Rachel Aaron's Blog, page 21
January 23, 2014
FAQ: Managing Your Inner Editor
Continuing my Frequently Asked Questions series, here's another question I hear all the time (including yesterday on Twitter!): how do I write through my Inner Editor? How do I protect my creativity and output from that constant nagging feeling that I'm doing this wrong, that I'm not good enough and never will be?
This is a complicated issue, and one that will never be fully resolved, because feelings of insecurity and inadequacy are just part of being a writer (or an artist, or a human). The entire practice of writing your thoughts out and then putting them up not just to be read, but to be judged, is nerve wracking for everyone (and anyone who claims they're not anxious when their book goes out for the first time is either enlightened or a liar). But while these insecurities and fears are universal and inevitable, they don't have to rule your life. They can't, or else you'll never finish anything. So, here's how I deal with my "Inner Editor," hopefully it will also be helpful to you.
Let's start with some terminology. Though I use it myself because it's the accepted label for the phenomenon, I actually take great umbrage to the term "Inner Editor." And editor is someone who criticizes your book in order to help you improve it. They are on your side. What we're talking about here is really more like your Inner Amazon Reviewer. And not one of the good ones either, but the truly toxic, anonymous, nitpicking trolls who tear books down for the thrill of it.
That's how I think of the voice in my head, not as an editor or a critic or anyone with actual authority on the subject, but as a troll. I respect my editors and critics, I value their input, but trolls have nothing to offer the conversation, and ninety nine times out of a hundred, neither does the nagging voice in your head.
This isn't to say you should ignore potential problems you notice while writing. You do, however, have to remember to be cognoscente of the fact that not all issues are worthy of action. "My heroine needs to make more choices so she doesn't end up a passenger in her own story" is a valid criticism that deserves consideration. "Vampires are stupid, only stupid people write about vampires" is not. Neither is "[Insert famous author here] never used that word," or "No one will ever want to read this."
As with pretty much everything in writing ever, the key to managing your inner Amazon troll is mindfulness and attention. If you're writing or editing and you're just constantly down on yourself about what you're producing, stop a second and ask, why? Why am I being so mean to myself? Are these valid criticisms, or am I just afraid and taking it out on my work? And remember, it's perfectly normal and okay to be afraid. The act of writing something you're going to ask people to read means opening yourself up to rejection, and everyone is afraid of rejection. But you do need to recognize that fear for what it is when it's clouding your judgment of your work. You also need to realize that your viewpoint here probably won't be objective, so I highly recommend having a trusted critique partner (I use my husband) who can look at your story and tell you if it actually sucks or if you're just being ridiculous.
The most important thing to remember in all of this is that no story is perfect, or is going to please all people. Even The Last Unicorn has 1 star reviews (I HAVE NOTHING IN COMMON WITH THOSE PEOPLE). No matter what you write, someone's going to hate it, and that's okay, because someone else will love it beyond reason. All you can do is write the best book you can, and if it flops or falls apart, make the next one better, and never ever make long term decisions ("I'll never write again") off short term freakouts. Because at the end of the day, writing is a vocation, not a one time effort, and the more you write and submit and publish and deal with rejection, the less frightening the process becomes.
So while you'll probably never be truly rid of your inner troll, your ability to tell it to STFU will increase exponentially, as will your ability to sort through the negative noise to find the important things your real inner editor is trying to tell you, the actual problems you need to fix to make your book better, and that is the voice you should be listening to.
Good luck with your writing and I hope this helps!
This is a complicated issue, and one that will never be fully resolved, because feelings of insecurity and inadequacy are just part of being a writer (or an artist, or a human). The entire practice of writing your thoughts out and then putting them up not just to be read, but to be judged, is nerve wracking for everyone (and anyone who claims they're not anxious when their book goes out for the first time is either enlightened or a liar). But while these insecurities and fears are universal and inevitable, they don't have to rule your life. They can't, or else you'll never finish anything. So, here's how I deal with my "Inner Editor," hopefully it will also be helpful to you.
Let's start with some terminology. Though I use it myself because it's the accepted label for the phenomenon, I actually take great umbrage to the term "Inner Editor." And editor is someone who criticizes your book in order to help you improve it. They are on your side. What we're talking about here is really more like your Inner Amazon Reviewer. And not one of the good ones either, but the truly toxic, anonymous, nitpicking trolls who tear books down for the thrill of it.
That's how I think of the voice in my head, not as an editor or a critic or anyone with actual authority on the subject, but as a troll. I respect my editors and critics, I value their input, but trolls have nothing to offer the conversation, and ninety nine times out of a hundred, neither does the nagging voice in your head.This isn't to say you should ignore potential problems you notice while writing. You do, however, have to remember to be cognoscente of the fact that not all issues are worthy of action. "My heroine needs to make more choices so she doesn't end up a passenger in her own story" is a valid criticism that deserves consideration. "Vampires are stupid, only stupid people write about vampires" is not. Neither is "[Insert famous author here] never used that word," or "No one will ever want to read this."
As with pretty much everything in writing ever, the key to managing your inner Amazon troll is mindfulness and attention. If you're writing or editing and you're just constantly down on yourself about what you're producing, stop a second and ask, why? Why am I being so mean to myself? Are these valid criticisms, or am I just afraid and taking it out on my work? And remember, it's perfectly normal and okay to be afraid. The act of writing something you're going to ask people to read means opening yourself up to rejection, and everyone is afraid of rejection. But you do need to recognize that fear for what it is when it's clouding your judgment of your work. You also need to realize that your viewpoint here probably won't be objective, so I highly recommend having a trusted critique partner (I use my husband) who can look at your story and tell you if it actually sucks or if you're just being ridiculous.
