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The Myth of the Author

April 20th, 2007 | editing, publishing

“What?!” you say. “But an author is almost like God. Authors create a universe and inhabit it with people and weave the tapestry of their fates.”

Just stop, okay? Besides being borderline blasphemy, it isn’t that simple. Sure, authors have a tremendous role in the creation of their book, but they are hardly like God creating in a vacuum. They receive all kinds of help from agents and editors and publishers and even ghostwriters.

Read the rest of this essay at Writer… Interrupted.


Viewing 5 Comments

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    Hi Marcus

    How true ;-)

    When I wrote The Kiss Business I'd just plodded on - to get my story written - , even ignoring my double Dutch English at times. I felt safe in doing so, because in the end I knew three very kind people would help me polish the story. They made it 'shine' ;-)

    And of course I acknowledged them on the 'dedicated to' page - ever grateful for their help.
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    Hey, what are you doing in my brain? Now that I'm getting towards the end of the revision process (which has been humbling, as I hear all the feedback from editors/Readers), I'll soon be on to the copyediting, line by line. I was thinking last night that this is going to be yet another challenge to my personality. Honestly, I know some people say writers have low self-esteem and are needy people, but we absolutely can't stay in that place of having to be perfect, and right, and perfectly acceptable, with praise our only friend. Well, I suppose we could stay in that place, but I have a hunch our books would be less marketable in the end.
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    First, I have to say I feel like I've reached some pinnacle as a blogger. People are going away to read something then coming back to my little community to post comments. That feels cool.

    Karin, I love working with writers who trust the editorial process like you do! I'm sure The Kiss Business was a better book for it.

    L.L., you might be surprised how many writers try to stay in that place of thinking their artistic vision is more important than any help they could possibily receive. And your comment about marketability reminds me of something Max Lucado and I talked about once. He said (paraphrasing), "They never let me choose the title to a book. Never. I could force the issue, but that would be pretty foolish. I may be in the business of writing books, but these folks are in the business of selling books. And titles are about selling books."

    Max's track record in book sales certainly supports this approach!
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    I think part of it is a trust issue, at least for me. I tend to be a low-trust personality (upbringing stuff), and that carries over into other aspects of life. Surprising, sometimes, how this writing career stretches us to grow past who we are and the fears we so desperately cling to, as if they were still on our side.
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    Trust is a tricky issue. For whatever reason, it comes pretty natural to me. No matter how many times I get burned, I'm always surprised.

    Every year, I honestly expected each individual student would not cheat. At the same time I knew someone (or many someones...) at some point in the year would cheat. That means I was always surprised when I would catch an individual cheater, but never surprised that someone had actually cheated.

    That means either I'm good at trusting. Or else hopelessly naive. Maybe both.

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