Musings About Writers

So due to my current Facebook obsession, I was contacted by a girl I vaguely remember from high school. I accepted her request because she's into vampire/zombie stuff (which makes her cool) and because she got a BFA in poetry from Iowa (which makes her cool and a much better writer than myself...academic-wise and all). So I asked her about Iowa and she tells me how brutal it was. There were only so many graduate slots to fill, so the undergraduates had to do this Thunderdome type thing where they all enter a workshop and only one leaves alive. She talked about the backstabbing, the cut-throat critiques. She talked about how if anyone wrote anything good, it was ripped apart in an attempt to kill the writer's spirit...

Sad...

So that go me thinking. Why is it that Iowa restricted their slots? Since when in our society has being chosen to be among 'the elite' a good thing? See...this is what I think...stay with me here.

1. There is a misconception that there is not enough in our world. Not enough money, not enough energy, not enough love or success. But I think that's all crap. There is more than enough for everyone out there...of everything.

Consider this.

A friend of mine came into the area I supervise the other day and he starts joking with the kids who work under me. Then later he apologizes for stealing my mojo.

My reply, "Buddy, there's enough mojo to go around."

It's like, there was no competition between us in my mind. There really is more than enough love to go around.

You know?

Haven't you ever been in love with someone and then found you 'loved' someone else? Maybe not in a romantic way, and it's not like you loved the first person any less...it's just there is an infinite amount of love out there, so you can love multiple people and still not take anything away from anyone else.

2. OK - so how does this apply to Iowa? Well, I'm assuming they want only the best of the best right? But why make it so selective? Accept everyone! More money rolls in (I have not seen a university yet that doesn't like that) - more people mean more opportunities to get published (which is a pretty good feather in your cap if you're a school who bases your success on published writers).

So you say - "OK Crimson Pig - that's all well and good, but what about all the bad people you let into the school?"

Good point! But I say, if your standards are high enough two things are going to happen. Those who can not cut it will leave. Those who don't start out good writers will rise to the occasion and become good writers. Which leads to success for you and your school!

3. Which brings me to my point!

How many truly great writers have we lost due to the fact that they were 'weeded out' of a college workshop? For that matter, why do they even need to be weeded out?

And you want to know the answer!

Because they'll get the book contract I could have gotten. They'll take my spot or my money or my mojo!

Well, if someone writes a better book than I do, they should get the freakin' contract!

And that's what pisses me off so much. We don't try to become better writers, we take 'our competition' and try to ruin them so our mediocre crap can get published.

You know, people are always bitching that kids don't read today. Kids read. Kids want to read! "Harry Potter" proves that. It's just that we're not turning out anything they want to read, so can you really blame them?

4. Finally, consider this. I write horror stuff. It's what I dig. I subscribe to magazines and read other budding horror writer's work. I support them and they support me. Because there is enough out there...for everyone! Let's encourage those writers. The more of them who pop up, the more magazines they will read. Which will cause more magazines to pop up. Which means more publishing opportunities, which means more opportunities for young writers. Which means more writers pop up. You see how it goes?

Seems simple...huh?