The most important thing to remember in all of this is that no story is perfect, or is going to please all people. Even The Last Unicorn has 1 star reviews (I HAVE NOTHING IN COMMON WITH THOSE PEOPLE). No matter what you write, someone's going to hate it, and that's okay, because someone else will love it beyond reason. All you can do is write the best book you can, and if it flops or falls apart, make the next one better, and never ever make long term decisions ("I'll never write again") off short term freakouts. Because at the end of the day, writing is a vocation, not a one time effort, and the more you write and submit and publish and deal with rejection, the less frightening the process becomes.
So while you'll probably never be truly rid of your inner troll, your ability to tell it to STFU will increase exponentially, as will your ability to sort through the negative noise to find the important things your real inner editor is trying to tell you, the actual problems you need to fix to make your book better, and that is the voice you should be listening to.
Good luck with your writing and I hope this helps!
January 6, 2014
FAQ: To blog or not to blog
First up, OMG Fortune's Pawn did so well as the Kindle Daily Deal yesterday! Thank you everyone for helping to spread the word and make it a success!! Now, back to our regularly scheduled blog...
Back in November (before my life went crazy. Ahhhh, those innocent days!) I had a ton of fun doing my annual National Novel Writing Month Q&A thread on the Fantasy forums. There were a lot of good questions, but a few in particular came up over and over again. I was very happy with my answers, but these days you have to dig through 13 pages of forum posts to find them, and no one likes that. I still want to get the info out there, though, because these are clearly the issues that weigh on people's minds! So to preserve the information I put out, I'm going to be doing a series of posts here on my own blog answering these Frequently Asked Questions, starting with the single most popular query:
Do I need a strong social media presence as an author?Agent blogs must really be pushing this, because people were obsessed with this question! I can see the anxiety. I mean, writing a book and trying to sell it is a daunting challenge already, but then be told you have to go out and gather a huge herd followers on Facebook/Twitter/Tumblr/Instagram/Goodreads/etc and maintain a popular blog/website? That's a lot of pressure.
At this point, I feel the need to reiterate that I'm not an agent and I haven't been a new author since 2010, but I do have a little experience with the author side of this whole "publish books" thing, and I'm just going come out and say that I think people are putting too much weight on this as a requirement.
When you're trying to convince someone to take a chance on your book, be it an agent, publisher, or the general reading public, it's nice to be able to say "oh, and I also have 500,000 Twitter followers and get 1000 comments on every blog post." Preexisting popularity is a good sign that you've got something to offer. It makes you seem less like a risk and more like a success bandwagon (with a built in potential audience) everyone wants to ride. But while it's undoubtedly much easier to get people on board if you're already a star, none of this changes the fact that you still have to have something amazing to give them once they get there.
As much as publishing has changed over the last few years, one core fact remains as true as it ever was: the book is everything. An new author with no web presence and an amazing book will beat a new author with a huge social media network and a lousy book every single time. That said, of course, people with huge networks usually have all those followers precisely because they're entertaining and amazing (see The Bloggess and Hyperbole and a Half as two fantastic examples), but the impressive social media reach is the effect, not the cause. They became popular because they created something other people wanted to read, not the other way around.
So to anyone out there wringing their hands over the idea that a giant social media network is somehow vital to being a successful author, don't. I'm not saying you should ignore social media. You need to have a website up with basic information no matter what, and having professional accounts on the major social network sites you enjoy is also a good idea. This is your business front, the professional face you show to the world since writers don't have shop windows. (It's also a good way for potential agents/publishers to see whether or not you're crazy.)
That said, no one expects you to have a huge social media reach yet. They'd love if you did, of course, but it's hardly mandatory. A great blog/Pinterest/Instagram account is always a bonus, even if it's not writing related. So if you already have a social media platform you enjoy, go for it! But if the idea of blogging regularly makes you break out in hives, don't worry about it. No one wants to read a blog where every post is "Sorry I took so long to blog," anyway. To get started as an author, all you need is a clean, sane, professional presence on the web and a great book, and you can guess which of those is the most important.
I hope that helps relieve some anxieties! Again, this is just my opinion, so take it with a grain of salt. Still, I've yet to meet anyone in publishing who would turn away a book they loved because the author failed to meet the required number of Facebook friends. Social media presence can be built later, but a good book is priceless. Never let the hype take your eyes off the prize: writing a book everyone will want to read.
Happy writing!- Rachel
Back in November (before my life went crazy. Ahhhh, those innocent days!) I had a ton of fun doing my annual National Novel Writing Month Q&A thread on the Fantasy forums. There were a lot of good questions, but a few in particular came up over and over again. I was very happy with my answers, but these days you have to dig through 13 pages of forum posts to find them, and no one likes that. I still want to get the info out there, though, because these are clearly the issues that weigh on people's minds! So to preserve the information I put out, I'm going to be doing a series of posts here on my own blog answering these Frequently Asked Questions, starting with the single most popular query:
Do I need a strong social media presence as an author?Agent blogs must really be pushing this, because people were obsessed with this question! I can see the anxiety. I mean, writing a book and trying to sell it is a daunting challenge already, but then be told you have to go out and gather a huge herd followers on Facebook/Twitter/Tumblr/Instagram/Goodreads/etc and maintain a popular blog/website? That's a lot of pressure.
At this point, I feel the need to reiterate that I'm not an agent and I haven't been a new author since 2010, but I do have a little experience with the author side of this whole "publish books" thing, and I'm just going come out and say that I think people are putting too much weight on this as a requirement.
When you're trying to convince someone to take a chance on your book, be it an agent, publisher, or the general reading public, it's nice to be able to say "oh, and I also have 500,000 Twitter followers and get 1000 comments on every blog post." Preexisting popularity is a good sign that you've got something to offer. It makes you seem less like a risk and more like a success bandwagon (with a built in potential audience) everyone wants to ride. But while it's undoubtedly much easier to get people on board if you're already a star, none of this changes the fact that you still have to have something amazing to give them once they get there.
