Who Do You Write For?

I'm sure most writers have heard it at least once. Chasing trends is bad. Basically, the rule goes like this: once it's a trend, it's already on the way out. Once something becomes really popular, everyone and their brother jumps on that bandwagon, and suddenly it crumbles under the added weight. 

So, if you're not trying to write to the trends, how do you decide what to write? 

That's where the world gets dicey, my friends. See, the problem is a lot of people write to trends, not because they are trendy but because they genuinely like the genre/trope/whatever. So the old adage of write what you love doesn't necessarily work here. Yes, you should write projects you're passionate about, but when the thing you love happens to be vampires/dystopian/whatever-the-hell-else-was-huge-and-then-dead you have to accept that said project may never sell. 

And that's okay. 

Yes, you read correctly. If you have a passion project, by all means, get it on paper, whether or not it will sell right now. Most trends are cyclical. As long as you're willing to hold onto that project until the next cycle, you're fine. Or if you don't care if it sells, you're also fine. So, yes, write what you love...

Unless writing pays your bills. 

No pitchforks, please. Obviously professional authors can still write what they love, but we also have to be more aware of the limitations of that. We also have to be aware of contracts. Sometimes a multi-book series that starts as a passion project doesn't end up that way by book 3, 4, 5...12. But it's still a contract, it's still a book you have to write--whether you want to or not. In that particular case, you kind of have to trick yourself into believing you're writing it for yourself. 

Perhaps it's a character you've been dying to get on paper. Or a setting you've always wanted to visit. Or even a catch-phrase you finally have the perfect place to use. Find the thing in the book that is for you and hold onto it for dear life.

Yes, writer friends, write for yourself, even if you're writing for someone else. 

Um... Yeah, I'm totally OCD

My family will happily attest to the fact that occasionally, my craziness reaches bizarre heights. Usually about needing round numbers or alphabetizing stuff. Recently, they all mocked me because I couldn't handle the fact that my mom set her alarm for 4:57. Why not just do 5:00?  Seriously? I can't be alone in this
Anyways, I got sidetracked. I'm here to talk about how my OCD relates to books. Series, mostly.

Here's how it plays out: I start reading a series, fall in love with it and devour every available title. Then I hit the end of the series and have to wait, like normal people, for the next book. By the time that book arrives, months later, I buy it eagerly. And then I have to decide. Read it on its own? Or read the rest of the series again. I do this with movies too.

For example, my husband and I recently went to see Iron Man 3. What I really wanted to do was sit down, watch Iron Man and Iron Man 2 in quick succession, then head to the theater. It didn't happen, partially due to being busy, and partially due the mocking I get whenever I suggest things like that  :)

This problem mostly relates to 2 things, I've decided. One, I'm SUPER sequential (part of my OCD charm). I hate watching TV shows out off order, reading books out of order. I'm not sure why, other than a vague suspicion that I read something out of order as a kid, either got a nasty spoiler or had no idea what was going on, and it scarred me for life. So I like things to be sequential.

The other contributing factor is that I'm a really fast reader. Which is great, but it means that justifying spending time re-reading a series just to read the latest book doesn't take me all that long. Or least, it didn't, when I had more free time. But now, when I'm super busy and can usually only squeeze in a couple chapters before bed, I'm spending an awful lot of time re-reading books I've read before.

Mind you, I'm not totally crazy. If I've read the books in the last couple months, I don't usually re-read the whole series. And some series are long enough that I've read the first few books enough times that I can start my re-reading in the middle somewhere.

But yeah, that's my confession. What about you guys? Anyone crazy enough to admit that they re-read so they remember what's going on too?

Shouldn't You Be Writing?

by Seleste deLaney

I have this author friend. She's seen a bit of success and has picked up an uber-fan. Not quite Annie Wilkes (Misery), but an uber-fan nonetheless. This fan keeps poking at my friend about the next book. At first I shrugged it off because it looked like it had only happened a couple times, but lately it's happening more often. A couple weeks ago, she made the "mistake" of posting about something on her social media that *gasp* wasn't writing. Uber-fan basically told her to get back to work.

Um... excuse me?

First, no one works 24/7. No one. I'm a mom, and even I get a couple hours away from that job every night to sleep. Everyone needs sleep, food, exercise, and a bevy of other things that aren't work. As much as writers joke about how we never stop writing (not entirely a joke, but I'll get to this in a bit), we don't spend all day every day at our computers tapping out stories. It is a job that most of us spend more than the normal 40 hours a week at, but it is a job.

Second, an author's job involves a lot more than just writing. If all we had to do was type out stories, we could (most of us) churn out 6-12 books a year, no problem. Most of them would be crap, but we could. You see, we also have to make time for editing, which can take as much time as writing. We also have to make time for querying/submissions/paperwork/etc--all the businessy parts of dealing with publishers. We also are supposed to be active in promoting our work. That means blogging and book tours and social media. Unless an author is making a solid six-figure plus income, they're probably doing most of that solo, which is more work. And none of this even takes research into account. Authors do the job because we love the job, but there's more to it than just writing the story, and all of it takes time.

Third, (and I am a classic case of this) if all a person does is work, they will burn out. That well of stories in their head? It will dry up because everything will sound like a crappy idea. They won't be able to write because the idea of sitting in front of the keyboard and creating a world out of nothing is exhausting. It's ceased to be a joy and it's become drudgery. At that point, the author that you love? They're not only going to not be working on the next book in the series you're anxiously awaiting; they're not going to be working on anything. Maybe ever, but certainly not for a while. Everyone needs to recharge sometimes, and writing can be incredibly emotionally and mentally taxing.

Lastly, that bit about how writers are always writing? It's both true and false. It's false because of all the things I've mentioned above. It's true because when we listen to music, we often find inspiration. When we see a movie, watch TV, or read someone else's books, we're learning new story-telling paths. When we go on vacations, we're finding new and exotic places to authentically include in our work. When we spend time with our children, pets, family, friends...we're having actual interpersonal connections that we can bring back to our work and make it more alive.

Writers are all readers. We know the frustration of wanting the next book now. As often as not, we wish we could write faster so we could get more stories to our fans, because we appreciate you and your excitement. But we also know the reality that no matter how fast we write, some things are out of our control (release dates included).

We're all on the same side here, believe it or not.