Writers in the Storm

Do you ever wish you could go back and have a chat with "Baby Writer You?" I think about that sometimes, about the things I'd tell that shiny, awkward, clueless soul.

But like parenting or dating, or any other hands-on life thing, you have to figure it out for yourself. Like learning how to adult, until you really get the hang of it, you don't know how much you don't know.

Besides, shiny "New Writer You" wouldn't believe you anyway.

So logical, practical advice only then. Advice that even clueless Baby Writer Me could relate to...

1. It gets harder.

A few *cough* decades ago, I listened to an audiotape (on cassette!) of Nora Roberts in a Q&A session. When asked what she wished she had known when she began, she answered: "It gets harder. It gets harder. It gets harder."

This is the biggest oxymoron of our chosen path.

As the writing itself gets easier, the writing life gets harder. You have higher standards, more pro-writer tricks up your sleeve, and many more demands on your time as you try to execute those stellar skills.

If you are published, and earning a living as a writer, there are demanding deadlines to adhere to. If you are unpublished, or not quite able to quit your day job, you have a double set of deadlines - those from the day job and those from your writing life.

In each of those scenarios, you have the rest of your world clamoring for attention too: kids, spouses, parents, volunteer commitments.

I truly believe this is why most writers have an insatiable caffeine addiction. We need the extra zing to juggle all those flaming commitments while still nurturing the creative juggernaut in our brains who sends out the stories.

Perhaps that's why so many of us write in our pajamas. It's our little rebellion against all that adulting Grown-up Writer Us has to do.

2. Story trumps everything.

Lisa Cron wrote a wonderful book called Wired for Story. She's done several posts here at Writers In the Storm. (My favorite is her explanation of the "Origin Scene.")

She's quoted in this Jerry Jenkins piece, explaining how and why story is the most important element of any story.

What grabs readers isn’t beautiful writing, a rip-roaring plot, or surface drama; what grabs readers is what gives those things their meaning and power: the story itself.

And so first you have to create the story, which doesn’t start on page one, but long before it. Because the story is not about an external plot-level change. The story is about an internal change — a change that the protagonist enters the story already needing to make. Thus the protagonist walks onto the first page with a long standing driving desire — an agenda — that she hasn’t been able to achieve because an equally long standing misbelief (about human nature) stands in her way.

And here’s the last thing I wish I’d known: backstory is the most fundamental, present, and meaningful foundation of the story. Or as Faulkner said, “The past isn’t dead. It isn’t even past.”

Bonus: I highly recommend reading that entire Jerry Jenkins list when you are done here. Forty established authors and writing instructors answer the question asked by the title of this post: Writing Tips 40 Experts Wish They’d Known as Beginners.

3. Done is better than good.

Stories like Fifty Shades of Grey really brought this home to me. The writing doesn't have to be brilliant. It just has to contain themes that are relatable and universal.

And the book has to be done so people can buy it and experience it for themselves.

Despite Anastasia's penchant for saying "Holy Crap!" and her preoccupation with her "inner goddess" (not to mention Christian's preoccupation with bondage), millions of people downloaded this book.

Why? Because the story had a compelling hook. The story grabbed them, and the author kept upping the stakes so they would stay glued to the page.

At its heart, Fifty Shades was a love story, not a spanking story. Mega-agent Donald Maass pointed out that, "The prose is plain." and "The unfolding of Anastasia and Christian’s relationship happens mostly through dialogue." In other words, it was easy to read.

Yet, most of the writers I know couldn't read it. Probably because of those skills in their writing toolbox, etc. They couldn't see that the finished compelling story trumped the beautiful sentences we all strive for.

As important as those sentences are to us, Fifty Shades proved that the readers couldn't care less. Pretty sentences don't feed their reading addiction, story does.

Bonus: Donald Maass and Lisa Cron - both amazing teachers - analyze Fifty Shades across three posts. The links to all three are here.

4. Find your peeps.

We've done many posts on this topic here at WITS because it's hugely important. Call it what you will: your peeps, partners, writing tribe, critique group. But writers need writing friends. Period.

No one else will understand the joy of writing classes and conferences or the addictive frenzy of NaNoWriMo. Get some writing pals so you can experience these things with friends who will share your giddy happiness.

