One of the tropes rife in the editorial world, regarding non-fiction, is “this should be an article instead of a book.” This is a very disappointing thing for an author to hear. After all, s/he spent years developing an idea into something long enough to be called a book, only to have it suggested s/he should cut it down. I write fiction, and I love to do so. Once I’m in the world I’ve imagined, it is difficult for me to break away. In my day-job, however, I have written, and continue to write, creative non-fiction. I recently managed to get one of these pieces up to 60,000 words so that I could call it a book. A friend suggested maybe it should be an article instead. This is the dilemma of the writer seeking publication. You have to meet the expectations of a publisher. Nobody knows the piece as well as the author, and it hurts to cut organs away—body parts that your mind organically grafted into the body of your work. Creative non-fiction, it seems to me, is eas
Blog of a struggling writer.