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Why I Have To Be Better Than You, or Remember the Alamo!

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I love the Alamo, the story of the Alamo, the massacre at the Alamo, all things Alamo. It was American tragedy at its best. Most American tragedies deal with slavery, genocide, or unrestrained greed. The Alamo was just a group of men, outnumbered, defending a fort against overwhelming odds. Please ignore the imperialism behind the story, just concentrate on the men, William Travis, Jim Bowie, Davy Crocket and a line in the dirt. You know the story, William Travis drew a line in the dirt and made it clear, “To cross this line is to fight with me to the death.” Those that wanted, could leave, but those with the courage had to cross the line though it meant certain death. But oh what a death it would be.

In America, we don’t like the idea of losing. We’re winners. When was the last time you saw an American mainstream movie where the hero loses? We don’t like it. But we love the Alamo because it was a few against many. We love the underdog.

I love the underdog.

Which is probably why I write books. Mario Acevedo says being a writer is most likely harder than being a navy seal because it takes years to become a writer for most of us. How long does it take to be a navy seal? Google it, baby, ‘cause that’s not my job today.

Writing a novel is like standing on the ramparts of the Alamo: my little book is just one book facing the hordes of books out there, one against many. Most likely I’ll die, but the line has been drawn in the dirt. It’s up to me to cross it and try. It’s a romantic idea. In reality, it scares the PB&J out of me.

I have a deep seated belief that I have to be the best, that if I’m not , I might as well not play. I have to be better than you, or I’m worth nothing. This is an insane idea and it fills me with suffering.

I like writing books. Other people have said they like reading them. Should I stop writing because I probably won’t be rich and famous? Should Davy Crockett have run off when he knew to stay was certain death?

Life is showing up, doing what you love, and struggling forward. Always. Fighting the good fight when all you want to do is cry and give up. I can do my crying in the grave. Now is the time to cross the line and fight.

And if I’m not better than you, well, I had a good time, and God bless ya.

One man fled from the Alamo. He failed to cross the line. His name was Moses (Louis) Rose. He died uneventfully. I won’t let the same be said of me.

So let us cross that line together, my friends. Let us make our stand in the words and sentences we write and let our paragraphs be our citadels, our books our fortresses, against despair and death.

http://library.flawlesslogic.com/alamo.htm

Montagues, Capulets, Genre Fiction, Literary Fiction and Me, Trapped in the Middle with You

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There’s a weird dynamic that happens when a genre fiction writer meets a literary fiction writer. A suspiciousness. Like we’re two dogs from different packs circling each other. Now this is crazy! We both fish out of the same water. We’re both trying to do the same thing which is to write words for an emotional\spiritual reaction. And in the end, I’m not sure how much we get to choose what we write. It’s the old thing with Stephen King and Robert Frost, looking at a New England pond. One will have monsters. The other inspiration on the beauty and truths of life. Both will string words together to capture the experience.

Okay, now, this is a complete generalization, that genre fiction writers and literary fiction writers are constantly battling like Montagues and Capulets. I had dinner with a fiction writer, Eleanor Brown who wrote The Weird Sisters. We didn’t duel with steak knives. Well, we were at a Mexican food place. We shattered Corona bottles and tried to slash each other with the broken ends. Kidding.

However, after Saturday night, at the Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers conference, after I blew it with a nice literary fiction writer, I had to figure out what happens when I meet someone writing literary fiction. Me. Only me. My reaction as a soon to be published genre writer. Let’s say I’m the Mercutio, caught between the Montagues or the Capulets. Or Friar Lawrence. No, Mercutio, he was so much more mercurial.

This is what happens when I meet a writer and I ask, “What do you write?” And they answer, “I write literary fiction.” My immediate reaction is, “Yeah, right.” Yeah, I know, I’m horrible, but this is the truth. If I can’t be honest with you, World, who can I be honest with? I’ll share all of my dirty secrets. Except maybe for two or three that only Chris Devlin knows. And she is a vault, baby.

So there I am, thinking, “Yeah, right, you can write literary fiction? Who do you think you are?” In essence, I think THEY are saying, “I can write better than you, genre fiction boy. Wanna go up against the champ?” And I don’t. I get afraid.