As much as publishing has changed over the last few years, one core fact remains as true as it ever was: the book is everything. An new author with no web presence and an amazing book will beat a new author with a huge social media network and a lousy book every single time. That said, of course, people with huge networks usually have all those followers precisely because they're entertaining and amazing (see The Bloggess and Hyperbole and a Half as two fantastic examples), but the impressive social media reach is the effect, not the cause. They became popular because they created something other people wanted to read, not the other way around.
So to anyone out there wringing their hands over the idea that a giant social media network is somehow vital to being a successful author, don't. I'm not saying you should ignore social media. You need to have a website up with basic information no matter what, and having professional accounts on the major social network sites you enjoy is also a good idea. This is your business front, the professional face you show to the world since writers don't have shop windows. (It's also a good way for potential agents/publishers to see whether or not you're crazy.)
That said, no one expects you to have a huge social media reach yet. They'd love if you did, of course, but it's hardly mandatory. A great blog/Pinterest/Instagram account is always a bonus, even if it's not writing related. So if you already have a social media platform you enjoy, go for it! But if the idea of blogging regularly makes you break out in hives, don't worry about it. No one wants to read a blog where every post is "Sorry I took so long to blog," anyway. To get started as an author, all you need is a clean, sane, professional presence on the web and a great book, and you can guess which of those is the most important.
I hope that helps relieve some anxieties! Again, this is just my opinion, so take it with a grain of salt. Still, I've yet to meet anyone in publishing who would turn away a book they loved because the author failed to meet the required number of Facebook friends. Social media presence can be built later, but a good book is priceless. Never let the hype take your eyes off the prize: writing a book everyone will want to read.
Happy writing!- Rachel
January 3, 2014
2014 - The final Paradox novels and my new series!
Well, after a long and traumatic December, things have finally settled down here at the Aaron/Bach writing factory, which is great because 2014 is shaping up to be a huge year for new stuff!
First up, we've got the final two books of my SF series! After kicking things off with a bang in FORTUNE'S PAWN, Devi Morris's tour of destruction continues in HONOR'S KNIGHT (Feb 25, 2014) and HEAVEN'S QUEEN (April 22, 2014). I can't say how happy I am that Orbit's releasing these books so close together! I wrote the series to be one continuous story, and I absolutely can not wait for you guys to read the thrilling conclusion. Seriously, the final half of HEAVEN'S QUEEN is the most intense thing I've ever written. SO! EXCITED!
In other thrilling news, I'm pleased to announce that FORTUNE'S PAWN will be the Amazon Daily Deal on January 5 (this Sunday!). So if you haven't read the book yourself or if you have, and you know someone who you think would like it, this is your chance to pick up the FP ebook for only $1.99! That's a steal! I'll be making tons of announcements the day of, of course, but this is your official heads up!
But exciting as all of that is, it's not what I'm most excited about. That honor is saved for what comes next...MY NEW SERIES!!
As the youngest dragon in the Heartstriker clan, Julius survives by a simple code: keep quiet, don’t cause trouble, and keep out of the way of bigger dragons. But this meek behavior doesn’t cut it in a large family of ambitious magical predators, and his mother, Bethesda the Heartstriker, has reached the end of her patience.
Now, trapped as a human and banished to the DFZ--a vertical metropolis built on the ruins of Old Detroit--Julius has one month to prove to his mother that he can be a proper, ruthless dragon or lose his true shape forever. But in a city of modern mages and vengeful spirits where dragons are considered monsters to be exterminated, he’s going to need some serious help to survive this test.
He only hopes that humans are more trustworthy than dragons...
Remember back when I was talking about writing a dragon book? Well, here it is: a new near future UF series about dragons and magic and general awesomeness coming in JULY 2014 from, well, me actually! I will be self publishing this new series this July.
"Hold up, Rachel," you might say. "Why the sudden jump to self publishing? Did your editor reject this book or something?"
Not at all! I actually specifically wrote this book for self publication. I decided to go this route for several reasons, many of which you've heard before (wanting more control over the publication process, better royalty rates, getting to pick my own cover, etc.), but the main reason I decided to self publish was a purely Rachel problem. See, I write fast. Like, really fast. And the cold hard truth is that New York simply cannot buy my books as quickly as I can write them.
Self publishing provided me with a ready solution to this conundrum, and I feel that this new series is the perfect candidate for this grand experiment. Nice Dragons Finish Last is very much like my Eli books in tone, but with a modern twist and an expansive new world. I've also invested a great deal of my own time and money into making sure these new books are edited and proofed to the standard of my NY published books.
Long story short, I think you're really going to like it! I'll be posting more details (and sample chapters) as we get closer to the July pub date. As always, thank you thank you thank you for reading, and I hope you're ready for something awesome in 2014!
Yours,
Rachel
First up, we've got the final two books of my SF series! After kicking things off with a bang in FORTUNE'S PAWN, Devi Morris's tour of destruction continues in HONOR'S KNIGHT (Feb 25, 2014) and HEAVEN'S QUEEN (April 22, 2014). I can't say how happy I am that Orbit's releasing these books so close together! I wrote the series to be one continuous story, and I absolutely can not wait for you guys to read the thrilling conclusion. Seriously, the final half of HEAVEN'S QUEEN is the most intense thing I've ever written. SO! EXCITED!
In other thrilling news, I'm pleased to announce that FORTUNE'S PAWN will be the Amazon Daily Deal on January 5 (this Sunday!). So if you haven't read the book yourself or if you have, and you know someone who you think would like it, this is your chance to pick up the FP ebook for only $1.99! That's a steal! I'll be making tons of announcements the day of, of course, but this is your official heads up!
But exciting as all of that is, it's not what I'm most excited about. That honor is saved for what comes next...MY NEW SERIES!!
