Everybody is prone to think their own job is the toughest. IT customer service people complain about ignorant customers (is the tower plugged in?), stay at home parents talk about how they never leave 'work,' and air traffic controllers. What a bunch of whiners. In comparison, the pro novelist has it easy. Those people can hang around the house in their underwear and make crap up all day. But you guys, seriously. Writing is hard.
My reading list this year has been primarily a mix of classics and local authors. Therefore, I have been subconsciously comparing C.J. Weiland to Joe Haldeman, Adria Waters to Henry James, and Eric Praschan to... Stella Gibbons? Sylvia Plath? I don't know, that's the only thriller I've read this year. Anyway, I've been coming away from these locally produced books thinking they just aren't quite cutting it, but the comparison has been unjust. I recently finished "The Accidental Demon Slayer," which made the NYT Bestseller's list, so that I could contrast it to Amanda Booloodian's "Shattered Soul" published earlier this year. I do see why "Slayer" made the list. It's fun and has strong, distinctive voice. The same things that bothered me about "Soul," and other books I read this year, however, plague "Slayer" as well.
This has caused some self examination on my part. I think I have to accept that I am a picky reader, and an atypical one at that. The things that concern me about books don't seem to bother most people. That said, I have been way too harsh on my fellow small time authors. We've put hundreds of hours into what we do, and we're still not writing perfect stories because perfect stories are a tough thing to pull off. We have to create palpable settings, but not get bogged down in the details. Inject Truth and Meaning, without getting preachy. Make every plot point relevant, and make it long enough, but not pad for time. We can't make it too long, either. Make readers care about people who are only figments of our imaginations, by instilling them with a cogent worldview and idiosyncrasies that are not necessarily our own. We have to tell big, twisted, complicated lies, and keep our stories straight. If we don't, nobody will read our book. Then, after all that, it boils down to taste. One review of "Slayer" tore into it because it was written from First Person. Well calm down lady, most people don't think this warrants a warning label.
Moving forward, I think I'll maintain high criticism for paid work and my own work, but I'll suspend my harshest judgement for the rest. It's not like people are counting on this, anyway. All we're doing is providing a handful of people with a good time, anyway.
