Quote:
Originally Posted by crich70
That's the advice that I've read in several books on writing. Set a project aside for several weeks (or longer) and then come back to it later with fresh eyes for it.
|
Yup, it's amazing how much faster the world moves today. In Ye Olden Days, when I was young (back when velociraptors chased us around), the advice was to put it away for 6 months and then come back to it (for something novel-sized). ;-)
I would note that it's either harder or easier for journalists to make a living nowadays; harder because so many newspapers have folded, but easier because it's patently obvious that standards have dropped to an all-time low. It seems that most of them read whatever PR sheets are put out by local government, and that's that. I realize that this is archaic and insane, but I recall in my journalism studies some ludicrous idea of reporters actually running around, researching material, developing sources, and the like. Absurd, I know.
Vis-a-vis creative writing, it's simply easier, period. I've been pretty consistently gobsmacked by the reality that there is an entire reading population out there that have
dramatically lower reading standards than anyone could previously have thought. I personally know of books that are selling quite remarkably well, that wouldn't have made it past a lousy imprint's slush pile, a mere 10 years ago. And, before somebody says it, it's not merely erotica or romance or whatever; it's in every genre category.
I think that those in the business, for the last 5 decades or so (and prior) really misunderstood that there
IS a reading public out there
that wants simpler material. What many of us saw as the "dumbing down" mayn't be; it may be that that populace has always existed, and simply wasn't being served, as there was a reading "gap," sort of..., well, you had comic books, and then you had grown-up literature, and genre fiction. Nothing in-between for those unwilling to tackle more complex material. If you can say one thing about the publishing boom, it's that,
without being snarky--a massive reading population that may not have been being served previously,
are obviously being served NOW. They are buying and reading books.
Whatever else, that's likely not a bad thing, even if the books they are reading are books at which book-snobs would turn their noses up. I think that anything that gets people reading can't be "bad," really. (I reserve the right to contradict myself
utterly on this topic if we're discussing anything with sparkly freaking vampires or 50 shades of something that isn't a color.)
Hitch