What's So Good About Feeling Bad? Coping with Writer's Stress, Part I

Articles in this Topic Discussions in this Topic

Dec 20, 2004

Jacqueline Susann once said that she had been a fan of writers all of her life. She thought when she became a writer she would be rubbing shoulders with the greats like Truman Capote and Gore Vidal. But of course, her experience was nothing like that at all. When Susann was promoting her novel "Valley of the Dolls," in 1968, Capote said that she looked like a truck driver in drag. Vidal Gore commented that she didn't write, she 'typed.'

What provokes authors to attack their fellow author? Envy? Fear? Insecurity? You wouldn't think that writers with the prominence of Truman Capote or Gore Vidal would suffer from any of these feelings. And yet something certainly jabbed them.

It's hard enough to be a writer without this type of negative onslaught from your peers. All writers must face the challenges of writer's block, depression, criticism, rejection and more rejection before the acceptance comes. It all starts with writing classes and workshops where in the words of James N. Frey, "your ego is filleted right before your eyes." That's why the drop-out rate for hard-nosed writing classes is 70 or 80 percent. Most people can't take it, so they look for workshops where people attend mainly to stroke each other's egos. These "soft" classes won't help you to become a better writer. They will keep you where you are.

Editors can be equally vicious. If an editor doesn't like your work it is his prerogative to tell you so, but there's no need to be mean. I once had an editor who really hated a short story that I submitted. He nitpicked at every little thing including a passage where I had mentioned that a character had unzipped her wet suit to her midriff. The editor's comment on the margin of my manuscript was, "So, were her tits showing?" That kind of comment is uncalled for, though it did make me reevaluate the scene.

Even after a story has been published the mudslinging doesn't end. Reviewers can be mocking and insensitive. Customers may not flock to the bookstores to buy your book. Online bookstore customer reviews may be indifferent or, more frustrating, they may seem to show opposite extremes. There is nothing more perplexing than knowing that some people love your book and others hate it.

It's a pretty stressful job being a writer. Even a bestselling writer. And that might be the only explanation for why Truman Capote and Gore Vidal felt compelled to ridicule Jacqueline Susann.

Go To Page: 1 2