As the youngest dragon in the Heartstriker clan, Julius survives by a simple code: keep quiet, don’t cause trouble, and keep out of the way of bigger dragons. But this meek behavior doesn’t cut it in a large family of ambitious magical predators, and his mother, Bethesda the Heartstriker, has reached the end of her patience.
Now, trapped as a human and banished to the DFZ--a vertical metropolis built on the ruins of Old Detroit--Julius has one month to prove to his mother that he can be a proper, ruthless dragon or lose his true shape forever. But in a city of modern mages and vengeful spirits where dragons are considered monsters to be exterminated, he’s going to need some serious help to survive this test.
He only hopes that humans are more trustworthy than dragons...
Remember back when I was talking about writing a dragon book? Well, here it is: a new near future UF series about dragons and magic and general awesomeness coming in JULY 2014 from, well, me actually! I will be self publishing this new series this July.
"Hold up, Rachel," you might say. "Why the sudden jump to self publishing? Did your editor reject this book or something?"
Not at all! I actually specifically wrote this book for self publication. I decided to go this route for several reasons, many of which you've heard before (wanting more control over the publication process, better royalty rates, getting to pick my own cover, etc.), but the main reason I decided to self publish was a purely Rachel problem. See, I write fast. Like, really fast. And the cold hard truth is that New York simply cannot buy my books as quickly as I can write them.
Self publishing provided me with a ready solution to this conundrum, and I feel that this new series is the perfect candidate for this grand experiment. Nice Dragons Finish Last is very much like my Eli books in tone, but with a modern twist and an expansive new world. I've also invested a great deal of my own time and money into making sure these new books are edited and proofed to the standard of my NY published books.
Long story short, I think you're really going to like it! I'll be posting more details (and sample chapters) as we get closer to the July pub date. As always, thank you thank you thank you for reading, and I hope you're ready for something awesome in 2014!
Yours,
Rachel
December 18, 2013
Announcements and So Forth
Sorry for the longer than usual radio silence, peeps, but we've had a bit of an emergency here at Casa de Aaron-Bach. My 3-year-old son got an infection in his leg that required racing to Atlanta for surgery and a lengthy stay at the pediatric hospital. As you can see, he was most displeased.
When I write "death glare" in my books, this is what I mean.He's getting better now, but things were very scary there over the weekend. We're hoping to be home before Christmas, but it all depends. I do think I've aged 20 years over the past 5 days, though. Thank goodness we have such a supportive family who lives near by!
Because of all this drama, I haven't gotten to say how amazingly grateful I am to everyone who helped make FORTUNE'S PAWN such a huge success! With the exception of SPIRIT'S END, this has been my best book launch ever, and I owe it all to you guys. Thank you so much to everyone who bought and reviewed the book. You have given me the best Christmas present ever!!
And just a reminder to everyone I left hanging with FORTUNE'S PAWN's admittedly tense ending: the next Paradox novel, HONOR'S KNIGHT, comes out February 25, 2014! That's only 2 months from now! I'll be posting an excerpt and hopefully announcing my new new series next month (yes, another new series! What? I write fast :D).
In the meanwhile, I hope you have a great holiday and that everyone in your family is healthy. Seriously, as my son can tell you, it sucks to be in a hospital at Christmas. Much love to you and yours, and I'll be back at the end of the month to do a year's end wrap up!
Rachel
When I write "death glare" in my books, this is what I mean.He's getting better now, but things were very scary there over the weekend. We're hoping to be home before Christmas, but it all depends. I do think I've aged 20 years over the past 5 days, though. Thank goodness we have such a supportive family who lives near by!Because of all this drama, I haven't gotten to say how amazingly grateful I am to everyone who helped make FORTUNE'S PAWN such a huge success! With the exception of SPIRIT'S END, this has been my best book launch ever, and I owe it all to you guys. Thank you so much to everyone who bought and reviewed the book. You have given me the best Christmas present ever!!
And just a reminder to everyone I left hanging with FORTUNE'S PAWN's admittedly tense ending: the next Paradox novel, HONOR'S KNIGHT, comes out February 25, 2014! That's only 2 months from now! I'll be posting an excerpt and hopefully announcing my new new series next month (yes, another new series! What? I write fast :D).
In the meanwhile, I hope you have a great holiday and that everyone in your family is healthy. Seriously, as my son can tell you, it sucks to be in a hospital at Christmas. Much love to you and yours, and I'll be back at the end of the month to do a year's end wrap up!
Rachel
November 25, 2013
What Project Runway Taught Me About Writing
My husband and I have been on a Project Runway binge lately (we've only just finished season 8 so NO SPOILERS!!!). A few days ago, I joked on Twitter that I was going to do a post on all the lessons I've learned about writing while watching the show. Things like "When someone tells you they hate your book/look, don't argue, just quietly hate them." (Seriously, Gretchen, SHUT UP. You are only digging that hole deeper when you argue with the judges!) or "Make separates and accessorize. The designer/writer who makes the same cocktail dress/book every time always goes home early."
Anyway, the whole thing started as just an excuse to make Project Runway jokes on Twitter, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized I wasn't actually joking...
At its heart, Project Runway is a show about being creative under pressure. It's about putting your work and yourself out there to be judged, often harshly, by a jaded and fickle industry famous for chasing trends. It's about staying true to your artistic vision even when other people hate it, because if you change your style to try and please everyone, all you end up with is boring. It's about balancing art with commercialism, drama with practicality, structure and craftsmanship with time limits, all while staying within the constraints of a tightly defined medium...
Sound like anything else I talk about on this blog?
