Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoyevski was standing facing a firing squad just when an ukase from the czar commuted the penalty and sent him to forced labour in Siberia. He was going to be executed accused of being a socialist member conspiring against czar Nicholas I.
Dostoyevski is considered the pioneer of psychological novel and teaches you something essential and necessary through his writings, conditioned some way by his epilepsy. When he was writing Crime and Punishment his editor refused the novel because it was too extense and obscure, so Dostoyevski didn’t get any money and he was in need of it. He paid a stenographer and dictated to her his novel The gambler in 26 days. Soon after he married Anna Grigorievna Snitkina, the stenographer. The gambler was published and had an immediate success and reported a good money to the couple.
The gambler is based on Dostoyevski own experiences. The tale of the Russian general and his family wasting a lot of money not their fortune in Roulettenbad, somewhere in Germany, and the tutor of the general’s niece’s children. The tutor has fallen in love with the mother of the children, rather than with the niece of the general, and he is nearly desperate with what happens. I won’t give more details about the plot summary, I only finish by saying that to come out from a casino a ruined one is the possibility all gamblers take into account before coming in but the emotion of risk overcome them.
Thinking about the way he planned it to finish soon, to dictate the novel, and knowing it is autobiographical, I do admire the genius he put in his literary works just to get money. There was no need to spend all days and all nights scribbling, although in complete consciousness because it was a sacrifice. For some writers with a rich autobiograhical background it would be ideal to do the same Dostoyevski did and to pay a stenographer instead of working by themselves and thinking their main goal is the money they would get from the editor.
Dostoyevski's place in literary history is well established. He was a giant. But, like most writers, he had to write to make a living. Greatness did not come easy for most. They earned it. Samuel Clemens is an excellent example. He was gray-haired before making it big with Huckleberry Finn. There are many others I could name. Writing without sponsorship of some kind was a very tough life, still is.
Up until I could no longer write in 1998, I hired secretaries to type for me and generally clean up my many spellos from not using a dictionary. I didn't feel that turning over handwritten work to publishers was a good idea. By that time, I was already using speech dictation or documents and emails, so I didn't need to hire anyone to type my work anymore. I wrote for institutions during my employed years. Retired, I write for myself without concern for income.
Some good advice for beginning authors hoping to make a living at it.
Destiny's Daughter by Frances Altman highlights events in the life of Mary Edwards Walker, maverick suffragist, Civil War doctor and only woman Medal of Honor recipient.
This book is a collection of short stories that depict events in Author's life while she lived in Romania, then in Greece, and last in America. It's a beautiful and very sincere account of a young woman's life and comming to age.
Destiny's Daughter by Frances Altman highlights events in the life of Mary Edwards Walker, maverick suffragist, Civil War doctor and only woman Medal of Honor recipient.
