I saw this post by Roger Fan at YouOffendMeYouOffendMyFamily: acting without dying, happy while trying. In his end-of-the-year blogpost, he says that if he could jump back in time, he would counsel his younger self to “BECOME A DENTIST YOU DIPSHIT.” He says that if he couldn’t convince himself to get into dentistry, he would recommend, “Pursue and develop a fulfilling, pragmatic, non-Hollywood career path in parallel to your efforts of becoming an actor.” He then goes on to list the reasons why actors should have parallel careers, reasons that include having more cash, moving along with life, and being able to travel.
His fellow “Offender” Philip offers a contrarian position with Why I Write, saying that he couldn’t ever do anything other than writing. Philip writes:
Maybe Roger’s right that it’s smart to have another, more stable, career on the side but I just can’t do that. Personally, I think it would crush my soul. Besides, there are a lot of guys who are much more talented than me so if I’m not putting 100% into this, I’d probably get my ass kicked at every opportunity, too.
From an Asian American writer’s perspective, I don’t know what to think. Part of me looks at the Asian people in Hollywood who make it big–Justin Lin, Garrett Wang, John Cho, Grace Park, Masi Oka, and (haha) Roger Fan–and the vast majority of them go all out without the side gig. They pretty much burn the ships before they storm the gates. Maybe that’s why they succeed.
On the other hand, Asian American writers rarely make it big, no matter who they are. Jamie Ford succeeded while remaining true, but he’s one of the rare exceptions. Unless you sell your soul like Tan, Hwang, and Kingston and write tons of books that put the White race on a pedestal, it’s hard to succeed financially. Finances is the big secret among Asian American writers. I would guess that a LARGE majority of Asian American writers “succeed” by marrying money and then writing from that base. Hey, it may be an ugly way to succeed, but it enables them to be productive, and it enables us to actually have a literature to read.
Think about this. How many dentists do you know who say, “You know, I made a big mistake in life. I shoulda been a fine arts painter.” How many wives of doctors or venture capitalists say, “I shoulda married a musician?” On the other side, you see it happen quite often in the other direction when those bank balances get low. Poverty brings out the worst in people.
Having money can make you a better person, teach generosity, bring you opportunities to see the world, and help you progress with a normal life. Plus, dentistry is a great profession, and if you’re a pediatric dentist, you get to give little plastic toys to kids. At the same time, how powerful can a culture’s art become if all writers and artists need to have a side gig as a dentist, accountant, or lawyer? Ask me what I think in five years once this novel is (hopefully) finished.
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I also wanted more rice than what could fit inside the wrap....
I think many writers work as creative writing instructors, particularly in academia. This is a primary occupation for many writers.
This is actually something that you could look into. You get great hours with summers off and no 9-to-5 routine. And you spend your time critiquing student writing, which can only help develop your own skill.
Other writers work in publishing. Toni Morrison worked as an editor at major publishing houses while she was writing her first novels (and also raising her kids). Today, she teaches writing at Princeton I believe.
In general, it’s good to get a job related to writing–if you can’t make a living off your work itself, which is the case for the vast majority of writers.
Thanks, Larry.
There is no doubt that teaching is a great occupation for writers. Other than maybe professional writer for a magazine or newspaper, I know of no other job that comes as close to the actual craft as teaching. The hours, as you mention, are awesome. In public schools, the compensation is almost second to none–after about ten years, you get tenure, you make around $80k for 9 months of work, and you get the best benefits available anywhere. Job security is also great; unless you do something illegal, you’re unlikely to ever get fired.
The problem for me, at least, is that I’m probably not the best teacher. I’m impatient, which I learned while teaching English in Japan. I’m also too biased. This, of course, could change in the future, but for now, I think it’s still the case.
I actually think my current job suits me much better than teaching. At least I can be an advocate. 
Sartre and Camus were both teachers.
What other jobs have writers done? I know JK Rowling was a waitress, Steinbeck was subsidized by his father so that he wouldn’t have to work in a warehouse (saw this on Wiki), and Min Jin Lee (Min Jin, you broke my heart!) was a lawyer.
