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There is a rumour that in the years before he died, JD Salinger finished his manuscripts and locked them away in a safe so nobody could publish them in his lifetime. “There is a marvellous peace in not publishing,” he told The New York Times in 1974. “Publishing is a terrible invasion of my privacy. I like to write. I love to write. But I write just for myself and my own pleasure.” This makes me wonder why I am so frustrated when I have a finished manuscript that – for whatever reason – is not published. Surely, if the work is the most important thing, then it doesn’t really matter what happens to it once it is finished? So why not lock your manuscripts away in a safe? Or simply burn them? Your work as a creator of stories has been done.
Looking at it from this perspective, and leaving aside any higher aims such as providing a service to readers (let’s face it, there are plenty of other writers perfectly capable of providing the same, if not better, service), then I believe the desire for publication must come down to two things: ego and money. If you have a private income and honestly don’t care about getting paid for your work, then it must be pure ego that makes an author submit a manuscript for publication. To egoists, the work is worthless unless someone reads it – and preferably loves it and praises it, though even negative comments are better then nothing if you are the sort of author who needs hordes of adoring fans in order to write. In fact, if you have enough ego and enough money, you’ll probably bypass the whole painful submission process and publish yourself so you can bask in the celebrity status it conveys. If, on the other hand, you need an income in order to write, then that can be just as strong a reason to desire publication. In fact, maybe it is those writers who have both healthy ego and need for income who are most likely to succeed in being published, because they have double the drive and double the reward at the end.
So back to Salinger and his safe. Death neatly removes both ego (unless you happen to believe in an afterlife where such things will matter) and need for money (assuming you are not leaving behind any dependents). In that case, the muse being satisfied and the work being complete, surely there would be little point in leaving those manuscripts behind for publication? It’s an interesting thought, and brings me to a third reason people might write – not for personal ego or money, but a very human desire to leave something behind us when we go. A passing on of the genes, which is something most people achieve through having children. So a writer, particularly a childless one, might write to leave part of their soul behind. That is the kind of manuscript I can imagine putting into my safe. Out of the books I have written so far, "I am the Great Horse" would fall into that category. On the other hand, I’d probably burn anything written specially for the market, particularly if it remains unpublished, because without readers that kind of manuscript has no reason for existing.
And before you all begin to worry I’m about to drop dead tomorrow, I will say here that as far as I know I’m not – unless I should choose to, of course, which is not an uncommon way for writers to go when backed into a creative corner. But at the risk of sounding morbid, you can’t escape the fact everyone dies sooner or later, and death seems rather more sure to me than taxes in this profession. So when the hooded figure with the sickle approaches, assuming he gives you a bit of time to plan, what would YOU do with your unpublished manuscripts? Or am I the only one thinking about buying a very large safe?
Visit Katherine’s website at www.katherineroberts.co.uk
And find out what her unicorn muse is up to at http://reclusivemuse.blogspot.com
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By: Anastasia Goodstein,
on 2/1/2010
Blog: Ypulse (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: spike, glee, the cw, Ypulse Essentials, katherine patterson, taylor swift, jersey shore, lady gaga, jd salinger, iPad, imogen heap, catcher in the rye, stephen colbert, grammys, Add a tag
Taylor Swift wins album of the year (at the Grammys and the honor of being the youngest artist to do so. Probably makes the criticism of her off-key performance a little easier to shake off. Plus Stephen Colbert flaunts his brand new iPad. Indie... Read the rest of this post
By: DGLM,
on 1/29/2010
Blog: Dystel & Goderich Literary Management (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: opinion, Rachel, JD Salinger, reading, writing, Add a tag
While reading the many articles dedicated to the late (need I mention great and extremely talented) J.D. Salinger, I came across a story published in the Australian, which touched upon Salinger and his need to write. In today’s celebrity-obsessed culture, writes Erica Wagner, Salinger did not write because publication awaited him, but “because a real writer writes because he must.”
