Tag Archives: novelist

Damn You 2022! How to be Positively Positive against the Odds!

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Here is my favourite quote of all time from American author, Richard Powers. You’ll find a slower read below.

Richard Powers is the author of ten novels, including Galatea 2.2, The Echo Maker , and Generosity. His writing often combines fiction with the themes of historical events or, as with his latest book, scientific developments. His novel The Echo Maker won the 2006 National Book Award for Fiction. He lives in Illinois.

‘Art is a way of saying what it means to be alive, and the most salient feature of existence are the unthinkable odds against it.

For every way there is of being here, there are an infinity of ways of not being here.

Historical accident snuffs out whole universes with every clock tick.

Statistics declare us ridiculous.

Thermodynamics prohibits us.

Life, by any reasonable measure, is impossible, and my life – this, here now – infinitely more so.

Art is a way of saying, in the face of all that impossibility, just how worth celebrating it is to be able to say anything at all.’

Richard Powers, Generosity.

10 things authors should NOT do by someone who did them all

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4. Humour

Some thoughts on writing humour. It’s a tricky business. Current events can instantly kill humourous writing. If you write a funny piece about fear of flying, say, then a plane crashes, the article crashes too.

Readers can take personal affront to a joke. I once wrote a funny piece alleging that the group KISS were a band of aging rockers. They did wear those platform heels. Could be a bit dodgy as you age. I received quite a few outraged emails. The KISS army is out there somewhere still loyal and still marching on.  Age shall not weary them,  apparently.  I’ve  had  highly  critical letters stating that my writing lacked  the  restraint  necessary  for  a  civilised  society.  I  didn’t realise I  could  cause  the  collapse  of  Western  Civilisation  by  including  the words ‘pissing yourself’ in an article.

But more than anything I loathe with a passion the HUMOUR section in a bookshop.

10 things authors should NOT do by someone who did them all

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5. Rights

Some thoughts on Copyright. It is a tricky business. For instance, fair use laws apply in Australia for extracts and quotes, but what does this mean to a professional writer? (See Australian Copyright Council link below for detailed information) As a freelance author and journalist for over 30 years I am both the owner and user of copyright material.

As a Copyright Owner:

Books and Newspapers: Can publishers rip off ideas you have pitched to them? Yes! Ideas aren’t protected except for the exact wording. In the early days I’d pitch an idea to an editor, who’d reply ‘We’ve already got someone on that story.’ As if they already had someone on a story about using car parts as garden features, an Aussie peculiarity.

Newspapers: Can articles be published without your permission? Not legally. Although I was a freelance journalist and other imprints in the newspaper group assumed I worked in house. If I found out they had published an article in print I asked to be paid. About 2/3 of original fee. Less for smaller magazines.

Online: I’ve had my own articles emailed back to me in a chain letter without my name on it. That’s what annoyed me the most, a friend sending me a chain funny saying ‘You’ll like this.’ ‘Yeah! I bloody wrote it.’

RULE OF THUMB: If your work is used in a commercial product of any form you should be paid unless you have waived the fee.

https://www.copyright.org.au/…/An_Introduction_to_Copyright…

COPYRIGHT USE:  I’ve had a substantial quote used in a VCE year 12 exam. They didn’t ask for permission. But, maybe, for the sake of all students I should have asked for money to inflict some reverse pain on the examiners. Ha!

Recently, I was asked permission for a quote of mine to be used on a brass plaque in a bar in Malta. I didn’t think they needed permission, but I appreciated the request and, if I get to Malta, I reckon there’s a free drink waiting for me.

10 things authors should NOT do by someone who did them all

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6. Editors

In the beginning I argued with editors. The phrase ‘shivering like a new born foal’* in my first book arrived in the galleys as ‘shivering like a new born chicken.’ I was outraged, reinstated ‘foal’, to discover in print I’d written ‘fowl’. I’ve woken up in a cold sweat  when,  during  the  Iraq invasion, I wrote about friends who became ‘ dessert  warfare ’  armchair  experts.  I was saved that time.  A newspaper editor didn’t save me from ‘Bass Straight’.  It  appeared  in  the  banner heading too.  As I’m a humorist, they probably thought it was a joke. On the other hand, I’ve had a book editor insist that a character cannot walk ‘ through the door ’ but must walk ‘in at the door.’ Perhaps she was technically correct. I don’t know, but it sounded horrible. She added about 90 @s to the MS. I took them out and sent her an email with the 90 @s.  I  don’t  see  myself  as the hissy fit type.  Note  to  Self:  Be more gracious or shut the FU. We writers often assume our copy is  perfectly  clear  to others. It may not be. Now I’ll go all Jerry McGuire in the sting. To all my editors, who have saved me from my own arrogance or ignorance over the years, a big belated ‘thanks’.

10 things authors should NOT do by someone who did them all

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No. 7

In 1982 I had my first book and  first  article  published as well as my first baby. Much has changed on all fronts since then including a 6’2” baby. I know how to get published (See below) as a freelance but, like all paying endeavours, you can be seduced  into  following  the  money trail. I became a freelance journalist and earned a reasonable living  but  it’s  taken  me  30+  years to write my first novel. Could  I  have  written  a  novel  earlier?  Maybe.  Then  again  a 30+ year writing apprenticeship is a good preparation for a novelist. I can’t tell you what path to follow, but I can tell you how to earn money from writing.