A comment I made on Jane Friedman’s blog There Are No Rules inspired this post.  Jane’s entry was about inspiration, and contained some quotes she found interesting about how writers can tap into their innermost selves when they are alone.

Tons of people think artists and writers are or should be solitary people, holed up in a studio or an office, painstakingly practicing their art at the point of a brush or the keyboard, with no distractions.  Actually, many writers struggle for those moments because they have so much going on in their personal lives.  Work, family, errands, chores; it’s all demanding.  Most of us don’t have the luxury of writing full-time, especially novelists.

What about the other side of the coin, those who don’t have much of anything?  I’ve known a lot of people who are alone, with no family or few friends.  They tend to bend your ear when you get a chance to talk to them, since at home there’s no one to listen.

I’ve been there.  Truly.  I’ve gone whole weekends without talking to a living soul, either on the phone or face-to-face.  Sometimes the only interaction I have is online.  Many times it’s by choice.  Lots of times, it’s not.  When I’m writing, that can be a blessing.  I’ve tried sneaking work during the day, and there are just too many damn interruptions unless I’m at lunch.

But other times, it sucks.  I’ve gone out and browsed around the flea market not because I want someone’s used dishes, but so I can be around other human beings.  (PS–It’s a great place for writers to eavesdrop on conversations.  Heh heh.)  Right now, I’m living in a place where it’s extremely hard to find like-minded people unless you belong to certain demographics, which I do not.  Judging by a local newspaper article I read a couple of years ago, I’m not the only one here with this perspective.

Writing is a solitary venture.  Even in a house filled with family, when we visit those worlds inside our heads, there’s no one there but us.  Eventually we have to pull ourselves out, if only to seek sustenance or use the bathroom.  That doesn’t mean your life has to be that way.

As I said in my comment, I think solitude is necessary for creativity, but too much isn’t a good thing.  The need for companionship, if not fulfilled, can usurp the good things about solitude and shut you down.  When you need food water won’t do it.  When you need to hear another human voice, forums and even chat rooms are dry bread compared to a steak sandwich. (Why do I try to write blog posts when I’m starving?)

Good writers need that human interaction.  You’re representing life.  Unless your book is set on another planet and your protagonists are all sentient squids, chances are you’re writing about other people.  Go out among them, if only to do field research.  If you’re lucky enough to have a family or live in a situation with housemates, you can mine them for inspiration, bits of dialogue and critiques.  And they will keep you anchored in the world.

For those who are mostly alone, I highly recommend seeking the company of other people on a regular basis.  It will help you recharge.  Church is good if you’re into that, or a group that involves some interest other than writing.  And no, online forums don’t count.  People need to be in the same room with each other.   Have some kind of activity other than your work to engage you.

Maybe you’ll find that your work is better when you isolate yourself.  That may be, but most humans are not meant to be completely solitary creatures.  Find your moments and use them and then get out there.  The reward is richer than you ever imagined.

Nicola Morgan at Help! I Need a Publisher! inspired this post.  She had an older post about selling out and how it’s more difficult to get published now, because it’s all about sales and not so much writing anymore.

I went back and reread it recently.  Although Nicola is in the UK, her remarks are relevant in the US as well.

Nicola says in the comments, “Definition of commercial – simple: sells a lot. It doesn’t mean bad: it means popular. End of.”  She’s right.  Publishing is a business and these are business decisions.  A lot of writers think of what they do as art.  Many don’t consider commercial fiction art the way we think of it.  Art is Da Vinci, Shakespeare, and the like.

Here’s a wake-up call:  Shakespeare’s plays were commercial fiction.  In Elizabethan times, there were no movies.  People went to the theater.  The nobles got to sit in boxes, but the riff-raff had to stand downstairs.  Still, they went.  Everybody did.

Shakespeare cribbed story elements from other sources, the same way modern filmmakers do.  He mixed them up and presented them to a new audience in an entertaining way.  He invented new words and found common human elements in his stories that resonate with people even today.  That is why his works are classic.  They only seem literary to us because we don’t speak Elizabethan English.

What Shakespeare came up with sold in his time.  Dan Brown, Michael Palmer, Dean Koontz, Stephen King, countless romance authors, etc. are doing well because people buy their books.  This is what we like, people.  Art is subjective.

