• Member Since 30th Jan, 2013
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Viking ZX


Author of Science-Fiction and Fantasy novels! Oh, and some fanfiction from time to time.

More Blog Posts1452

Jan
11th
2019

The Mountains · 9:27pm Jan 11th, 2019

Writing a book is like climbing a mountain. A long, arduous trek, with ups and downs, flat easy bits, and hard nearly vertical portions that require all of your skills and tools. And there are moments when it feels like you’re never going to reach the top, like the book will never be done and you’re just endlessly ascending a slope for some purpose you’re not even sure of.

Now, once you get to the top? You bask in the view, take it in … and look at the next mountain in your path, because if there’s another book, there’s another mountain. A career in writing? Well, it’s kind of like making a commitment to hike each individual mountain in the Rockies.

And some of them will be great hikes, and some of them … are going to try their best to break you.

One of the hardest bits then, I think I’d add to this, is that these hikes are done, for the most part, completely solo and without much in the way of external input until the very end. Only in that final sprint to the top, when the editors and Alpha Readers begin looking over your work, do you interact with others. And then after the book comes out, when there’s a flurry of recognition that flashes by for a week or two … and then it’s gone. Just like the news stories of the first conquest of a mountain, it’s announced, but very quickly the world moves on, and it’s on to the next mountain for that author.

So, why am I talking about this? Well, a number of reasons. I’m in the last third of another mountain right now, and so far it’s been a far more arduous experience than was planned. Longer, too. I’m working to get it done, but the snow is deep and thick (this is actually a more accurate analogy than you might think) and it’s made things a bit of a slog most days.

I’m not stopping, mind. I’m going to finish this mountain and start the next. That’s how the job goes. But it can be (and right now, is) a slog.

Which makes the number of people who’ve gathered around just to tell me to give up, call it quits, or lambaste me about how it really isn’t all that hard all the more grating.

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Comments ( 6 )

Which makes the number of people who’ve gathered around just to tell me to give up, call it quits, or lambaste me about how it really isn’t all that hard all the more grating.

Wait, people do this? :twilightoops:

Reading further, apparently a lot of people do this. And I've just been mercifully insulated from it because the only people who know I write stuff are my friends, my family, and people on this website.

I'm no author. I'm just some schmuck who slaps together horse words on occasion (with a little help from my friends). It's not my job. And even though I'm pretty casual about my writing, I know it's no easy task to conjure a tale from the æther. My mind boggles at the notion that you run into people who lack the basic humility to consider that "the pros" only make things look easy, and that maybe a person's struggles can't be magically solved by saying "Why don't you just work harder, then?"

As somebody metaphorically following your tracks from a helicopter as you climb, I've got to say that you continually impress me. While I may not agree with all of your writing/narrative decisions (and I would be a poor devil's advocate indeed if I did), I've enjoyed your works (and learned from them) the whole way.

Stay strong, Viking. We'll be cheering you on the whole way.

4995559
Well call it the "Dunning-Kruger Effect"; such people are everywhere, harassing virtually all professions these days. They've found and camped out on the one peak you probably shouldn't brag about standing atop.

4995559

Wait, people do this? :twilightoops:

Yes they do. It's ... annoying, to put it lightly. Half my reason for this post was just to write it out and vent a little, which felt great, as well as calling them out on pretty shoddy behavior ... which also felt pretty good.

While I may not agree with all of your writing/narrative decisions (and I would be a poor devil's advocate indeed if I did), I've enjoyed your works (and learned from them) the whole way.

Hahahaha, I can only imagine some of that is the current wringer Sabra and the rest of the team are going through.

Stay strong, Viking. We'll be cheering you on the whole way.

Thanks! That actually does help!

4995571
Camp Knowitall? Ignorance Peak? Opinion Point?

4995642
I'm not sure what I'd call it, (aside from "that one").
catalogofbias.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/03/dk-effect.png
Ignorance Peak seems like the best of those.

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