Meanwhile, under a different sky...
Nov. 4th, 2009 07:43 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
khiemtranI've been slogging away at a non-fiction project in my "spare" time lately. It's been quite interesting to compare the difference with fiction writing. For one thing, there's all the pain, but none of the joy, at least as far as the writing goes. Maybe there might be a thrill at being able to present some information in a particular way, or to find an ordering that suddenly makes sense, but so far I haven't found it.
On the other hand, they do things differently in non-fictionland. Publishers actually beg unpublished authors to write for them (though they didn't beg me, of course, I'm helping out a friend). And I can reasonably expect that if I can just deliver this one chapter I'm doing in time, it will get published. That's quite a change from spending years on a novel draft only to find there's no demand for it.
One thing still hasn't changed though - I'm not expecting to get any money out of it, although it's been interesting to get a peek through to the other side of the fence.
On the other hand, they do things differently in non-fictionland. Publishers actually beg unpublished authors to write for them (though they didn't beg me, of course, I'm helping out a friend). And I can reasonably expect that if I can just deliver this one chapter I'm doing in time, it will get published. That's quite a change from spending years on a novel draft only to find there's no demand for it.
One thing still hasn't changed though - I'm not expecting to get any money out of it, although it's been interesting to get a peek through to the other side of the fence.