Writing my first novel (technically my third, but the first I’m actually trying to sell) and having to cut it back so much is teaching me a lot about commercial writing.  So is reading my favorite genre authors.  The next one I’m not even going to bother to flesh out as much.

Why?

• It doesn’t need it.  I’m learning about making each word count, rather than trying to cover everything.  Show, don’t tell takes more time, but if I’m careful about details, I can show a lot in less space.  A shorter book is easier to sell.  At least that’s what I keep hearing.

• It takes less time to write it.  If I have to keep working to survive even with books published and royalties coming in (don’t I wish!), I’ll have to make do with little bits of time the way I do now.  The luxury of full-time writing will never be mine unless I join the tiny ranks of million-dollar bestsellers.  Not bloody likely.

It’s not a sellout to choose popular fiction over literary fiction.  I don’t mind cranking them out as long as whatever I produce is entertaining and I’m happy with it.  I never saw popular fiction as a sell-out and I never will. That’s what I like to read, and that’s what I’ll write.  I don’t think I have a literary novel in me, and I like writing fight scenes too much.

In the comments on Nicola’s post, Bacchus replied, “I think it’s only selling out when you can no longer enjoy what your [sic]doing. Giving up your joy in a task is like giving up your very essence.”  She’s right too.   If that happens to you, the work becomes just work.  You’re marking time.

When you find yourself doing that, then it might be time to quit, or at least take a break until you find your joie de vivre again.  If I like the popular stuff and enjoy writing it, my chances are better because I’ll have an audience who already reads whatever it is, and my work will have spirit.

Apparently, then, getting published means find something that will sell, that you want to write, that is universally appealing and that you’re capable of doing justice to.  Not so hard!  We’ll see.

You can’t make it if you don’t try, that’s for sure.  Read posts like Nicola’s and take them for what they are, a gentle reminder to stay realistic in your pursuits.

If a writer posts her own UNPUBs online, there isn’t usually an issue.  But what if she creates a new story using someone else’s established characters?

Fan fiction delves into an area where creativity and copyright clash.  Star Trek, Star Wars, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Harry Potter, Batman, it’s all out there.  People are writing new adventures for their favorite characters and posting them for other fans to share.  And they’ve been retelling tales with new twists for centuries.

I have nothing against fan fiction, although it’s not my chosen form of expression.  It wouldn’t surprise me if a lot of artists, in their imitative phase, produced derivative works and never showed them to anyone.  I did only one myself.  Yes, I shared it with a few select individuals.  No, it’s not online and you’ll never see it there.

Personally, it wouldn’t get my nose out of joint if people wrote stories about one of my published characters (if I had any, that is!), as long as they weren’t selling them.  I don’t really want people making money off my creations unless I license them to do so, as in merchandising, etc.  I may be open to that.

The issue gets sticky when fair use considerations rear their heads.  Chillingeffects.org, maintained by Stanford Center for Internet & Society, says “The fair use doctrine says that otherwise copyrighted works may be used for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, or research.”

Fan fiction doesn’t fall under this description.  Why?

(Disclaimer:  I am not a lawyer.  For in-depth questions on copyright infringement, please consult a specialized attorney.)

When someone writes fanfic, as it’s commonly referred to, she creates what may be a derivative work using someone else’s established characters.  Under the original copyright, only the holder may have the exclusive right to use or reproduce them in new works.  If anyone else does it, that’s a violation.

Can you steal an idea?  Not really.  Ideas can’t be copyrighted.  They have to be developed in fixed media.  For those who wonder, that does include a computerized manuscript.  It’s not necessary to register your work unless you need to sue someone who stole it.  The very act of fixing it in a tangible form establishes copyright.

Look at all the works on bookstore shelves right now similar to Twilight. A vampire has a relationship with a human?  Buffy did it already.  Did Stephanie Meyer steal from Buffy? No, she took a trope (a common device) and created an original story around it.  So did all the writers who jumped on the Twilight bandwagon.

To make it clearer, let’s try an example.  Mary Sue and Bobby Joe are in a critique group tossing ideas around.  Mary Sue writes a story based on Bobby Joe’s musings about a vampire in love with a werewolf.  Bobby Joe can’t claim this plotline as his own creation because it’s generic.  He can’t stop her from writing her story or even publishing it.

