The Elements of Authorship: Unabashed Advice, Undiluted Experience, Unadulterated Inspiration for Writers and Writers-To-Be - Softcover

Plotnik, Arthur

Softcover

ISBN 10: 059500119X ISBN 13: 9780595001194

Publisher: Iuniverse Inc, 2000

Synopsis

"This is a book for aspiring writers that has few equals." Chicago Tribune Lyrical writing and rock-solid advice distinguish The Elements of Authorship from most writers' guides. No such guide is more engaging, entertaining - or authoritative. Arthur Plotnik, whose classic The Elements of Editing is in its 18th year of print, draws on a uniquely broad background as writer, editor, and publisher. The Elements of Authorship gives clearheaded advice and comic relief to anguished writers - which is to say all writers - aspiring to the exalted state known as "published author." It is, as one reviewer noted, "a heartening foray into the construction and maintenance of a career in writing." Even as it explores the hellish aspects of that career, it reassures new authors that writing - published or unpublished - is worth the pain.

About this title

Review

OK, so, of the 82,000 "employed" authors in the United States, about 50 command seven-figure advances. So what? Who needs to be a millionaire? But for every three Stephen Kings earning $5 million a year, says Arthur Plotnik in The Elements of Authorship (originally published as Honk if You're a Writer), "figure 1,470 hopefuls earning nothing." That's right. Nothing. Writing, says Plotnik, "is a bumper-to-bumper crawl through hell with an occasional jolt to the next level of anguish."

If you belong to the group of people publishers categorize as either "bankable" or "slime," or even if you just daydream of being a writer, Arthur Plotnik is one fine companion to have along for the ride. He's full of information, much of which he imparts via the travails of his "character" Plotnikov, who has vast experience on both sides of the writer-editor relationship, from writing pulp fiction to editing Ray Bradbury. While Plotnik's tips on dealing with editors may not be so different from those of the many other books of this ilk, his modes of expressing them are unforgettable. Where others advise that you not cold-call publishers and say "I'm a writer," Plotnik says that to do so is like saying, "Hello, I am risen from the fetid slime of the Black Lagoon." Where others say that you have to make your query stand out, Plotnik recommends you "say just about anything that will get attention, if it's not too sick." And, unlike the other, cheerleaderly writer-book authors out there ("YOU, TOO, CAN MAKE MILLIONS!"), Plotnik is stridently realistic. He imparts tricks of the trade that "can improve one's odds from Hopeless to Who Knows." He warns that "like their protagonists, serious writers never have a nice day." And even when all is said and published, there is still the struggle to get paid, he says, referring to writers as "mini-collection agencies." A hilarious read, though one wishes the text had been adjusted to accommodate both its new title and the passing of Iris Murdoch. --Jane Steinberg

About the Author

An award-winning journalist, magazine executive and book editor, Arthur Plotnik is also the author of The Elements of Authorship and the best selling The Elements of Editing. A former publishing executive for the American Library Association and a member of American Forests, he lives in Chicago with his wife, artist Maty Phelan.

Edition details

• Publisher: Iuniverse Inc
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 059500119X
• ISBN 13: 9780595001194
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 288