Career Counselling.

My Chinese homestay guest left last week. He was the translator for the four staff members and eleven students from Wujiang Senior Middle School who joined our school program for a week. The program was a huge success, thanks to my school community. I worked closely with Robyn to plan and run the whole thing, and she truly deserves much of the credit. Well done.

But now they've gone, and I've been busy this week catching up on my careers counselling and course advice for students. This is one of my roles within the school, and I  have university qualifications and professional memberships in Careers Development. It's an interesting process, listening to students talk of their plans, goals and dreams. And it's a delicate balance, encouraging these dreams while pointing out the realities.

Of course there are always the few students who have completely unrealistic plans, the really short guy who wants to play NBA, or the  young girl who is failing every subject and refuses to go to university, but wants to be a doctor.

And then there are the 'creative' types. The musicians, the writers, the artists, the actors and the dancers. There is no qualification for these careers. No prospective customer is going to consider buying a painting from you, but ask to see your degree first. When someone buys your first novel from a bookstore, they're not going to do so on the proviso that you're qualified to write.

My advice to students in these instances is to follow their dream, but have some back up in place. (And believe me, this goes a long way to pacifying parents and encourages them to support their child.)  You want to be a writer?  Great! These university courses will develop your skills and knowledge, and in the meantime your work will improve. Have you considered a teaching qualification alongside that? How about a few editing courses to go with the writing, so you can support yourself until your first novel becomes an international bestseller.  And so on.

I always ask them whether they are currently 'doing' their art, and to what extent. So, you want to be an actor? Are you taking any classes? What productions have you been in? How many auditions have you undergone?

Sometimes I find these kids are in love with the idea of being an 'artist' rather than actually doing the art. And I advise them that they are going to up against all kinds of people who really love doing this stuff, have been studying it, and have been perfecting their craft.

No, I never tell them to give up. I do ask them to consider how much they really want to do it. Do your art, but do it well. And try to do it better than anyone else.

Or become a teacher. (insert irony mark here)

It Never Stops.

In my last post, last Sunday, I questioned whether I'd ever be able to find the elusive 'X-factor' that pushes a story head and shoulders above the others.

A couple of hours after writing that, I went to SuperNOVA, my writers' group. I had submitted a story for crit, and was rather looking forward to it. Nobody savaged my story, most people seemed to like aspects of it, and everyone had advice that was pretty good.

But one of my fellow writers, who has previously read slush for a well know magazine, suddenly said "This is a good story. One that I would have pushed up to my editor. But not one that would have excited me enough to text him straight away." (or words to that effect.)

Had she been reading my blog? She did a pretty good job of explaining to me where the story was lacking, along with the others, and the scales fell from my eyes. I could actually see what they were saying, and damn them, they were right.

It never stops, this learning thing, does it?

Now to rewrite the story with what I've learned.

Writing Advice.

After my last post about teaching writing skills to high school students, a couple of people asked me why I never give tips and advice here since this is basically a writing blog. You know, characterisation, setting, dialogue, all that stuff.

I'm pretty sure I've written about this before, but I'll explain once again.

I don't feel qualified to advise others how to write since I see myself as a new writer. How can I teach other writers when I'm not yet selling to pro-level markets? There are plenty of other sites with experienced writers offering advice. This blog is not really a site for me to teach, but a place for me to share my writing experiences, stuff that happens in my life, and pretty much anything else that pops into my head.

Recently I read of a writers' workshop being conducted by someone who was working on their first novel. First novel? You mean this person is no more experienced than the potential attendees? And that is not an unusual case. I wouldn't sign up for that workshop. When I learn, I want to learn from someone who knows what they are talking about and have a proven track record. This week I've deliberately checked out a few blogs featuring posts with advice and lessons on writing. And then I made a point of reading work by some of these little-known but well-meaning folk. Unfortunately, the stories I read were pretty poor. Which, I believe, pretty much proves my point.

Over on the right side of this page there is actually a link to a page of my 'writing rules', for want of a better term. These came about because someone asked me what I thought of Heinlein's rules, and would I clarify by devising my own. I prefer to think of them less as 'rules and guides', and more like 'hints and suggestions that really might only apply to me'. I believe you should basically steal whatever suits you from others and formulate your own rules.

My only other advice to a writer would be to take a workshop, sign up for a course, get critiqued - but as I always advise parents who ask me about finding a tutor for their child, check the credentials of the person teaching.

Hyperbole And Hope.

No, they are not all awesome, amazing, incredible and unbelievable.

As someone who is fast becoming a grumpy old man, I'm getting rather tired of hearing every single thing a person says, does or writes being described with these adjectives. His organisation of that event was good, not awesome. She is an average teacher, not unbelievable. This short story was solid, not incredible. That YouTube clip was ok, not amazing.

It seems that there's a tendancy for everything to be greater than it really is. It seems that no longer can anyone be other than great. Average is out, apparently, and yet when I look around I see so much mediocrity. And almost all of it is dressed up in the guise of brilliance.

When everything is outstanding, what are we comparing it to?

And along with this over-the-top praise comes over-the top encouragement. You'll get there. You'll make it. Never give up. The only loser is the quitter. You can do anything you want.

Wrong, wrong, wrong and wrong.

Encouragement is good - when it's appropriate and realistic. But it can be damaging when not warranted. In the writing world, for example, I see this all the time. Writers are encouraged to keep submitting because one day "you'll get there." The only thing stopping you is you.

Not always true. Some writers are awful, and will never get anywhere. And we shouldn't believe this false hope.

Should they quit? Not necessarily. But we should be avoid praise from people who don't know, and listen to the comments and advice from people who do. And become realistic about our own abilities and prospects.

When I was a kid I wanted to play soccer when I grew up. Nobody ever told me I was brilliant. Nobody told me "I'd make it if I just keep trying." And for good reason. I was hopeless. If I wanted to, I could have kept it up and been happy with playing locally. Teams are sometimes so short of players they'll take anyone. But the truth is I knew I was no good and was never going to make it.

We can all learn and improve our writing skills. No doubt about it. But not eveyone will improve to the point where they can sell professionally. But sometimes writers need to accept they're doing it for their own enjoyment and never going to sell their work.

One Of Those Weeks.

So every now and again you have a week where a rejection arrives from a market that really should have bought that story because not only is it a really good story but it's a perfect fit for them and they don't know what they're talking about when they reject it and the comments given by the slushreader shows how little they know about good writing and every bone in your body screams in pain and wants the right of reply so you can point out the error of their ways and explain to them how wrong they are and how several of their recently published stories are complete crap and nowhere near as good as yours but you don't do that because you try to behave professionally and deep down you understand that your story is a commodity and ultimately if they don't want it nothing you can say will change that so instead you have a five minute rant to yourself and ship it out again before settling into a quagmire of self doubt about your own abilities as a writer and wallowing there and wondering if anyone will ever buy anything from you again.

And then there a couple of events that lift you out of it. An unsolicited comment from a writer you respect and admire - or in my case, two comments from two writers. A nomination for an award. An email from another writing friend congratulating you and cheering you up. A comment from another friend and peer on your blog supporting you. An invitation to guest post with an introduction that simultaneously builds you up and humbles you.

That's what I love about the Spec Fic community in Australia. The support and encouragement. Thank you.

My guest post Advice on Advice can be found here on the talented David McDonald's site.