Why I Write

When I was in grade school, I knew that I wanted to be a writer. My dream was to make a living at it, but that never panned out. Actually, fairly early I realized that making it a career didn’t matter. The writing mattered.

I was attending a writer’s conference and taking one of the seminars. I’m not sure of the topic— Writing Short Stories, I think— but I remember the instructor, who was a writer I had met before. Because she knew me, she asked me a general question first that she then posed to several other attendees. “Give me three reasons why you write.”

My answers:

“It’s how I communicate.” (I was always shy and didn’t talk much— of course, now things are very different!)

“There are stories I want to tell.”

“I like to read.”

Decent answers, I guess. But then, other people in the seminar, maybe five or six of them, gave their answers. Many gave similar answers, but each and every one said the one thing that I didn’t. “I write because I want to make money.”

I remember thinking then, boy these people are money hungry.

But as I look back, maybe they were right. Maybe, if my focus had been on doing whatever it took to make a living at writing, I would have been more successful.

Maybe.

Maybe not.

I gave up on the prospect of making at living solely by my writing, but I haven’t stopped writing, or publishing. Does that make me a failure? A success? I don’t know.

 

 

Copy Editing

I’m a big fan of Lawrence Block’s fiction, especially Matt Scudder, and I’m also a big fan of his writings about writing. Years ago, he had a monthly fiction writing column in Writer’s Digest which I devoured. Twice I met him at a mystery convention, and I made sure to let him know.

Currently I’m reading “The Liar’s Bible: A Good Book for Fiction Writers” and just finished a chapter on copy editors. Mr. Block outlined the sometimes adversarial relationship between writers and copy editors with examples from both sides of the spectrum.

It blew me away because I had just had an issue with a copy editor which was still nagging at me.

I preface this by saying I’m not a highly successful writer who can make demands. Publication is my goal, and for a long time, my attitude has been, if they want me to write it in all capital letters, I will do so if they will publish it. Even with my first disastrous experience with shoddy editing of my paperback novels, which I outlined in a previous post, I have a tendency to defer to editors. A few times I’ve politely raised some questions, but usually, I went with the editor’s take. They are the ones printing the piece.

But recently I ran into a case that made me think. The copy editor was changing my character’s dialogue to make it grammatically correct. I, as many fiction writers do, write dialogue the way people talk, not the way that is grammatically correct. In this instance, after a bit of thought, I deferred to the copy editor.

Was that a mistake?

At what point should a writer stand up and say “no”?

Again, I’m not a bestselling author who can make demands. I won’t turn down reasonable chances at publication.

But in this case?

What would Lawrence Block say?

Should I have said “no”?

I’m going to be thinking about this one for a long time.