Stephanie Morrill is the creator of GoTeenWriters.com and the author of several young adult novels, including the historical mystery, The Lost Girl of Astor Street, which releases in February 2017. Despite loving cloche hats and drop-waist dresses, Stephanie would have been a terrible flapper because she can’t do the Charleston and looks awful with bobbed hair. She and her near-constant ponytail live in Kansas City with her husband and three kids. You can connect with her on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and check out samples of her work on her author website.
A few years ago, I was wholeheartedly pursuing publication of my contemporary YA novels, and it felt like running on a treadmill. I worked and worked and worked, but my energy never amounted to anything other than a pile of manuscripts that no one in the industry wanted to publish.
At a conference, when I received a particularly hard face-to-face rejection, and then another one just a few hours later, my agent suggested we step outside for a bit.
We went out to the deck by the pool. I didn’t shed any tears, but I know I looked terrible. We talked for a few minutes about this dead end we had reached, and that some kind of change needed to be made.
After rehashing how my appointments had gone and grasping at some ideas of where else we could pitch, my agent leaned back in her seat and asked, “What do you like to read? Who are your favorite authors?”
I knew immediately she was looking for ideas of what other genres I might enjoy writing. Because not only is it advice new writers hear a lot—”you should write what you love to read”—but it’s also how a lot of writers get their start. Either they don’t see books they want on the shelves, and they decide to write them for themselves, or they read books in a genre they love and decide that they want to do the same thing.
So, is it good advice to look at what you love to read, and consider writing the same type of books? Yes, but…
Don’t limit your thinking to where a book is shelved:
I do think there’s value in examining what sparks your interest as a reader and then applying it to your writing, but I don’t think we need to limit ourselves when it comes to genre.
If you only read one kind of genre, then yes, that’s probably the right fit for you. But what about someone hodgepodgy like me? I love Jane Austen. Sarah Dessen, The Scorpio Races, The Help, 11/22/63, the Harry Potter series, and the Heist Society novels.
What do you do then? While Harry Potter is high up there on my list of favorites, and while I haven’t yet had a desire to write fantasy, there are still elements of those stories that I connect with as a reader and a writer. That’s a valuable thing to take notice of.
Don’t be afraid to try something different OR admit if it’s not your thing:
For a while I tried writing novels for adults. I’ve read and enjoyed lots of novels for adults, and I happen to be an adult, so it seemed like this would be a natural fit.
But I really struggled to come up with an idea. I would send several at a time to my agent and she would call me and say, “These all sound like young adult books.” So I would try again.
I even tried writing the most promising one of my ideas, and I just got annoyed with my character. I wanted to tell her, “Hey, you are a grown woman, and you can take control of this situation but you’re choosing not to. Just stop being stupid.”
This was clearly not a good fit.
You may love reading steampunk or epic fantasy or cozy mysteries, but those genres still may not float your writer’s boat. There’s no shame in trying several genres or in admitting that while you may love reading a certain type of book, writing them isn’t your thing.
And don’t expect to write it well just because you like reading them.
You have great taste in books, and you’ve read every YA regency mystery novel you can get your hands on. Now you want to write your own.
This is where a lot of writers start. The struggle is that as a beginner, you are not yet able to create the kind of story that you’re used to enjoying. It’s kinda like when you grow up eating amazing food prepared by someone else, and then you try to cook for yourself for the first time. Just because you enjoy eating food doesn’t make you a natural with preparing it, right?
Don’t misunderstand me—it’s a huge advantage to have read a ton of books in the genre you’re writing. Because I had read lots of mysteries before writing my first one, I was able to pinpoint what wasn’t working. But it was rather disheartening to work so hard on a story, read it for the first time, and realize, “Nope. Still have lots of work to do.”
If you’re struggling with what kind of stories you want to write, I think it’s a great idea to consider your favorite books. Maybe they’re all different genres, but what kind of common elements can you find in them? What kind of style are they written in? Who are your favorite characters in those stories, and why do you like them? Do they have similar themes? How did you feel when you finished them for the first time?
I think it would be super fun to see some of your lists! If you’d like, please share some of your favorite books and how the stories you write are similar.
