Haven't written in the past few days, just doing the business end of writing, which is my least-favorite part, which is why I have written tons of things and have only sold a few of them. I've accumulated lots of intellectual capital, and need to put that to work for me, get it out in the marketplace, where it'll do me some good. I'm great with people, am creative and prolific, but I'll never be a businessman. Know thyself? I do.
That's why I'm hoping to find the right agent to shepherd me through the publishing business. The writing good fiction part I have down; I just need that right agent to click with me and nail the business end of things, to find the right homes for the books I've written. I'll be happy to write the stuff, if they'll be happy to sell it for me.
The irony for me is that "salesperson" is something that is often thrown my way as something I could do -- not from anybody who knows me, but reading about my personality type, and so on. I am good at communicating enthusiasm, to be sure, but the notion of selling people on things is anathema to me. In my view, if somebody wants something, they want it; trying to talk them around to buying something makes me feel icky. I hate when I'm in a store and a salesperson hovers around, asking if I need any help, or if they try to steer me to pricier products, etc. The entire interaction unsettles me -- I feel sorry for the salesperson, trying to make their commission; I feel annoyed at them for interposing themselves in my world -- it's just not my thing.
There are plenty of people who are good at it, who excel at marketing and self-promotion, but I'm simply not one of them. Appreciate the work I do, appreciate me, or move on; I'm not going to try to sell you on my merits. I try to shelve that when I work on queries, but it's difficult. I've yet to write a truly exemplary query. I have seen plenty of bad queries, and mine are far better than those, but I don't write high-concept fiction. My fiction rewards the reader when they read it, versus being some killer concept at the front end that can wow somebody from curbside. I don't put a lot of stock in high concept, because it's a gimmick -- to me, it's like those SyFy movies-for-cable like "Megaroid Versus Land Squid" or whatever -- the kind of thing where you might go "Huh" and peek at as a guilty pleasure, but is so many intellectual empty calories. I have plenty of ideas, write stories that are packed with ideas, but they are not high-concept stories. No "Snakes On a Plane" stuff (that being an archetypal high-concept movie).
I focus on writing well, writing beautifully (even if I'm writing horrible things, I pay such attention to the language, you have no idea), having memorable, believable characters, and writing an airtight plot that is very carefully composed. There are always plenty of ideas in my stories, salted through out it. There are no land squids, however.
I don't think I could come up with a high-concept story idea if I tried. And it would feel false to me, unnatural. It would be the fictional equivalent of the salesperson hovering at your elbow, walking on the balls of their feet, grinning eagerly, trying to steer you to something you didn't want. Not my game at all.
Just the same, I've been trying to be dutiful about the business aspects of things. I can't use an "eat your broccoli" idiom for this, because I love vegetables. Except for beets. Okay, it's like eating beets for me. *shudder* But I'm doing it, because I have to.
