The Word Whore and the Madonna

by Kerry Schafer

This week we've explored the artificial dichotomy between whores and madonnas, with a pretty general consensus that most humans lie somewhere in between the extremes. What about writers? I found myself wondering what a true Word Whore would look like, in contrast to a Word Madonna.

The Word Whore

This individual writes only to sell. She has no artistic principles or values that she will not violate in order to publish a book. If a market existed that required bad spelling, abysmal grammar, egregious violations of plot structure and the flattest of flat characters, she would gladly put out manuscript after manuscript in service of this end, so long as money was forthcoming. Her only thought is for what will snare an agent, land a publishing contract, and entice money out of the reading johns.

The Word Madonna

This writer has ideals so high and lofty they require superhuman strength and dedication to reach. A candidate for writerly sainthood, she perfects every word and every phrase, without any consideration of such worldly things as agents and publishing contracts. Only the writing in its purest form has any meaning for her, and she will collect a life's work of writings in a closet before she will bow before the sordid demands of the marketplace.

The Reality

I don't think either of these two creatures exists in a pure state. When we first began this blog, each of the seven of us wrote about what qualifies us to be a word whore. There were a variety of reasons, mostly being that we are prepared to put ourselves out there to try to sell our work. And yet, I know for a fact, we all have values and principles that we are unlikely to swerve away from. Whether it's content, or craftswomanship, or a certain genre that we love more than life itself, we have places where we will draw the line. That said, we all recognize the need to bend a little, to sacrifice part of a vision to make a sale and provide what readers want to read.

I'm curious - what principles would you bend in order to get a contract and be famous? Would you sell your soul to the devil if the offer was made? Or what principles around writing would you never, ever give up, no matter what?