A writer's career makes for interesting times. Most
moments are spent spewing out the next bit of prose or thinking about
the intricacies of a story idea. It's enough to drive a person a bit
mad. Add to that a personal interaction with opinionated readers,
publishers, critique partners, editors and agents, and a writer will be
driven deeper into themselves. I laugh when I hear someone tell me how
easy it would be to "just" be a writer. They have no idea.
In the beginning...
Advice is thrown at you from every corner. Every one knows exactly what
the next step for you will be. Here you learn to wear the masque of
Patience. I have followed only one piece of advice in my career to date
and it is this: "Listen to everything. Ponder it, and take from it
what you will." Be patient, valiant writer. Most people mean well,
and it is better to hear advice that you can dismiss than to block
advice you'd need later.
A story is born...
The muse is a fickle creature for some, a gushing fountain for others.
Here you wear the masque of Creativity. Ideas bounce inside your brain,
desperate for escape. You scramble to write them down in any manner
available. Napkins, notebooks, computers, I've even seen one chapter on
toilet paper, unused, of course. It is a masque of wide-eyes, mussed
hair with desperate grabs for caffeine injections. Most of the time the
thoughts of a writer become muddled, frying the brain for a moment. When
this mood strikes you, dear writer, remember to recharge your batteries,
take a nap when the tide leaves you or your brain will stop moving and
your muse becomes silent.
Organizing the story...
When an idea is born, a story must be created. Here the writer portrays
the masque of the Thinker. Whether you plot or panster your story, a
natural organization has to occur. You plan your moments in your mind
and prepare to launch on the journey of a true storyteller. It is the
moment a new world opens for you, and you decide the path.
Letting it flow...
Here is the moment all writers wait for. The floodgates open and the
words pour forth in a bounty of perfect sentences and phrases...in our
dreams. Here is the masque of Diligence. It is one thing to have a
brilliant idea, and it is quite another to translate it onto paper, in
publishing format, with perfect line spaces, etc. This is the moment
where the sweat pours and you labor your way through to the finished
product called...the ROUGH draft. All that work, weeks, months, years,
and you have only begun.
Editing...
Ahh, editing. Editing is the bane of most writers' existence. The words
you've poured over, and cried over seem to be so profound. You send the
draft to your critique partners, or you reread your prose when you've
given yourself a moment to look at it with fresh eyes. Suddenly the
words you wrote are terrible, the sentences are a jumble. Nothing makes
sense and you feel like a failure. This is a roller coaster of emotions.
Here you wear the masque of Honesty. Fall in love with your story,
fellow writer, not the words you write to tell it. You owe it to
yourself to tell the story the best way you can. Editing is 50% of the
job. No one writes a perfect first draft.
Leaving the Nest...
Your story is polished, and the writing's perfect, so of course a
publisher will accept it on the first submission. Right? No. That is
very rare. Courage is the masque you wear here. Your soul is in each
page, every scene. You're taking this part of you, placing it in an
envelope, or sending it via email to the very person who can rip your
heart apart with a rejection. You wait. Sometimes a couple of weeks,
sometimes six months for a reply. It is hard to wait. Be brave. Stand
fast. Move on to another project. Remember that watching a clock does
not make time move faster. Staying busy keeps your mind occupied, and
keeps the paranoia to a minimum.
Now what...
You've been rejected or accepted. Rejection will devastate you.
Acceptance will thrill you. Both of them require the masque of Humility.
An editor, publishing house, or agent knows exactly what they want and
need. It is not personal, although I wish I could say it was. Nor is it
vindictive. It is what it is. Supply and demand. Do not allow your
arrogance to close doors on your career by attacking those who have to
do their jobs. Send a thank you card, let them know you appreciate the
time they took to look at your submission. Grit your teeth and try
again. Being accepted does not give you license to become arrogant and
self-righteous. Stomping on those around you will only leave you
surrounded by enemies, forced to defend. With acceptance comes a lot of
work: editing, polishing, public forums and chats. Enjoy the moment. You
earned it, but don't destroy the hands that can lift you when you fall
into the grind again.
So, why, dear reader, do we wear these masques? Why do
we set out on a journey where the end product is dismissed as easy and
simple to master? We put ourselves out there, bare our souls, throwing
ourselves at the mercy of our editors, publishers, critiquers, and
public. Ladies and gentlemen, we do it because we LOVE to do it, and we
NEED to do it. Because it is in our hearts and our souls to do so. It is
a difficult but rewarding job, and one that this writer has relied on
for therapy for years. Nothing eases the heart better than immortalizing
your villains with traits of your real-life nemesis. We cry with our
characters, live, feel and breathe their emotions because they are a
part of us. It is a beautiful thing, and one job I'll never let go.
Let your muse guide you, writers. Let it set you free.