Plus, when the going gets tough -- and it will -- it's your writing friends who will help carry you through those hard times until things get fun again.

We're writers...we LOVE fun.

5. Give back, to others and yourself.

For most of us behind the scenes here at WITS, this blog is one of the ways we pay forward all the help and advice we were given during our newbie stage.

Although the writing world is small, it is easy to get lost, particularly for introverts. Volunteering and giving to others is one way to expand your writing world and to join hands with others. If you do that often enough, you will end up with your own set of writing peeps!

But what about giving back to yourself?

Exercise and proper nutrition and hydration are the simplest ways to give back to yourself. Sure, it's hard to get motivated. (And put on makeup. Or pants.) But you'll feel better if you do.

Continuous learning is another fantastic way to give back to yourself. It expands your knowledge and your network.

It might be a conference you go to every year, an online class or an active Facebook group, but DO expand your own knowledge. It will tap into your inner superhero, and help you tell better stories.

I'll leave you with this quote by Ray Bradbury, one of my faves.

Bonus: If you need more Bradbury quotes, we have a whole post on him.

What advice would you give to "Baby Writer You?" Is there a piece of advice you were given that really resonated? Share it in the comments!

About Jenny

By day, Jenny provides training and social media marketing for an accounting firm. By night she writes humor, memoir, women’s fiction and short stories. After 18 years as a corporate software trainer, she’s delighted to sit down while she works.

When she’s not at her personal blog, More Cowbell, Jenny can be found on Twitter at JennyHansenCA or at Writers In The Storm.

Resource articles:

• 21 Things I Wish I'd Known Before I Started Writing: Must-Read Advice for Writers at All Levels
• 7 Painful Truths I Wish Knew Before Writing My First Book
• Buy a cat, stay up late, don't drink: top 10 writers’ tips on writing

Top image by PublicDomainPictures from Pixabay

We've all been working hard on writing goals, NaNoWriMo and butt-in-chair. Let's reward ourselves with some FUN!

Share a favorite  sentence or paragraph of your current WIP (work-in-progress) or even one from someone else in the comments. Be sure to include the title and genre with your paragraph.

Feel free comment on others' as well!

We'll get you started...

Ellen

Jack Schmidt clenched his hands at his sides and glared at his father. The man, aged beyond his years, sat collapsed on his chair, staring at his fragile wife through a whiskey fog. As his once-spirited mother fell deeper into her illness, his father slipped farther into his liquor bottle, barely acknowledging the existence of his three children.

-- Untitled YA Historical Fiction, set in 1905 (Wausau, WI to LA's Bunker Hill).
[For all of Ellen's books, including her middle-grade Charlie Chameleon series, visit http://ellenbuikema.com]

Jenny

Fear stalked through my childhood, a rabid dog that refused to be put down. As the child of a retired military officer, who cuddled his glittery narcissism beneath a shadowy cape of PTSD, I grew used to navigating a world filled with fear.

-- The Six-Percent Baby, unpublished memoir

Julie

Rachel looked past me, and a pained expression flashed across her face.

I turned to see Cade Wilson, another baseball player and long-time friend of Wes and Hunter, staring into my window. "Speaking of idiots..." Pushing open the door forced Cade out of my way.

"Hey"—he jumped back—"you could have injured my jewels."

I smirked. "Fake jewelry ain't worth much."

Sharing Hunter (Click here to pre-order!)

Laura Drake stopped by too!

Most days, I feel like a human Golden Retriever: loving, loyal, dependable. But in my experience, humans with those traits tend to go unnoticed. The dogs, on the other hand, people find adorable.

— Cowboy for Keeps (Click here to pre-order!)

She’s probably headed for a convention on, ‘Saving the Universe Through Toe Massage’ or something.” My grandmother was New-Age before it was new, trying every religion, every weird philosophy out there. Hampering her enlightenment is the fact that she has the intellectual depth of a kiddie pool, and the attention span of a caffeinated gnat.

— The Road to Me, unpublished Women's Fiction

We can't wait to see your favorite lines! Please share them down in the comments.

I have been writing since 2010 and have penned six book-length manuscripts and several short stories. Among all those, one always stood out to me as the breakout book. I'm not saying the others aren't good — I certainly like them — but one particular novel has a high concept, a timely topic, and has been written, rewritten, and edited so much it's pretty much print-ready.

