Now I know I promise to go back to Basics, and don’t worry I intend to, but I wanted to address this blog post I found the other day (I suggest you check it out he covers some areas I left out of this post). The writer, a very published author, states decidedly that teen writers suck. He goes on to add that that isn’t a bad thing. Sucking is a completely normal and important part of being a good writer. As you can imagine, teen writers weren’t very happy about this.
Let me make one thing clear, before I continue, I almost completely agree. I’ve read lots of teen writing, and even when I was a teen I thought most it sucked (of course I didn’t think I sucked, not that I thought I was brilliant, but... this isn’t about me). Anyway I feel the need to qualify his statement.
Hold on folks I’m about to get metaphor CRAZY.
Let’s just say that a well-written novel is like a nice restaurant dinner. Delicious. Let’s say a Pulitzer prizing winning, classic novel, is like a restaurant dinner made by a five star chef. Oh my god, did I just eat heaven? And an average crap story is like eleven-year-old attempt to make a plain chocolate cake that required more then adding water. Uneatable. The average novel written by a teenager with talent is like that cake attempt except eating it won’t give you some kind of food poisoning. In an exceptionally talented teenage writer, the cake might not taste half bad, maybe it’s even quite tasty.
So what point am I trying to make? Well the average talented teen writer, even the exceptionally talented ones, are like that 11 year old that can make maybe a decent cake. However can he make a five-start meal? No. He doesn’t have the skill to. Does that mean he’ll never be able to make one? Of course not. If he works hard, makes lots of mistakes, and trains for years he could definitely be a chef, maybe even a master one. But through that process of learning how not to suck (aka how to cook really really well), he discovers his craft, what inspires him as a chef, his unique style, and how he works best.
So when people say teenage writers suck, they just mean compared to what they can become and compared experienced writers as a whole. Of course, if you narrow the viewing area down and look only at teenage writers. Some stand out as significantly better then their peers and some of them can make tasty cakes that people enjoy. Meaning that teen writers can write something good, but just for their skill level, not compared to how a real chef would make it (which is delicious, uniquely theirs, and expensive). Of course there are the Mozarts and Picassos in writing, but if you compare what they did as children and teens to what they did as adults then the metaphor still stands. Compared to what they became, they still sucked.
Never fear, the metaphor extends to any new writer. Of course when the new comer is an adult, they have the advantage of being older when they try and make their first cake. It might still suck, but given their age and the life experience they already have, they’ll have a good chance of learning faster then their younger brethren that are equally talented. (Of course the whole metaphor isn't prefect as the two crafts are quite different, but I think you guys get the idea.)
But don’t despair my teenage readers! Not getting published at a young age, or as a young writer, is a good thing (which the writer of the above link discusses). And getting your first manuscript (completed novel) published is actually doing you a disservice especially at a young age. Getting rejected teaches new writers three things (and has three other advantage).
1. It teaches you how to have thick skin and not to take criticism so personally that it paralyzes you from writing again or makes you bitter. This is especially crucial as being a published author hardly keeps critics away. In fact it attracts them.
2. Those rejections force the writer to look at their own work and discover their weaknesses. This obviously improves their writing.
3. And when you do finally start getting personalized rejections you’ll not be so sensitive about your work as not to be able to handle constructive criticism. And when you do get an offer and start working with an editor it will be much easier then it would have otherwise been as you're use to people critiquing your work.
4. You don't have to follow up your first book by writing your second manuscript. That is a good thing. If you're writing your second manuscript for publication your worries about duplicating your success and over reactions to criticism of your first book can show in the final piece. When you've written more you'll be more settled in your style and method.
5. The publishing industry can be a scary place and coming in as a teen can and probably will disillusion some people. Having the self assurance and life experience as adult can make that a much smoother and easier transition.
6. Being a skilled writer coming in decreases the chance of your book flopping. The last thing you want to do as a writer, especially a young one, is try to salvage a career that's dead in the water.
So take heart. Sucking is a critical part of becoming a good writer. And if you never try, you’ll never suck and therefore never be amazing.
** Also check out Too Young to Publish
No comments:
Post a Comment