Beginning writers can be resistant to instruction
I asked members of my original AWESOME AUTHORS writing group if they were skilled enough in writing that they felt didn’t need to learn anything more about the craft.
A crazy question, right?
Every veteran writer answered that they still had much to learn about their craft. But you know who felt they had arrived? Yep. You got it. A rookie writer who had submitted a first novel to my publishing company. She actually wrote that she was skilled enough in her craft that she was good, no need for further instruction.
I was blown away by her response. I really had not anticipated that any writer would feel that way. I had previously met an author who admitted that they did not read. They felt it took time away from writing. And their writing reflected that flawed philosophy, but that is for another article. Back to the topic of beginning writers resist instruction.
They truly do, and it’s sad.
It turned out that this arrogant young woman was only in our group for network purposes, looking for potential publishers and future book sales. She submitted her manuscript to my publishing company, and we promptly rejected her submission. The story was good enough, intriguing actually. It was a fictional account of a historical incident that many find fascinating. Had it been well-written sales would not have been a problem. But the syntax was terrible.
And I mean, terrible.
My company is a full-service traditional publisher (no longer accepting submissions), and, aside from the fact that I knew she would be a nightmare to work with, I wasn’t willing to put the time, effort, or dollars into the colossal line editing job she had presented us with.
One of the best pieces of advice I ever got as a writer, was to listen to an agent I had submitted a manuscript to. It was my first submission ever, and I was told by a multi-published author not to take personally the comment the agent made when she rejected my submission. This was a well-known agent in a well-known agency. Writers need thick skins. Busy agents don’t always have the time or inclination for diplomacy, and this agent didn’t pull any punches about my early writing. Her exact words were, “The content is gold but the writing’s not very good.”
That was it. No explanation. No softening the blow. No advice. Nothing.
Instead of allowing her blunt assessment of my writing, which I thought was excellent, to offend me, I asked her what she meant by that. To this day, I appreciate that she took the time to reply and made some excellent suggestions. Then, to my utter amazement, she invited me to resubmit when I felt the manuscript was ready. I did as she asked. I made the improvements and resubmitted. She wanted me as a client the second time around.
I learned from that experience and refused to allow ego to stunt my growth as a writer. In the first edition of my book, I shared the experience, thanking her for telling me my writing wasn’t very good. It was exactly the push I needed to get to work sharpening my writing skills and honing my craft. I learned the lesson well, to never be resistant to instruction. No good writer is.
Jocelyn Andersen is an author and book editor who writes and speaks about a variety of topics. Her work has been featured in magazines, newspapers, radio, and television. A few of her seminar topics are: “Author Branding & Platforms” and “Leveraging: How to Get the Most from your Author Platforms.” She is the author of several non-fiction books and is currently working on her first novel.
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