Artists Are Going To Need Your Help Now More Than Ever Before

It seems like every time I turn around there is some new crisis facing creative professionals. A handful of years ago it was the pandemic, and the fact that productions were being closed, contracts were being cancelled, and artists were struggling along with everyone else who was staying home and staying safe. Then it was the rise of AI, and how it was leading to layoffs as artists and writers were both being shunted aside by companies who were trying to give their jobs to programs that were not capable of doing them.

And now we find ourselves facing yet another crisis. A crisis that we are going to need serious help to get through, and that help is going to have to come from our audiences because literally no one else is going to swoop in to make sure we can keep making art. And just as with the previous crises mentioned, the one constant is that when times get tough and people need an escape from reality, that is where our job can have the biggest impact.

Strap in folks, this one is going to be a frustrating slog.

Before we get into the nitty gritty this week, don't forget to sign up for my weekly newsletter to get all my updates right in your inbox. Lastly, to be sure you're following all of my followables, check out my LinkTree!

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The (New) Looming Crisis

Those who were paying attention to the latest presidential race likely heard the economic plans the next administration proposed. Namely that they wanted to cut as many social safety nets as possible, regardless of harm to the populous, and that they intended to put tariffs on any and all goods imported into the United States. These policies, along with all the other proposed plans, stand a good chance of cratering any progress made in the U.S. to recover from the last time this particular candidate sat in the big chair, and those ripples are going to spread around the world while shooting inflation up to worse levels than it was at before.

In addition to those economic policies, though, there is a lot of talk about book banning, re-defining and outlawing "pornography," and other attacks levied at artists who produce "certain kinds" of work (largely inclusive work, and especially work focusing on LGBTQ+ characters).

In short, a lot of artists are going to lose support, and right at a time when everything is poised to get a lot more expensive!

The math ain't gonna math, folks.

So what can you do? After all, you're going to be dealing with all of these problems too, and there's only so much money to go around.

Well, first and foremost, if you are one of those people who has some spare dosh at the end of the month (emphasis on spare, here), consider using it to support the creators you want to stay afloat during the coming storm. The most effective way to do this is by giving out tips on Ko-fi, or becoming a Patreon patron, as that direct support ensures the largest amount of your cash goes into their pockets. With that said, though, buying books, games, art prints, or other merch is also extremely helpful, and it means you get something out of the transaction other than the ephemeral feeling of knowing you made future art possible.

If you have limited funds (and who doesn't?) that doesn't mean you can't still help, though! If you have time, energy, social media, and an Internet connection, you can do any or all of the following:

- Consume Free Content That Pays The Creator: Whether it's Spotify, YouTube, Vocal.media or another platform that's free to use but which can still support people making things, use it. Additionally, make sure you turn off the Ad Block. Yes, it's a pain in the ass, but it's how creators make money from your traffic! If you don't see the ads, then it doesn't count as far as their bank account is concerned.

- Follow And Interact With Creators You Like On Social Media: Algorithms decide who gets popular based (at least partially) on our followings and interactions. So subscribe to people's YouTube channels, follow them on social media, and interact with their content. Leave comments on articles, posts, and videos, review things whenever possible, and make it clear people are listening. The machines will promote artists where this happens.

- Share Their Work (Clandestinely Or Otherwise): Creators depend on views, reads, etc., in order to earn money, and the more visible we become the better our chances are of finding an audience. However, if a creator's work is likely to be censored, then make sure you get physical or downloaded versions of it so that it isn't lost. Preservation is important, as well as support!

The thing that seems most frustrating for folks regarding this topic is that artists of all stripes require active support. It takes time, energy, and effort to really engage with a creator, and to do so in a way that will help them be more widely seen, and make enough money to live on. A lot of folks simply do not want to do this. They just want to passively engage with content as it comes their way, and then move on with their lives.

That's all well and good... but if you don't want to find yourself asking, "I wonder why that one author/podcaster/YouTuber I liked gave up and disappeared?" you should put in this effort to help. Because as PBS says, it literally takes viewers like you for us to keep our heads above water. Because without an audience, and the money they can generate, we cannot afford to make art. And if we can't afford to do it, then you aren't going to get any more of it.

And in the times that are coming, we're going to need all the distraction and escapism we can find!

Lastly, before I sign off for the day, I'd like folks to take a moment to watch episode 16 of Tabletop Mercenary, Audience Support Is A Reverse Iceberg. Because however much support you think someone has, I guarantee you it isn't so much that your efforts won't still make a difference. And if this is the sort of thing you'd like to see more of, subscribe to the Azukail Games YouTube channel so I can keep making more content over there!

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Like, Follow, and Come Back Again!

