Everybody always says I’m in the wrong business if I want to get rich, but apparently not. I’m just working for the wrong people.
The FBI is hiring a writer and they list the salary range as $91,407-$118,828.
That’s six figures for a writing job. The job description doesn’t sound much different from what I do now, except that it involves a bit more research and it’s the FBI. But still. Six figures.
If you ever wondered why the federal deficit is so high, there’s your answer.
OK, so I opted not to do any NaNoWriMoing this month. Very tempting and I loved the experience last year, but not having an idea to go with really spoiled the mood. I’d rather spend my extra hours this month getting my work done and maybe, just maybe, clean out my office. But don’t hold me to that.
I can just see it now: I’m trapped under a pile of free CDs. Who’s laughing now?
Anyway, as corny as the idea of writing a Choose Your Own Adventure is, I still love it. Makes me laugh. Which is why I loved this Stars Wars Choose Your Own Adventure, illustrated with Legos! Give it a try and see if you can become a Jedi or bantha fodder.
National Novel Writing Month begins tomorrow and for some reason I have a burning desire to do it again—a desire that took shape today. I had a lot of fun last year, so it’s not like it’s a bad thing. But it is a big commitment and I don’t want to approach it half-heartedly.
My big problem is what to write about. Last year I didn’t know the plot, but I did know the characters, the setting, the time period and a vague sense of where the plot might go. Basically I had enough pieces to get started, but enough left unresolved that the story could unfold on its own.
So far this year I’ve got nothing. Part of me wants to just pick some interesting characters and a pseudo-plot and go with it. The result would be some sort of character-driven drama type piece like I wrote last year. That’s what I enjoy reading, and I think that’s what would be fairly do-able to write. I’m sure each story would have its own challenges, but I’ve done that before and I know I can do it.
I had a brain-storm the other day. Or maybe it was just a brain-fart. At any rate, it was an idea: What if there were a web site where you could get plot summaries? Movies, TV shows, books, comic books, the whole shebang. They’d be short, less than a page, and would cover the basic plot points of a work, including the set up and twists and turns and pay offs.
What’s the point? As a writer and creative type there’s just too many stories out there I want to know about. This would give me a chance to digest the basic story without having to spend my whole live in front of the TV or in a book. Of course it wouldn’t be the same experience, of course you wouldn’t get it all, but it’d give you taste. And that’s better than nothing.
The Onion interviews Dave Eggers (only it’s a serious interview), the man behind McSweeney’s and author of A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius. After that book exploded, Eggers wanted to tone things back for his next book, You Shall Know Our Velocity, which made for an interesting publishing story:
O: The decision to initially market You Shall Know Our Velocity solely through your website and through independent bookstores caused a significant ripple in the publishing industry. What are your thoughts now about how that situation played out?
DE: We thought it was great. I wanted to write and publish a book, but I didn’t want any of the hoopla that came with the first book. I didn’t do any interviews, but I did tour. I was like, “Is it possible to write a book without everything else that comes with it? Can I just go out and meet my peers, sign books, and go home?” So we printed 50,000 copies and gave them to the independent bookstores that we worked with, to reward the indies and keep the whole process under control. And we think it worked really well. We sold all the copies, and the bookstores were very happy, because it drew in new customers.
Tom Wolfe’s I Am Charlotte Simmons has sold 239,000 copies since its release in November and is being considered a failure. Sam Lipsyte’s Home Land has sold 2,000 copies in six weeks and is being considered a success. Both were published by the same house.
How’s that for expectations, huh? In a sense, Lipsyte’s book was a success simply because it was published. By way of comparison, my book has sold 11 copies in five weeks. A smashing success.
An enlightening (if old) article on the Christian publishing industry, “No Longer Left Behind.” It includes some inside history on the development of the Christian publishing indstury, as well as the role of agents in the rise of authors.
I’ve been futzing with stories lately. Writing a novel taught me that I can do it, and I’m eager to try it again. I just don’t know what story I want to tell. Yet.
I love the idea of the epic. Star Wars. Lord of the Rings. Even Buffy the Vampire Slayer. There’s something mythic and gigantic and fun and I just love those stories. I’d love to tell one of my own. Of course they’ve all been told before. Coming up with a new story, even a few new elements, is incredibly difficult. But I’m giving it a go.
Yesterday Abby said I can grow a ponytail if I write a second novel. And I have witnesses.
Not that I really want a ponytail, I just like the challenge.
Someone also commented to me at church the other day that with my growing beard I’m really working on the beat writer look.
This goes along with a previous comment saying I can grow a beard and become a cooky old man if I publish a novel before I’m 32. The stipulation was that it had to be in a real bookstore, not merely a Christian bookstore. Of course I currently have a beard, so I’m not sure what the motivation was (though I think it may have been one of those huge, halfway down your chest beards).
I’ve started a new blog dedicated entirely to my new novel, Downtown Dandelions. So if you’re tired of hearing me go on and on about it, I’ve moved that conversation. Of course I’m feeding the new entries to the home page of this blog, so if you come here for your updates, you’ll still hear about it.
I hope you’ll check out the new blog. I’ll also be asking questions about the novel, talking about the process and calling myself a novelist as much as possible. The whole process of writing, editing, publishing and now marketing a novel is interesting stuff (at least I think so), and I’d love to hear what everyone else thinks.