You know what really burns my toast? This whole idea of writers telling each other how they’re supposed to perform. How they’re supposed to manage their craft. Oh, and how <<INSERT THIS WAY AND ONLY THIS WAY>> is the road to success.
Don’t write a prologue.
Don’t write an epilogue.
Don’t write in first person.
Don’t write in third person.
Don’t write in present tense.
Don’t write in omniscient voice.
Don’t use more than one point of view.
Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah... STOP IT.
That might be the way YOU do things, but it’s not the way I do things. It’s also not the way any of us in this little collective do things. Just like marketing, there is no bullet train to success. No surefire way to make yourself a bestseller. Every person, every artist, every book… we’re all as different as blades of grass. Similar in structure, but unique in our own ways. And that uniqueness is what makes us worthy of being read.
I understand that in many ways, writing books is a formulaic process. That genre-specific structure is a fantastic road map, especially when you’re new to the craft. Readers have come to expect us to hit certain beats within our genres, but a formula is not the only way to do things and let’s be frank: formulas are overused. When you write the same beats every time, over and over, for the sake of pushing out new product rather than giving each story the care and attention it deserves, you’re selling yourself short. Personally, I’m tired of reading the same three books over and over with the names and professions of the characters changed. The problem with formulas is that they vastly underestimate the intelligence of the reader. Like we’re not going to recognize the patterns and get bored with them.
This post is my permission to you, dear artist, to do things your way. Be unapologetically you in your writing. Write your story the way it wants to be written, not the way “the industry” tells you to do it. Because let’s be honest: the industry is 15% skill, 80% luck, and 5% absolute bullshit.
From the Reader Perspective: I was on vacation last week and while I was sitting on my borrowed 19th-floor balcony overlooking the Atlantic ocean, I discovered that three of the seven books I read were essentially that: the same formula, the same plot points and story beats, at the exact same time…just with different characters. Y’all, I read a lot of books. I mean A LOOOOOT of books. And to read that many back-to-back with no deviation (all from different authors, mind you) made me want to pull my hair out. I want more than a cookie-cutter story. I don’t mind the predictability of a contemporary rom-com, but that formula can’t be all there is. I need SOMETHING to keep me interested. Some fun, new, possibly quirky breadcrumb that makes the author stand out. When I’m reading romance, I don’t want a stupid misunderstanding to be the lynchpin of the entire story. Likewise with horror, I shouldn’t be able correctly guess both WHO the killer is and WHY at 20% in. That’s boring.
From the Editor Perspective: I recently edited a book for a friend. It’s a sci-fi romance, which is a little bit outside of what’s “mainstream” in the romance world right now. It’s a fun adventure, and I can’t wait to see it out in the world. My favorite part of the story is that it’s NOT written to a formula. It’s something different, which is what my book-devouring soul desperately craves. It’s also part of the reason why I’ve gravitated to the ladies in this collective… we’re all just a little bit different.
From the Writer Perspective: I’m a bit of a chameleon when it comes to genre and style, and I’m not happy just writing one thing forever until I die. That’s not me at all (yay, ADHD-brain!). The fun part of being a bit on the neurospicy side is that I also tend to look at people who tell me what to do and go “uh…nope. Not doing that.” I like blending genres and styles and mashing up ideas into gigantic puddles of chaos, then sorting the pieces out into something interesting. I write the kind of books I would want to read, and I can’t imagine conforming so strictly to someone else’s idea of what a book should be when it’s my story. I’d get bored. So, if formulas are the only way to make it in this industry (spoiler alert: they aren’t!), then I guess I won’t be very popular, huh?
Remember, kids… the same people telling you that the only way to be a famous writer is to write to the formula without deviation are generally the same people telling you it’s okay to use AI to make a book and that you don’t need an editor. The common thread here is that none of those things are true.
Those people don’t know your story the way you do. They don’t know what it needs or how it should flow. YOU do. You will always know what’s best for your book, so write it the way you want to write it. Follow the formula if it helps, but don’t force yourself into that rigid, little box for the sake of what “they” say. Because “they” aren’t writing YOUR book.
Oh, and please don’t forget to let your editor help you polish your diamond when you’re done. Your readers will thank you for it.