The single best piece of advice I ever received from a writer

[pegkerr]

I think that at this juncture, I would like to mention what I have always considered to be the best, most valuable thing another writer ever told me.

I was accepted into the Clarion Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers' Workshop in 1986 and attended it that summer. Six weeks of writers boot camp. It was exhausting and exhilarating, and I loved (almost) every minute of it. My teachers were Tim Powers, Lisa Goldstein, Samuel R. Delany, Kim Stanley Robinson, Kate Wilhelm and Damon Knight.

The first teacher who kicked off the workshop was Tim Powers, and I especially clicked with him. It was his first time teaching, and I remember that he was so nervous that the paper shook violently in his hand when he stood up in front of us the first time, but he jumped into critiquing our stories with both kindness and enthusiasm and got the workshop off to a great start.

At the end of his week, he sat us down to give us advice that he thought all writers should know when starting out in their careers. I remember it better than practically anything else I learned at Clarion, and I have always been very grateful to him for passing it on. Here it is:

When you are learning to become a writer, don't forget the importance of remaining a decent human being. Never try to get close to people only because you think they are the cool in-crowd people and could "help your career." That kind of behavior is just beneath you, and it makes you look small and petty if you are obviously angling to hang out with them. Never ever scorn people because they are not important. Instead, spend time with people--whether the humblest neo fan or the Big Name pro writer--only simply because you enjoy their company. If you don't enjoy their company, it's okay to avoid them, but always be polite, and never badmouth them. This field is small, and word gets around. Someone you badmouth today may be an editor considering your book manuscript next year. Be kind to others, and treat them with respect and forbearance.

Thank you, Tim, for those words. I have always remembered them and tried to follow them, and I have been grateful for your advice. You were absolutely right, and I have seen the awful results for people who never had those kind words at a crucial stage as I did.

And I have been thinking of them a lot the last few days, as we are all absorbing this week's disclosures.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

Speaking as an early-career writer (ie, just at the point of finishing my first fantasy novel, thank you, Peg, for passing along that sage advice. Much appreciated. Good advice even for the non-writing side of life!

Ooops!

[febobe.livejournal.com]

Whoops, thought I was logged in. . .that was me. :} Next rule of life: make sure you're logged in. . . .

[vass]

Peg, that's good advice, and it's advice that I didn't follow once to my cost.

But there's a but: what do you do when you feel like people aren't being decent to you? When you're vulnerable and still new and unconnected and isolated and clueless, and you think someone older and further along in your field isn't treating you right? Where do you go?

In my case (singing) well, it wasn't actual misconduct, just personality conflicts and my own poor mental health, and I talked about it where I shouldn't have and feel bad about it now, and yeah, that's done now. But I've been reading recently about a different medium (comics) and new people breaking into the business - especially women, and what they sometimes go through, the verbal and sometimes physical harassment and abuse - and I don't know. Be decent, sure, avoid those you don't like, certainly, but when should you speak up, and what do you say? And how do you cope with the fallout, and the disappointment?

[matociquala.livejournal.com]

That's a really tough question, and probably a decision that has to be made fresh every time, and under every new circumstance.

[nmalfoy.livejournal.com]

I don't know how you do it--must be the writer in you--but you always say exactly the right thing. Very, very appropriate quote.

[legomymalfoy.livejournal.com]

Ditto that ♥

[sternel.livejournal.com]

I haven't really done anything in HP fandom for going on two years now. I just keep up with the people who I find interesting. Watching everything this last week or so has been oddly like a high school reunion.

But, from my lurkish standpoint, I think this is quite possibly the classiest statement made. Which is no surprise, as you are an incredibly classy lady. (And that's why I'm still here. =D)

[matociquala.livejournal.com]

Tim is the man.

[dreamshark.livejournal.com]

Good advice, but I'm absolutely sure that you didn't need Tim to tell you that; you would have been honest and kind and genuine in any case.

Isn't Tim great? He was a GoH at Fourth Street Fantasy Convention years ago, and one of the best GoHs I've ever seen. He was gregarious and sweet in person, interesting and hilarious on panels, and just generally had so much fun that everybody around him had fun too.

For some reason the panel comment I remember best went something like this: "People always ask me, Tim, why are you so mean to your characters? It seems like they're always getting a hand cut off or losing an eye. What's up with that? Well, I had a writing teacher once that kept telling me that my characters should change during the course of a novel... I can prove he changed! Just put him on a scale and see how much body tissue he's lost!"

I'm not sure how useful it was to a budding writer, but it cracked me up.

[cakmpls.livejournal.com]

Good advice, but I'm absolutely sure that you didn't need Tim to tell you that; you would have been honest and kind and genuine in any case.

I was going to say pretty much the same. And on the other hand, I suspect that there are some people whom no amount of sage advice would dissuade from being a******s.

[redbird]

True, but there are also people who aren't actively malicious, but could easily have taken the routes of either trying to choose companions for perceived profit rather than the actual pleasure of their company, or of saying "so-and-so is a right bastard" when the fact is simply "so-and-so said they didn't have time to have a meal with me this con" or "wouldn't read my manuscript."

[sartorias.livejournal.com]

You've made several refs to disclosures but I haven't foggiest what you mean. Something in Potter fandom, I take it? I know that's a very big group of people.

Tim Powers is indeed a wonderful man--and his wife Serena is another spifferoo. I love it when they show up at cons, and I get to visit with them.

[minnehaha.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I've been off LJ for two days and now have to go trolling for these mysterious and important-sounding disclosures.

K.

[peacockharpy.livejournal.com]

That's not just good writer advice, it's good life advice.

(As a side note, what an AMAZING Clarion faculty! What a wonderful experience.)

[legomymalfoy.livejournal.com]

♥

Thanks for sharing that with us right now, Peg.

[sienamystic.livejournal.com]

Aww, I love Tim Powers. I've been lurking on his Yahoo list for a while now, and he seems to be a really great human being.

[agatha-s.livejournal.com]

Thank you for dropping by in my journal to give me a link to this post! As a previous commenter said, this is very good advice for life in general, not only for writing.

[minnehaha.livejournal.com]

"...as we are all..."

All?

B

[incandragon.livejournal.com]

It's funny I saw your post on this. I'm co-chair of ArmadilloCon 2006's Writers' Workshop, and I was just thinking I'd like to collect some advice for beginners, and print them in a handout.

Would it be all right, do you think, for me to use Tim Powers' comment, if I put his name on it?

[pegkerr.livejournal.com]

I think that would be fine.

Yes

[markiv1111.livejournal.com]

It's a bit too easy to lose track of advice like this, out here in the real world. Maybe at some point you and I can have a private chat and I'll tell you a bit more about my disillusionment with the Scribblies writers' group. The big thing was that I wasn't keeping up (a reality that has no connection with your comment at all); but I developed real problems with some attitudes. "If you're really a Scribbly, you will dislike [name of person] and will understand that we don't want him or her around." "If you're really a Scribbly, you will understand that ridiculing [name of person, maybe the same, maybe different] is the only appropriate way of dealing with [same name]." I very much wanted to stay friends with everybody after I dropped out of the group, but it may be just as well that this simply wasn't possible. (Note that, however, I never developed a problem with any editor; I don't know if that's because I was doing something right, or because the editors were.)

Nate