This week I wanted to to link to a couple of blogs I found that touch on a topic near and dear to my heart–censorship. Many times while writing my book I’ve paused and wondered if something I’m writing will offend a parent. Should I curse? Will it make parents mad that my MC smokes and fights and steals? I just have to keep reminding myself to tell the story the way it needs to be told–that no book is going to please everyone and that, if I censor my characters in an effort to give the book a broader appeal I’m basically selling them out. My MC grew up in a series of foster homes/group homes/reform schools. If he didn’t curse and have bad habits my book would be completely unrealistic.
Despite all my great advice to myself, I still sometimes pause before hitting the keys and wonder if I’m going too far, if the scene I’m writing will be the one that lands my book on a banned list. It’s funny, because I wanted to write a book with a Twilight sort of appeal (who doesn’t, right?) Something innocent and fun–nothing heavy. My characters had a different story to tell though. And…as it turns out, Twilight has (to my never-ending shock) made quite a few “banned lists” due to its “sexual nature.” Really? I must have missed something. Time to re-read the books. hehe What do you guys think of this? Surprised? If not, why?
Anyway, without further ado, here are the links I promised you. I’d love to hear your thoughts on them!! Were the other authors right in withdrawing? Do you agree that this is censorship? (You’ll have to read some of the comments on Pete’s blog to understand the debate) Pete Hautman Says… & BITES.
The more I read about career writing, the more I hear about how hard it is to make ends meet. And we’ve all had ‘blahblah economy’ drilled into our heads the last few years. Still, it’s a reality and the publishing industry wasn’t booming to begin with. Writers make something like $1/book sold which means selling about 18,000 books in a year just to make minimum wage. Plus writers often end up with advertising costs in their lap unless they’re a household name because apparently I need to see giant cardboard Edwards to remind me that Twilight exists. I try not to worry. I’d actually like to work part-time and write part-time, do something physical so I’m not on my butt all day. I’ve lived on minimum wage.
Still, it’d be nice to not to have to struggle, right?
The internet offers us an ever-growing plethora of options for both established and aspiring authors. Crowdfunding is a word that encompasses many of these methods and we hope to soon bring you a guest blog from someone involved in the movement. Many are similar to the methods that artists use–commission, subscription, merchandising, advertising. There’s a lot of resistance to these in the writing community. Self-publishing is not just frowned upon, but spat upon by some professionals in the field. How dare anyone bypass the Gatekeepers. That makes us newbies edgy…do we dare test our options and risk getting targeted with that same derision? Do we dare have the ego to share our work without Official Approval?
And why should readers care? The filter process is there for a reason. There’s a LOT of crappy writing out there and the publishing industry makes sure we don’t have to wade through it. But they’re not perfect. I love Wake, but Lisa McMann wrote two trunk books before she was allowed through the gate. What if she had given up? We wouldn’t have this fantastic bestselling trilogy. And what about those trunk books? How much of that rejection was just a matter of taste? 
That writing still belongs to her…she can do with it what she wants. She could submit the novels to her publisher, but what if the publisher doesn’t want them? That’s what happened to Scott Sigler. He’s a breakthrough podcaster and bestselling author. He wrote a new book called The Rookie and despite his excellent track record, his publisher didn’t want this particular story. So he published it himself and he talks about his experience at a conference: Who Needs Big Publishing? The answer is “We do, but…”
Catherynne M Valente is another published author who chose to use alternativ methods in her career. She publishes her books traditionally but she also wrote a short spin-off called The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making. She didn’t think anyone would publish it so she released it online and asked people to pay what they thought it was worth. Though common wisdom says that online published material loses 
marketability and all chances of being traditionally published, this story is now due out in stores in 2011 and it won the 2009 Nebula/Andrew Norton Award. Catherynne also sells e-books of poetry–a notorious hard sell in the traditional publishing world but the self-publishing model ensures that there’s little financial risk, even selling a few copies would refund her the cost of setting up an e-store on her website.
These authors have the professional clout to open doors for the rest of us. I hope that their success can erode the box around Real Authors, blur the line and let us creators branch out to use both traditional and alternative compensation models. I hope it heightens the value of highly creative work by offering readers/the audience a way to support projects that aren’t suited to traditional publishers. Catherynne is running The Omikuji Project where she sends highly personalized creations to her subscribers through the mail.
Do you have a wild idea for a creative project that just wouldn’t fit what traditional publishers are looking for?
Do you think self-publishing options dilute the quality of content available? Or do options like voting (youtube) let the high quality float to the top of the access pool?
So, lately life has been getting in the way of my writing. If I’m upset or bummed out, I have a hard time getting past that and connecting with my characters. If I am in pain, I don’t feel like writing. I look at someone as prolific as Stephen King—who wrote in his book on writing that a “real” writer writes every day—and I feel like crap about myself.
How can I have been working on my book for two whole years and I’m not done yet? How come I am so lazy that I keep taking breaks? How come I can’t get it together enough to just plow through the hard times and focus on my book?
I feel like this cartoon. The little guy is me, the bars are life, and the scroll is my book. Anyone out there that can relate?
Do other people write every day? Is this just a character flaw of mine, that I can’t work harder? Or am I already burning out, before I’m even done my first book?
Who else out there has dealt with this? I wouldn’t call it writer’s block—or a lack of real motivation. It’s just…life. How the hell do you get past all the bad crap that happens on a day to day basis and just get into your writing? If anyone out there has an answer to this one, I’d love to hear what you have to say!
All the other stuff, Writing Tips | Callie August 17, 2010 | 
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