I’m reading Booklife, by Jeff VanderMeer, and am finding it fascinating going. It’s not, lest anyone be misled, a how-to manual; it is, as Jeff told me, a strategy guide, and an incredibly intuitive one. Am learning much.
Am learning, from it and from observing discussions in his blog (this one in particular) that I’m coming at all of this obliquely, sidling sideways between the rawly creative aspects of writing a story, and the business end of things. I’m hard-put to decide which I find more fascinating, and whether or not I’m doing myself a disservice by this approach, or if I’m doing it right. All I know is I don’t think I can do it any other way. My instincts lead me thusly.
I wish I could speak about this topic more clearly. I’m still stirring the mud with my toes, and I won’t really know what it’s all about, in the gut, until I’ve felt the crawfish bite my toes and the catfish swish by.
18 December, 2009 at 7:04 am
There is no right or wrong way to do this. People will tell you there is, but there isn’t. You can only do it your way.