And in case you were considering taking on writing as an occupation, perhaps you should think it through carefully:
Publishing is a business. Say that out loud. Even the chief commissioning editor at a publisher is unlikely to be able to run to you with a contract wriggling excitedly in her hands on her say so alone. The question asked of manuscripts in publishing houses the world over is not, ‘Is this good?’ but, ‘Will this sell?’ I’m not saying you should ‘write to be commercial’. Quite apart from the fact that I’d rather not write at all than write stuff I didn’t like just because I thought it’d be popular (and so should you – or why write in the first place? If you’re not doing it for the love of the thing itself, then you’d be better off getting far more money and far less grief working in conveyancing instead), it’s almost certainly doomed to look like nothing but terribly-forced tosh written because the author thought it’d be commercial.
[…]
The Internet. Writing for the Internet is entirely different to writing a novel. Also, anything decent you put on the Net will get stolen. Fact. So, if you think you can do a Webpage that will give you some kind of profile, fair enough; but regard it in the same way as you would running naked across the White House lawn as a way of getting publishers to take notice of you. Putting your novel online in the hope that someone will pick it up is doomed for so many reasons that it would wear out my knuckles to sit here typing them all.
[…]
Don’t introduce eighteen characters and twelve vital plot points in the first twenty pages. Yes, spy and fantasy authors, I’m looking at you. Readers can retain only about four characters and two or three ‘things’ in their heads until they’ve really had a chance to get into the book. Bombard them with more than that and they don’t simply forget the rest: they mentally collapse due to information overload and lose track of everything.
There’s more, but only if you’re serious about it. Or just want a good laugh, because most of it is moderately funny while also being insightful and informative. (Sheesh, I’m describing the document in terms of Slashdot comment moderation. Somebody shoot me now.)
So, who’s (still) up for NaNoWriMo, eh? Bwahahahaha…
Mil Millington on Writing
