Sorry for the recent hiatus. The trouble writing a blog about trying to get published is that most of the time you are just waiting around for a response, holding onto a vague hope. When the rejection slip does come there are no pointers as to whether it was actually read or if you are just wasting your time, if you are the literary equivalent of a delusional X factor reject.
I am not sure if this long, formal process can be circumnavigated for writers. I mean if you take musicians for example (since my boyfriend is in a band it is the area I know most about) they can do some proactive things while waiting for a response on their demo. They can play live shows, get some instant gratifying feedback as to the quality of their work, build a following. Writing does not lend itself to the same instantaneous public performance. In music, there are a multitude of local networks and forums where you can get people’s comments, listening to your peers attempts. A glace on myspace demonstrates how willing and tuned in most bands are. Writing it is different. Sure there are forums out there where you can put your work for comment, though no where near as many. But I know I am not the only novelist to raise concern about the security of their work once it is published in this way. You only have to look at the furore over Hannibal Rising and Thomas Harris apparent pilfering of his fan fiction to realise that someone else could use your work easily.
There are also in some areas creative writing groups, formal or informal, writers can go to. I expect some people find them useful but I am always a bit sceptical. Again going back to the band metaphor- they don’t really take feedback from gigs, if it happens at all it is the formative stages of the rehearsal room. I think that by the time you are in the position to share something it is sufficiently polished and completed in your mind that you will not take criticism that well. And you probably shouldn’t- after all there is no right or wrong way to do these things.
Bands can also do other things to get noticed apart from performance- how they market themselves, such as sensationally packaging a disc, trying to stir up controversy. Maybe writers are reluctant to think outside the box, but they are hardly encouraged to experimental. All agencies have strict submission guidelines, down to font size and line spacing, not leaving much room for creativity. True writers could risk it, but knowing how unlikely it is your manuscript will even get read, I for one am always dubious about taking a chance. Maybe after a few months it will be different!
