Columns and Editorials

Over the years, I've compromised on a lot of things in my writing, and in my life. Sometimes compromise is good and necessary to survival. Other times, it is a big hammer and chisel chipping away at the things that are important. I'm not going to talk about my own compromises here, though I will touch on them. I'm going to talk about writing in general, as funneled through the commercial, mass market system, and see if the thoughts sliding around in the back of my mind make sense once they splat on the page.

The world of classic literature has been turned on its ear lately with the influx of books like "Pride, Prejudice, and Zombies," and "Sense, Sensibility, and Sea Monsters." That was the start. Soon after that we saw "Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter" surface (which I believe is being made into a movie). I will admit... I started out pretty skeptical about these titles, and in most cases remain so. If it's just a gimmick to sell yet another zombie novel without even having to write most of it yourself because you can steal from the public domain... for instance...

Most of my writing career has followed a particular pattern. I write what pops into my head, and I write a lot. Some of it sells, some of it makes people go ?huh?? and some of it wins awards. Still, I generally have gone into projects with at least a general idea what I thought I?d do with the final product, at least in recent years. It seems, if not an exactly logical process, a workable one.

Every now and then I get the urge to speak my mind. Those of you who read this column are probably aware of this. I’ve talked about books and publishing before, but looking back I think a lot has changed since the last time I did so, so I believe I’ll take a stab at the state of things, as I see it . . .