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Being a Published Author Is not what You Think

July 25, 2018

art, author, book, creativity, literature, publishing, writing

Traditionally, most aspiring authors have thought of getting published as the end goal. Being a published author has been a proof of merit. To be a writer who’s published means “you’ve made it”, right? Heck, if you visit my author page on Goodreads, you’ll see me referring myself to having been published.

Well, we could talk for hours debating whether having “made it” has ever been the case (the word “traditionally”, which opened this article is the operative word here), but let’s instead focus on the present moment. The grand question is this:

Does being a published author mean your writing woes are over?

Not only is the answer “not by a mile”, but in many cases I’d argue against “being a published author”. In other words, I’d argue that getting a publishing contract with a publishing house won’t necessarily be what you’d like.

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Linear Narrative Progression? No, Thanks

January 23, 2018

Fiction Writing Tips, Writing

art, creativity, fiction, literature, time, writing

Narrative Progression: From Point A to Point B

One of the biggest markers of inexperienced genre fiction writers is the way their narratives progress. In genre fiction such as romance fiction, detective fiction, etc. events often occur in a very linear way. A leads to B which leads to C; one second, then one second, then one second. A narrative progression where events are described in the order they have occurred is called a linear narrative progression and, as you realize, it is the simplest way to narrate an event. Let’s see a quick example, which we can later adapt and reuse.

Last weekend I went to New York and met a guy named John. Today I saw John walking down the street here, in Boston. We agreed to go fishing next Sunday

It’s a clear, natural-looking example. You wouldn’t think that there’s anything wrong with producing an entire narrative like that, right? Only, there is, which is the motivation behind today’s article. I will first show you why it’s a bad idea to structure your book following a linear narrative progression, then I will show you how to restructure it in a nonlinear narrative progression.

linear narrative progression — In a narrative, unlike reality, time doesn’t have to progress in a linear fashion

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“Is This Book Good? Or Is It Boring?”

January 21, 2018

Literature

art, idiocy, ignorance, literature, mediocrity, patience, society

Browsing around Goodreads, I noticed something interesting. In a discussion on a famous novel, someone asked: “Is this book good? Or is it boring?” I must admit, I was taken aback quite a bit by this question. I have seen questions like this before, as I have seen questions like “do you like my poem?” or “Is this a good photo, do you like it?”

This is a fundamental error that can lead to some serious misunderstandings. More crucially (and depressingly) it tells me that the average person doesn’t really understand anything about art. Perhaps partly because they were never taught how to. Our “education” systems promote not critical thinking but regurgitation of ideas; not compartmentalized meta-thought (multi-layer thinking about the process of thinking) but repetition. Welcome to the wonderful world of mediocrity…

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