Being Different
I excel at this. No really, I’m a strange one. I manage to tone myself down a little bit for public consumption, but, as anyone who knew me in high school will tell you, I have individualistic tendencies. 😀
So what, you may ask, does this have to do with the price of tea in China. Absolutely nothing. But it *does* pertain to writing.
I think it can be easy to read selections of your chosen genre, category etc, and say ‘this is what I have to do, the formula I have to follow for success!’ Well, not necessarily. DO become familiar with your genre, which for the purpose of my site we’ll pretend is romance. DO become familiar with your category if you’re aiming at a particular line. But DON’T imitate those who have been published before you.
Oftentimes I’ll see people talking about rejection letters, and they’ll say ‘but so and so got away with that exact same thing in their book!’ First off, it’s all in the execution, repeat that about a million times because it’s basically the key to life. Well, writing anyway. There are things that shouldn’t work, things that generally don’t work, but if you can take it and execute it well…then do it.
Jennie Lucas and Annie West as good examples that spring to mind. In their recent releases they had hero’s that did some pretty nasty things…but I loved it. I shouldn’t have loved it. It shouldn’t have been okay. Not only was it okay, it was the thing that, to me, set their books apart and made them really something special. That I could understand this hero who was doing something that should have been unacceptable, but I just empathized with him SO much that the book never lost me, is a testament to good execution. By the same turn, I read another book that utilized some of the same elements and I just couldn’t go with the hero on it. Didn’t work. Execution.
Anyway, the next point is: Someone else may have gotten away with it, but if someone else has already done it…
The thing is, editors are looking for people who are ‘pushing boundaries’. They want to see something new so they can mix it into what’s already there. I will always love the books that are done by Penny Jordan, Kate Walker, Miranda Lee,Trish Morey. These are people who inspired me in the first place, and I’m sure I’m not the only one they’ve inspired! But, just because they inspire me, doesn’t mean I should try to emulate them or their style of writing, story construction, etc. Because it’s theirs. That need for their stories is filled, quite nicely, by the originals. Which is why the editors want new authors to change it up a bit, not because what’s out there doesn’t work, but because they want you to bring your own spin, your own flavor to the line so that there’s a broad spectrum of goodies for a reader to choose from!
So be bold. And dare to be different.
And on that note, I leave you with…The Man Your Man Could Smell Like. (click the link…you know you want to)
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Oh, I hear you on the execution, Maisey! And speaking of things established authors get away with, I loved PJ’s book that featured an Indian hero even though he proclaimed to only have affairs with married women. Did I shake my head? Yes I did. Would I write that? Probably not. But the story was so beautiful, I couldn’t help but read to the end. And I guess, that in a nutshell is what it’s all about. Capturing the reader’s attention and keeping it to the end.
So, here’s to all of us trying to put a spin on old, previously told stories.
Trying to put a DIFFERENT spin on old stories – is what I meant to say. Of course.
Pushing the boundaries is difficult eh? I think also that people take that to mean “yay, I can submit my zombie apocalypse romance novel to Modern Heat because, hey, that’s pushing the boundaries’. If you’re writing category, pushing the boundaries is a subtle thing because if you push them too much, you can end up over the border in a whole new country!
pushing boundaries is a great. very hard though. still learning to do the basics 🙂
love the link! had a great laugh, thanks!
That’s just it, Maya! That’s the kind of thing that can make a character more interesting, a flaw that shouldn’t be redeemable, and yet it is. Good execution!
Jackie, LOL, yeah, HQN is not the place for zombiepocalypse!!! It’s what I posted about earlier, new twists on favorite themes. Or, as my editor put it, if you can do (insert my idea here, which is super secret) and still fulfill the promise of the line, go for it!
Kerrin, I agree! But if you’re true to you, and at the same time, true to the line you’re aiming for, then the boundary pushing should come somewhat naturally! None of us writes the same, after all!
Fistly – LOL on the eye candy. The power of marketing at its best.
Secondly – In high school I was a nerd with a difference – what difference? A nerd that loved Shakespeare, Emily Dickinson, Jane Austen as well as Pearl Jam and Bon Jovi (yes, a child of the late 80’s/90’s). Now – I hope my difference transcends into my writing. Not sure yet. Proof will be in the pudding.
Sing it sister. 😉 Yep, you’re so going up on my blog roll! I know, I know, the honor, LOL
I’m different too. I’ve considered more than once that my full at Blaze right now is just too different, but I told the story the way I needed to tell it. Now we’ll see what happens.
Janette, it is. It really is. I so went and bought the hubby Old Spice body wash AND deodorant after I saw that…and I was a nerd too. Drama kid, lots of black, Lord of the Rings, yeah!! 😀
Cari, I DO feel honored!! Um…I now haz serious curiosity about your Blaze. That is a FUN line. They have *so* much diversity. Paranormal, Historical, Contemporary. Surfer heroes, TV Producer heroes, Vampire heroes, egads!!