted
to be a writer. I wanted to be a published
writer. From where I stand now, I wish I had
approached the whole process from the angle of
doing whatever I could to learn how to tell the
best story I possibly could. I felt I had to
prove myself, and it seemed to me then that
publication was the ultimate proof that I could
write.
If I could start over again, I would take a
step back from the pressure I put on myself to
sell and concentrate solely on learning how to
tell my story in a way that would make it hard
for a reader to put it down.
4. A need to surround yourself with
positive writers and lovers of
books.
If you get involved in a critique group, make
sure it is one where the objective is to
encourage and improve. Not tear down and
belittle. There are people out there who are
not careful with their words, who in a two
minute diatribe can rip apart months and months
of work and completely deflate a writer of all
confidence.
Can you tell I'm speaking from experience?
It is so very important to make sure you are on
the same page with your critique partners.
Maybe even come up with a list of guidelines
for the group. Discuss the things you are
looking for in a critique.
If you're in a writing class, make sure it is
one where the above objectives are primary.
This is not to say that you only want to show
your work to people who will tell you you're
the best thing since Fitzgerald and Faulkner.
It is to say that there is constructive
criticism, which we should all be willing and
eager to seek out. And there is destructive
criticism, which can completely destroy a
writer's vision and belief in herself.
5. The will to make a place in your
life for writing.
This sounds obvious enough. But there are all
sorts of reasons not to write. The mortgage
needs to be paid. The children need to eat.
Pesky little everyday responsibilities like
these.
Seriously, I've gone through all sorts of
changes in my life, but the one thing I've
always done is find a time to write that works
for me, regardless of what else is going on.
When I was in college, I wrote after classes
for a certain amount of time each day. When I
got out of college and went to work for a law
firm, I got up at four a.m. and wrote before
going to the office. When I became a mother, I
started writing before my children got up in
the morning and also during their nap. The
point is to give your writing a regular time
slot. It's the every day exercising of your
writing muscle that will develop your skills
and define your voice.
6. The determination to never let
yourself believe you're there.
Once you've sold that first novel, it's
tempting to tell yourself you've arrived, that
it will be clear sailing from here on. Not
quite how it worked for me. There is always
room to grow. I try with every book to do
something different than I've done before.
Force myself to stretch in some way. Try
something I previously thought was beyond my
ability. It's amazing what we can dredge up
from inside ourselves if we make our goal being
the best we can be with every book.
7. The commitment to figure out what
your process is.
After selling my first book, I went through a
period of not being able to sell a second. I
sold my first novel as a complete manuscript.
That book was a story of my heart, and I wrote
it as I saw it. When my publisher asked to see
something else, I submitted a couple of
proposals that were rejected. And I figured out
somewhere along the way that I needed to get a
good portion of the story down before I let
someone else see it.
I do sell on proposal now. But I write a chunk
of the book before I write the synopsis. This
is how I learn what is going to happen in the
story. This is my process. I know this about
myself now, and while it is tempting to show my
editor something at a much earlier stage, I try
very hard to refrain from doing so.
Figure out what your process is and don't veer
from it.
8. The ability to protect your
gift.
Publishing is a tough business. An incredible
number of people want to be writers. The
competition to sell is intense.
When I had difficulty selling my second and
third books, I began to wonder if I had what it
took. I realize now how fragile my confidence
was then and that I took those rejections as
validation that I didn't really have what it
took to be a writer. By the time I finally sold
that second book, I was experiencing all the
symptoms of burnout. It was an extremely dark
time in my life, and I walked away from writing
under the assumption that it would never again
be a part of me.
I didn't write for two years. The desire to do
so began to trickle back eventually, until I
finally got up the courage to pull out my
laptop and begin a story. I wrote the complete
book the same way I had written my first
published novel. Told the story as I saw it
without letting anyone else inside my vision. I
sold that book, John Riley's Girl, and it won
the 2005 Rita Award for best long contemporary.
This award was more meaningful to me than I can
say. I wrote this book because I love to write.
After a two-year period of burnout, I was given
another chance. I no longer see the well of
creativity inside me as an infinite thing that
I can draw and draw from, but, instead, as
something that can and will dry up and go away
if I am not careful to protect it.
9. The ability to step back and refill
the well.
Find things that replenish your spirit. Take a
vacation and do not allow yourself to write,
but simply to absorb the world around you.
Read, read, read. Read great books. Don't read
mediocre books unless you want to be a mediocre
writer. Strive for excellence and seek out
excellence. And hopefully, your love affair
with writing books will be a long and lasting
one.
Inglath Cooper is the
RITA Award-winning author of six
published
novels. Her
books focus on the dynamics of
relationships, those between a man and a
woman, mother and daughter, sisters,
friends. Her stories are often peopled with
characters who reflect the values and
traditions of the small Virginia town where
she grew up.
|