How did Min Jin break your heart? I hadn’t read her book though I’d seen it at the library when it came out. Read the synopsis and THREW it back down on the New Fiction stand!
I’m SICK and tired of books about Ivy Leaguers moping cause they “can’t find jobs” and how hard it is being upper middle-class. Give me a break.
I hope THAT’S what you mean by she broke your heart, (putting out derivative urbane crap that’s neither original nor even readable –hey, I don’t have to have read it to know it was wordy, the damned book had a thousand pages and felt like it weighted 10 pounds) or did you mean her begin a lawyer?
“What other jobs have writers done?”
I think for writers and other artists, they have to take a strategy different from “normal” people.
Namely, you have to get a job that maximizes the time and energy you can spend on your writing/art and minimizes the work required from your job itself–while at the same time also providing a salary that you can live on.
This job could be anything as long it fulfills these criteria. I mean, one could work as a circus clown if it met these requirements.
I know that Frank Chin worked on the railroad, for instance.
“”How did Min Jin break your heart?”
I think Byron has a strange and unnatural obsession with Min Jin Lee for some reason.
Most definitely, Larry!
Neutral Observer,
I can’t mention Min Jin without mentioning the fact that she broke my heart. She tossed it down on the floor and stamped it out as if it were a cigarette. Crushed me. Min Jin broke my heart because:
a) She’s really good looking. (Yes, Larry, you’re right, you know my tastes.)
b) She spoke often in interviews about helping Asian men, and
c) with respect to b), she wrote Free Food For Millionaires. See my review here:
http://newexcursion.blogspot.com/2008/04/free-sex-for-rice-chasers-review-of-min.html
d) This all happened after freakin’ 600 somewhat pages. It was a slow kill, kind of like getting stabbed with a butter knife and having your killer twist it in little circles.
Yup, a story where all the Asian men are either dorks or caricatures and where the White man (surprise, surprise) is the epitome of masculinity. I’m sorry, Min Jin, but you broke my heart. That’s a bait and switch. And when you take into account that Min Jin is attractive, that’s a heartbreaker.
Min Jin, you need a little Dionne Warwick in your life. This one is for you. My first bigWOWO song dedication of 2010!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TfPaPH-qKeI&feature=PlayList&p=A5B846C8EC6A641B&index=1
Oh the tension of creative endeavors vs “real life”!! I don’t know that I would say it is unique amongst Asian-Americans. For people who lack industry contacts, breaking into acting and really writing too, is difficult. Jay Leno mentions it all the time, that he thought he would grow up to be a funny insurance salesman, not well Jay Leno. Acting is an industry and connections are huge. I knew this girl in high school whose mom was a producer of a soap. Girlfriend could have probably become a producer or actress not because she was crazy talented or gorgeous, but cos of her connections. Whether or not she became successful was a separate issue.
What I think is particular to Asian-Americans is our lack of presence within the infrastructures/systems, i.e. the studio machines, production companies and publishing houses. OK, this may not even be unique to Asian-Americans as it applies pretty equally to other people of color. Anyways, people in studios and publishing houses, always goes a long way to advancing Asian-American actors and writers.
The question of breaking into the industry aside, I think you have to have another job if you like paying rent consistently, buying food regularly and having medical insurance. Ignoring the issue of travel, acting really does not provide steady income. Even the biggies that make money have to learn how to budget properly because of distribution. Dunno, I think having secondary work is necessary. I also think that it’s good to have perspective. Acting may be perceived as glamorous and fabulous but in the end of the day, it’s still work and it’s still a job, even if you consider it to be a vocation.
I am not one for romanticizing creative endeavors. I think it’s all work in the end of the day, you just gotta figure out if you love it and if you can sustain that work and then ask if that work sustains you. For some people, that means having a back up. For some people, it means going in whole hog.
