{"id":157,"date":"2015-03-10T16:10:53","date_gmt":"2015-03-10T21:10:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/zachbarnesonwriting.wordpress.com\/?p=157"},"modified":"2015-03-10T16:10:53","modified_gmt":"2015-03-10T21:10:53","slug":"legit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/2015\/03\/10\/legit\/","title":{"rendered":"Legit"},"content":{"rendered":"

Stephen King is often quoted as saying something along the lines of: “You’re a real writer if you write a book, sell the book, get a check, cash the check (and it doesn’t bounce), and buy groceries with said money. \u00a0Then<\/em> you’re a “real” writer.” \u00a0Or something along those lines…<\/p>\n

I think that Stephen King is a good author-ly voice to heed. \u00a0He certainly knows how it’s done–he can buy all the groceries he wants, now! \u00a0In fact,\u00a0I think he’s hit the nail on the head. \u00a0The nail is the problem, of course. \u00a0And King might have been defining success, but I believe he’s actually defining the issue many aspiring “writers” face: bein’ considered legit. \u00a0Street credit, if you follow.<\/p>\n

And there are real-world examples to argue this. \u00a0Poe. \u00a0Melville. \u00a0Wilde. \u00a0Penniless and dead long before their work made them “real”. \u00a0Moby Dick<\/em> didn’t net a lot of groceries. \u00a0Nor did the Raven\u00a0<\/i>or\u00a0the Picture of Dorian Gray<\/em>. \u00a0Using King’s metric, these poor writers were less “real” than E. L. James. \u00a0You should be thinking right now: “what the eff?!?!?” \u00a0I certainly am.<\/p>\n

But King, like usual, has touched on a vein of truth with his words. \u00a0He captures the wider imagination–the undercurrents of society–and brings to light something that\u00a0is quite ugly, especially if we make it more true by buying into it.<\/p>\n

Is being judged by capacity to meet basic needs\u00a0the fate of those creative-types who just aren’t lucky? \u00a0After all, 5% of writers make 95% of all writer-ly profit (yikes!) \u00a0But measuring something as “real” via its profit is not a healthy way to look at art or artists in general.<\/p>\n

Times are and have been changing in the world of literature. \u00a0And yes, Poe and Melville and Wilde are all wildly successful\u00a0now<\/em> and could buy tons of groceries, too, if only they weren’t dead. \u00a0But none of that changes the fact that they were writers the moment they began creating the content for which we know them. \u00a0“Real” writers, too, even if they never reaped the monetary benefits.<\/p>\n

So stop judging a writer by his salary. \u00a0Seriously, piss off about that. \u00a0Judge the content above all else, because in the end, the content is the only thing that matters, and the only thing that for which you’ll be remembered. \u00a0You’re “real” if you’re content is true. \u00a0Money will come later. \u00a0Maybe. \u00a0\ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

And mountains! \u00a0Did I mention those? \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

\"HD<\/a><\/p>\n

I\u2019m on facebook at:\u00a0https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/zachbarnesonwriting<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

And Twitter: @ZacharyBarnes4<\/span><\/p>\n

Like or follow me if you enjoy\u00a0the blog!<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2013<\/span><\/p>\n

Don\u2019t steal\u00a0my words. \u00a0They\u2019re mine. Zachary Barnes 2015\u00a9<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I think that Stephen King is a good author-ly voice to heed. He certainly knows how it’s done–he can buy all the groceries he wants, now! In fact, I think he’s hit the nail on the head. The nail is the problem, of course. And King might have been defining success, but I believe he’s actually defining the issue many aspiring “writers” face: bein’ considered legit. Street credit, if you follow.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":158,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"amazonpipp_noncename":"","amazon-product-isactive":"","amazon-product-single-asin":"","amazon-product-content-location":"","amazon-product-content-hook-override":"","amazon-product-excerpt-hook-override":"","amazon-product-singular-only":"","amazon-product-amazon-desc":"","amazon-product-show-gallery":"","amazon-product-show-features":"","amazon-product-newwindow":"","amazon-product-show-list-price":"","amazon-product-show-used-price":"","amazon-product-show-saved-amt":"","amazon-product-timestamp":"","amazon-product-new-title":"","amazon-product-use-cartURL":"","amazon_featured_post_meta_key":"","_amazon_featured_alt":"","amazon-product-template":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0},"categories":[21,24,27,30,42,50,52],"tags":[60,61,82,111,119,160,164,180,204],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":983,"url":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/2016\/04\/25\/master-insights-stephen-king\/","url_meta":{"origin":157,"position":0},"title":"Master Insights: Stephen King","date":"April 25, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"What King is saying is not to avoid writing darlings, but rather to remove them from the final product. This is important because I believe that breathing life into those \"darlings\" is one of the best ways a writer can improve his craft.","rel":"nofollow","context":"In \"Advice\"","img":{"src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":54,"url":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/2015\/01\/16\/rantasy-or-hi-fantasy-im-zach\/","url_meta":{"origin":157,"position":1},"title":"\"Rantasy\" or; Hi, Fantasy, I'm Zach","date":"January 16, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Place yourself in a writer's shoes, and you find yourself in an interesting situation. First of all, why'd you steal those shoes? Do they even fit you? Secondly, a person asks you \"what's your book about?\" the primary modus used to explain books is by genre. And that's where I\u2026","rel":"nofollow","context":"In \"Fantasy\"","img":{"src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":162,"url":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/2015\/03\/26\/the-bloggeth-returneth-glorious\/","url_meta":{"origin":157,"position":2},"title":"The Bloggeth Returneth. Glorious!","date":"March 26, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Needless to say, juggling the two roles is going to be difficult. They're two sides of the author-coin. Why, cruel world, do you insist I use both hemispheres of my brain?!?","rel":"nofollow","context":"In \"Business\"","img":{"src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=157"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=157"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=157"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=157"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}