It can be awfully hard for an aspiring writer sometimes, especially when you’re trying to explain your travails to a non-writer. You’ll usually get some encouragement along the lines of “Well, such-and-such famous writer got TEN rejections before getting published!” which, though well-meant, is not encouraging at all.
There are a few reasons why. First of all, ten rejections is a laughable drop in the bucket compared to the average number of rejections that a writer will face before success…and that’s assuming success ever comes. How can I know for sure that I’m walking the difficult but eventually-rewarding path to success and not the fool’s errand into delusion? I’ve had well over fifty, possibly verging on a hundred, rejections so far. I hope it’s leading up to something good, but there’s no guarantee.
Secondly, writers who rocket to astounding fame are the exception, not the rule. For every JK Rowling there are a hundred lesser-known writers, quietly publishing their books with little fanfare. They may or may not have to work another job because their books aren’t popular enough to pay all the bills. Their books probably won’t have an honored pedestal at the front of the bookstore (unless they’re making a personal appearance for a book signing). They might not ever earn out their advances (the amount they’re paid up front based on the anticipated success of their book. It’s a strange system but actually allows mid-list writers to be supported by the excess of money made by the wildly successful books, because the publishers are able to gamble on debut writers and not require the money back if the gamble doesn’t pay off.)
Anyway, I might dream about success on the level of Rowling, but that’s not really my true goal. World-wide fame brings its own troubles. Anyone who earns a lot of positive attention will find a commensurate share of negative attention. Rowling is a perfect example. Even leaving aside the criticisms of her actual work ranging from its relative literary quality to teensy little continuity issues, her fame has resulted in a great deal of scrutiny of her general behavior and opinions. At the moment her more controversial views have earned the disapproval of many former fans. Lots of other people might have similar views, but they’re not going to get anywhere near the level of attention as the woman who created Harry Potter.
So being that famous is a double-edged sword. Having widespread name recognition isn’t why I want to get published anyway. Oh, it could be nice to feed my starving ego, but I’m well aware that such external validation is fleeting and ultimately unsatisfying. Making lots of money would be nice, but that’s not the primary reason either. I want to be able to share my stories with a wide audience. I want to make connections with readers that I could never otherwise reach.
Consider if you asked people to name some famous authors. You’d come up with a lot of the same names, probably. Rowling. Stephen King. Dan Brown. Stephanie Meyer (another someone whose huge fan base is balanced out by a huge collection of haters….) But now imagine if you asked, instead, for their favorite author. We can assume that the range of answers would be much wider, with many names that aren’t particularly well-known. And those names would be spoken with much more enthusiasm. Yes, there would be overlap between the famous authors and the favorites. But the favorites could include all sorts of obscure names that never show up on the bestsellers lists, books that are long out of print, writers who could be giants in one particular genre but virtually unheard of outside of it.
Here are a few of mine: Lloyd Alexander, Elizabeth Moon, Connie Willis, Martha Wells, Gordon Korman, Jim C. Hines. Maybe you’ve heard of them, maybe you haven’t. They’ve won awards; they’ve had some recognition. They may or may not show up at the top of any list of famous writers. But their books have connected with me. Just me, one obscure little reader. I don’t write reviews in a big magazine. I don’t own a bookstore. All I do is read their stories; fall into fabricated worlds that are at once new and wonderfully familiar; look through the eyes of characters living lives so different from mine and yet finding a deep, intimate commonality with them. All I do is love their books, feeling so lucky that they decided to write this story and share it with me.
That’s what I want: for someone, even one person, to be glad that I wrote a story and shared it.
cynthiaailshie 