Op-Ed-The ugly side of writing

A quick scan of various writer's loops I belong to has revealed a few things. We as writers are more critical of popular works of fiction then any critic. I'm reading blogs and e-mails where authors are grumbling about books, bad story lines, poorly written words, throwing books against the wall, pulling their hair out about why this trend in fiction is "flying off shelves" and not their trend. Aren't people tired of (insert whatever trend you can't break into here) vampires, werewolves, born-again preaching, sweeping fantasy epics, Navy Seals, Templar knights, international wars, gun runners, pirates, etc. etc. etc.

We gang up on stuff we can't sell but is popular- "Chicklit is dead for a reason...it had no plot!" Picture various writers who couldn't break into the Chicklit market dancing with glee around a bonfire of Chicklit books, stabbing it with their steely knives-baring vampire fangs...

Meanwhile another group waits in the dark edges for the vampire to die...secretly throwing vampire books at walls, muttering how Stephanie Meyer doesn't deserve her acclaim or money because she clearly is a bad writer. When the vampire trend is over-and it will go away for a while- they will come out to dance with glee around the bonfire of yet another trend they themselves couldn't break into.

It happened to the angel trend- it happened to the historical trend- it happened to westerns...

Why so much animosity? (Trust me, I am not immune. I have been known to utter the words "God hates me." I've been known to feel as if it's all some cosmic joke-to give me the talent, the drive, the story sight and then leave out the luck portion that will actually allow me to use all that to support myself.) In my opinion, it all boils down to the random acts of God that is the publishing business. What you have is a bunch of control freaks*-yes, as writers of fiction we are control freaks-who can't control readers, markets, publishers or trends. It why humans are superstitious- even the most talented sports player wears a lucky shirt/socks/shoes/hat because he knows that as good as he is-this game, this tournament has elements that are beyond his control. It's why farmers do everything they can for good crops but mostly pray to God for good weather.

So-take a bunch of control freaks-feed them "rules" of story and grammar and trends- tell them they are good at what they do, maybe even great- then shove them in a room full of chaos where success is a matter of dumb luck. Watch the frustration grow. What you get is people banding together to weather the storm of loss, waiting in the darkness for the perceived winners to fall from grace, building bonfires when they do.

As tempting as it is, it's really not helpful. It doesn't change the market. Throwing books, howling that so and so is a bad writer, bemoaning the fact that humor has been lost, desperately chasing trends, none of these things will change the random, subjective world writers live in...

Yes- it's crazy and UNFAIR and sometimes harsh, but look around people. Its life. So, let's all take a deep breath...in....and out....and find a story we can control...pour our efforts into the plot and conflict and characters we create. (Sure, take a moment to bemoan, but only a moment. Then remember the serenity prayer.) And most importantly, allow the successful to have their success-someday-it might just be you.

*Fiction writers are the ultimate control freaks. We are little gods. We say what color the sky is. We say what the hero/heroine looks like, how they feel, what they think, what they like or dislike. We control the weather, the cities, the houses. We create religions. We create good and evil and peace and conflict. We murder. We bring people back from the dead. We create heaven and hell. We control every word, every nuance, and grumble when the editor wants to mess with it. Maybe even choose to ignore what they say...Yeah- control freaks.