No, they’re better…
Just caught sight of this article by Susan Hill of Spectator.
I am appalled.
Susan blathers on pretty much to say (in many, many more words) that she is incensed and horrified and insulted to be asked to write a short story to be placed alongside other short stories on a display wall at a Fringe Festival. The other contributors will be a mix of established authors and new, young budding writers. Some of them children. Some are (allegedly) “marginalised, displaced, disadvantaged, bottom of the heap, discriminated against, asylum seekers” who are contributing.
Ms Hill goes on to illustrate how she was trained (and trained hard!) to be a writer, by doing a degree and studying long hours over brilliant authors’ works. Well, good for you, Susan. I too intend to do a degree in writing and the English language, only because I never went to university at 18 (at the time, my chosen career didn’t require a degree, rather a lot of practical experience instead).
But, let’s just hold up a minute. Susan says, because she has training (and apparently skill, though I can’t comment on this because I’ve never read any of her work) then she should not have her work displayed on the same wall as these ‘lesser mortals’. Hmmm.
I think we can safely say that Susan is an arrogant, self-centred writer (yes, sadly they do exist) who cannot see beyond the nib of her own pen. She is missing the key point of this entire collaborative wall exercise, and that is encouragement.
Certainly, the organisers of this festival are not going to accept just any old drivel to put up. They’ll understand that not everyone is a writer. But they will be choosing writers who show a little talent, promise and enthusiasm. Why? Because among these young, budding, aspiring writers of today, are tomorrow’s Susan Hill and Samantha Priestley and Stephen King and J K Rowling and Michael Crichton… get the idea? Sure you do.
So, no, Susan. Amateur writers are not as good as well established authors. We don’t expect them to be. We do, however, need to continue encouraging them to learn, and grow, and experience and better themselves in their writing. How do we do that? Well, I’m certain it isn’t by ranting about how crap they are in an online blog.
It might just, however, involve writing short stories to go up alongside their work on a public display board. To show support for these new writers and help them see what they can do, if they keep practising their skill. Just like you and I and Stephen and Sam did. Hey, you could even volunteer your services to go and do, oh I dunno, maybe a workshop for these young writers? Share with them a little of your skill and knowledge like your tutors once did for you perhaps? Help to improve the standards you say you are so passionate about.
Or you could just sit high and mighty on your blog and continue ranting about how standards are falling.
