Ed there is belittling your naivety, and framing your glaring lack of world experience. He said nothing about your aspirations, only speculations about your life. These are different things, and, I think, no more presumptuous than your own spouting about others' lives.
The thing is "just try harder" is something I think a lot of writers hear. I hear it all the time when I complain to be writer friends. Submit more. Write more. It will happen. Those are the types of things I hear all the time. Even from professors I have heard these sort of things. I am not what I would consider well off or successful by any means, but nome of by writer friends or anyone at school ever talked getting jobs outside of teaching and publishing or something related to writing and literature. And that was only if those things interested you. None of us were supposed to stop writing. My advisor thought my plan after graduation to just write was great. There are grants, fellowships and residencies all for writers to just write. I have one friend who got a $40,000 grant to do research for a book of poetry. The grant didn't promise publication whatsoever, but it allowed this poet to pursue something they were passionate about. The book of poetry has since been published. I'm not just saying this because I know this person, but it is such a moving and important collection of poetry in my mind. That grant allowed this poet the time and money to see this project through. This isn't to say that people don't have to take jobs they don't really want or can't love a job doing something else and still write. Of course, that can happen, and it does all the time. Being an adjunct professor is no one's dream job. And maybe you will have to wait tables on top of that. It depends on where you want to live and how you want to live. And how successful you are has so much to do with how hard you try. I have to believe that because right now I am trying so hard. When one of my professors recently asked me how things were going I vented a little about my publishing woes. He asked me about a certain story. I told him it had been rejected from at least a dozen places and how discouraging that was. He told me to talk to him when it had been rejected 25 or 30 times. Basically, he was saying try harder. I do believe our success either lies primarily or fully in our own hands and is controlled by our own efforts and I don't see how that opinion is insulting to anyone. A lot of people want to be writers temporarily. They like writing, but then it gets hard. Maybe hard to finish something. Maybe hard to publish something. Maybe they think reaching 100 rejections is a sign. They have two choices. Try harder or quit. Sure, maybe they still want to write, but they give up on the dream of becoming a writer. I think that's very sad. My biggest fear is probably that I would quit. I know some of you here manage to work in a field outside of writing and publishing and still publish books. That's awesome. I'm not sure I could do it. A full time job can be very draining, but some people can really make it work. Kudos to all you. Going for an MFA means that you are going to try really hard to be a writer. Sure, you can try hard all on your own, but, at the MFA level, the faculty is somewhat of a support system. There is writing guidance, sure, but my school seemed very supportive in other ways. That's just the path I took. It was just me trying harder to reach my goals. "Try harder" is something we need to do and tell ourselves all the time. How well you write is in your hands. How much of often you submit work for publication is in your hands. Sure, there are the so-called gatekeepers to get passed, but how many gates have you tried? Or maybe it's better to look at how many you are yet to try. Trying harder is the best thing a writer can do when they want to make it as a writer. And I have no reason to believe that anyone on this forum can't make on some level if they try hard enough. Sure, it sounds simple, but I also think trying harder is really going to be the only thing that works.
Every rejection is a crossroads. You either stop, or you keep going. Yes, that does mean that you can control your failures by giving up and shutting out the possibility altogether, but it doesn't work both ways. You can't decide to get published (or hit it big on your chosen self publishing platform), you can only decide to keep trying. Even if you accept publication to be inevitable, merely a matter of time and effort, making enough money to live from it full time is another thing entirely. It's a comfort to you, and I respect that. What I can't respect, though, is turning to someone else and blaming their lack of success on their lack of effort. We hear of the Stephen Kings who toil through decades of rejection only to get their big break, but we don't hear about the writers who toil just as much and don't. Selection bias is at play here.
