Quote:
Originally Posted by Dr. Drib
I respectfully disagree.
Writing is therapeutic - every act of writing is, in my opinion - and with it one discovers new linkages to that which makes us human.
One can break writing down into any number of elements one cares to make - your scenario seems workable enough - but another scenario might be just as effective.
Fledgling writers may certainly be delicate and hesitant, but it's not a rule or a given. Look at Ann Rice (although certainly not a fledgling writer!) and her cult of personality - she's as narcissistic as they come.  |
Well...
let's separate
"writing," as an act in and of itself, and "authoring" and "publishing." Lots of people write. Many people journal, or blog. That's not the same thing as authoring a book, or publishing the same.
If someone simply wishes to write for his/her own enjoyment, a record for sometime later; or freely blog...hey, that person can write in any style, manner, etc. That's their choice. It's a form of experimental fiction (or non), in that sense.
BUT...once a body starts thinking about the hubris of being PAID for those efforts, all that self-indulgent crap should fly out the window. I mean, sure, write whatever makes your heart sing, or whatever exorcises your demons (seriously, would anyone want to be Stephen King's psychotherapist? I would not), but it has to be remotely coherent. Otherwise, the writing gets in the way of telling the tale, whatever it is.
To me, that's the first rule of writing--for an author
not to get in the way of the story through artifice, bad grammar, homonym errors (my personal bugbear), or simple laziness (as in, too lazy to learn the HOW). And, yes, I'd be the first to agree that I am waaaaaay over-sensitive to this, due to what I see daily. Unlike Elsa, most of the books that I see, professionally, really, really REALLY oughtn't be released into the wild.
Just my $.02. I have many of my own scribblings that have met the Trash Bin, thank the gods, long before I lost my mind and inflicted them on innocent bystanders.
Hitch