Authors would tell me all the time that I’m in the wrong profession, and that I should give it up. I even went to a writer’s conference in New York City at Marymount Manhattan College where a panel of published, “successful” authors said that “if you can do anything else other than writing, you should.” Also, some stupid fuckin’ twat on the panel quoted some godamn author about some shit no motherfucker on the planet ever heard of to sound smart. This was before I really got my teeth, so I stayed silent. But if I could go back…whooooo. She’d fuckin’ get it. They’d all get it.
Complaining? Probably. But this had a point, and here it is. Lemmie tell you some shit, okay? Talent is nothing more than a desire to do something so much that you become really good at it. That’s all talent is. I can’t be anything but a writer. I can’t not be verbose. I can’t not describe, scream, tell stories. It’s who I am, and it should be who you are too.
Now, I’m not saying that writing a full length novel is for everyone. It’s not. Hell, you may only want to write poetry or short stories, and that’s great! I’m not better than any other writer because I’ve written novels. It all comes down to who wants to do this more. That’s where quality comes in, much to the contrary opinion. The literary industry is failing, and I’m glad. Books are going digital. Right now, the publishing and literary industries are feeling the fire for letting the shit that Laurell K. Hamilton, J.K. Rowling, Stephane Meyer, and a whole shitfuck load of others get churned out (I’m not being sexist, don’t even go there. Those are just some off the top of my head).
Let them burn. Literary agents too.
Authors are looking to make it under their own steam, which is terrific. The ones that are in it for just the money, or have a disposable fanbase will lose interest and decay. The real authors, the ones that stand in the fire of endless rejection letters will shine, and if they’re work is shit? They’ll be lost, leaving only the strong survive. Darwin didn’t see that shit, lemmie tell you.
I even had a fuckin’ food critic tell me that I would never make a living on being an author. A food critic. You’re not a godamn author. Not a writer. You’re a joke. You tell people what’s good and bad after stuffing your chaw. Don’t tell me what the industry is like. You don’t know shit.
Don’t ever let anyone EVER tell you that you shouldn’t be an author. A writer. Don’t let anyone, no matter how much they “know” about the industry to make you shrink back into the darkness of undiscovered talent. Writer until you can’t write anymore, and fuck anyone that tells you different. I don’t care if they’ve been writing for a thousand years. Refine your skills and prove them all wrong.
We’ll prove them all wrong. And we’ll see who’s left standing in the ashes unscathed.
TheDisfigured 
What really bothers me about this, are the people who are handed book deals for bullshit reasons, and then parade it around like they really accomplished something. People who know someone, and get published as a favor rather than working for years trying to get published, and producing a work on merit alone. I met someone like this, basically over the internet, who went on a rant that she was an important, quality author because she was getting a novel published. Though it was more like “having a novel looked at” Of course, it turned out the reason she *was* getting her work looked at was because she was palling around with and doing favors for a family relation of someone high up in the publishing business, who promised her that she’d get access to a high end literary agent for her work. In the end, she wanted everyone to kiss her ass because she kissed someone else’s ass, and tell her how amazing her novel was going to be.
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Well said. Just because you’re published, doesn’t mean your work is good. I remember someone telling me that you had to know somebody in the industry to get in. What horseshit. Getting published should be based on raw talent, not because some asshole that your third cousin twice removed’s boyfriend knows can hook you up.
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I absolutely commend your capability to stand up to the oppressive nature of the literary industry. It takes someone with balls to talk against writers who got the luck of the draw and actually made their living writing. One would think they should embody some form of empathy towards the struggling, up and coming author. But there is defnitely an air of cockiness that surrounds all the writers who have garnered even a tiny bit of success. I hope you’ll be the start of change in this sad little stereotype. Keep writing and keep speaking for the unheard writer. Afterall, it is a paradox. People generally write to be heard. Let’s make that happen.
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Thanks a lot, I really appreciate that. Everyone deserves a voice, and if your work is good, no matter what your situation, you should be able to get published.
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Man, Will. Damn are you right. I went through tons of that rejection, too, though not nearly as badly as you did, it seems. Hell, it even started back in college, where the profs. were telling me that I had no business going into fiction writing, and that I should stick with the journalism that I was good at. Only problem is, I don’t want to be a reporter. I want to be a writer. Glad you’ve been able to stick it out and keep going, cause that shit just ripped me to shreds, and I’m only now starting to get it back together.
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Jesus Christ Clay, I had no idea. I didn’t even see this damn comment until now. FUCK them all. Keep writing fiction. Journalism can suck me.
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