This sentiment is echoed in a Telegraph article, where it mentions the rumors--persisting for 45 years--that although Salinger shied away from publishing, he was still very much writing and that there could be as many as 10 novels tucked away in his safe.
But perhaps most interesting, in a New York Times article, Verlyn Klinkenborg explains that “to send a work out into the world, was, to Mr. Salinger, an intrusion”--which posed the question: is it really possible to be a writer without publishing?
It’s interesting to read about the many sides of J.D. Salinger’s life, but what really struck me was the fact that for many decades, this incredible author wrote purely for the sake of writing, because he had a need to write--he was not putting pen to paper for literary awards or outside praise. This kind of passion is what will make me enjoy reading his books for years to come.
Blog: Kelley and Hall (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: News, 60 Years Later, Fredrik Colting, JD Salinger, Windupbird Publishing, Add a tag
60 Years Later: Coming through the Rye by Fredrik Colting
Fredrik Colting has selected Kelley & Hall as the publicity team for his controversial novel, 60 Years Later: Coming through the Rye (Windupbird Publishing) . JD Salinger has attempted to block the publication in this country and a decision in the Appeals Court has not yet been made. The New York Times, Associated Press, Gannett, and Tribune, as well as librarians, free speech advocates, and legal scholars are urging the Appeals Court to overturn the injunction barring US publication of 60 Years Later.
I'm not sure ego and money are the only possible reasons - it's also possible to genuinely believe that your work makes the world a better place, and that it helps people.
Of course, that motivation can easily merge into ego, but reader responses that reinforce it range from the general ('I love your work, your books make me happy') to the intense ('Thank you for writing that novel about anorexia, it helped me help my friend').
The more intense reactions may be rare, but stories can and do help people.
Your post resonates with me. More than once I have thought, while writing my current book, that I would be happier just putting the finished manuscript to one side, and moving on to the next, than going through the bother and inevitable disappointment of trying to get the thing onto shelves.
And yet, and yet... I too feel there must be a valid reason for publishing. Perhaps it does come down to ego, but then why assume that ego is bad? We should not feel guilty about standing up and saying I MADE THIS. We would encourage our own children to do so, and to be proud of doing so, so long as that pride does not become arrogance or vanity.
As for what to do with unpublished books... Ha! When we had our downstairs floor laminated, I found a loose floorboard under the carpet. The manuscript of my first, unpublished children's novel is now down there. One day, perhaps...!
I think that I want my books published because I want my stories read. That's not 'ego'. That's just workmanship, surely. If I were a dressmaker I'd want to make dresses that people could wear? Or an architect I'd want to design houses for people to live in. It's only one half of a job if you write something. The piece itself doesn't 'live' unless someone reads it.
No, Salinger. I don't buy it!
I don't think it's ego either. Or 'showing off' as someone once said. I think writing is communication and when we write we have this deep compulsion to communicate some essential part of ourselves to other people. Surely that's just part of being human?
What a fascinating post!
How about publishing the manuscript for the joy that you are giving those people who read it and connect to the characters, the story, the questions it asks?
Many people find satisfaction in their jobs by making a difference to people. I see writers as no different. A great book can give something to the soul. Why would any writer wish to deny a reader this opportunity?
This is really interesting, Katherine.
Isn't there also an element of self-realisation? And publication is the recognition or endorsement that we did the task properly? I know that's not an entirely reliable measure, but it is one many of use have internalised. Publication completes the work. I guess you don't need self- realisation when you're dead.
I don't think ego is bad, just necessary to desire publication... unless you're writing something to commission, when maybe ego becomes a handicap? I see "showing off" as an extreme form of ego - egotism, which is less healthy and probably more common on the self-publishing scene. A very fragile ego is unlikely to send anything off to an editor, so unlikely to get published in the first place.
Stories as dresses... love it... maybe unpublished manuscripts stapled together will be all the rage on the catwalk next season? Imagine turning up at a party wearing the next Harry Potter!
Nick, what a brilliant idea to leave a manuscript time capsule... My house is on the market, so I'm going to prise up a floorboard right now.