Saturday, January 21, 2012

Writing for Adults

I'm frustrated.  Well, anyone trying to get some writing credits under their belt today is frustrated.  There are probably a million (literally, maybe more) would-be writers out there and like 100 spots for their stories to appear, and it seems like a select handful are getting some of those limited spots over and over again.  (For example, I saw a magazine/anthology with new stories by Stephen King, Ursula K. LeGuin, and others on it -- if these heavy hitters are sending stuff to the small mags, what chance do the rest of us have?!  Shouldn't they have other avenues for their work?  But I digress.) 
Aside from being as frustrated as any other would-be writer out there not able to squeeze a story into the limited lime light, I'm especially urked because the markets seem to me to be too politically correct, to be soft, to be gender and age neutral -- if publishing shorts in general is tough, it seems super-tough to get a story for adults published.  I'm not talking porn, just the use of bad language and a little sexual content, you know, stuff the adult world does on a daily basis.  But not in publishing -- we need to keep it PC there.  You can't tell me there's not a market for gorwn-up stuff -- I know I'd rather read a story with realistic dialogue and gritty content over nerfed stuff made softer to appeal to everyone. 
Of course, admittedly, I'm guilty of not reading much of what's out there personally, which is a terrible thing for a writer trying to break out.  My excuse is that if I'm reading all this stuff I don't have time left to write.  So maybe I'm wrong, maybe there's plenty of grown up venues out there and I'm just talking out my butt, but....  I kind of doubt it.
(Just venting.  Hey, maybe it's not the adult stuff, maybe my writing just sucks.  That could be too.)

3 comments:

  1. I was chatting with a buddy of mine. Apparently the self publishing market (on sites like Amazon) is blowing up. It's a place to try and get things published... or noticed.

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  2. Thanks for the tip! I'm trying the "someone else pays for it" route first, or even better, then "someone pays me for it" route, then i'll explore other possibilities. If it comes to it (and i get some money ahead) I'll likely go for the self-publishing, but not if i can help it...

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  3. Reflecting on this six months later... Thanks, Ben, I'm going to take your advice! I have 3 works in the works for just that!

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