Want To Be A Clone?

I recently saw a video which made me chuckle - John Lennon auditioning for The Voice. And, for the most part, it rings true. This is exactly what these judges would say, and this is exactly how these judges would react.

Okay, let's forget for a moment that I am a musical dinosaur who revels in the past and cannot be convinced that most modern music is anything but monotonous rubbish. Let's ignore 'taste' for the moment. Let's pretend that I personally like 'musicians' who can play the crap out of their instruments and make your heart ache with a well placed note or string bend.

The Voice is not a talent show.

Yes, Bob Dylan, John Lennon and Jimi Hendrix would not have made it past the blind auditions.

They simply don't check the boxes, the template the show is looking for.

Bobby, Johnny and Jimi could make you fall in love, raise you to anger, or cause you to sob simply with their instruments, their melodies and their words. The so-called 'stars' resulting from the current deluge of 'talent' shows perform vocal gymnastics and tell amazing sob-stories about dead relatives for whom they are performing.

I see a parallel in writing.

Recently I read somewhere that John Irving said if he was trying to break into the market now his manuscript wouldn't get a second look. This is the guy who has sold millions of books (most of them about Vienna, bears, wrestling and writers, but all fantastic). I've been told that I should simply write stories that 'will sell'. (Andy Partridge of XTC was once told the same thing. "Why don't you simply write a hit song?"  He replied, "What do you think I've been trying to do all these years. Mind you, he was also told that he needed to sound more like ZZ Top if he wanted to have a hit) 

I've had rejections where I've been told the writing was good, but x, y and z didn't happen. Perhaps the story simply wasn't good enough, and I accept that. My writing is improving, and I can see that. I also recognise it's close to selling at the markets I want to sell to.

Do you want to have memorable works that stand out with a unique voice? Do you want to be the Jimi, the Bobby, or the of writing?

P.S. - Congratulations to Alan Baxter on his three book deal with Harper Collins.One of the great things about the Australian SpecFic scene is how we revel in each other's success. I think we're mates - at least I consider him to be one now that he has a book deal. At any rate I bought Alan a beer last time I saw him. I think he owes me several now.

An Hour A Day.

And so I'm back in the wonderful world of Jonathan Carroll. He's a magic realist (with a dark underbelly) and he reminds me of Murakami (I love Murakami too - but I've heard Carroll doesn't like his work) with touches of John Irving in there too. 

He's an author I've never really heard people mention, and for the longest time I figured I was the only one who read his stuff. Recently I shared one of his books with a friend, and discovered that he loved his work too - and couldn't understand why he'd never heard of him. I fell into his work. Way back in the mid to late 80s, I picked up two of his books from a discount bin - simply because I liked the covers.  From then on I was hooked, and read as much of his stuff as I could.  When I lived in Japan during the 90s, I kind of lost track of his publishing, but about a year ago (when I was finally able to sort out my library and unpack many boxes) I worked out what I was missing and started picking up those books. Which is where I am now - reading a Jonathan Carroll I've never read before.  And, as usual, I'm loving it.

I haven't spent too much time over at the Writer of the Future forums recently. But I did notice the other day that Brennan Harvey is a current finalist. I don't know the full history, but Brennan no longer hangs out at the forums - which is a bit of a shame.  I quite enjoyed his posts. But he has a pretty cool website happening, and I wish him well with the final judging.

I'm still entering WOTF, but reading Carroll this week, and scrolling through some of Brennan's blog entries, has inspired me and spurred me on.  I realise I need to write more often - and write more words. So I've decided that as of this week I'm devoting a certain amount of time every night to get more work done.

And yes, I still have two stories on hold out there with publishers. One of those has told me when he'll get back to me (which is very very fair - it's for an anthology and the reading period is still open), the other (after many months) isn't even responding to my (extremely polite) emails.  Grrrrr.

It's frustrating, and brings you down at times. Someone told me about an editor who gets annoyed when writers query before six months, even though his magazine has a policy of a two month turnaround.

I guess he doesn't write and submit. I know I don't submit to him anymore.