As part of OW!'s launch we ran a poll asking you What is the biggest challenge facing outsider writers?

An entire 17 outsider writers responded! I have no idea whether that represents all outsider writers out there, or just a pathetic fraction. But more interesting than the number of responses is what outsider writers decided...

The results:

Writing systems do not support outsiders 5 votes 29.4%

We think we're all that and a bag of chips when, let's be honest, we're lucky if we're just a left-over bag of cheesepuffs. 4 votes, 23.5%

Competition from the mainstream 2 votes 11.8%

Our focus on being accepted in the mainstream 2 votes 11.8%

Outside authors are too independent, can't/don't cooperate 2 votes 11.8%

Weak network – Outsider writers aren't aware of each other 2 votes 11.8%

Our writing is unpalatable to the general public 0 votes, 0%

OWs seem to be fairly split across the board, but it was refreshing to see that no one believed our writing was actually unpalatable! While a strikingly large number of people picked our ‘joke’ response, which is the informal poll equivalent of spoiling your ballot because you think it’s funny, the majority chose to answer that the biggest challenge facing outsider writers is that ‘Writing systems do not support outsiders.’

This answer both surprised and didn’t surprise me. On the one hand, yes, it’s clear that we’re on the outside because every system feigning to help writers has ignored us. We’re the impurities that fall out of the gold-mining sieve. But on the other hand I think this really reflects what is holding Outsider Writers back – and is one of the key items our Outsider Writers! hopes to change: we’re too focused on ‘authorities’ recognizing our work.

We should rejoice in our outsidership! If there has ever been a bigger affirmation of the fact that the rules just don’t apply to us, than I don’t know what it is. In fact, our expectation that others, institutions known for their mushy, middle-of-the-road myopia, should recognize our clear talent is unfounded and foolish. It’s called unrequited love, folks, and remember how good it felt when you finally got over that crush? When you woke up one day and realized, ‘What am I doing? This person doesn’t love me. This person doesn’t respect me. This person will never understand who I am, or what I want, or what I have to say! Why do I want anything to do with this person?’ And then you walk out of school and into the brilliant Spring sun and realize you could walk in any direction. Your love is free and you can direct or not direct it wherever you want. And that feels better than ever being accepted by this lame puppy dog crush.

Yes, it’s not the systems that are holding us back – they were never designed to support us. What is holding us back, in my naked opinion, is our expectation, our desire to be a part of those systems. Being accepted or supported by the existing systems is no longer a challenge because we have established the likelihood of them supporting us to be near zilch. No, what we are lacking is the ability to create our own systems, our own markets, our own rules. The biggest mistake we make is when we turn our attention and efforts to these publishers and cliques instead of turning to each other, act like individual pinpricks against the giant steel dome of mainstream publishing, instead of cooperating to create a system that benefits us, supports us. Literary Mercantilism.

The biggest challenge for us is working together, supporting each other. And, in fact, if you tally up the other responses to our poll, the number of responses concerned about what the mainstream thinks are outnumbered by the number identifying our challenges have nothing to do with the mainstream, indicating that perhaps a large number of us have already moved on from the crush already and are wondering where to spread our talent and uniqueness.

I think we are all in agreement that the established systems have very little vision, and are also in agreement that the originality and enthusiasm is buried here, in underground circles. If all the materials are here, then lets use them! Let's start working on the outside! And so with that, I present to you a new poll on our front page:

Which by and for outsider writers system do we MOST need?

Last update : 03-04-2007 10:43

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