That's all for this week's Business of Writing! For more of my work, check out my Vocal archive, or at My Amazon Author Page where you can find books like my sci-fi dystopian thriller Old Soldiers, the Hardboiled Cat series about a mystery solving Maine Coon in Marked Territory and Painted Cats, my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife, or my most recent short story collection The Rejects!

 

And to stay on top of all my latest news and releases, collected once a week, make sure you subscribe to The Literary Mercenary's mailing list. 

Don't Worry About People Missing The Point (Because They Will)

The world of fiction is filled with great satires, as well as stories that make poignant arguments on social issues, morality (or the lack thereof), and the state of the world at the time. Books that act as take-downs (as well as send-ups) of political ideologies are a dime a dozen, and you've probably read at least that many in your lifetime so far.

And you know something? Good or bad, poignant or sloppy, subtle or obvious, there are people who missed the point when they read them. And even when you explain that point to them, they still just... don't get it.

Wait... what do you mean he's the bad guy? I don't get it!

That's going to happen. No matter how clever you are, or how clear you think you're being with your book, some people are going to misinterpret the subtext, the meaning, and the motivations of it. There is nothing you can do to stop it, so just accept that it's going to happen even if you spell it out in plain black and white.

Not Everyone Is Going To See Your Perspective

Communication is a difficult thing when text is the only tool you have to work with. Especially when you consider that, try as you might, you have a very specific set of experiences and frame of reference that goes into your work. Someone who doesn't share those aspects with you, or who has been conditioned to see certain aspects of a character, story, or situation as white when you're painting them as black, and vice versa, isn't going to walk away with the same message you laid down.

One of the more famous misreadings of a text comes from Alan Moore's comic (and the subsequent film) Watchmen. The graphic novel is a deconstruction that shows just how awful it would be to live in a world with real superheroes, and the sort of damage that life of unbalanced violence can do to a person as well as a culture. Atomic Junk Shop talked about this recently, and in it they mention how horrified Moore was to the American reaction to his cast.

Because, you see, the character we're supposed to empathize with is Dr. Manhattan. He has the power of a god, but rather than bringing him happiness, it's disconnecting him from the world around him. He's having a harder time seeing things from the simple, moral sidelines so many mortals occupy, and he can only view the world on a grander scale, or on such a microscopic one that it's beyond anyone else's comprehension. By contrast, Rorschach is the character who is meant to embody everything that is awful about what a real-life costumed vigilante would be like. He's a product of a horrifying upbringing, was regularly abused, has a skewed black-or-white vision of reality, lacks empathy, is a sexist, a fascist, and a serial killer. He can barely communicate, he has no hygiene, and he's left behind his actual life and identity entirely to become this thing. He exists as a brutal, awful ideal comprised of splintered bones and broken teeth in a world where might makes right is the whole of the law.

And that's the guy American readers could NOT get enough of!

Some of you don't seem to understand...

It didn't matter how awful Moore made Rorschach, just like it didn't matter how terrible Tyler Durden was, or how absolutely insane the actions of characters like the Punisher or Judge Dredd are. No matter how clearly they're coded as villains (or as characters who are broken, hurting, and violently dangerous as opposed to the sort of people you'd want to model your life choices after), there are readers who are going to see them not just as heroes, but as examples. Maybe that's a cultural difference, maybe it comes from a misreading of the subtext, or maybe it's because these readers just have a bizarrely different frame of reference from the writer, but they not only missed the intended point, but they picked up an entirely different point than the one being made.

The important thing to know is that, in the end, it's out of your control. Additionally, it may not even matter!

For The Last Time, It's NOT About Censorship!

In 6 Books Everyone (Including Your English Teacher) Got Wrong, it's pointed out that Fahrenheit 451 is not actually about censorship, according to the author himself. While it's easy to get that impression, given that it's literally about state-sponsored fire teams going building by building and blow torching books, Bradbury has gone on the record by stating clearly and explicitly that his book is about television, the dumbing down of the audience, and the shortening of people's attention spans.

Which, sure, you can see that. If you squint really hard, and tilt your head a bit.

The point, though, is that in the end it didn't matter what Bradbury's intended message was. The book became a condemnation of state-sponsored censorship, whether that was what he meant it to be about or not. Some people might argue that his vision should be respected as the creator, but communication is a two way street. If you make a statement, and there are alternative interpretations of that statement (good or bad), then the fact that you didn't intend them is irrelevant.

In other words, you can control what you said all you want. But what you cannot control is what the audience actually heard. And sometimes that's frustrating. Sometimes it leads to your book becoming a champion of a cause you hadn't intended, or getting latched onto by a group you'd really rather not have as fans. But that is, as they say, out of your hands.

And look at it this way... people still have to buy a copy and read it before they can misinterpret what you wrote.

Like, Follow, and Come Back Again!

That's all for this week's Craft of Writing! For more of my work, check out my Vocal archive, or at My Amazon Author Page where you can find books like my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife!

