At the risk of being dismissed as a whiner, I expressed some discontent earlier today regarding the invisible novel I’ve been posting here, which has been deluged with invisible reccs and tips by every Docudharma member, as well as by many of their friends, neighbors, and pets with Internet access.
I’ll keep posting this here, but I have to say I’m getting disgusted by the fact that the overwhelming majority of the people here on DD can’t seem to spare 5 minutes of their precious fucking time to read an installment when I post it.
WTF?
They must see these installments, they’re on the recc list twice a week. I don’t think it would kill them to set aside 5 minutes twice a week to read this. And if the strain of doing that doesn’t completely incapacitate them, they could maybe even find a crowbar somewhere and pry a fucking tip out of themselves for me.
I don’t think that’s too much to ask, I’m sweating blood writing this novel.
Nightprowlkitty, Ria, and discussed this, and my response to Ria about Docudharma not being a literary or fiction blog began as a comment but I’m posting it as an essay instead.
I’m saying a LOT of people here need to get out of the rut of writing and reading essays that say the same damn things over and over again.
I’m saying there are more effective ways to express what we believe in than writing yet another essay about yet another outrage and then singing to each other in the choir of our essay threads, morning, noon, and night, time after time after time–like a million other political blogs are doing. Morning, noon, and night. Time after time after time.
I’m posting this novel because I believe what NL believes about writers and musicians and poets:
They can reach down past all the numbness to remind us that we still feel and we’re still human, even though at times we’d rather not be. But if there is any hope for the world, we have to keep in touch with our humanity.
In every installment of this novel, I’m trying to reach down past all the numbness to remind us that we still feel and that we’re still human. I’m trying to do that even though it’s like bleeding through these last eight years all over again. I’m trying to do that because there will be no hope for the world if we don’t keep in touch with our humanity in every way we can, as often as we can, for as long as we can.
Ever since the first storyteller told the first story to the first listener, telling stories is how human beings have kept in touch with their humanity. Stories express the deepest truths about the human condition, they touch us in ways non-fiction never has and never will.
That’s why I’m writing this novel.
That’s why I’m posting it here.
That’s why I read Robyn’s beautiful poetry even though I disagree with her about more than a few things. That’s why I read The Weapon of Young Gods, that’s why I read Iglesia, that’s why love The TaleMaster.
That’s why I’m asking people to support and encourage the fiction writers and poets here. If you think it’s easy pouring your soul into a novel or a poem, try it sometime. If you did, you’d have a little more appreciation for them, for at least a few minutes, you’d pull off that essay writing and reading superhighway you’re on every day, and listen to what they have to say.
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when someone says what’s in their heart. And that’s exactly what you’ve done. There are likely to be people who agree with you and those who don’t. But you have to put it out there.
My only disagreement with what you’ve said is that I wouldn’t disparage ANY of the different forms of expression that go on at a place like this. There are some that work for me, and some that don’t. For those that don’t, its not a reflection on the writer, just what I need and don’t need for my journey right now.
But ultimately, I agree with you that there is a power in artistry of any kind to get beyond our blinders and help us move on.
… is the Rusty I’ve always known and loved.
I think you’ve been far too well behaved lately.
But if you try to leave I shall destroy you.
Sorry, nothing personal.
I said I don’t because I don’t want to know how many people are not reading what I spend hours working on every Friday. It’s easier to just assume the readers are there…and hope they actually are.
… and Bhudy and any others that may be attempting a serialized long form fiction effort here. I respect the effort, but the form doesn’t work for me in this medium.
There are a number of reasons for this, but what it boils down to is that it is just too active a medium for long form works.
I love books. I love massive 10 pounders that draw me in and hug me like a long lost brother and shelter me for days or even weeks. I love popular thrillers and procedurals that can pass an evening or two and be done. Fiction or non fiction, history or current events, classic lit or avant garde, science fiction, fantasy, commedy, tragedy, you name it… I love books.
This medium just isn’t conducive for me to get into the mental state that allows me to really enjoy a long work and give it the focus of attention that it demands. It is nearly impossible for me to read anything longer than a typical magazine article without becomming distracted.
