Ute Carbone
  • Home
  • My Books
    • Book Club Fiction >
      • The Fall Line
      • Dancing in the White Room
      • The Tender Bonds
      • Blueberry Truth
      • The Lilac Hour(short story trilogy)
    • Comedy >
      • Secondhand Love (Annie Hoff)
      • Georgette Alden Starts Over ( Annie Hoff)
      • Confessions of the Sausage Queen (Annie Hoff)
      • The P-Town Queen (Annie Hoff)
      • Afterglow (Annie Hoff)
    • History >
      • The Whisper of Time (novella)
    • Anthologies >
      • Shared Whispers
      • Passionate Cooks
      • Recipes from the Vineyard
      • Poets Unbound
      • Poems from the Cranberry Room
  • Inside the Writer's Garret (My Blog)
  • About me
  • Poetry
  • Contact
  • Annie Hoff
  • My Photography
  • Dream River Press

Inside the Writer's Garret

On writing and life, with a little chocolate thrown in from time to time.

A  Book is Not a Cheese Sandwich. It is not a Cheese Slicer, Either. #amwriting

4/6/2015

1 Comment

 
Picture
 I like to keep a positive relationship with my writing. Like most authors I know, I love to write—when the work goes well, when I'm in the zone, it's a wonderful thing, to be able to create a story, to breathe life into characters.

Fast forward a few years and your book is being readied for market. And it goes from wonderful creation to commodity, something that's bought and sold like cheese sandwiches at a deli or cheese slicers at your favorite discount store.  We begin to talk about our work in units—and it's not about how much your characters touched the reader as it is about how many books were sold.

The problem with this, for me at least, is that, to me at least, books aren't a commodity. Books are so much more than cheese slicers.  A good book can take you places you've never been and meet people you've never met before. A good story allows you to fall in love again as though for the first time, it is the connective tissue that holds our human hearts together. There are studies that suggest fiction readers develop more empathy than non readers. This isn't surprising, given the power of words.

And yet, we send our words to market; we hand over our stories, often cheaply, and worry over how many units will be sold. Our words are reduced to so many cheese sandwiches. In the process, we are reduced as well, to producers of words instead of crafters of story. How do you determine a story's worth?  The simple answer is, you can't.


1 Comment
kodi.software link
1/4/2024 02:51:41 am

I wanted to express my gratitude for your insightful and engaging article. Your writing is clear and easy to follow, and I appreciated the way you presented your ideas in a thoughtful and organized manner. Your analysis was both thought-provoking and well-researched, and I enjoyed the real-life examples you used to illustrate your points. Your article has provided me with a fresh perspective on the subject matter and has inspired me to think more deeply about this topic.

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Welcome 

    This writing journey, this life,  is a long road full of pitfalls and wrong turns. Also, incredible beauty, kindness and friendship with those I've met along the way.I'm so glad you're here to share the road..


    Picture
    Picture

    Archives

    September 2020
    August 2020
    June 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    September 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    March 2018
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014

    Categories

    All
    #amwriting
    Cooking
    #life
    #np
    #poetrythursday
    #ShortStories
    Writing
    Writing With Courage

    RSS Feed

    older posts at blogger
    Posts at Coffee with Friends

    Subscribe to my newsletter.

    * indicates required
    Email Format
    More on my Books
    Ute Carbone on StoryFinds
    Find me at Story Finds
Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.
Photos from Jacopo Marcovaldi, tjuel, tsaiproject, tiswango, g23armstrong