The parallels between writing and designing are by no means perfect, but the ones that do exist are pointed enough that I feel justified in making an entire post on the subject. Please note that while I won't be referencing specific events in the show, I will be assuming at least a basic understanding of Project Runway and reality TV elimination shows. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, the Wikipedia article on the show has a great breakdown of the basic format. You can also watch several seasons for free at Lifetime. Note that I am not being compensated by Project Runway or Lifetime in any way for this post or these links. I just really freaking love this glorious, redonk, catty circus of a show.
You tell it like it is, Heidi.
Anyway, now that's out of the way, on with the post!
Art vs Commercialism, or, "You Have to be True to Yourself as a Designer"
The more I think about this topic, the more excited I get, and not just because it gives me an excuse to post pictures of Tim Gunn (though that was a definite bonus). See, as I've done my yearly "Ask an Author" thread on the NaNoWriMo forums, one of the themes I run into again and again is this idea of "What should I do to sell my book?" This question manifests in many forms, from the ever popular agent questions to "I notice there's a lot of X out there, can I write Y and still get published?" to questions about how long a novel should be in order to be acceptable to publishers. My answer to these questions is always the same: keep the restrictions in mind, but always stay true to your story and your vision. And every time I say I say this, I hear Tim Gunn in my head saying "you have to trust your instincts and be true to yourself as a designer."I know this all sounds a little cheesy, but work with me here. On Project Runway, the ultimate goal, the Holy Grail, is an outfit that is creative and beautiful, but still wearable. A dress you can't walk in is useless, but a dress that's too plain is boring (which is the kiss of death on Project Runway). The judges always go crazy over the outfit that is wearable, but still interesting. Something that is exciting and sexy and beautiful without being costume-y or overwrought. They want something that will make them go "Wow!" but can still be sold at a department store.
This delicate balance between creativity and commercialism is also at the heart of publishing. Publishers and readers are constantly looking for the next new thing. They want a story that knocks their socks off and shows them something they haven't seen before, but at the same time it can't be too far out there. The book still has to be readable, and it has to be something that can be summed up in a 150 word blurb and make people want to buy it. Bonus points if the story's on trend for what's hot in reading right now, but it can't be too trendy or it will seem old hat before it's even published.
Just as the designers on Project Runway are scrambling to meet this seemingly impossible standard, so are writers struggling to balance their own creative vision with the needs of the modern publishing world. Even people who self publish have to meet reader expectations. Books that are too weird might be extremely creative, but readers and publishers will often pass over them because they're too strange to be taken seriously. Does this mean the book is bad? No, it simply means it's not publishable, which isn't the same thing at all.
It is perfectly possible to have a fantastic, non-commercially viable book just as it is perfectly possible to make a gorgeous dress that is a work of art and yet will never be mass produced or available for sale. But publishing, just like Project Runway, isn't about art. Or, at least, it's not wholly about art. It's not a show for making dresses that will sit on mannequins in a showroom. It's about who can make the best, most interesting clothes that could potentially be sold to real women.
By the same turn, whether you're going through a traditional house or doing everything yourself, commercial publishing is about writing books people want to buy and read. This is why it's so important to know what you want from your writing career. If you want to be an artist first, then commit to that. Accept that your vision comes before sales, and don't get upset when you're not commercially successful. If you want to be a bestseller, same story. You need to commit to your decision and focus on how to make the biggest, most interesting splash while still playing within the tightly defined rules of your genre. And if you want to be both (which is what I and I think the vast majority of authors really want) then you need to commit to learning how to balance art and commercialism.
I'm not saying this is easy. Reliably creating a new, exciting, wonderful stories that are commercially viable is just as difficult as creating beautiful, interesting, new types of clothing that are still wearable and comfortable. If this crap was easy, everyone would win Project Runway, and everyone would be a mega successful author.
Personally, I take great comfort in the fact that it's not easy, because then, when I fail, I know it's not because I'm a failure, but because I've set myself to a nearly impossible task. I also know that I can pick myself and keep working, because unlike Project Runway, I don't have to worry about getting sent home and losing all my dreams forever if I have a bad day. Bonus!
The Vast Effort behind "Effortlessness"
Nina Garcia and her dreaded Death Glare.Not to betray my endless Tim Gunn love, my favorite point of view on Project Runway is actually panel judge and Marie Clare Creative Director, Nina Garcia. Where Michael Kors is the (bitchy) voice of the pro designer and Heidi Klum fills the role of the potential client, Nina is the voice of the Fashion Industrial Complex. She is the one who looks beyond artistry, beyond technical skill, even beyond her own personal taste to see where a design can successfully go. She thinks about how a dress would be styled in an editorial spread, she thinks about hanger appeal, she is constantly asking "Who is your customer? Who wears this dress?"These are all amazingly pertinent, professional questions that a lot of designers don't consider, especially in the beginning of a season. But if we replace the word "dress" with "book" and "designer" with "writer," all her questions are still important. It's very easy as a writer to get caught up in your own vision of the story, and having someone like Nina Garcia haul you up and ask "Who reads this book? How will this book be sold?" can be fantastically eye opening.
If Project Runway was Project Bookshelf, Micheal Kors would be the Tom Clancy style big bestseller, Heidi Klum would be the book buyer, and Nina Garcia would be the acquiring editor. Fortunately for us, most fiction editors are not nearly as mean as she is, at least not to their authors, but it's their job to ask these same sorts of questions. And that's really important, because these are vital issues a lot of authors don't consider, or worse, don't feel they need to consider until the book is done. But just as those designers got a lot better after they started taking Nina's criticism to heart, I think we as authors can't help but improve if we start out our projects thinking about the realities of the markets our books are going to face and incorporate those decisions naturally into our writing process rather than trying to shoehorn our vision into a commercially acceptable shape later (or worse, standing on the runway and arguing with the judges about why they're wrong. No one wins that fight.)