Of course this does not resolve the never-ending orientification (is that even a word?) and model-minority crap that seems to pervade Asian-American writing. This may also explain my gripe in general with a lot of literary fiction. If I were ever to seriously try to write, it would be genre fiction all the way, though genre fiction lately has been showing its racist colors too. Did you catch the RaceFail of 09 on lj? If not, google and poke about. It can be a huge time suck, it’s just sad to be re-affirmed about the stupidity of people. Not shocking or even surprising, for me at least, just sad. Ah well, the fight goes on.
Hi Jae Young,
Are you from Mama Nabi’s blog? If so, it’s nice meeting you!
I agree with you; it’s not just an Asian thing. Asian writers complain about being broke, but White writers also complain about that. Connections are everything. Look at Tori Spelling–would they have put her out there with Shannon and Jennie if she weren’t Aaron’s daughter? Probably not.
It’s exactly like you say: there just aren’t many of us within the infrastructure, so it’s hard to break out.
For writers, it’s also a problem of breaking out of our current mindset. It’s a simple question, yet one that is very hard to answer or live: how does one independently create when there are so many cultural forces working with and against us?
I also agree with you about literary fiction, which is partly why my own novel is probably closer to genre fiction. Have you read “Banana Boys?” That was total genre fiction, and yet it came closer to reality than many works that would be considered by most to be more “literary.”
What is Race Fail? I tried googling it, but there are many many many links that come up…
I think for myself, I maximize the time that I have free and write when I’m inspired. That doesn’t necessarily mean I wait for inspiration to strike. It means that I try to coax it out on a regular basis and roll with it when it comes. It also means that I know when to quit and move on to something else. People who succeed actually quit and quit often, because they know when something is just not worth it any more.
Writing and acting (and the movie business in general) are two different things. With acting, you have to go all out. You have to burn the ships and drive forward. The craft requires that you be out there.
With writing, you can work anywhere, any time, and you can work a little at a time, as long as you are consistent. People who think, “Oh I can be a writer if only I didn’t have to work all the time.” are just deluding themselves and procrastinating. You just got to maximize your time and efforts.
And I hate to say this, but the Internet is a big distraction. If people that took the same time and effort writing comments on forum posts to write their own works (books, screenplays, etc), then we’d have a lot more quality works of story telling.
So let me get back to writing before I distract myself any longer
The internet is a writer-killer! Luckily, it can also be educational. Where else would we be able to learn what people think about AA issues? Certainly not in my back woods…
Yup, from MN’s blog, I guess, tho I do random blog/link hopping from various websites.
http://wiki.feministsf.net/index.php?title=RaceFail_09
This wiki does a decent job of providing a general overview. This was the first kerfuffle. Basically, Elizabeth Bear depicted black men with big penises as being tamed by sex with white women. (You really can’t make this shit up.) At least this is my memory of it. A lot of internet ink has been spilled on this damn thing. People called her racist. She got offended. Elizabeth Bear is a fairly prolific and established SF/fantasy writer. Several SF writers, editors, publishing folk jumped to her defense. And we’re talking like pretty major folk, big editors at Tor, etc. Will Shetterly is personally quite offensive to me, because he seems to think that people who decry racism should shift their focus to classism, cos there isn’t racism, but boy-o there IS classism. He conducts these experiments in living on social benefits, to prove a point. Of course, he is white and has a trust fund, so I’m not sure what point he was trying to make.
It was pretty gross. Not shocking unfortunately to this jaded soul, but gross. And I only touched on a tiny bit of the madness.
http://rydra-wong.livejournal.com/155427.html
This offers some more insight/more drama.
(captcha is onto me. I am “ushering the”)
Wow. That is insane. You would think that writers would be addressing these issues rather than propagating them…
Yes, but that would assume that they can own to racism and for the majority of the writers/editors, also owning their white privilege. To be fair, there were a few writers who called Elizabeth Bear out and acknowledged that there was work to be done. But again, this proves that publishing needs more POC and allies to address race issues. Telling me you love Octavia Butler and Samuel Delany is really not cutting it.
The fight never ends~ Viva la revoluccion.
We definitely need more POC in publishing. I look at bookstores right now and always think to myself that there could be so much more, if only the publishers would diversify a bit.