It's all Subjective

One thing of which I have to keep reminding myself is the subjective nature of this writing business. It is really a tough factor. I have read many excerpts of many authors, and I am amazed at how they are still unpublished, and even unagented.

Likewise, I have read (and with every benefit of the doubt) excerpts that strike me as average writing, or just plain bad, only to learn that the author is agented, and the writing is actually published.

What can be more subjective? Music certainly is. How many times do we hear how so and so hates this music or that music, even music you love? I would say music and writing are two of the most subjective things out there.

Of course, there must be exceptions. Who hates the Beatles? Anyone out there hate the Beatles? I grew up thinking they were great when I was in elementary school. But then my taste veered to the likes of Paul Revere and the Raiders, as they became my favorite band when I was in Junior High. Then in high school, I found myself attracted to the harder sounds of bands like Led Zeppelin, Montrose, and Deep Purple.

But the epiphany for me was the first time I heard Black Sabbath. I was still in high school, and a friend put on a tape that played the song, "Sweet Leaf." I was blown away immediately with those awesome heavy guitar sounds. The next song, "After Forever," blew me away even more. I asked, "Who are these guys?" I had never heard anything like that before. It was the dawn of heavy metal and Black Sabbath was leading the way. They became my favorite band at that very moment.

And to my question, my friend replied, "Oh, these guys are Black Sabbath, and I don't even like them. In fact, I can't stand them."

To my dismay, I found that everyone in my high school hated them. The local radio stations hated them, too. Here in the San Jose/San Francisco area, Black Sabbath NEVER received any airtime. It's why I had never heard their music.

I was in a rock band, myself, at this time. Our lead guitarist had an older sister who was a DJ for the rock radio station, KOME. I asked her why they didn't play any Black Sabbath. She answered, as I said, that they all hated them. It seemed that the new heavy metal sound that was invented by Black Sabbath's guitarist, Tony Iommi, was so new, so different, so unorthodox, that it was just hated by the mainstream music crowd. Thank God the executives at Warner Records had the vision and the guts to recognize a great new sound. Black Sabbath was truly ahead of their time.

Because today, it's heavy metal music that is the mainstream of rock. After Black Sabbath, bands like Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, and Metallica took up the torch and carried on with the sound. Into the 90s and the 2000s, Godsmack, Static X, Soul Fly, and others have joined Black Sabbath as my favorites. Kids who haven't fallen in with RAP appreciate the greatness of Heavy Metal and the many sub genres of the Metal sound...Death Metal, Black Metal, etc. but to me it's all about the sound. I love it.

Yet there are still those who hate it. Just as I hate RAP or Hip Hop. Can't stand it. Don't even consider it music. But hey...it's all subjective, right?

Which brings us back to writing. I swear, I have read some really bad stuff. Where? In actual published books, that's where. What the heck. I am really astonished at the vulgarity sometimes, where the author, and I guess the publisher, too, must think how clever it is to use "fuck" in the prose, where, to me it wasn't necessary. Look, I'm no prude, not even close, but what are they trying to do, mimic The Catcher in the Rye? It's not necessary. In dialogue, of course you use it, (I have) if a character talks like that, but in narration? IMO...it just sounds vulgar.

I suppose, like for music, there's enough people out there to like whatever it is that's out there. What's good to you won't be good to others. What's good to others, may not be good to you. It's the way the world works. And it's the way publishing works.

So good luck to all of you writers out there. May you find the right agents, editors, and publishers who have the opinion that your work is what they like. Whatever words you use...even if it's "fuck."