All of that said, however, one of Nina Garcia's favorite words is "effortless." You can always tell when she really likes something because she'll trot out that word, especially if draping is involved. But when she says "effortless," she often qualifies it with the reminder that effortless doesn't mean easy or undesigned. This is because "effortless" in fashion and writing only means the appearance of serendipity. Just like Heidi Klum's ageless makeup, it is an illusion of careless grace that actually requires an enormous amount of care, thought, and work to produce.
Illusion is the key. When all that work is visible, garments (and novels) are criticized for being "overworked" or "overdesigned." Designers (and writers) are told they're "trying too hard" for adding purposeless details like zipper embellishments or piping in their effort to show how much work went into something. Nina's other favorite phrase is "you need to edit." She is constantly telling designers that they need to step back, look critically, and edit their work down to its essence. "Less is more," she says over and over when some designer has stuck 50 bows on his dress and styled his model's hair in a big Lady Gaga style bow bun. "You need to remove, not pile on."
Of all the advice I steal from Project Runway, this is the sentiment that translates most directly. Writers are creative people by definition, and as creative people, it's very easy to get lost in our own work. When you have an amazing idea that doesn't really fit the story but is too cool to leave out, writers will think of all kinds of wacky rationalizations why they don't need to cut the scenes they love. We often defend these decisions by saying we're adding depth and hooks to our novels when, in reality, we're doing the writing equivalent of over designing.
To be fair, a lot of over written books do well, but then, a lot of ugly, over designed clothing gets sold for reasons I can not fathom. But just because some people get away with it is no excuse to go easy on our own editorial eye, because the best books/designs, the ones that endure, are the novels/dresses that appear effortless and natural. The end goal of all work in writing is to appear like no work at all. To give the reader a story that simply flows like it was always meant to be.
In writing as in fashion design, if you do your job right, no one will even notice how hard you worked to do it. They will not see your struggles or your late nights or your botched scenes or how you rewrote the first paragraph 100 times. All they will see is the beautiful, effortless finished product, perfectly presented, and that is as it should be.
"Make It Work"
I couldn't possibly do a Project Runway themed blog post without talking about the show's famous catch phrase, "Make It Work." I might not be working 18 hour days, sewing and creating under enormous pressure just for a chance not to get eliminated from the show that has promised to make all my dreams come true, but it's still powerful mojo. When I am upset, the sound of Tim Gunn saying "Just make it work" is like a Pavlovian trigger for my ability to get up and press on. And that's really, really important, especially in writing, because the moment you start writing on a deadline, Make It Work becomes your mantra.Whether you're writing for yourself or for a publisher, there are times when the book just has to get done, and you don't know how it's going to get there. Maybe you've written yourself into a corner, or maybe you went entirely the wrong direction and now you hate everything. Maybe you're just stumped on a plot point and you have no idea what to do next, but you need to figure it out pronto, because if you don't get this book ready to turn in to your editor in the next month, you're going to throw off your entire publication schedule. Your book will be late, your readers will be mad, and you won't get paid when you thought you were going to be. DOOOOM!
Okay, so maybe I'm exaggerating a little bit, but when you're in the middle of the crisis, the idea that not finishing this book on time will destroy your career feels absolutely real. More than one author has crumbled under the pressure, but funny enough, this is where Project Runway has us beat, I think. Because no matter how stressed those designers get, no matter how crazy the time limit on the challenge, when it comes time to put on the show, they always have something to send down the runway. It may not have been their best look, but in the end, the designer who can pull it out and make it work is the designer who is successful, and the same goes for writers.
I usually shy away from generalizations, but I don't think I'm going out on a limb when I say that every writer has faced a moment where they didn't know how to go forward. When this happens, especially under a deadline, the difference between writers who choke and writers who succeed is their ability to do like Tim Gunn says and make it work.
This isn't just a careless bon mot. The ability to resist panic is not a natural one. We're born panicky, wary animals who seem predisposed to jump to the absolute worst conclusion, and the ability to rise above this, to be calm and creative under pressure and get the job done, is the line that separates the professional from the amateur. Fortunately, it's also a talent that can be learned, and part of Tim's role on Project Runway is to teach this ability to panicked designers who've just realized how screwed they are.
No matter how carefully you plot or how good you are at managing time, if you pursue a career in writing, you will eventually come face to face with the "I'm totally F'ed" moment. When this happens, it is perfectly natural to freak your shit. Once that's over, though, it's your job to calm down and find a way to make it work. Because you're a professional, and professionals always find a way to deliver. The same "never give up" attitude that gets you published keeps you published, and the harder you embrace that truth, the more quickly you recover from disappointment and find your way to make it work, the more successful you will be.
***
One of the most amazing things about being a professional artist, or professional anything, is discovering that the more things change, the more they stay the same. The pressures of being a commercial artist vary wildly from industry to industry, and yet the core remains unchanged. Designers, writers, graphic artists--we all face the same struggle to produce creative yet salable work under pressure while not sacrificing the vision that makes this art our own.
My situation is very, very different from the contestants on Project Runway, and yet I can still learn from their mistakes, and that's a lot more than I ever expected from a cheesy reality show about making high fashion dresses on ridiculous deadlines out of random crap. So thank you, Project Runway. I learned a stupid amount about myself from your ridiculous programming.
I hope you enjoyed this absurdly long blog post about a television program! Thank you for putting up with my waxing rhapsodic over reality TV personalities, and as always, good luck with your writing!
It is, Heidi, it really is.
November 18, 2013
Book signing and Fortune's Pawn update!
Just a quick note to let everyone know I'm going to be part of Barnes & Nobel's Discovery Friday this Friday, Nov 22 at 7:00 at the B&N in Athens, GA!
I'm pretty sure 99.99999999% of ya'll don't live in Georgia, but don't worry. I'm lining up several more events over the next year that will hopefully take me closer to your neck of the woods. That said, if you do happen to be in town this Friday, please do stop by. I would be absolutely delighted to talk to you!