Since I landed my agent and finaled in the Golden Heart with this young adult novel in 2015, I have never wavered in my belief that it would sell to a traditional publisher.

But it didn't.

I don't fault the story. I don't fault myself. I don't fault my amazing agent. I don't fault the publishers.

Am I little annoyed? I'd be lying if I said no, because they just turned down a really good novel. But they all had good reasons for passing, and my book just wasn't one they wanted to publish.

Still, what do you do when the plan you had for your novel doesn't work out? What if your dream for your story doesn't come true?

You can let your dream die, or you can make your dream change.

• Some writers want a traditional book deal, but they don't get an offer.
• Some writers want to self-publish, but that route proves too frustrating.
• Some want to write in a particular genre, but the interest and sales aren't there.
• Some want to pen six novels a year, but can only squeeze out a single book.

When we knock on the door of our dream, and it doesn't open, we can keep beating that door ... or we can knock on another door.

How do you know if it's time to change your dream?

Getting the dream would cost more than you're willing to pay.

Let's say to write those six novels, you'd have to give up homeschooling your child or acting in your local theater or running your other side business. Some writers would say you have to prioritize the writing! But not necessarily. You have to choose your priorities and decide what's most important to you. Maybe you'd love to write more novels, but you don't want to give up being Ophelia in Hamlet. So don't.

There's a cost to pursuing a dream, because personal dream fulfillment actually requires a lot of hours, elbow grease, and compromise. You may not want to sacrifice those things, at least to the point required to carry out your original plan.

For my book, there was one publisher interested who might have offered a contract if I was willing to change the tone and theme of the book. It would have been awesome to sign with this company! But I wasn't willing to do what they required for me to sell to them. In the end, that was simply a cost I wasn't willing to pay.

You can easily imagine and feel calm about taking another path.

Most paths have obstacles and brambles, but when you're ready to change direction, a new path doesn't seem quite so daunting. You might have some challenges, but you can imagine yourself plucking your way along toward a new destination.

For some authors, that calm only happens once they've beat back as many vines as humanly — or even superhero-ly — possible, only to discover the way still blocked. Then the other path begins to look pretty darn good, and a peace settles on them to think about another way.

I admit that self-publishing previously scared the pants off me. Not only because I'm not the kind of control freak savvy entrepreneur who tends to do well with making all the decisions, but I didn't previously have the resources and connections I now have. The idea of putting out the book myself isn't as frightening as before. In fact, it's rather exciting.

While I couldn't have foreseen this path for the book a few years ago, now I'm ready. Are you ready to imagine a different way? Can you see yourself getting it done?

Trusted writer friends tell you it's time.

A friend of mine wrote in a particular genre for years and experienced success in contests and in getting an agent. But her books didn't sell. The critique group she'd been with for more than a decade finally cornered her and suggested her writing voice went well with a different genre. They suggested she give it a try.

Were her other genre books bad? No, they were great! But it was time to move on. Since my friend trusted her critique partners, she sat down to pen a novel in the new genre. Months later, she'd finaled in contests, gotten an agent, and had signed a book deal.

Sometimes your close friends and fellow writers can see a situation better than you. You're tangled up in the trees, and they've got a view of the forest. If they see a better path for you, it might be worth listening.

By the time my novel submissions had reached the end of the line, I had the support of friends and family telling me to move on. They confirmed my decision and then encouraged me set a new goal — one they knew I could accomplish and they would support.

But what about persistence? Determination? Perseverance? Those are absolutely necessary in this business, and continuing to pound the door might well get you what you want. That certainly happens for some writers!

For others, you get a bruised fist, or at least a bruised heart. And you may decide your time and effort are better spent rethinking your dream and pursuing that path instead. If that latter one is you, it's okay to change directions. In fact, it's probably time.

Have you ever changed dreams in your writing career? Are you currently considering a different path?

About Julie

Julie Glover writes mysteries and young adult fiction. Her YA contemporary novel, SHARING HUNTER, finaled in the 2015 RWA® Golden Heart® and is now up for preorder! When not writing, she collects boots, practices rampant sarcasm, and advocates for good grammar and the addition of the interrobang as a much-needed punctuation mark.

Julie is represented by Louise Fury of The Bent Agency. You can visit her website here and also follow her on Twitter and Facebook.