(To get some background information on this blog post check out Welcome to the Real World: 10 Things College Writing Classes Don't Teach you About the Writing Life—but Should by Steve Salerno)
What really bothered me was his seventh point entitled "You write to fit--the market, the publication, the format, whatever." As students, some teachers expect you to fit the mold, do everything you are told, and do it exactly the way the professor wants it. As a Writing Arts student, I believe we are taught differently.
My one professor's main philosophy is to ask questions about why something is being done the way it is and to change it. As a student of his, I constantly question the reasoning behind the things I do. I believe that everyone comes from different experiences and has valuable contributions to the creative world.
"If your voice doesn't fit the publication, guess who's going to have to adapt or perish?" Salerno says in this section.
So when he tells us that to be successful means that we need to cater our writing to someone else's expectations, I ask why. Why should the readers be the ones who dictate what is "publishable" and what is not? Why not write something innovative and new? Something no one has ever read before.
The answer is simple and it is the green thing in our pockets or lack thereof that fuels everything we do. So, as a "successful writer" Salerno's advice to us is to write for the market because that is where the money is. To some extent he is right. If you want to make the most money you can, cater to the general market. It is not a dream of us writing students to be homeless; we want to be writers and successful ones at that. So, some of us will not think twice about it and write to fit the market, but if you're anything like me, that would haunt me.
I am quite sure that many great books would not have been published if everyone followed his rules. Take the ever so cliched example of the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling. She was rejected by numerous publishers because it did not fit their publication style or it was not of any interest of theirs. Look at her now!
I say, forget his advice. If you want to write the next Great American Novel and it'll make you happy to do so, then go for it. You might not be successful at it, but at least you tried something.
What really bothered me was his seventh point entitled "You write to fit--the market, the publication, the format, whatever." As students, some teachers expect you to fit the mold, do everything you are told, and do it exactly the way the professor wants it. As a Writing Arts student, I believe we are taught differently.
My one professor's main philosophy is to ask questions about why something is being done the way it is and to change it. As a student of his, I constantly question the reasoning behind the things I do. I believe that everyone comes from different experiences and has valuable contributions to the creative world.
"If your voice doesn't fit the publication, guess who's going to have to adapt or perish?" Salerno says in this section.
So when he tells us that to be successful means that we need to cater our writing to someone else's expectations, I ask why. Why should the readers be the ones who dictate what is "publishable" and what is not? Why not write something innovative and new? Something no one has ever read before.
The answer is simple and it is the green thing in our pockets or lack thereof that fuels everything we do. So, as a "successful writer" Salerno's advice to us is to write for the market because that is where the money is. To some extent he is right. If you want to make the most money you can, cater to the general market. It is not a dream of us writing students to be homeless; we want to be writers and successful ones at that. So, some of us will not think twice about it and write to fit the market, but if you're anything like me, that would haunt me.
I am quite sure that many great books would not have been published if everyone followed his rules. Take the ever so cliched example of the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling. She was rejected by numerous publishers because it did not fit their publication style or it was not of any interest of theirs. Look at her now!
I say, forget his advice. If you want to write the next Great American Novel and it'll make you happy to do so, then go for it. You might not be successful at it, but at least you tried something.