In other news, the launch for FORTUNE'S PAWN has been pretty freaking epic and I could not be more pleased. For everyone who didn't see me losing my shit on Twitter, here's a bunch of links to things that happened over the last 2 weeks!
My biggest reviewer girl crushes, The Book Smugglers, reviewed Fortune's Pawn and really liked it! So much so they actually did a whole list of the Ladies of Military SF for Kirkus (inspired by Devi) that you should totally check out! (I also did a guest post for them about Upsetting the Default for gender in SF!)And then, out of nowhere, Io9 comes out with this "New book Fortune's Pawn is like Firefly told by Lois McMaster Bujold," which I think we can all agree is the best thing ever.Correspondingly, my Goodreads page exploded, which is the icing on the happy author cake! Thank you everyone for making FORTUNE'S PAWN such a huge success!! This series is off to a running start, far better than I ever could have hoped, and I owe it all to you, my readers. Thank you from the bottom of my heart, and I can't wait to get you a sample of HONOR'S KNIGHT! :D
Rachel
I'm pretty sure 99.99999999% of ya'll don't live in Georgia, but don't worry. I'm lining up several more events over the next year that will hopefully take me closer to your neck of the woods. That said, if you do happen to be in town this Friday, please do stop by. I would be absolutely delighted to talk to you!
In other news, the launch for FORTUNE'S PAWN has been pretty freaking epic and I could not be more pleased. For everyone who didn't see me losing my shit on Twitter, here's a bunch of links to things that happened over the last 2 weeks!
My biggest reviewer girl crushes, The Book Smugglers, reviewed Fortune's Pawn and really liked it! So much so they actually did a whole list of the Ladies of Military SF for Kirkus (inspired by Devi) that you should totally check out! (I also did a guest post for them about Upsetting the Default for gender in SF!)And then, out of nowhere, Io9 comes out with this "New book Fortune's Pawn is like Firefly told by Lois McMaster Bujold," which I think we can all agree is the best thing ever.Correspondingly, my Goodreads page exploded, which is the icing on the happy author cake! Thank you everyone for making FORTUNE'S PAWN such a huge success!! This series is off to a running start, far better than I ever could have hoped, and I owe it all to you, my readers. Thank you from the bottom of my heart, and I can't wait to get you a sample of HONOR'S KNIGHT! :D
Rachel
November 5, 2013
It's Launch Day for Fortune's Pawn!
HOORAY! Launch day has finally arrived and Devi is officially live!
You can read the first few chapters here and you can buy the book on Amazon, B&N, or anywhere you like!
Devi is also out in the UK as an ebook for only £2.99!! The print edition doesn't come out until February 6, 2014, but you can get a head start and save some paper (not to mention £) and buy today! And if Amazon isn't your cup of tea, here's a full list of UK ebook retailers!
ETA: I'm also participating in the Book Smuggler's "Conversations in SFF" essay series today! My entry is called "Upsetting the Default" and it's about, what else, gender default in genre. The whole series is very good and I'm delighted to be a part of it. I hope you'll come by and check it out!
Thank you everyone for your support! I couldn't do any of this without you.
I hope you enjoy FORTUNE'S PAWN!
- R
You can read the first few chapters here and you can buy the book on Amazon, B&N, or anywhere you like!
Devi is also out in the UK as an ebook for only £2.99!! The print edition doesn't come out until February 6, 2014, but you can get a head start and save some paper (not to mention £) and buy today! And if Amazon isn't your cup of tea, here's a full list of UK ebook retailers!
ETA: I'm also participating in the Book Smuggler's "Conversations in SFF" essay series today! My entry is called "Upsetting the Default" and it's about, what else, gender default in genre. The whole series is very good and I'm delighted to be a part of it. I hope you'll come by and check it out!
Thank you everyone for your support! I couldn't do any of this without you.
I hope you enjoy FORTUNE'S PAWN!
- R
November 1, 2013
Places I'll be in November!
November is upon us, which means there are only 4 days left until the official release of FORTUNE'S PAWN! Yaaay!
To celebrate, myself, Ann Leckie, author of the new SF epic, Ancillary Justice, and Daniel Abrams, 1/2 of the joint entity known as James S.A. Corey, author of Leviathan Wakes are all doing a Google+ Hangout on Thursday, Nov 7, from 7:30 PM - 8:30 PM EST called " A Night at the Space Opera! "
Folks, this is going to be every bit as epic as the paragraph above makes it sound. I'll be there with my new mic and my new snazzy haircut answering questions live for you! So come take advantage of all the hard work Orbit has done getting three authors in the same place at the same time (herding cats comes to mind). It should be a lot of fun!
ALSO! November means I'm doing my yearly NaNo thread over on the official NaNoWriMo Fantasy forums. So if you have any questions about writing, publishing, or craft, feel free to come by and ask me. Seriously, I love this thread and obsess over it every year, so don't be afraid to post. You are not bothering me and I love to talk to ya'll.
So there we go! With all that going on, there's no way we won't bump into each other. Personally, I can't wait, and since Fortune's Pawn is almost undoubtedly out in the wild by now (bookstores always shelve early), I hope those of you who've already snagged your copy enjoy the read!
Thanks a ton!
- Rachel
To celebrate, myself, Ann Leckie, author of the new SF epic, Ancillary Justice, and Daniel Abrams, 1/2 of the joint entity known as James S.A. Corey, author of Leviathan Wakes are all doing a Google+ Hangout on Thursday, Nov 7, from 7:30 PM - 8:30 PM EST called " A Night at the Space Opera! "
Folks, this is going to be every bit as epic as the paragraph above makes it sound. I'll be there with my new mic and my new snazzy haircut answering questions live for you! So come take advantage of all the hard work Orbit has done getting three authors in the same place at the same time (herding cats comes to mind). It should be a lot of fun!
