I was watching Anne Rice’s video on writing which she put up a few years ago on YouTube
For those not familiar with Anne’s work, she is the writer behind Interview with a Vampire (arguably more famous in its movie form, starring Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise) and The Queen of the Damned.
Anne made vampires cool before Stephenie Meyer chimed in and ruined them for me.
Anne’s video basically boils down to this: If you want to be writer sit your ass down and write.
No surprise there. Seems to be general consensus about writing.
What was a bit strange to me, was hearing her say that publishing hasn’t changed since her day – that agents are still looking for fresh ideas.
It’s kind of obvious now that she mentions it, but got me wondering when was the last time that I saw a fresh idea.
When writers discuss the process of writing, fresh ideas rarely seem to be part of the topic.
While I agree that churning out the pages will eventually result in honed writing skills, I wonder if it will also result in fresh ideas.