If you'd like to help support my work, then consider Buying Me A Ko-Fi, or heading over to The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page! Lastly, to keep up with my latest, follow me on Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, and now on Pinterest as well!

The Boy Who Cried Censorship

I spend a lot of time on the Internet talking about stories. I talk about my process, I big-up other authors who need signal boosts, and I try to offer advice that's worked for me in the past. However, there is something I've noticed that has become a part of online discourse in general, and a part of writers' groups in particular, that I wanted to talk about. It's the cry of censorship as a defense against someone else having a differing opinion to yours.

Because unless the government is demanding you stop talking, no one is censoring you.

Yes language means more than what's in the dictionary. We'll get to that.

Meaning, Usage, And Your Opinions

We love the idea of the freedom of speech, but most of us don't actually know what it means. In the broadest of broad strokes, it means you can say what you want without legal reprisal from the government. So if I want to say that Donald Trump is a leaking sack of suet re-purposed for sexual misadventure, I can't be arrested for that. Plenty of people may disagree with me about that, but at least at the time of this writing I'm perfectly within my rights to say that thing.

Now, that right to speak doesn't guarantee anything else. It doesn't guarantee me a right to be agreed with, or the right to use someone else's podium, or the right to be granted equal time by other people. Nor does it mean that I am free from the consequences of my speech.

The arena of public opinion isn't particularly forgiving.

Let's take an example we've all seen before. You're on social media, and you see a conversation that catches your eye. Maybe it's someone lamenting that a new major motion picture has cast a white performer in a role of a character that was originally an ethnic minority. Perhaps you agree with the original poster, or you share a differing opinion, but the next person to comment after you says something like, "Ugh, stop trying to shut out other people's opinions. You're just want to censor people who don't agree with you."

That statement is stupid for a number of reasons.

First and foremost is that, according to the definition we're all working from, only governments can censor people. However, in the sense that some people will attack or shut out dissenting opinions, that does happen. Most of the time, though, that's not censorship. If you go to a Facebook group, or a subreddit, or an open mic night, you are not guaranteed the chance to speak and be heard. You're on someone else's page, and your ability to talk or not talk, to be a member or be banned, is decided by the people who actually run those facilities. If the moderators, bouncers, or page owners decide no, they don't want you in their group, they can shut you up, and kick you out.

That's shitty, sure, but it isn't censorship. You still have the right to say whatever you want to say, but that group has made it clear they don't want you saying it there, and that's why they've closed their door in your face.

What Was That About Consequences?

You know how, when you were a kid, your parents would sometimes tell you that you wouldn't get in trouble if you just told them the truth? Even if you said or did something wrong, they were more interested in honesty than they were in punishment? A lot of the time we think that's how freedom of speech works. You can say whatever you want, and you won't get in trouble for it. Especially if you're just being honest with people.

With the government, that's usually true. With everyone else, not so much.

Yes, I heard you. That silence? That's the sound of judgment, sweety.

From big, important issues of the day, down to issues of nerd emphemera, we all have our own opinions. Whether you feel that Jared Leto is the worst Joker in the series, or you think that writing accents phonetically is a bad idea, those are your opinions. If you put those opinions forth in the public arena, wherever that might be, you'll likely find folks who agree with you. However, you'll also find folks who disagree with you. Their disagreement is not your ideas being censored, any more than if you disagree with someone else that you're censoring them. That's just the open market deciding whether your ideas will be accepted, or wadded up and thrown in the trash.

No one likes to admit it, but sometimes we're the ones the general consensus tosses on the trash heap.

And if there are extreme repercussions for the views you espouse? If you lose friends because they find out you hold particularly sexist views about why it's perfectly okay for women to be paid less for doing the same job? Or if a partner breaks up with you because they found your racist rants on a forum? Or if you get fired because someone caught you berating and belittling someone who is supposed to be part of your team? Well, none of those are censorship. Those are the consequences that come from speaking your mind.

You can say whatever you want. However, you can also hit a hornet's nest with a stick. If the hornets fly out and sting you so badly your eyes swell shut and you can barely breathe, that's not them censoring your stick-swinging agenda. That's reaping the consequences of what you chose to do.

If you're still not sure about the difference, read the comments below. People espousing their opinions? Just fine. But it's my blog, my page, and my soap box, and I don't have to let anyone up here to speak if I don't want to. Is that narrow-minded, or prejudiced, or rude? It might be some, or all of those things. But it isn't censorship.

So, it seems I accidentally did two Business of Writing posts in a row. Next week, something on craft, you have my word. If you want to keep up to date on all my latest releases, follow me on Facebook, Tumblr, and Twitter. And if you want to support my efforts, head over to The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page. All it takes is $1 a month to get some sweet swag, and my everlasting gratitude.