ALSO! November means I'm doing my yearly NaNo thread over on the official NaNoWriMo Fantasy forums. So if you have any questions about writing, publishing, or craft, feel free to come by and ask me. Seriously, I love this thread and obsess over it every year, so don't be afraid to post. You are not bothering me and I love to talk to ya'll.
So there we go! With all that going on, there's no way we won't bump into each other. Personally, I can't wait, and since Fortune's Pawn is almost undoubtedly out in the wild by now (bookstores always shelve early), I hope those of you who've already snagged your copy enjoy the read!
Thanks a ton!
- Rachel
October 23, 2013
Anatomy of a Hook
This morning, I was thinking about Six Word Stories. You know, the writing exercise inspired by Earnest Hemingway's famous short, "For sale: baby shoes, never worn." After lying dormant for decades, these literary bon mots surged back into popularity a few years ago. Here are a few of my favorites from the Wired Magazine collection:
"Hook" is one of those terms that gets thrown around a lot in writing about writing. You can't even search about "how to get an agent" or "how to write a book" without someone telling you that you have to hook your reader, often from the first line. And for the most part this is true, good advice, but when you use a word, especially a metaphor, so often and so exclusively, its meaning begins to leach away. That in mind, I thought I'd take a few words to stop the dilution cycle and talk about what the hook does mechanically in a story.
What Does the Hook Do?
As its namesake implies, the purpose of a hook is to "catch" a reader's attention. The starting point for all narrative is interest. Even before they've read a word, readers can be attracted by an evocative cover or a clever title, but the real kicker with hooks is that one is never enough.
This is where the fishing metaphor breaks down. Readers are not trout. You can't just have one powerful hook to pull them into the boat and leave it at that. Rather, you're enticing them to climb into the boat of their own accord, first with a good title, then with a good first line, then with good tension, then with plot twists. It's never done, it's always hook hook hook until they've reached the last page, and then you've got to hook them again for the sequel.
I actually wrote about this eternal hooking process in a post called Story Velcro. The basic idea is that if you want your reader staying up all night and turning pages, you have to keep sinking hook after hook into them until they're stuck to your book like velcro. And, of course, with so many hooks, you need to vary it up to make sure the reader doesn't get bored and the hooks become less effective as a result. So, let's take a look at what types of hooks we have to work with.
Because I enjoy dividing things into categories, I like to separate my hooks out into 3 broad classes: Big Ideas, Suspense, and Wit.
Big Idea hooks are exactly what they sound like: big ideas that capture the imagination and then use that thrill, that inspired curiosity, to make you read more. Because of their inherent Wow! nature, Big Idea hooks are often high concept, like the opening line to J. M. Barrie's Peter Pan novel, Peter and Wendy, "All children, except one, grow up." This hook immediately sets out an impossible situation that makes the reader want to know "Why doesn't this child grow up? What's going on?" It also, coincidentally, meets the criteria for a Six Word Story. See how that works?
But the Big Idea hook doesn't have to be highbrow or complicated. It can just as easily be straight and to the point, like the exceedingly simple and highly effective "Snakes on a Plane," which is quite possibly the greatest hook of our generation. (Seriously, they sold the entire movie, millions and millions of dollars, on that line alone. Now THAT's a hook!) The essence, however, is the same. We hear a big idea, and we immediately want to explore it.
Sometimes the Big Idea is the core of the novel as well as the hook, the central spoke that everything else radiates off. Other times, the Big Idea is just one of several cards in the writer's hand. However it's used, though, the Big Idea hook packs the biggest bang for your buck. As Snakes on a Plane showed, people will put up with some pretty awful drek if they love the Big Idea enough. That said, Big Idea hooks rely on execution (i.e., how well you actually explore and use that Big Idea to tell a story) and can overshadow the narrative they're supposed to be pulling the reader into if used incorrectly (see the final two Matrix movies for an example of how Big Ideas aren't everything).
Long story short, the Big Idea is the Dirty Harry gun of hooks, and should be treated accordingly with respect and caution.
But while the Big Idea hook is the most flashy of the three, the Suspense hook is by far the most prevalent and omni-useful. The Suspense Hook is a line that rouses curiosity by implying an interesting situation without giving away the details. Going back to our Six Word Stories, Joss Whedon's "Gown removed carelessly. Head, less so," Howard Chaykin's “I couldn't believe she’d shoot me,” and Brian Herbert's "Epitaph: He shouldn't have fed it," are all examples of Suspense hooks. Each one is a tiny peek into a much larger, more complicated situation, a tantalizing hint of a vastly interesting story, and we as readers can't help but read the next line to find out what happens next.
"What happens next?" is, in fact, the core of what makes the Suspense hook work. You are hooking interest via that most powerful of human drives: nosiness. We always want to know what's going on, what are people doing, even if those people don't actually exist. A good Suspense hook grabs that curiosity and turns it into a page turning engine.
This sort of thing is the bread and butter of the Mystery and Suspense genres, but human curiosity exists everywhere there are people. So long as your reader is human, you can count on enticing them with a leading, suspenseful hook. Keeping them, of course, will require actually making that suspense pay off.
(On a side note, "Weather Report" openings (i.e., "It was a dark and stormy night") also fall into the Suspense category since they are there to create atmosphere, interest, and general What's going on?-ness in the world at large. That said, they tend to do this badly, because unless there's a hurricane bearing down on our heroes, weather is not in itself very interesting. There's a reason these openings get a bad rap, so unless you're dead confident you can knock it out of the park, I'd avoid trying to make weather into a hook.)
Finally, we come to my personal favorite hook: Wit. Wit hooks are exactly that: bits of writing so charming and interesting and well done that we will keep reading just for a chance at more. Jane Austen was a master of the art, and several of her Wit hooks are now well known lines everyone repeats. