INTRODUCTION #1
THIS IS NOT A HOW-TO BOOK. I’M NOT sure if I believe that writing can be taught, and if it can, I’m probably not the one to do it. Writing can, however, certainly be learned. I find most How-to books about the publishing field to be more annoying than ultimately helpful. Many of them state rules on what to do, what not to do, and how to succeed in three, fourteen, or thirty-one easy steps.
Outside of simple manuscript mechanics there are no fast or easy rules on how to produce solid stories and novels, how to sell them, and how to garner a professional career in writing. What works for one person won’t necessarily work for another.
This is a guide to getting started, a map of what pitfalls to look out for, and an outline of what struggles and achievements you can reasonably expect through the course of learning your art. If you get anything out of this small book I hope it’s the idea that you should experiment with style, voice, concepts, and musing until you find what allows you to express yourself the best. Even after you find your narrative voice and hook and niche, you should still explore other venues and techniques to avoid stagnancy.
I’m going to talk about “the page” a great deal. Yes, I know we all work on computers now, and it would be more accurate for me to discuss “the screen” instead, but hey, poetic license and all that.
So, this book is written with a plethora of disclaimers. No, I’m not a millionaire or a bestseller or someone critically hailed to the four corners of the planet. I haven’t sold to the movies yet, (not even to Showtime or HBO, damn it). I’m just someone who’s been writing for about a decade now and been fairly successful at it, and I’ve made just about every mistake you can make in this field and hopefully learned from them.
That said, these lessons are meant as only a general guide to discovering what works for you in a difficult art and an even more taxing industry. This is an overview of what I’ve found to be elementary truths about the craft and business of writing. Truths that are often lost in the lavish dreams, mythology, and misconceptions of what it is to be a writer.