The Bitter Quill

I found it funny that the evil, mustachioed, get–your–post–in–on–time-or–we’ll– tie–you–to-the-tracks Bitter Quill Powers that Be (else wise known as “Mike”) described me as a “new-media writer” in the introduction to last week’s post. It’s not that the bulk of the writing I do for public consumption these days doesn’t fit that bill — it certainly does — it’s just that in describing the writing I do I’m more apt to use the less formal moniker, “blogger”, because I find the term “new-media” particularly silly (ED: Oi!). There’s nothing “new” about writing. It may not be as old as cave painting or sex or spoken word or dancing, but as methods of communication go, it’s been around a good long while.

What new media blogging has done for writers is create a more egalitarian market in which to flog our wordy-wares. No longer do we need to tie up our lovingly double-spaced bundle of words and count on an editor to recognize our genius. With a push of a button we can take our ground-breaking tales directly to the public at large. And, with additional commenting tools at our (I was going to say “ink-stained” – but that doesn’t really apply in this case…but “keyboard calloused” doesn’t really have the same aesthetic lyricism to it, does it?) fingertips, we can get instant feedback from our audience, so we can hone and tailor or work and give them exactly what they want – and as often as they want it.

Frankly, it feels a bit like cheating to me. When you fantasize about you future writing career (wasting time which, I should like to point out, would have been better spent actually writing), do you dream about your photo on a dustjacket, attending book signings armed with a heavy pen and tweed blazer with leather elbow pads, of discovering your characters either changed someone’s life or featured heavily in their startlingly risqué fanfic (perhaps both), or about spending your time worrying about bloghits and site visitors and troll bashing and your Google Page Rank? Perhaps I’m a short-sighted luddite, unable to grasp that new-media is the wave of the future, or maybe I just give more emotional weight to words I can actually hold in my hand… but I, for one, feel as though I can’t count myself as successful until that byline is printed on paper.
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EDITOR’S NOTE: Genevieve Cogman clearly has excellent taste in bands. Besides that, she’s also had the privilege of writing for some of the most complex and popular role-playing game properties out there, among them the World of Darkness, In Nomine, GURPS and the upcoming and highly anticipated (by us, anyway) Dresden Files game. I’d encourage everyone to click the “more…” link and read the whole of her fantastic article, no matter what genre or industry you plan on writing for. It’s great advice!

Ladies, fish, and gentlemen — sorry, had a Blue Oyster Cult flashback.

Ladies and gentlemen, at some point in your writing career you are going to get edited. I’m not just talking about helpful suggestions from beta-readers, writing groups, or friends who are looking at your stuff. I’m talking about a manuscript which you’ve actually signed a contract to write — or which you’re submitting on the understanding that the editor will take a serious look at — which has come back with red ink and comments all over it.

This is my experience, and my usual course of action. I hope it’s useful to you.

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