By K.T. Bryski
I’ve thought a lot about being a young
author over the past few days. At first, I thought I’d just share my “road to
publication” story. It’s a cute little anecdote that I sling around at cons: Gmail
cut the preview for Dragon Moon Press’s offer of publication at a terribly
inconvenient place, so it looked like they’d rejected me, but really, they
wanted my book!
Being a young author is much like being a
grown-up author. You write, you finish your work, you submit, and then
hopefully, you publish, promote, and write something new. But youth brings its
own challenges (you knew this wasn’t going to be easy, right?).
If you’re a young author, that means you’re
probably still in school. Dragon Moon Press acquired Hapax halfway through my third year of university, and released it
during my fourth-year midterms. Obviously, academics eats into writing
time—both the actual writing, and the promotion, networking, and adminisitrivia
that come along with it.
You still have to do your homework. My
parents were pretty firm on that—I spent most of Ad Astra studying for an exam.
School can’t really fall by the wayside. Trust me, you will regret it later. Communicating
with my profs was helpful. Apparently, launching a book is a good excuse for essay
extensions, as long as you’re prepared, organized, and give advance notice.
But school has a subtler effect, too. My
editor has said in interviews that she is not
“a teacher with a red pen.” But when you’re a young author, that dynamic
can be hard to shake at first. Up until now, you’ve been surrounded by teachers
with red pens, and hey, this is a Real
Adult telling you things.
Guess what? In publishing, you’re an adult,
too. No matter how old you are. That means you don’t get marked by editors and agents, you collaborate with them. You take
responsibility for your work and your behaviour: online, at cons, wherever. Age
has only as much meaning as you give it—if you act like an adult, you’ll be
treated as one.
That being said, young authors often lack
both writing and life experience. This is ok. This is natural. So cut yourself
some slack. There are things I wrote in the distant days of my early youth that
I would do very differently now. There are things I’m writing now that I will
probably do differently in ten years (I hope so). I’ve made gaffes because I
didn’t know better. Youth and inexperience can’t be an excuse for everything,
but it’s important to bear in mind: all you can do is make the best judgments
you can with the information you have. And apologize if you judge wrong.
And I’ve not touched all the benefits to
being a young writer! You’re ambitious and fired-up. It’s exciting, and cool,
and there’s a wonderful sense of potential. Plus, you don’t have any dependents.
This is your time: a time to learn
and develop. And think of this: if you’re in your teens or twenties, you may
have a good 60-70 years of writing ahead of you. That’s a lot of stories.
What are we waiting for? Let’s write!
Website: www.ktbryski.com
Twitter: @ktbryski