I know that you are too afraid to try your hardest and would prefer to sit back doing something else than to explore your dream. Which is sad. If Ed is "belittling [my] naivety" then there is nothing to belittle, and I have quite a bit of world experience. Lots of people saying I'm not good enough, rejections at writing jobs I really wanted, but here I am making my OWN company for it and looking towards schooling to better my writing as well as networking with others to look for even more writing jobs for right now. Yes it is hard work, it's a lot of research into different things, a lot of loop holes to jump through and a lot of gates to pass. But no matter how hard it gets, no matter how hard I worry it doesn't change the fact that I am working hard at what I love, which is writing. Hard work pays off in the end and gets you far. If you ever quit it's your fault, lay down and die, it's your fault. But if you keep on keeping on you will get where you want to be and find where you need to be.
Well gee, now I've seen the platitude in graphical form I'm totally convinced. No-one here's saying you should stop trying. We're saying that just because you keep trying doesn't mean you're going to succeed in making a living at the kind of writing you want to do. And that's OK. We keep doing it despite that, because we enjoy it. We don't need to know there's a 'win' trophy at the end to keep walking down the fail road.
I'm not afraid to admit that sometimes I'd rather do other stuff. I've not written in a week, and I don't care. I know that you can't succeed without failures and I know success doesn't come to those who do nothing. I'm plodding along at my own pace, happily pursuing a career in TEFL, with writing being a pastime. Everyone here acknowledges that hard work is needed. You, however, seem to believe that's all that's needed. And please, don't accuse me of being afraid to follow my dream, when I moved to country whose language I spoke not a word with only a job interview on my plate, and I'm living off €200 a month when I could be at home in England working for five times than in an entry level job. Following my dream is exactly what I'm doing.
Which means you are not pursuing writing as career which to each his own with what they're career is. But if you claim to want to be a writer (more than just in your pastime) then giving up is entirely you're fault (you're being anyone this is applicable to). Hard work and dedication is all that is needed in this world to make something happen. Thinking otherwise is quite silly. It is up to each person what they want to do with their life and if they don't reach that goal it is entirely their own fault and I will stand by that. Yes times can be tough and you may need to do something on the side for a while but if you don't pursue your goals in life wholeheartedly then you obviously don't want it hard enough. Simple as that. There is plenty of times to give up and find something new but that is on you. Work hard and you will get to where you are going. Give up and it is nobody else's but your own fault. You can claim the world isn't fair or "that's not how it works" but at the end of the day YOU chose to give up and YOU chose to do something different. (Again "you" being whoever is applicable).
Nobody but @Wolf Daemon should look past the spoiler... Spoiler Are you trying to tell me it's that little boy's own fault he didn't get to follow his dreams? You're ignorant. I'm putting you on ignore now because I'm sick of your aggressive stupidity. Hopefully some day you'll grow up and join the rest of the world in the land of reality, but until then, I have no use for you.
I love creative writing and I love words, but words have many meanings and that is where grammar comes in. I have a handicap there plus story writing as well. I cannot seem to organize my sentences into the paragraph, which is my way of writing. Numbers have an order (1234 as well as the alphabet ABC). I have problems wondering if I have the correct order in words and sentences plus paragraphs? The next paragraph I might have in some order (1234), but might be something totally different, and this bothers me, and the word uniform and structure comes to my mind. I know there is no perfect writing and I believe in sentence structure more than grammar. Because I have this handicap, should I continue to write to be understood by the reader are just quit and find me a new hobby, the word (perfect) comes to mind. Will you critique this, please? Chat One
This is more or less redundant with my other post in your other thread, but: Sentence structure IS grammar.
