Hubby and I were having a cup of tea together after lunch, and our conversation drifted away from the cold weather to writing. He’s also a mystery writer, and we often find ourselves talking about various topics associated with writing, promotion and publicity. He made a comment I found interesting. He said that he thought the responsibility of a writer was to improve his or her writing with each piece of work. I’m certain every writer would agree with this statement, but I also think there are many issues that intervene to make achieving this goal difficult. On closer examination, isn’t this goal more of an ideal than a reality? How does a writer tell if he or she is improving? What standards can we use? Is improving one’s writing the predominant consideration for our work? For example, does a best-selling writer consciously work toward improvement with each book? Can sales become more important than quality?

 

There are many considerations that come into play as we write. If a writer is under deadline to a publisher for a book, does the deadline determine what the outcome of the manuscript submitted is? Writers who work with a publisher employing topnotch editing staffs are fortunate to have editors who may share a writer’s concern over producing quality work. I sometimes wonder how often this happens in the contemporary editing world especially with some best-selling authors whose books over time appear to be missing a good edit. Is this because these authors already have their fan base who will buy their work despite errors in grammar and plot holes, sagging middles time issues, and less than fresh plots, the kinds of no-no’s writers are told shout bad work.  Are we seeing books that have less editing now?

 

If books are less strictly edited in recent years, could this be because editorial staffs have been decimated by publishers to save money? The publishing industry seems to be experiencing its share of financial problems. Finances recently forced Midnight Ink to close. Their authors and books always were the best, and writers knew that to be part this publisher meant they were with one of the best in the business. Sad as was their demise perhaps they chose to go this route than the one of cutting costs in staff and product.

 

Most authors probably support a commitment to get better and better at their craft. Perhaps such a sense of responsibility is not something we are consciously aware of in the process of writing our stories. I’m a psychologist, so I believe that what we are consciously aware of and what sits below our level of awareness are both important determinants of our behavior. I suspect a writer who has learned the craft and continued to improve through knowledge and good editing may simply write better because they are intellectually and creatively involved in learning more and more about their genre. There probably isn’t a light blinking on their keyboard saying, “it’s your responsibility to write better.” They are constantly learning though feedback from readers, critique partners or groups or through their editors. Perhaps better writing is most often a by-product of this learning and less often a conscious commitment to writing better.

 

I agree with hubby that I feel responsible to myself, my publisher and my readers to do the best I can, to do better than I did, but, when I write, is this a preeminent goal? Do I feel this sense of dedication as I craft my plots and my characters? Probably not. On a day-to-day basis I’m creating a world in which I struggle with plot and work to keep my characters interesting and true to themselves.  I’m hardly aware of issues of how much better I’m writing than I did in the last book or last year. In revising my work, I often find myself asking if this is the best way to do this or can I write this better? The initial writing of my work almost feels instinctual to me, but revisions where I stop to redo something, and the many revisions of the entire manuscript thereafter may be where I stop to consider if I’m doing this better than I’ve done before.  For me, the writing sage who said writing may be even wiser than I thought for I think it is in this process that I become aware of how I am doing and just what I am doing.

 

If revisions are where we really consider the quality of our work, then having the time to sit back and consider what we have written is possibility the most important part of being an author dedicated to getting better at her craft. It’s likely that deadlines may be one of the enemies of quality. On the other hand, we can’t put off writing either or we won’t accomplish anything. Writers cannot wrap themselves in doubts about what they are writing. The product they produce always shows this angst. We’ve all read beginners who are so concerned with how they are writing that they can’t get out of their way to write it. Flow and creativity are impeded. A perfect sentence doesn’t insure a good story or one that reads well.

 

I’ve raised more questions than I’ve been able to answer, so let me raise a few more for you to consider in your own work or in what you read. Where does your commitment to getting better at your craft come into your work? What types of feedback help you improve in your writing. Do you continue to read about the writing process, attend workshops at conferences or online? Do you think some of your favorite authors have failed you by producing substandard work? If so, to what do you attribute this?