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/lit/ - Literature

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2926062 No.2926062[DELETED]  [Reply] [Original]

Is it wise for an author to begin his career with his magnum opus?

>> No.2926068

Make every work better than the last.

>> No.2926073

Its not wise to pull punches if you want to have money to eat.

>> No.2926078

Joseph Heller's Portrait of the Artist as an Old Man would say: no, no it is not. And he started off with Catch 22 so he knows what it's like.

>> No.2926121
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2926121

>>2926078
That book was so fucking depressing.

To answers OP's question, I would say no. It is not wise to start with a book which you can call a "Magnum Opus". Something like that is usually a rather extensive project, and it is unlikely that anyone will publish an 800 pages book by someone who has never published anything before.
It would probably be better to establish yourself as an author, and then take the time to write what can be called a Magnum Opus.

>> No.2926128

>>2926121
GG Marquez would disagree. He went over the roof with A Hundred Years Of Solitude, which gave him all the fame he needed to do some more casual work.

>> No.2926132

>>2926121
Yeah just look what a hard time Gaddis got with The Recognitions. Not only was it very difficult to publish, but also the reviewers all panned it, often without even reading it in full.

>> No.2926135

>>2926062
>Is it wise for an author to be a one hit wonder
It's never by choice, OP.

>> No.2926138

>>2926128
But he almost didn't get it published. Had they refused to publish, Gabriel Garcia Marquez was already broken, he spent everything he had writing it. Too risky, imo.

>> No.2926147

>>2926138
many people never get published. Getting published isn't easy. That's why you should come to the table with the best you can muster.

>> No.2926153

If it means you never have to work another day in your life like JK Rowling then yes.

>> No.2926166

>>2926147
Not necessarily. Would you say that of Twilight?

There is a very good example of a guy here in Brazil that didn't get published (Eduardo Spohr). He did it himself and invested heavily in marketing. Of course he had friends that were kind of famous in the internet scene.

His books are completely shit, though. So it was obvious why he didn't get published at first, but now he is a nerd celebrity.

>> No.2926170

>>2926166
Are you claiming that Meyer had something better up her sleeve and was just leading with a trashy novel?

>> No.2926175

>>2926147
You can go more casually, because some people like GG Marquez just decided to write full time before actually being published. He could have started slowly, as a second job, get published for the first time, see how things go and then jump in (more like bukowski, maybe)

>> No.2926179

>>2926170
I'm saying you don't need to be good to get published. It is more like having a public or an image, like Meyer or the Spohr case I told you.

>> No.2926181

>>2926179
I didn't say you had to be good to be published. I said it wasn't easy.

>> No.2926186
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2926186

>>2926147
There is a difference between a masterpiece and a Magnum Opus.
For example. Portrait of The Artist as a Young Man is a masterpiece. Ulysses is a Magnum Opus.
The same with White Noise / Underworld.

>> No.2926190

>>2926128
Yeah, he is good knowing that his best work is already out there. He doesn't seem to care much. I think it is kind of sad.

>> No.2926199

>>2926181
That's right, it got it wrong. But I still don't think you need to bring your best for it, like I said it is having an image and a public, and, of course, some luck that your audience will find your book.

>> No.2926216

>>2926199
Sure, but I don't see how pulling punches would help matters