Happy Monday, CoSo.
Today's #Newsletter dives into a wee bit of drama in #SFF last week: an unkind article about Brandon Sanderson that got a lot of attention for the wrong reasons.
Here, I talk about the Story behind the Story: namely, the underlying industry conditions that get lost in the shuffle, whenever we fixate on singular stories of outsize fame and fortune. We can do better.
#BetterWorldsTheory #Publishing #Writers #WritingCommunity
https://mlclark.substack.com/p/the-map-is-not-the-territory-an-author
That was another thoughtful and informative essay. I knew little about the challenges professional writers face these days until I started reading you.
The author in question sounds like he would be of little interest to me, but I am very glad I didn't have to read that mean and lazy hit-job of a review.
Of course writers operate from their own world view, same as any other profession.
I see that I choose authors based on affinity of some sort, but based on their writing, not bios.
@ceorl Thank you, Ceorl. Your presence with the piece was very kind, and I'm especially thankful to gain your insight as an "outsider" to the industry but certainly not to the literary milieu.
No, Sanderson would not be to your liking, I suspect. But it takes all types to make a world - and it's an important skill, to be able to hold in tension the existence of other approaches to everything we hold dear.
Thanks again for this thoughtful reply.