Presentation - Don't Sell Your Work

It may be an unusual concept to many writers, especially those new to the field or for some who have been in the field for a long time with no or little success, but you do not sell your work, you allow the work you have written and submitted to an editor, agent or publisher to sell itself. If you must explain what you mean by phrases and ideas, if you must first lay down ground work in order to get the reader to understand what you are delivering then you need to seriously consider reworking the submission, because by the sounds of it, the work isn't ready.

To get the most out of your work you have to develop a critical mind, one that has spent a lot of time deconstructing and reconstructing your work. If you create a story, or a concept for a novel it is wise to consider how many variations of this one story you can create, how many differences you can add and subtract to get to the final conclusion. This goes for lineal and abstract stories, it goes for all genres, all styles and all the weird and wonderful variations in between. No story you write today is set in concrete, at any time you can turn it back into dust and start again.

NEVER, EVER - tell a reader how they are supposed to read your work, or how they are supposed to understand the concepts involved, to do so tells the experienced reader you know very little about the industry and perhaps even very little about what it means to be a writer, period.

Many writers believe they are infallible when it comes to their words, they are the best and only judge of what is good, bad or indifferent. Note, all writers journey through this, but very, very few actually get to the other end - the majority stop when they feel they are the best and only judge and what they write is perfect. It comes down to what you want to be as a writer, do you want to explore and journey through everything with editors, publishers or readers, or do you aim to become a writer that simply tells readers and others what to read and to like it or lump it. This latter position is quite common amongst the writers of today. Is it a good position to be in? Does this mean you need to be in this position to express your confidence in your own work? Interestingly, confidence has nothing to do with sticking to your guns over an editorial decision - though many might argue this.

Confidence in your work comes from the ability to make change and knowing you are not only able to flex and bend with your mind and materials, but you are able to do it at ease and with expert precision. The lazy confidence is the unalterable position, the’ I am right and you are wrong’ position, and many an editor will have more than a few hundred stories about managing writer egos over this very issue.

In the presentation of your work allow it to sell on its own strengths and weaknesses and allow yourself the luxury of flexibility and exploration within the possibilities presented to you via outside sources. If you, the author, display a confidence that even comes close to resembling dogged thinking and rigid positions many editors just won't work with you, they don't have the time or resources to deal with someone who has worked themselves into a position of possible righteousness.

This may all sound rather harsh and extreme but if you the writer can get over yourself, get over the preciousness of your work and attitude, you will become a good writer - if you are able to listen, learn, adjust and accept different views (not all will be right for you, but search the reason behind the view before dismissing it) then you will become a great writer.

How does the writer of this blog treat his own work -
As a novelist I have completely deconstructed novels to make them better than what I thought was already good - I listened to some commentary, and though I disagreed with it, I followed it, as it was made for a reason. The eventual outcome was my novel Uttuku -- I did what I had to, I adjusted and manipulated things to get a different outcome, and thus a superior novel.

All my published work has had some editorial input and I have made those alterations and been confident in my ability to be flexible in this way. People want to work with me, even when they get a story that might have some issues; they know I can make the alteration quickly, efficiently and without complaint. This is perhaps why I have a little more success than some.

The message is, yes, feel confident about your work, feel excited about your writing and your materials, but don't try to sell it through your open enthusiasm, the work must speak for itself at all times.

Right, get back to it, edit and rethink what you wrote yesterday, rework what you think is brilliant and make it better. The day you stop learning and growing as a writer is the day you should just give it away.