COCKTAIL, PUNCH, AND A DASH OF SALT...: WRITING A NIGHTMARE, LIVING A DREAM

Sunday, August 10, 2008

WRITING A NIGHTMARE, LIVING A DREAM

I read this article today, which pretty much sums up what I knew all along.
The world is a terrible place for writers, unless of course, they also happen to be Danielle Steeles. I mean, writers probably take as much time and effort to write books as, say, painters to paint, or directors in making a movie. When it comes to renumeration, though, ratio and proportion had better not be understood at all, rather than be diligently violated.
I know, I know... writers are so much in abundance that the situation is probably never going to change. Also, even though I love to read, even I wouldn't spend much more on books. And the number of people who read books is ever decreasing. And finally you have the Internet, a menace worse than public libraries.
The worst part is that the ones who make the most money are probably (at least, according to me) the ones who are the worst writers. Take Chetan Bhagat for instance, or Sidney Sheldon (before he died, that is).
But even they don't make much.

What am I going to do about that?
Take up a career that makes me rich, write, become famous, retire, write, buy a laptop so that I can write in exotic locations, write, travel, buy a mansion, write. And then, someday, I'll die.
In short, nothing.

posted by Clezevra @ 12:17 AM

4 Comments:

At August 13, 2008 at 10:33 PM, Anonymous said…

Reading being expensive is a myth.It’s just that we’d rather not buy books. Most of us choose not to.

Read this
At August 14, 2008 at 1:33 AM, Clezevra said…

I didn't say reading is expensive... in fact, often times I've complained that I'd rather buy five books than a new dress... what I said was that uathors make a pittance because reading habits are so dismal, especially, in India.
Also, my freind recently commented that authors don't deserve to make money because all they do is type words!!! Words? What they create through that medium is not words! They are whole new worlds!!!
At August 15, 2008 at 4:35 AM, Lucid Darkness said…

Ugh. I get horribly irritated everytime I come across people who have read Chetan Bhagat and feel that they're enriching their minds with resplendent literature. Rot, absolutely.

The problem lies in (I think it would be 'in', I was always a little wobbly with prepositions) the abundance of writers, specifically, poor writers, no pun intended. It's quite a task picking out those who are truly gifted in the art of wielding words from the garbage that proliferates everywhere. Besides, the market also demands 'lighter' stuff such as that churned out by Mr. Bhagat and the like. I mean, how many people will you come across who'd rather read The Fountainhead and fight for individualism than sit down with a lighthearted 'bestseller' which doesn't require them to exercise their brains one bit. Or even exercise their grammatical skills. And that would be just one small example.

As for what your friend said, why don't you just ask the person to come up with something original that reads well by herself/himself? I'm sure the person won't find it cumbersome to type a few words.
At August 15, 2008 at 4:36 AM, Lucid Darkness said…

Oh and of course, spelling would be a bonus. :)

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