Thoughts on Writing
#37: Hype
by Seanan McGuire
We live in a world of hype. We swim in hype, we breathe hype, we eat
and drink and sweat hype. But what does it mean? To expand on today's
thought:
Don't buy into your own hype. There will always be people
ready to tell you that you're so awesome you should be elected
President on the basis of sheer badass. There will always be people
ready to tell you that you're brilliant, that your books are the best
things ever written, that they can't imagine why you aren't winning
every award in the industry. That's okay. Those are not bad people.
They're good for your career, and frankly, they're probably telling the
truth; everybody has the one author that can do (almost) no wrong, or
the one book that's absolutely perfect as it is. Still, those six, or
sixty, or six hundred people? Are just six, or sixty, or six hundred
people. If you let yourself believe them, you're going to hurt yourself
in ways that I can't even begin to describe.
Hype is natural, normal, and entirely unavoidable. Some of us react to
it positively—"Wow, everybody loves this, it must be
awesome!" Some of us react to it negatively—"Wow, everybody
loves this, it must be horrible!" Some of us just learn to ignore it,
and trust our own judgment about the things we do or do not enjoy. No
matter what our reactions to hype, at the end of the day, it's going to
exist, and it's going to be a part of your writing life. You're going
to need to deal with the good parts, the bad parts, and most
importantly of all, with the parts that involve not believing
everything you hear. Let's take a good look at hype, what it means, and
how to keep yourself from falling under its sway. Ready? Good. Let's
begin.
What Is Hype?
Hype is the sound an excited pug makes when it barks. Hype is also the
sound an excited person makes when they talk about something they
really, really love. When I gush about the new James Gunn movie on
basis of nothing but the poster and the early buzz, I'm hyping it up.
When I talk about how fantastic this season of Supernatural
is going to be, I'm spreading hype. Hype is innately positive, because
to hype something is to imply that it's the best thing since sliced
bread. (There is negative buzz, there is not negative hype. It's a
semantics thing.)
Hype is wonderful. Hype tells you what your friends are excited about,
and since you know where your areas of interest overlap, it tells you
what you should be excited about. When Andy, who loves horror movies,
says that something is good, I know he's probably right. When Amy, who
knows my love of horrible parasites, says that something is disgusting
and horrible, I know that she's probably right, too. Her negative
statement is actually positive hype when directed at me. It's that
funny thing we call "context."
Hype is horrible. I've actually had people dislike me because I was a
friend-of-a-friend, and they'd heard too many stories about me before
we ever met. The hype surrounding my appearance predisposed them to
judge me against an impossible standard, and there was absolutely
nothing that I could do to change their minds. When you've been told to
expect the most amazing thing in all creation, meeting one perky blonde
with a fondness for zombies and Diet Dr Pepper isn't exactly what most
people would call "satisfying."
So hype is a double-edged sword. It can spread the word of something
good. It can also convince people that something good is secretly
something bad.
Finally, the biggest difference between hype and buzz—a
kissing cousin, if not an actual sibling—is that hype can be
created on purpose, whereas buzz is something you can kill yourself
trying to create and still fail to generate. Buzz happens. Hype can be
made. This makes hype innately harder to trust, since it's basically
the cubic zirconium of word-of-mouth. That doesn't prevent it from
happening.
Will I Get Hype?
Oh, absolutely. Everything gets hype. Think back to when you were a
kid, and your teachers would always have that one kid who could do no
wrong, the one whose papers were the best and whose math scores were
the highest. Maybe that kid was you. Odds are good that most of the
class really wanted to throw that particular kid into the nearest
creek, because hype gets old after a while. Or think about high school.
High school comes with all sorts of different types and flavors of
hype. There's the girl everyone says is the prettiest, who actually becomes
the prettiest, even if some of the other girls are more objectively
beautiful. There's the guy everyone says is the smartest, who actually
manages to convince other smart kids that they're dumb, even if they
may be technically smarter. Hype is everywhere.
If you want an example of hype in your own life, stop and think about a
time where someone—a parent, friend, or spouse—has
praised something you've said or done all out of proportion with its
reality. You felt really good about that haircut, batch of spaghetti
sauce, or repair job, didn't you? That's hype. That's cool. Hype is
natural and normal, and a little bit never hurt anybody. Sort of like
sugar. A little sugar won't hurt you. Too much sugar, and your dentist
bills will be a horror movie all on their own.
That's sort of the point.
Hype is Only Part of Your Balanced Breakfast.
There are always going to be people ready to tell you that your writing
is perfect as it is. That you've changed the literary world. That it's
a crime and a sin that you aren't winning the Pulitzer for your
engrossing Meerkat Manor fanfic (but it's going to
happen any day, just you wait and see). That you are the prettiest
pumpkin in the patch.
You can thank them. You can appreciate them thinking so. And if you
believe them, there's a good chance that one day, when you least expect
it, I will hit you in the face with a pumpkin pie. As this is a waste
of a perfectly good pie, I'd really rather you didn't. Look: all of
these people are right, because you have clearly written or done
something that makes them incredibly happy. And all of these people are
wrong, because if you were worshiped as a golden god renowned in song
and story, you'd never get anything done. You need
to take hype and praise with a hefty grain of salt, and remember that
all men are mortal, and all men are fallible.
Never allow yourself to buy into your own hype to such a degree that
you stop listening to critique or allowing yourself to be wrong. Once
you decide that every good thing that's said about you is objective
truth, rather than individual opinion, you're very likely to wind up in
a position from which you are unprepared to deal with reality. "But of
course I'm the best" is not an attractive or appealing approach from an
author...and it's not a position that allows you to grow.
Embrace the hype. Beware the hype. And whatever you do, remember that
you're not the one that's meant to be purchasing the hype.
© 2012 Seanan McGuire
Seanan McGuire is an author, poet, and musician who lives in the San Francisco Bay area with three cats and a small army of plush dinosaurs. She has recorded three albums, and published several novels. In 2010, she was awarded the John W. Campbell Award for best new writer in the field of science fiction and fantasy. She is nominated for four Hugo awards in 2012, including Best Related Work for her music album, "Wicked Girls".
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