Yeah, that Cormac McCarthy--self described "gregarious loner," author of All the Pretty Horses, No Country for Old Men, the Stonemason and The Road, to name a few of his works. Is that not the BEST description you've ever heard??? I love that description. I'm absolutely barking mad about it. I mean, it lends itself to so much wonderful contrast and conflict in an oxymoronic kind of way. But I'm swaying off topic here in my word-induced state of glee. The reference to Cormac McCarthy started me thinking about other gregarious loner author types. Sometimes they're gregarious or sometimes they're just loners, that's key--the loner part. A few names immediately sprang to mind: Charles Bukowski, J.D. Salinger, Thomas Pynchon, and others of the ilk where their literary notoriety isn't tied to any of the current media outlets. A paraphrase of a quote usually attributed to Bukowski is one of my favorites: "It isn't that I don't like people, I just like 'em better when they're not around." People, that is cash money gold-level genius even if it is a screenwriter's interpretation of the man.
The question that's been raised, by Nathan's excellent post, is what level of success is achieved if you don't press the flesh and help the process along? Is it possible in this day and age for the brilliance of the writing to make up for a multitude of other shortcomings? Or do you have to listen to the tune and then get your dancing shoes on?
6 comments:
I'm going to check out this fantastically embedded link right now because the topic of promotion is frighteningly relevant to me... And, also, because I'm loving the term "gregarious loner." Thanks for another wonderful, thought-provoking post!
Marilyn (or should I say, "Sensei")
Thanks for the nice words and I'm always glad to see you stop by. I think your promotion skills are excellent already, but Nathan always sheds the light. Can't hurt to make a checklist, right?
Another lover of the "gregarious loner" term! And no, it has absolutely nothing to do with how I'm going to start describing myself...
For promotion, I think there's now 2 kinds authors have to deal with--the old-fashioned press-the-flesh, and the new-fangled internet. I think authors can get away with staying behind their monitors, but they need a strong web presence to pull it off. Plus, the flip side is to not do so much promotion that the writing is being neglected. On one of my RWA CDs, one agent (or editor's--obviously I can't remember who) said the best promotion is to keep writing great books and your audience will grow.
Hi Pam!
That sounds like really good advice--make sure that the writing warrants promotion in the first place, eh? Thanks for stopping by and maybe we could start a tee shirt campaign for the 'gregarious loners.' What do you think ;-)?
Gregarious Loner. That would be a nice name for a band. Love Cormac's writing.
Monster Paperbag,
Gregarious Loner would be an excellent name for a band! Thanks for stopping by.
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