So after I scoff, I get afraid. Maybe they do write better than me! Oh my gosh, maybe I can’t write at all. Maybe I should give up and never, ever write again. I hear there are other things to do with one’s time. Collect stamps. Photography. Maybe join the Elk’s Club.

All the while, the literary fiction writer is inching toward the door because I’m losing it. Usually, I keep this all to myself. But not last Saturday night. Oh boy. Total and complete meltdown. And if you know me, once I start to blow it socially, I don’t stop digging until we’re all buried.

Now, there is some historical precedence to the whole literary versus genre fiction thing. I wrote a paper on Science Fiction as Literature in college, and one of the things that happened during the 1950’s is that science fiction became so incredibly popular that publishing houses opened up the doors to anything, and I mean anything. I heard a story recently that since the writers got paid by the word that they would sometimes overwrite scenes just to get more cash. Five pages of a guy brushing his teeth. True story. And so, a lot of junk hit the market. And maybe you could say the same thing about romance novels, fantasy novels, mysteries, et cetera. There have been booms and busts for genres. How many cut-rate horror novels were there in the late 70’s and early 80’s?
So, yeah, maybe there was been trash published in genre fiction.

And yes, there is still a stigma. I was talking with a college professor who was also a famous novelist. I shan’t name names. I told him I wanted to get published. He sniffed and said I should dash off a mystery. They’re so easy and they seem to sell.

But the truth is, writing is hard, whether you are writing mysteries, romances, or literary novels. It’s hard. My friend says that it’s like building a table with 23 legs. It’s all hard. We should be supporting one another.

But I will learn from my experience. No more scoffing. No more fear. The next time I meet a literary fiction writer, I’m going to hug them and cry into the crook of their neck. I’m going to weep and say, “My brother, my sister, my soul, my heart, my fellow writer. Let us journey together for we are both bound by blood, ink, and sweat.”

Yeah, then they won’t think I’m weird at all.

P.S. A friend of mine from a writer’s workshop long ago has asked me to critique her literary novel because she said, and I quote, “You know your sh*t.” I’m so excited. I love books. Whether they be literary, genre, dripping wet in the bath, or bone dry boring. I love books.

P.P.S. A last dirty little secret. A last confession. I want to do both. I want to do genre and literary in the same stories. And not just a little magical realism. No, full on, in your face, genre stuff but with a beautiful, literary bent. Think Margaret Atwood. Think David Lynch meets Stephen King meets frakking Shakespeare. Hey, that’s my first novel. Anyway. Oh, to dream. All writers are dreamers because to write is to dream, and perhaps Mercutio put it best. Maybe he is talking about all writing in the passage below because all fiction, all stories, are dreams.

True, I talk of dreams,
Which are the children of an idle brain,
Begot of nothing but vain fantasy,
Which is as thin of substance as the air
And more inconstant than the wind, who wooes
Even now the frozen bosom of the north,
And, being anger’d, puffs away from thence,
Turning his face to the dew-dropping south.

Do’s and Do Not’s of the 2011 RMFW Conference Per Aaron Ritchey

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I was at the Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers Gold Conference this past weekend, and I was perusing the blogs of all the cool people I met, when I ran across a links to the Do’s and Do Not’s of for the RMFW Gold conference from J.A. Kazimer who is the coolest writer ever in the history of the universe outside of William Shakespeare, Robert E. Howard, and Ken Kesey. Okay, she’s in the top 100 with anyone else who is a writer reading this. To be a writer is to be cool, and in the end, not to be included on a list of the coolest writers ever.
Kazimer had a list on her blog a a list of pre-conference do’s and do not’s. Here is my post conference list.

DO NOT schedule flights on Sunday morning if you plan to stay up until 3 a.m. on that same Sunday morning in the hospitality suite. For more information on this, please go to T.L. McCallan’s website.

DO NOT attack literary fiction writers because they are a kind, interesting people who love words, stories, and worlds as much as the hackiest of genre fiction writers.

DO NOT fight with people over which book is better, Twilight or Shiver.

DO NOT pitch books to drunk people because they will either really love it, or really hate it, or they might throw-up on your shoes.