Of course you can be understood when you say: "I hungry. Want eat omelet now!" This is a structure of a sentence that although incorrect, gives the same meaning as this: "I am hungry. I want to eat an omelet now!" It's easy to fill in the blanks and the meaning is simple in nature. But if I were to say: "Hungry omelet. Want eat I now!", then the meaning changes completely. It would make no sense. The syntax of a sentence is just one part of grammar. Language is a code. There is artistry behind the process of building a sentence in order to express what you are thinking with clarity (Depth is not always achieved, but first things first). You can even take things deeper and make your sentence have appeal. Play with it. The rules of grammar are meant to be the helping guidelines for the complexity of our interactions. By that, I mean a successful communication system. Without one, we would be doomed as a complex specie. Imagine all the misconceptions that would take place. It would be a mess! Btw, I'm not trying to convince you to use it by those guidelines. Merely explaining my opinion. I got somewhat of a similar idea while I was translating something. The concept and it's beauty changed as I was trying to translate it in a grammatically correct way in English and I thought that it was such a pity. I believe that our way of thinking is partly and greatly forged by the language that we first learn. It happens gradually, from a very early stage in our life, which we barely remember and blends in with our thinking patterns, seamlessly as we grow up. You see, in English you say: "I am hungry", while in greek you say: "Πεινάω" and in Japanese it's not irregular to say: "O-naka ga suite iru". It all means the same, whatsoever, described from a completely different POV. There is a distinct difference upon the philosophy that this word gets expressed in each language. (I hope I'm making sense. I'm still no expert in using this code. I hope I'll get better in the future). But I'll get to the point now. If you do not care about the correct grammar upon your sentence, at least make it clear. But I highly doubt that you can express more complex concepts without using it correctly. I tried at some point (you could too, if you are curious enough) and of course, failed miserably. Only some people that know you in depth and you also know them in depth, can communicate in a more personalized manner of "language" with you. (And even then, many misconceptions take place that need more explanation upon explanation). You have to be in the same course of thought in order to communicate with someone. Be on equal grounds. That's where grammar becomes useful. It connects these courses. There are many artistic and more abstract ways of expressing something though. Lyrics, poems and other categories which I am not aware of. The rule limits get blurred. Maybe this might serve your purpose. (Or it might confuse you further). If you were to write a short piece, defying the laws of grammar, I might read it in case it was extremely inspiring and played nicely with my mind. If it was longer (a novel) I might get attracted by the weirdness in the beginning but I'd shortly get tired of trying to understand and leave it. I think that if you are willing to publish a book defying the grammar laws, you'd most definitely have to self-publish. You said you were an editor. What did your colleagues think of that question? Snoop Dog
You know, I've wondered about this for dialog as shown above. I mean, I got criticized whenever I did short stories for my, "improper English" when I was only trying to capture a southern accent. It was actually frustrating when I was getting the impression that my overall writing was faulty...
I try to have five sentences per five five paragraphs for a short story, is that possible? writing one
Can you please stop writing your posts in bold? It's really annoying. And it seems like you need to read a lot more and really get a feel for what's being published.
You are in fact correct, mostly. http://www.linguisticsociety.org/content/does-language-i-speak-influence-way-i-think Beyond syntax and following the rules of the road, I think it comes down to mastery of language. English is versatile. You can have two amazing writers, living and writing during the same time period, turning out classics, and stylistically be miles apart. Take two Jazz Age writers... F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway. One wrote hard, precise prose, the other is subtle and searching. I personally like Fitzgerald, absolutely can't read Hemingway's macho bullshit. But that's just me.
While words may "have many meanings", most words are pretty specific in their meaning. And where a word has several meanings, it's not usually grammar that sorts out what a word means, it's context. I lean against the wall. The man was tall and lean. Same word, different context, different meaning. As far as improper English when you're trying to capture a southern accent; if it's in dialogue, write what you want, what the character would say. If your character speaks in an ungrammatical way, you're highlighting his poor education, or the culture where he grew up. If you're writing the narrative in the same way, that's different, but may be OK if you're in first person. Otherwise, the narrative should be impeccable. All with the proviso that writing dialogue in dialect CAN be so accurate to a particular accent that the reader cannot understand what the hell you're saying (there's one glorious TV clip where an interviewer asks a local for his opinion only to receive it in a flood of local dialect that is totally impenetrable!).
