Monolithic – two of Webster’s definition are as follows:
A: constituting a massive undifferentiated and often rigid whole
B: exhibiting or characterized by often rigidly fixed uniformity….
Have we as writers become monolithic, or has the world come to expect us to be?
The reason I ponder this I guess is I have time on my hands (giggling)
I am on the hiatus I take whenever I finish a book. I take a couple weeks to chill…
Anyway…
Are we and should we be?
I read and hear all of this stuff about how all the books are the same…particularly in the AA arena….
Then I read or hear other stuff about how if you don’t do it a certain way, you won’t sell any books….you are told, no cliff-hangers, no this, no that, no the other…
Do those who are saying these things realize how contradictory they are?
If on the one hand you give them formula….then they want different….
Give them different….then they want formula….goodness…
So how do you give the people what they want?
Do you churn out what is already out there, just changing the name and locations…
Or do you go out on a limb and give them something different…
Make them think,
Laugh,
Cry,
Judge,
Get mad,
Remember what the hell you wrote and stay up at night thinking about it?
I have chosen to go with the latter, only because I don’t know any better…
It is a lonely business. It is a lot like hearing someone make a racist or misogynistic remark and while everyone is laughing, you say, ‘Please don’t do that in my presence.”
My mama taught me a long time ago that there are times when you have to stand alone, no matter what everyone else is doing, you must chart your own course.
When you do that as a writer, you have to be willing to accept going it alone, writing against the tide, having folks tell other folks not to read that because he or she didn’t do this or that….but…
When you are able to remain steadfast, with your eye on the prize, the rewards are amazing….
People will wait for the next book or the next message or the next whatever…
Because regardless to what they may tell us, we are not monolithic….we like all kinds of stuff…you heard it here first…
angelia
