In a recent conversation my friend Steve mentioned a disturbing editorial board meeting. I’ve mentioned Steve before—he’s an editor at an academic press in New York. What made this meeting disturbing, he said, was that editors had already decided what a writer’s style was, based on a previous book.
Writing style, in my experience, is fluid. I have written non-fiction books that are, frankly, boring. That’s what I’d learned the academic presses wanted. As a writer, however, I can produce pieces of a totally different style. Who’s to say what kind of writer I am?
This disturbs me because editors are the fundamental gatekeepers of the publishing industry. And they don’t understand writing. There was a time when editors were writers. Now they’re business men and women. I wonder how many of them read for pleasure.
Type-casting used to be something actors feared. I fear it too, I guess, as a writer. If I write something funny can I ever be taken as a writer who can produce thoughtful, serious stories? Once a lightweight, always a lightweight. Then you hit middle age. And you start putting on weight.
I was a very serious child. I didn’t smile much because I was thinking all the time. I turned to humor to help me cope. My writing often has elements of fun in it. I enjoy writing, and, I hope, it shows. But I can write serious material too.
Business, as I’m discovering, is all about the lowest common denominator. That is, will it sell? How many copies? Is it worth spending a bit of time and energy on? What’s the return on investment? They never ask can this writer, given a chance, do great things? Who has time for great things anyway? Don’t ask me, I have to get to the bank.
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