If Bobby Joe publishes a book about the relationship between Fiona the vampire and Colin the werewolf and creates very specific characters, he then has a copyright on those characters.  Mary Sue can’t use them.  She can’t write about Fiona and Colin in a new adventure without violating Bobby Joe’s rights.  She can’t use elements unique to that work and those characters.

However, if Mary Sue were to write a parody of Bobby Joe’s book, similar to the Vampires Suck spoof of the Twilight film, that could constitute fair use and might be allowed.  A critical literary analysis of the Fiona and Colin saga as romantic horror fiction, even with quotes, could also fall under fair use.

What if Mary Sue’s adaptation isn’t published, either online or in print?  It’s still a violation.  I don’t know if Bobby Joe could sue based on this, or if he’d even want to.  If Mary Sue wrote the fanfic for her own pleasure or for no profit, even if someone else reads it, where is the harm?

Individual authors have their own positions about fanfic.  JK Rowling has said she is flattered by it, as long as it remains non-commercial and not obscene.  Conversely, Anne Rice states “I do not allow fan fiction. The characters are copyrighted. It upsets me terribly to even think about fan fiction with my characters. I advise my readers to write your own original stories with your own characters. It is absolutely essential that you respect my wishes.”

There are upsides to fanfic.  It’s certainly a means of tribute to a film, book or television series.  Fan fiction can help a writer practice craft elements like story structure, plotting, and editing without her taking the time to world-build.  Using established characters, she can practice stretching them while still staying true to their personalities.

My fanfic was a great way to get back into the novel form after a long period of mostly academic writing.  And I actually came up with a story I was able to adapt to my own characters.  As a writing exercise it’s useful, although I highly doubt I’ll ever go there again.

Fan fiction writers run other risks with their material.  DC Comics has this statement on their message board policy page:

By posting any fan fiction or proposed story ideas or plots on DC’s Message Boards, you waive any claims for credit or consideration of any kind as a result of DC’s publication or use of any similar matter in any manner or medium.

I am not a lawyer, but that reads as if they are saying “If you post something we like using our original creations, we can take your adaptation idea or even your script/written work and use it without recompense to you.” With this disclaimer, they could hire in-house writers to write your fanfic idea and you get nothing.

Fan fiction can be dangerous territory.  If you get busted for it, penalties are harsh and expensive.  And of course, your reputation could be damaged irreparably.  Perhaps someday authors and fans will reach an acceptable compromise with this issue.  Until then, it seems that fanfic writers will remain closeted and clouded in suspicion.

If you have any thoughts about writing fan fiction, from an author or reader standpoint, please share in the comments.  No personal attacks, please; let’s keep any debate polite and respectful.

Today I was reading Chuck Sambuchino’s blog Guide to Literary Agents and came across this column, part of a series about writers at all stages of their careers sharing their tidbits of wisdom and knowledge.

Lara Ehrlich is as yet unpublished, but her advice rings true.  Check out her blog; it’s kinda neat.

She says not to share your early drafts, rough chapters and first pages.  She says “Get there, then share.”  Awesome.  That should be on a t-shirt, I commented.  She is so right.  I would add ideas to the list.  I agree because:

• She says you don’t know in the earliest stages of a manuscript how it will turn out. It could be completely different from what you share.  I concur and expand:  early feedback, if positive, could lock you into a path that wouldn’t necessarily serve the story.  You must have the freedom to be flexible without outside influence dictating your narrative.

• If they like the story, the premise or a character, people will bug you incessantly until you produce it. I made that mistake with my work-in-progress.  Now people I know are asking about it at intervals, making me feel pressured.  It doesn’t help because the story is in a structural tangle and I’m trying to work it out.  It’s my own fault.  I’ll never do that again.  Here’s my opportunity to explore ways to deal with deadline stress.  Always learn something from your stupid mistakes!

• You can’t copyright ideas. As far as I’m aware, you can’t prevent someone from taking a vague suggestion you elaborated on over a beer, in a chat room / forum or even your critique group and running with it.  The only thing you can sue for is if someone steals your written, fixed and tangible work.  So I could say “I’d like to write a story about a living airplane that eats pollution” and someone could write it, and there’s nothing I can do.  If I actually write the story, published or not, and then someone steals it, there could be trouble.

Feel free to play with that one, if you like.  If you come up with a living airplane story that actually works, send me a link to it.  I’d love to read that!

