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I wonder if some people just have too much of an instant gratification mindset where they write what they think is a great novel and expect just to publish it, be discovered and have Harry Potter-ish levels of success.
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Exactly!! Too many writers are in it for the instant gratification and the so called "bragging rights" to say they're an author. Big whoop. My cat could be an author, but that doesn't mean he'd be a *good* author. But alas, too many people these days have the wrong picture of reality. The old adage, "Don't quit your day job" really applies to a lot of people these days, regardless of what they think they can do and can't.
It's like the exercise thing you mentioned. I heard a story of one guy who went out for the Boston Marathon. When asked about his participation, he said, "I'm gonna win it!" to which he was asked, "How much training have you done?" He replied, "None, cause I don't need it." Needless to say, they were hauling him away in an ambulance a couple miles later.
Writing is sorta that same thing, and there's far too many people who don't realize that. I hate to rag on other authors, because I don't want to discourage people. But reality is cruel, and sometimes people need to hear things like this in order to help them realize if what they're about to attempt is really for them. Also, there's three things that any good aspiring author needs to have.
1. An unquestioned love of writing. If you can't see yourself doing this for the rest of your life, even if you never earn a dime from it, then you shouldn't be writing.
2. A willingness to work hard. It took me 15+ years of constant writing, learning, improving, and experimenting before I was able to get to a level that I consider "satisfactory." Even if others rave about it, my opinion of my own writing is that it "still needs improvement". If I ever lose that opinion of my writing, then I need to hang it up because I've lost the one thing that helps me be a good writer, and that's an honest perspective. Because if you ever think your writing is great, then you've crossed over that imaginary boundary and are on the wrong side of success.
3. Never shoot for fame and/or fortune. Shoot for being the best you can be, and never give up on that goal ever. If you're truly good, fame and fortune will find you. If it doesn't you have a long ways to go. And even if it does, you're still not there yet.
IE, in short, keep a realistic view of everything, and never give up trying to make yourself better. Sadly, there's far too many who won't do that. Having started working for my publisher doing ebooks and web development, I've had a rather interesting inside view of the publishing world that I otherwise wouldn't have gotten. And let me tell you, there's a LOT of unrealistic people out there publishing vanity books. They have no other reason to publish except A) to boost their own self esteem (ie, look, I'm a published author!), or B) they go in thinking that simply by publishing a book, hollywood will suddenly beat a path to their door and they will become world famous overnight.
To say that I've learned a lot about the publishing world since August when I started into this adventure is an understatement. It's far, far more than I learned in the 5+ years as a tech editor. It's like when I went into Culinary. I to this day will never see a restaurant the same way ever again. The same goes with publishing. The golden arches that everyone sees on the outside quickly becomes the greasy burger on the inside.
And don't worry ficbot, I'm not disagreeing with what you say. In fact, I fully agree with you, and am simply releasing a few pet peeves I've built up over time in hopes that my thoughts will help others either get better, or realize that they don't belong, the latter reason providing relief to both editors and readers alike by removing bad books and bad authors from circulation.
