The Writer

Having re-read my novel after giving it a rest, I feel pretty good about it. Unfortunately, in the interlude I have once again started up again with tBoG which is actually going along swimmingly, now I've sorted a few things out about it. Yes, tBoG is a twelve book series, but I really am enjoying just writing the first book.

Speaking of enjoying things: I love my kindle dearly. I was reading Things White People Like and something that keeps coming up is that every 'white person' (meaning, middle class, with a college degree) wants to write a novel. Now, I have always been of the opinion that anyone can write -- fiction that is -- but for some reason, this comment about how so many people want to write a novel, or have one kicking around in their head, upsets me. Analyzing it, I know I am upset for selfish reasons (mostly), but it doesn't stop me from being upset.

Here's how the logic works:

I have had many conversations with people about the books they want to write. I love these conversations -- they are the times when I am happiest, getting to expound upon the meaning and structure of novels is one of the great joys of my life -- and I want to have them... oh all the time.

Now this is the part that depresses me -- nothing comes of these conversations for the other people. No one goes home, sits down and bangs out a novel. Oh they get a few thousand words in, determine that they've written enough and never go back to it. They don't go through the fanatical high that is the end of a book, or flounder through the middle, trying to figure out if they are boring themselves, let alone the reader.

Why does this upset me? Part of it, I will admit, is liking the idea of helping people -- but the majority of it is about the fact that I want people who have experienced this in my life. I want to be able to talk about what it means to end a book. I want to find people who know what I mean when I talk about characters going off and doing things that I never expected -- you can't get that in the first five thousand words (mostly).

I suppose what I mean is, I want to start a writers group for novelists, but I don't know how to differentiate between the people who think like me (not in everything, but have the same intensity towards writing as myself) and those that are merely tossing around an idea that they will never complete. And a writer's group is only good for people who are committed, sure and ready to work with one another to produce the best work possible. I just wish there was a litmus test for this...