Writers worry all the time about people stealing their ideas.  Although I haven’t seen it, there was even a kid’s movie about this, Big Fat Liar, with Frankie Muniz, Paul Giamatti and Amanda Bynes, where a smarmy Hollywood producer steals a brilliant homework assignment from an incorrigible kid.

Despite the movie, most of the time you don’t have to worry about this.  Reputable agents and publishers know that they won’t be in business long if they go around swiping every unpublished manuscript that isn’t screwed to the brick wall of copyright registration.  Under the law, once it’s in a tangible form, it’s yours.  If you want to sue, you’d have to register it formally, but that’s usually taken care of by your publisher if you’re fortunate enough to land one.  If you back up digital work regularly it’s easy to show when a file was created.

Just don’t talk about your embryonic nuggets of literary gold, and no one can take them from you.  Keep your big mouth shut.

Don’t share those first attempts, either, as Lara advises.  No one can implode your ethereal house of cards if they don’t see it.  Keep it close until it’s strong enough to withstand a poke or two.   Sometimes it’s better just to walk away, but a truly good story may be lost if the writer folds because of an early question or criticism.

Got any advice about sharing/not sharing?  Please post in the comments.

The definition of the word escapes us.  We think bravery and courage are the warrior, cop or firefighter charging in, kicking ass and taking names, leaping into action at the slightest hint of danger, to serve, save and protect.

In truth, courage doesn’t mean fearless.  Courage is what we show when we are afraid but we do it anyway.

Courage in daily life can be large, as in pulling someone from burning wreckage, or small, when you make an effort to smile at a coworker instead of snapping on a hellish day.  Courage is standing up for your beliefs, even if it makes you unpopular.  It’s saying “I don’t like what you said” when someone makes a remark you find offensive.  It’s apologizing when you do that yourself, and admitting you made a mistake.

Writers have to have courage to start their careers.  Countless writers never send in their work, or even show it to anyone because they are afraid.  They make up excuses not to do so, and sometimes they even write secretly to avoid the questions.  It’s perfectly okay to do it for yourself if that’s what makes you happy.  But if you have any intention of being published, then you must take yourself in hand and do what you can to improve your work, and put it out there.  You have to, because no one ever published a trunk novel that stayed in the trunk.  I must say, I’ve read a lot of novels that should have stayed in the trunk!

I talked to someone recently who writes and shows it to no one but her husband.  He thinks she’s great.  She has the fear greeblies, however, and some of them look like the following.  To her and others who may be on the fence, here are my recommendations:

• It’s not edited. Some people think they need a professional editor to work on their material.  That’s an option but it’s an expensive one, if you want to hire someone good.  Learning to edit is part of your craft and there are numerous books out there that can help you.  Do your research and acquire this valuable skill.  You don’t need to pay anyone; you can (and should) polish your own work.

Check out Self Editing for Fiction Writers by Renni Brown and Dave King and Write Tight by William Brohaugh.  I noticed you can get a used copy of the first one for $1.23.  Even I can afford that, and I’m flat broke right now.  These books are a good start.

Eventually, you may join a writer’s group and put your work out there for critiquing.  There are writers’ forums online if you can’t find a group in your area.  Scary, but necessary.  A good group will help you grow and can point out things you don’t see, in a nonconfrontational manner.

• I don’t know anything about publishing. Again, there are tons of source material out there.  I have recommended several websites in other posts.  Google it; no one is keeping this information from you.

• I don’t know anything about marketing. Well, neither do I, but I’m trying to learn.  You don’t need a degree in it to build a platform for your writing career and again, there are tons of helps.  How to Get Happily Published by Judith Applebaum has a great deal of marketing information for writers.  I actually had to buy this for a class and hung on to it.

• I sent out a query and no one replied / they said no / I got a form letter. Yes, this happens.  You can learn how to do this too.  Even a great query might not sell your book.  Maybe it’s not the right time for that book, or maybe it’s not the right book for you.  Go on to the next one and try again.

Most of the fear comes from ignorance.  The more you learn, the more confident you’ll become. Fear can’t control you if you know how to handle it.  Things aren’t as scary if you know what to do.  That’s why people are urged to practice disaster preparedness.  And it applies to any situation, not just writing.

If there was a time when you managed to do something despite your fear, please share your tale of courage with us in the comments.