I love it when something can make fun of the two major kinds of writing I do at the same time (thanks, Gwenda).
But of course it’s not all funny, is it? The best comedy never is — there’s always that little nugget of truth at the core, like biting down on a piece of tinfoil inside a brownie.
I don’t think reading is dead. At all. But publishing… well, not dead, maybe not even dying, but changing for sure. Kassia Krozser talks about this at Booksquare, and I think it’s required reading for new writers and for all the established writers who think their only job is to write books. Because publishers will not make writers successful these days. They don’t know how. The people who make writers successful are readers. And so writers (and other artists) must go where the audience is.
Screenwriting, though… I’m probably not experienced enough to have an opinion, but I do, and here it is. Publishing books does not (necessarily) make writers successful. Getting movies made does (generally) makes screenwriters successful. Spot the difference.
So I’m thinking a lot about writing books and writing movies, and my place in both. What are my definitions of success? Does it matter if I achieve that success? And so on.
One thing I know that matters is to stay connected with people who love books and movies. I like doing that — readings, blogging, interviews, book groups, general conversation — and that’s lucky for me, because I think it’s more and more expected. Writers have to be more than words on a page these days.
The writer is not more important than the work. But people expect to see the writer, too. Novelists and movie people are the most direct and public storytellers we have in this culture where seemingly everyone has a public persona of some kind: Facebook, MySpace, a LiveJournal, a blog, member of email lists or online groups. Public storytelling is becoming an integral part of that online experience. That’s a much more varied and participative definition of art.
Is that a good thing? I dunno. And it doesn’t matter: it’s what’s happening. I’m not saying Robin Hobb is wrong about the pitfalls: I just think she’s spitting into the wind.
More musings to come.
I have been out and about selling books lately and wholesale book buying is rapidly changing, too. I feel like everything is being quantified and evaluated in marketing and packaging terms, and the intrinsic value of the books is being lost. Don’t know how to change that, though.
Book-as-commodity has been the norm for a while now. It’s only extraordinary books *and* extraordinary effort *and* wild luck that can change that. And that’s a pretty rare combo.