I Ramble While Considering My Prospects From A Commercial Perspective

I am writing this largely to get myself into the mental space for working today.  It is a bit earlier than my usual starting time of the last few days, and I am quite glad for that.  I need to get some good sleep in today, as tomorrow morning I have an online meeting with a literary agent.  It really is not anything that big, in that I expect it will mostly just be a chance for me to get some pointers, though I am hopeful that she might be interested in reading the book, and may even decide that she wants to sign me.  However, I also see that W/R is a hard sell, not only for me, but for an agent as well, and as such am keeping a more realistic perspective.

In many ways, right now, what would be most helpful, assuming that I don't somehow luck out and get plucked up right away (which I feel safe saying is unlikely at the moment), is to get a bit of a perspective, and some consideration, perhaps, of what serve in terms of actually pitching the work in the future.  That is both in terms of the nature of the pitch itself, and in terms of who to pitch to.  It may be that their are certain agents who would be more open to the work I am doing, or even that I should be looking for some specific thing to see if the agent is open to this sort of work.

The question of whether it is a good book is almost secondary in this context.  Really, the first issue has to be how to get a person to even start reading the book, based on a pitch.  After that, comes the issue of selling the whole of the book.  As I have mentioned, I've had positive feedback from an agent about the work, with them finding it engaging and entertaining, as well as recognizing the inventiveness, but still not feeling that would be certain of how to place it.  While disheartening in a way, it is also exciting, especially as they did seem to imply that the work would likely find a home elsewhere.

Tomorrow is also just an opportunity to create another connection in the publishing world.  I am eager to be able to make such connections, and think that, whatever may come, if I walk away with a new ally on any level, it is a positive step, whether this is a person who decides to represent, or even to read, my current work.

Truthfully, I have to consider it in a context that is larger than just this one work, or this point in time.  It may not be W/R that sells first, and that is alright, and having an acquaintance with an agent does make it easier to send them something else, later, like when I am prepared to submit Gus And Bow.  The way things work is not always straightforward, and I want to be open to the truth that agents and publishers are excited to find smart and talented writers.  

It is not only a matter of what my work is at this moment, it is what that work is becoming, and where I am going as a writer in general.  The fact that I have a single novel written is one thing, having a second that I am finishing at the moment is another.. When I have even more work in the future, well, that will be something else as well.  I don't know when the right time will be, or what the work is going to be that gets through in that way, but I have faith in perseverance, and I believe that I am offering what professionals in the industry want, in general.  By that, I mean that I am a capable writer.  I believe that I have a gift for voice, and that my sentence craft is top notch.  I am working at improving other aspects of my abilities, as well, a quality that I think also is in my favor.

The largest problem that I have as a writer is that I am not a "social realist" in some sense.  I see a written work as having, inherently, too many levels of meaning for any one idea to ever be presented coherently, and I tend to work in a way that is about considering many meanings of a thing at once.  While not all of that needs to be seen by a reader consciously, I believe that these other meanings will resonate, and that they can be used to create associations which build into new experiences.  In short, writing is not only about using words to communicate meaning, but also about giving the words new meanings.  As such, I cannot tell a story directly, without altering whatever it is the story is about.  That means that the meaning of the story is always changing, since the meaning of it is relying upon words that are different in meaning after the story finishes.

That sounds silly, perhaps, and it is, I promise, a function of my explanation.  The idea is quite similar to how memory works as a whole.  While many think of memories as things that have specific qualities, what neurologists are finding is that memories are like recordings of an experience that can only be played once, and what is put back in that spot is not the original memory, but the new copy of it that is created as you remember the playback.  In a way, it is like a photocopy of a photocopy, but where the original is replaced with the new one, and nobody knows it was switched.

Similarly, a word has a meaning, but each time it is used, that meaning changes in some way.  It may not be a huge alteration, but the usage can confirm and strengthen the words relationship to an idea, or it can add new connections.  It might even add a whole new context to the word, either by changing the part of speech or by demonstrating a new meaning.  This happens, I believe, whenever we are using language, and as such it is impossible to avoid.  If a writer is creating powerful work, that will impact the language being used, altering it in some sense.  This is not only true of words, but of phrases or even patterns of construction.  Think of how Whitman uses anaphora in his poems, for example how it changes the meaning, forever, of those simple prepositional phrases when you read these opening lines:

"Out of the cradle endlessly rocking, 

Out of the mocking-bird’s throat, the musical shuttle, 

Out of the Ninth-month midnight, 

Over the sterile sands and the fields beyond, where the child leaving his bed wander’d alone, bareheaded, barefoot, 

Down from the shower’d halo,"

(For the rest, go here)

This use of language changed, for me, how those phrases function, what they can mean, and what 

that altering does not remain confined to the poem.  It is something that is now a part of how I 

think when I encounter these words.  Now, that may seem extreme, and it is a dramatic example, but 

the point being made is that a great writer changes the language through how they use it.  In a story, 

that means the book is constantly changing, because the language within it is teaching how the book 

must be read and creating more than the story, but the entire experience surrounding the 

understanding and interpretation.  The memory of the early part of the book is not the same as the

experience of it when it was read, and even a return to the text will carry new and different meanings.

This approach to writing means that I tend to view different properties of language as primary to my 

work, and that I do not worry as much about reflecting reality through the established tropes.  That is 

not to suggest that I am writing purely disembodied work, as I still believe in traditional storytelling, 

but it does mean that I do not want to tell you a story about events, but to create an experience that 

conveys that story within it.  The distinction is subtle, but for me, the language and it's form become 

intrinsic to the narrative and plot, as much as any character or event, and the progression of meaning 

through the book is a part of what propels the story and allows the reader to enter it so deeply.  Now,

I know all of that sounds good, but in truth, it means that my work is challenging and often seen as 

having a limited audience.  I don't think that has to be the case, but I recognize that it is how things 

are, and don't intend to fight that, unless I can do so by writing work that disproves the assumption.

In short, I recognize that I am a writer who presents a sort of challenge for an agent.  They may see 

my talent, even enjoy the work itself on some level, but that is not always enough, and the kind of 

writing that I do, especially in W/R, is not always seen as commercial.  I am an artist, but I am also 

seeking to enter into a business world, and it can take a bit of time and work to develop the 

relationships to facilitate that effectively.  I would love to have the sense that things are moving 

forward in that capacity, a feeling that being signed would bring, but I also see that their is a larger 

picture, and  viewing it that way, I can recognize that the best way to really get where I want to go is 

from that perspective.