Each month at Books And... we will feature guest posts on various nuanced topics on the writing life. Each week's Wednesday post will showcase a different author. This week's author is Chris Burns and our current topic is loyalty. It was born of a discussion on the observation of some black authors shifting gears in their writing genre or style to keep pace with other highly accessible and fast produced works. We asked our author to explore the writer-reader loyalty dynamic.
To Thine Own Self Be True
I do not really fall into the same category as other writers. I am a teacher, professor first and foremost, so my goal is really in teaching my students, college or high school, to have a passion for reading and writing. I went to school to write, which also distinguishes me from many writers. It does not make me better, but I have practiced and studied with people like Quincy Troupe, Marilyn Chin, Glover Davis, Harold Jaffe and I have had the pleasure of sitting in on lectures and readings by Michael Eric Dyson and Yusef Komunyakaa. I have studied and I continue to study through my work in the classroom. I state all of this simply to stress that my goal in writing has been to tell stories in a variety of ways. I am one of the few graduates of San Diego State University’s MFA in Creative Writing to complete both a poetry and fiction thesis. I love and respect the craft of writing.
Your question about loyalty is interesting. I am not a mainstream writer. I have never taken the time to really promote my work. I have been writing for 15 years and while I have completed 7 books (5 self published, 2 sitting in the computer) during this time, I have not attained “success” in a big venue. I have not sold a lot of books and my lack of promotion has hurt me as far as reaching a big audience. An author has to be dedicated to promoting themselves to gain any type of financial benefits from their craft. Loyalty to me is about practicing your craft without regard to what the audience wants. I have written works of fiction about: a serious subject, a comedy, and a book that was heavily influenced by Zora, Ann Petry and Ralph Ellison. I have written a book of poetry and short stories that took me 13 years to write and is similar in style to Toomer’s Cane. My loyalty is to the craft of writing and I am allowed to do this because I have not placed an emphasis on creating financial stability from my writing.
I can state that I understand why writers shift their style to fit the trends, because upon graduating from the MFA program I had an agent. My agent realized that the market was shifting to street literature. Agents care about craft, but they have to make a living so they have to get books that can be published by publishing houses capable of bigger distribution. My agent asked me to write a street fiction. While I grew up in a tough neighborhood and lived the majority of my life in these neighborhoods, that was not where my head was but I wrote anyway. I created a narrative that I thought was compelling but she told me that it was not “street” enough. I knew then that I didn’t need an agent because my goal was to remain true to my craft. I had the ability to provide for my family so I left my agent once the contract was up and decided to publish the books on my own and let them sink or swim on their own. Authors who want to find some manner of financial success probably feel that they have to write what is selling. I have seen popular artists do this. As a child of the Hip-Hop generation I consider this somewhat of a sellout move. But that is my opinion.
I can only write when I feel that a story has to come out. I can sit down and write during the summer for a couple of hours a day, but often that writing does not amount to much. It is simply exercising, which is good for any writer to do. I just don’t think that I can write a story that didn’t come from inspiration, convincingly. I could write it but I wouldn’t be completely invested in it.
I love writing. I love reading and studying different styles. I love the process of analyzing stories. I think these things make me a writer. How good I am is left up to people who come across my books and try them. Loyalty to an audience is a difficult subject because for some it may be a matter of their literary life. Loyalty to me is staying true to your craft and writing because you don’t have a choice. I have the privilege of staying true to myself because my goal is not self sufficiency or reaching the biggest audience. My goal is to tell great stories. If they eventually find an audience, cool. If they remain under the surface and are found by a few, cool.
*****
Your question about loyalty is interesting. I am not a mainstream writer. I have never taken the time to really promote my work. I have been writing for 15 years and while I have completed 7 books (5 self published, 2 sitting in the computer) during this time, I have not attained “success” in a big venue. I have not sold a lot of books and my lack of promotion has hurt me as far as reaching a big audience. An author has to be dedicated to promoting themselves to gain any type of financial benefits from their craft. Loyalty to me is about practicing your craft without regard to what the audience wants. I have written works of fiction about: a serious subject, a comedy, and a book that was heavily influenced by Zora, Ann Petry and Ralph Ellison. I have written a book of poetry and short stories that took me 13 years to write and is similar in style to Toomer’s Cane. My loyalty is to the craft of writing and I am allowed to do this because I have not placed an emphasis on creating financial stability from my writing.
I can state that I understand why writers shift their style to fit the trends, because upon graduating from the MFA program I had an agent. My agent realized that the market was shifting to street literature. Agents care about craft, but they have to make a living so they have to get books that can be published by publishing houses capable of bigger distribution. My agent asked me to write a street fiction. While I grew up in a tough neighborhood and lived the majority of my life in these neighborhoods, that was not where my head was but I wrote anyway. I created a narrative that I thought was compelling but she told me that it was not “street” enough. I knew then that I didn’t need an agent because my goal was to remain true to my craft. I had the ability to provide for my family so I left my agent once the contract was up and decided to publish the books on my own and let them sink or swim on their own. Authors who want to find some manner of financial success probably feel that they have to write what is selling. I have seen popular artists do this. As a child of the Hip-Hop generation I consider this somewhat of a sellout move. But that is my opinion.
I can only write when I feel that a story has to come out. I can sit down and write during the summer for a couple of hours a day, but often that writing does not amount to much. It is simply exercising, which is good for any writer to do. I just don’t think that I can write a story that didn’t come from inspiration, convincingly. I could write it but I wouldn’t be completely invested in it.
I love writing. I love reading and studying different styles. I love the process of analyzing stories. I think these things make me a writer. How good I am is left up to people who come across my books and try them. Loyalty to an audience is a difficult subject because for some it may be a matter of their literary life. Loyalty to me is staying true to your craft and writing because you don’t have a choice. I have the privilege of staying true to myself because my goal is not self sufficiency or reaching the biggest audience. My goal is to tell great stories. If they eventually find an audience, cool. If they remain under the surface and are found by a few, cool.
*****
Originally from Memphis, Christopher D. Burns joined the US Navy shortly after graduating high school. Soon after, Chris was stationed in San Diego, where he served in the military for four years. After his duty was up, Chris remained in San Diego and played college basketball at San Diego City College. He received an AA in Psychology from Mesa College (SDCCD) in 1997. While attending Mesa College, Chris became inspired to write after going to a poetry reading in 1995. At this time he began to write his first book, A Man�s State of Mind.
In 1997, Chris went on to attend San Diego State University where he earned a BA in English and a Masters of Fine Arts degree in Creative Writing. While attending San Diego State University, Chris wrote Stages: a handbook on men and relationships, 100 Black and White Questions (co-authored by Kevin Pendleton) and Archie�s Psalm (which later became his Masters thesis).
After graduating with his MFA degree from San Diego State, Chris returned to his childhood home of Memphis and worked for two years as a professor of English at Historically Black College, LeMoyne-Owen College. He recently resigned to focus more on the CB Publishing website and Center Court Basketball, a basketball recruitment website.
