Comments on: Write now?

By: CT

CT — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 03:31:38 +0000

As a creative-writing program drop-out, I chuckle at the cavalier disregard for the odds against these bushy-tailed scribes. And I’ll invoke the best advice I’ve heard regarding those odds:

“You’ll write a million words before you publish your first thousand.” – Donn “Cool Hand Luke” Pearce

Despite the Online Age’s more flexible definition of “publish” (and, for that matter, “write”), I think this still holds true.

By: McGehee

McGehee — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 00:06:55 +0000

(unless you’re using spaceships and explosions as metaphors for existentialist angst or somesuch nonsense)

Who says that had to be the idea when you wrote it? A truly (ahem) creative creative-writing student can convince a professor the plot elements mean whatever the professor likes.

By: sya

sya — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 20:32:10 +0000

Well, since most creative writing programs look down on genre fiction anyway (unless you’re using spaceships and explosions as metaphors for existentialist angst or somesuch nonsense), they would be pointless for anyone trying their hand at non-literary fiction.

By: fillyjonk

fillyjonk — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 20:07:48 +0000

Hmm. The Career as Big Lottery Win model.

I suspect that a lot of the instant-success types wind up about as happy as the stereotypical lottery winner. Which is to say, after the initial excitement has worn off, not very.