Three things
By Kathleen Bolton | June 15, 2010 |
This month we invited all our contributors to share their best advice to our readers. I have three tidbits to share. Of course, free advice is worth what you pay for, but I’ve been doing this a while, I can at least speak from experience.
First tip: listen to your gut, not the market.
Now I’m not saying ignore market trends or the industry. Novelists have to be business people too, and this IS a business as well as a vocation. But if you, for example, really want to write a simple story about two country teens who fall in love when the market is screaming for gritty urban fantasy, you should do that. You’ll give that story your best effort, the magic will come. If you try to wrestle your simple love story into a hot market segment when it doesn’t belong there, the reader will know.
Authenticity is the only thing we have as writers. It’s what makes us artists.
Most of us who have been writing for a while have seen trends come and go. Remember bodice-rippers? Gothics? Boy wizards? Quaint, aren’t they?
And sure, it might be easier to get the attention of an editor or agent if you can piggyback on a hot trend. But in the end, you’re the one sweating over the writing. If you aren’t feeling it, neither will the reader.
Which brings me to my second piece of advice: write from the heart.
If you don’t love your story, no one else will either. Oh sure, the heartache comes when you love your story but no one in the industry seems to, but at least you’ve spent a year with characters and situations that you want to spend time with. And you will learn a lot about yourself as a writer during the journey.
If that project doesn’t sell, move onto the next. It’s not going away. Unless it’s utter dreck, you may have a chance to sell it again when you are more established. It happens all the time.
Third tip: learn your craft.
Being solid in your craft will pay dividends. You’ll know how to get in and out of a scene. You’ll be able to write compelling dialogue. Showing, not telling will come naturally to you. You’ll allow yourself to make mistakes in the first draft without fretting.
Learning the craft of writing only comes when you, you know, write. There are no shortcuts in this profession. Get one or two great craft books (I like Self-Editing for Fiction Writers), absorb the advice, and then put it into practice every day. Pretty soon it’ll be second nature to you. Promise.
Kathleen Bolton is co-founder of Writer Unboxed. She writes under a variety of pseudonyms, including Ani Bolton.
She has written two novels as Cassidy Calloway: Confessions of a First Daughter, and Secrets of a First Daughter–both books in a YA series about the misadventures of the U.S. President’s teen-aged daughter, published by HarperCollins, and Tamara Blake, for the novel Slumber.
Don’t forget the practical aspect of writing what you love–when the trends move on, so do agents and publishers–and you’re still there. Unless you are willing to hop from trend to trend (and no one ever knows what the next trend is, so you’ll always be behind anyway), then THIS–YOU–might be all you have. Fortunately, it’s the one thing sure to set you apart!
Scott Nicholson
Drummer Boy, The Skull Ring, The Red Church
Terrific advice, especially “write from you heart.” Writing against the trend can be a fearful experience, as that element of the unknown can make any writer doubt her merit. Thanks for sharing.
.-= S0BeUrself´s last blog ..Plot First, Characters Second? =-.
Absolutely three terrific pieces of advice. Great post! Thanks!
.-= Lou Belcher´s last blog ..Share the best… =-.
Ignoring trends and writing from your heart are great advice. Who knows, maybe your next novel will set the new trend? (We can be hopeful!)
.-= Suzanne´s last blog ..ladygaga: #ripanalilmonster 2nite’s Monsterball we will dedicate wholly to you, your spirit, + your life. We will scream your name, dance, and rejoice =-.
Great pieces of advice. I agree with them all – though the third one perhaps is the hardest to bear with. I have read quite a few of good craft books, but the main hardship is to put those things in practice day after day, especially because sometimes, it is quite difficult to DO those things, even though one understand the theory. But have to carry on :-)
.-= Dolly´s last blog ..Guest Post: L. Jagi Lamplighter Wright – Why I Write Fantasy? =-.
I Just read Annie Dillard’s The Writing Life. Her main thought on learning to write well – The page will you teach you all you need to know. In otherwise, write!
.-= Rebecca @ Diary of a Virgin Novelist´s last blog ..Should I take a writing class? =-.
Easy as 1-2-3! … Sort of. :P
Jokes aside, this is excellent advice. I feel no writer can go wrong if they follow this.
.-= Kristan´s last blog ..Scenes from a childhood =-.
This is such great advice on all counts, Kathleen! You’re exactly right about everything. And writing is like playing the piano or any other skill. You can read books about playing the piano, you can listen to others playing the piano on tape, you can even go to concerts. But if you want to play yourself, it’s just not going to happen unless you sit down at that keyboard and start practicing your scales!
I feel like a broken record around here lately, but I’ll say it anyway: Excellent post! :)
.-= Lydia Sharp´s last blog ..Tuesday Tunes – Separation Anxiety =-.
Great post, really!
Thanks for the advices! I keep it in mind!
Thanks, guys!
As part of the ignoring trends, it seems like it would be a good idea to spend some time writing in a bunch of different genres when you start out so that you can figure out which ones you write better at and also to have more options when you do get good enough to actually write a decent book.
.-= Mike´s last blog ..Writing Motivation Newsletter =-.
Two seconds ago, I bought the book, Self-Editing for Fiction Writers. Thanks for the tip!
.-= Sarah Woodbury´s last blog ..Roman Roads =-.
Thanks again for the tips.
This site is such a great resource. I appreciate all the posts. It’s an invaluable site for writer’s because of all the talent and wealth of knowledge here.
Thank you.
.-= Daryl Sedore´s last blog ..5 Things I Have Learned So Far =-.
If you follow this advice, you will have a great story, which is what truly matters.
Every “trend” starts out as something completely unexpected, whose popularity could not be predicted by anybody. It might even be considered too different, so it gets overlooked.
And then somehow it catches on, and then it becomes something bigger than one book–it’s the beginning of the newest trend. All because of a great story. :)
.-= Donna Cummings´s last blog ..Just Imagine =-.
Great, practical advice, Kathleen!
Thank you!
Love it. I was reading another blog today where a writer was advising others to follow trends, because your work has to be marketable. (She wasn’t saying to abandon the “book of your heart” or anything like that, though, but to find ways to incorporate trends into it.) I completely disagreed because trends come and go. Sure, adding a werewolf in might help the book sell if it were out now, but in two years, which is when any book you sell right now would likely come out, werewolves might be passé.
.-= Kristin Laughtin´s last blog ..True Writing Stories (Part 1?) =-.
Yes! Yes! And yes!
.-= Jael´s last blog ..one of those apology posts =-.
I just hauled off and bought Self-Editing for Fiction Writers on the spot. Thanks for the advice.
Great advice. And as for trends (as I tell my teenage daughter), make your own!
Echoing everyone else: great advice, Kathleen. If you don’t feel passionate about what you’re writing, how can you expect anyone else to feel that way?
And “Self-Editing for Fiction Writers” is now on my list!
.-= Tracy Hahn-Burkett´s last blog ..A Camp for Jewish Adoptive Families =-.
I’m afraid I have nothing original to add, particularly since it all makes sense to me. Now to live it… Aye, that’s the rub.
Thanks for this!
“Authenticity is the only thing we have as writers. It’s what makes us artists.”
So true. You articulated it so well in this post. Thank you.
.-= Erika Robuck´s last blog ..In Defense of Historical Fiction =-.