What role to authors play in society? What are the challenges facing modern writers? How does our worldview affect our popularity?

WRITERS


This article is about the role that writers play in society, and in the history of civilization.

IDEAS

Scientists, philosophers, teachers, artists, prophets, and many others create new ideas. Who, then, shapes those ideas into a widely comprehensible form? Only a few people are talented enough to record a new idea, and then disseminate it to the world.
 
Throughout history, writers have filled this role. (That’s why they call it written history!) On a larger scale, books and newspapers have performed this task for centuries. Printers have been joined by the broadcast media, and just lately by the Internet. Still, each of these operations is driven by writers.

We’re all familiar with news anchors, those familiar faces who bring us information each day, sometimes over careers that span decades. Most of you know they’re reading from a teleprompter; they hardly ever create their own scripts. Invisible behind them is a whole staff of writers. (Known in that business as editors and interns.)

   Many other people share ideas with the public, and enjoy the same unseen support. Entrepreneurs routinely hire ghostwriters. Preachers will outline their sermons by consulting not just the Bible, but many source texts.

   Politicians almost never compose their own speeches. Sometimes their speech writers become famous in their own right. (For example, Theodore Sorenson and Peggy Noonan.) When a politician does  come up with something original, it gets noticed. Think of the Gettysburg Address.

   With so much influence, any error these writers commit, whether of grammar or of fact, does have consequences. Their own grudges or ideology may seep through as well. The widely relied upon, and supposedly impartial, Associated Press has now been called to task over this issue.

HISTORY

   At the dawn of civilization, people used little symbols to show ownership. Marks and seals, made from wax or clay, designated the material goods of each family or merchant.

   Around 2000 BC the Sumerians invented true writing, with cuneiform marks on clay tablets. Most of those tablets are boring inventory lists, but some contain thrilling (and very weird) mythic tales.

   At first, only a tiny handful of scribes were literate. But not for long: a few of those tablets contain homework assignments. (Tell your kids that Sumerian students had the very same gripes 4000 years ago!)

   Those humble clay tablets, and Egypt’s papyrus scrolls, knit together the world’s first empires, and carried knowledge far and wide. Without those ancient scribes there would have been few (if any) major religions, technological advances, or large-scale societies.

   Later, the Gutenberg printing press fostered increased progress, and ultimately made possible the Protestant Reformation and  the Industrial Revolution.

   In a world where freedom beckons, tyrants fear writers more than anything. Expressions of faith and fact that question their Official Version are suppressed at almost any cost.

   In medieval times the authorities banned all sorts of texts, some really quite nasty, but also a few about new scientific discoveries. Communist countries used to register every typewriter. Alexander Solzhenitsyn was persecuted for exposing Soviet realities to the world.

   Today, in China and a few other countries, they are trying to erect technical ‘national firewalls’ to censor the Internet. So far, their blockade has been about as successful as their Imperial ancestors were with the stone Great Wall.

PERSONALITIES

   Writers are a fascinating bunch. Avid readers such as myself will attend readings and conferences where the fans can meet authors in person. (I also direct a small group of aspiring writers, on line.)

   The real-life author you meet is almost never the sort of person you envisioned. The sheer variety of personalities and lifestyles is mind boggling, and they are usually quite happy to ‘talk shop’ with a fan!

   Classic authors were often as remarkable. When Ernest Hemingway stayed at his cabin in Ketcham, Idaho, he’d put a dead fish on his porch. Its stench would remind the neighbors who was in town. Fantasy writer Fritz Leiber’s mild-looking self was mirrored in his renowned alter ego, the tall and dashing barbarian Fafhrd.

   Fiction writers don’t just transmit ideas, sometimes they create them. A huge portion of the English language can be attributed to Chaucer, Shakespeare, and the King James Bible.

   In the 1960s, counterculture authors inspired the styles of an entire generation. In the mainstream, technicians have spent decades making Gene Roddenberry’s Star Trek  gadgetry become real.

   Even comic strip writers can have a special influence. The late and much beloved Charles Schulz held a unique place in America’s, and indeed the world’s, heart. The main runway at his home town airport, in Santa Rosa, is known to pilots as Snoopy One.

BUSINESS

   Writing is seldom easy. It’s harder to do it right than most people think. To my dismay, I have found that many (otherwise successful) college graduates lack basic writing skills, such as grammar and punctuation. These can be learned, but that’s only the first hurdle.

   In the busy and complex writing business, it helps to have an agent, especially for novels. Good agents are hard to come by, as the good ones are usually booked solid.

   Remember, in traditional writing and publishing, the rule is: money always flows to the author. The publisher likes your work enough to pay you for it! Also, this gains much more respect from serious readers and from other authors.

   It's not easy, but skill, talent, and a good story will always shine through. Authors have always been competitive, and there are only so many publishing companies, and limited space on those bookstore shelves. Worse yet, publishing has become ultra-commercialized, with huge corporations dominating the business at every level. They care only about the bottom line.

   In the field, the (few remaining) wholesale book distributors are hiring sales reps with no literary background whatsoever. An entire cadre of experienced business people has been lost. The variety of retail-type ‘sales points’ for paperback books has shrunk from hundreds to a mere handful. I hate to say it, but grocery store chains care little about some writer’s budding career.

   There are several ways around this logjam. Writers with lots of money can ‘self publish.’ Many companies, if paid enough, will print up anything you want. (Even if it's sheer gibberish . . . ) Some will help with the editing, cover art, and other important points. However, going the easy route and paying a vanity press runs the risk of making your bank account and your novel vanish into obscurity!

   Recently these traditional outlets have been joined by online direct distributors, and one-book-at-a-time ‘on demand’ publishers. There are also electronic format ‘ebook’ publishers, such as Amazon's Kindle service. These are usually legitimate, and are fast growing in respect and popularity. 

   An aspiring writer must be very careful! The publishing business is fraught with plagiarism, and its modern variant ‘script mining.’ Crooked agents and ‘book doctors’ are lined up to relieve you of your money.

    Fortunately, there is help. Publications like Writers Digest  and The Writer, and web sites such as Ralan's  and Predators and Editors, are filled with good advice. Various local and national writer’s groups welcome new members. Annual conferences such as MauiCon bring together hundreds of reputable people.

POP CULTURE

   I’ve noticed something about writers that has gotten me into some rather vigorous debates. I hold that it’s inevitable for a writer’s beliefs: their knowledge, faith, and worldview, to show through in their work. Even if they aren’t trying, and would actively deny this, the evidence is always there.

   If a person happens to be a talented actor, a debate team captain, or an experienced lawyer, they might  convincingly argue for a belief they themselves do not hold. But only right then, within a specific written work, or during an actual presentation.

   How does this manifest in the popular culture? Religion has a big role in the world. But in mainstream fiction, one is lucky to find a Protestant minister, or a serious believer, portrayed as anything but a hypocrite, if not a villain. Any positively depicted characters are usually in the background.

   This is even more the case on TV and in the movies. One recent study found that, out of about seventy TV fathers, only two were shown as married, positive, role models.

CONCLUSION

   It seems to me that the most compelling stories are that way because they’re rooted in authentic human nature. The greatest fiction arises not from slick literary formulas; rather, it evokes the deepest human archetypes. Let your best ideals infuse your writing, and readers are sure to respond.

by Paul Carlson