by Stephanie Morrill
Stephanie writes young adult contemporary novels and is the creator of GoTeenWriters.com. Her novels include The Reinvention of Skylar Hoyt series (Revell) and The Revised Life of Ellie Sweet (Playlist). You can connect with her on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and check out samples of her work on her author website.
In last Wednesday’s discussion about the special books we write and skill set and all that, a very interesting question arose in the comments. Cait asked, “What if the book that’s special to you is too unique, or too ‘different,’ and people have told you it won’t work? Are people right or are you right?”
Often this question gets phrased as, “Should I write for the market or myself?” This is a question that almost every working writer must ask at some point – what kind of compromises am I willing to make?
I’ve been confronted with the dreaded statement of, “your story won’t work,” or, “this won’t fit in the market.” When I’m being told that, here’s how I deal with it:
There are very few (I would say “none” but as soon as I do, I’ll discover one) new writers who naturally write stories that meet all the criteria of a published book. They write books that are too long or too short. Their main character is too perfect or too unlikable. Their prose is too flowery or too dialogue heavy. Their beginnings are too slow or too quick. Their endings are too neatly tied or too ambiguous.
When we start out, we all have a lot to learn about communicating our stories to readers. While writing a shorter book or cutting words may grate against our nature as a writer, those who do it often see that the story is strengthened. (And the reverse is true too – those of us who naturally write short books figure out our pacing and depth issues, and the story is strengthened because of it.)
Writers have to make choices about what matters and what doesn’t. I wanted to cling to dialogue tags, but I chose to give them up when I saw the wisdom behind action beats. I decided it was more important to me to learn how to use action beats than it was for me to cling to my writing instincts.
So if you find that for some reason your story idea doesn’t work in the market, it’s a great time to ask if you can compromise and:
There are some compromises I’m happy to make as a writer. Word count? Sure, I can tailor my word count for a publishing line. A word or two they would rather I not use? Okay, fine. Typically that pushes me to come up with something I like better anyway.
But there are plenty of compromises that I wouldn’t be able to make.
To circle back to Cait’s question, “are people right or are you right?” I would answer with, “how much does it matter to you?” Maybe they’re right that your story wouldn’t work for a publishing house. You might have to make the decision to compromise a book contract for the story you’re burning to write. Or maybe you’re right and the story will be unique in that wonderful way that has editors fighting over it. There’s risk involved in writing stories, and you have to decide how much risk you’re willing to take.