If nothing else this medium is just too hard on the middle aged eye bulbs so that every few minutes or even seconds I have to look away, lose my grip and become unhooked. This is particularly frustrating when the work is good, but then how can I tell if it’s really good if my difficulties with the medium don’t allow me to drop into the notch, as it were.
So, sorry Rusty, and the rest of you. I haven’t been reading the novels. But if they ever get published I’ll be in line for a first edition, and would be more than happy to spring for enough Champagne and brandy for one helluva party.
Fiction is art
So fiction writers are artists
And artists are supposed to suffer.
(hmmm,come to think of it…they are supposed to whine occasionally too, so…………nevermind!)
Seriously. I’m not going to coddle you like the other posters here: consider this tough love.
Can you imagine an author prowling around a bookstore and chastizing shoppers for not picking up his book? If that happened to me, I’d laugh and throw the book back in his face.
And I’m still reeling from the arrogance of this:
No such thing. You’re a writer: you throw your words into the void, and you hope – not demand – that people respond to it.
At best, you ask (humbly) for people to respond. Even better, you find a devoted enough readership that they begin to advocate on your behalf.
At worst, you find another community with a more receptive audience.
Listen: I do diary rescue at dkos, and every day I see a dozen amazing writers get passed up while hundreds of worthless rants/punditry scroll by. This community is more welcoming to fiction than dkos, but that doesn’t mean you get a gold medal and promise of devoted followers.
Most people feel what they’re writing is important enough to be read.
When it comes to settling down with a book, lemme tell you: my bookshelves are crammed with writers who are thousand times better than you, better than me, better than anyone who frequents this place. So no, I don’t feel any pressing obligation to read your work, anymore than I consider it a moral failing of people who don’t read mine.
But:
I do like people who stick their neck out for creativity, and sometimes if I’m browsing around, I’ll throw people a tip or a rec to encourage them, even if it’s not my cup of tea.
Why? Because it might be someone else’s cup of tea, and I want those two people to connect. That’s when the sparks really fly, when the right writer connects with the right readers. That’s outright sacred.
(And consider that readership is larger than response: for ever responder, you’re probably getting anywhere from 5x to 10x the number of readers.)
That’s why I’m tipping and recc’ing this. I think you’re way out of line and you have the whole thing bass-ackwards, but there you go.
So stop whining. Write if you want to write. But stop stalking shoppers at the bookstore.
DocuDharma Publishing…
This is a project in very early stages so I wasn’t going to say anything yet, but in the not too distant future we will be selling DD books in our store. First up will be Vol. 1 of Iglesia – the first 50 episodes. We would like to make some chap books of poetry, witr’s, etc. Maybe Robyn would like to do a “Muse” compilation and of course the Fiction authors could participate too.
So I hope you keep writing Rusty – by the time we get the first book together you will probably have another dozen chapters that we could compile and publish… only if you want to of course.
I don’t know if this will help your online readership, but perhaps there are others like 3card who are more interested in reading the old-fashioned way. Having a publishing collective might be an exciting way to get more readers for everyone.
Rusty’s enumerating some of the reasons why I don’t post fiction here, much less serial fiction. I love the people here, and I like posting non-fiction essays, but when I come here, I’m not really looking for fiction to read. And I’m not willing to post fiction here because I doubt this is the right place for my fiction to be read and savored and enjoyed.
More to the point, this excerpt from my novel, The Dream Antilles (2005):
I regularly read the lit blogs (a fantastic list of which you can find at my blog), and there are lots of excellent fiction sites and there are lots of serialized novels on the web.
In sum, I think posting serial fiction here is probably very frustrating and not particularly rewarding. Maybe posting elsewhere in addition to here would make the process more pleasant.
witr has a workshop for you…
seriously, maybe you’re gonna just have to cultivate readers. i think stephen king tried it online, and i’m not sure what happened there. you might investigate it.
people are gonna read what they’re gonna read. you just have to keep posting until they find you.
i hope you remember us when you become a famous novelist…
at least for me. Now I know what you are expecting whereas before I didn’t. I am in the serialized content for the web is really difficult camp unless its a brand extension and then its still difficult.
As a feedback mechanism it rocks. Maybe you are underestimating how many have read, but not commented. I do not know.