DO avoid people whose synapses fire like an AK-47 encased in lime-banana jello. DO NOT sit next to these people. Luckily, there are very few of them. And if you do sit next to them, write down every word they say and then publish it as a sequel to Joyce’s Finnegan’s Wake. You will make millions, but at some point, you’ll be attacked by some large man for writing literary fiction.

DO become B.F.F’s with Chris Devlin. This is the only link that will be on this list. Use it. http://www.chrisdevlinwrites.com/

DO NOT order vegetarian meals from hotels.

DO spend time in the hospitality suite, as much as possible, because those people need help in the worst possible way.

DO NOT ask David Boop if he is related to Betty. He has a sword cane.

DO talk to J.A. Kazimer. Then you’ll agree she belongs on my list from above.

DO talk to Ben LeRoy for as long as you can because he is one of the most interesting human beings on the planet.

DO NOT think banned thoughts. They are banned for a reason. Bree Ervin banned them. She can tell you why at her website of the same name, think banned thoughts. No, I won’t! I won’t! She’s now charging me every time I whine. She’s gonna make a whole ton of cash.

DO go to sessions because the sessions are great at writer’s conferences. Too bad at RMFW, I only attended like ten minutes of actual session time. Bad Aaron. I did see Sue Mitchell and Morgan Leigh and just spending ten minutes with them was like attending days worth of education.

DO make pinky promise swears of secrecy at 3 p.m. on Sunday after all of the drama has subsided like a wave on a beach and only the garbage remains to be swept up.

DO NOT confuse the executive editor at Carina Press, Angela James, with Amanda Jones from the movie, Some Kind of Wonderful. Well, you can, because Angela James has a great sense of humor, but you probably shouldn’t because it makes you look like a dork.

DO NOT talk to Amy Moore Benson because she is now my best friend forever, and she won’t have time to talk with you. AMB is super-terrifically-awesome, and I’ll say that at any time, in any forum. I’m going to drop every kind of book I’m writing and only concentrate on writing a book she might be interested in.

DO watch the movie Some Kind of Wonderful.

DO query Kristin Nelson. She is to literary agents as Stephanie Meyer is to sparkly vampires and Maggie Stiefvater is to sorrowful werewolves.

DO NOT look under Marc Graham’s kilt. DO ask him about Visigoths. Or you could ask his amazing wife Laura Main.

DO buy books from Jeanne C. Stein, Mario Acevedo, and Warren Hammond. Best thing I ever did.

DO have Angie Hodapp pitch to you. Her books sound great. As does Emily Singer’s YA U.F. book with police elves.

DO NOT be afraid of the editors and agents who attend writer’s conferences. They are kind for the most part. Especially Molly Jaffa and Weronika Janczuk. They were on fire with how much they love books and writers.

DO write books about djinn if your name is Mina Khan because books about djinn are cool and people from India\Bangladesh are wicked cool.

DO NOT leave a writers conference if your name is Giles Hash without talking to Linda Rohrbaugh. Linda Rohrbaugh is a total guru and Giles Hash is a young man with a future. Linda Rorhbaugh’s book, The Prophetess, has won numerous awards and Giles Hash’s book most likely will too.

DO sit at a table with Veronica Roland so when the speaker says, “Stories can heal mental illness and existential angst” you can here are accidently blurt out, “I don’t think it’s workin’.”

DO go see Kimberly Savage’s play Penelope which will be playing in Westminster, Colorado in 2012. It’s about why Penelope stuck around for 20 years waiting for Odysseus. Sounds hilarious.

DO NOT leave a room where Carly Willis, Jenna White, and Mirayah Wolfe are. Those girls are crazy amounts of fun even when you say the absolute wrong thing. Or maybe ESPECIALLY when you say the absolute wrong thing.

DO go to First Sale Panels. They are totally fun, inspiring, whacky, and charming. And Betsy Dornbusch and Marne Ann Kirk might be there, sitting at the table, guzzling water, and churning up smack. Or being nice to the large man sitting on the right who will write a list of do’s and do not’s after the fact about the 2011 RMFW Writer’s Conference that is WAAAAAYYYY too long, and doesn’t even begin to include all the cool people he met. But be nice to him. His secret desire is to write literary fiction with a sci-fi\fantasy twist.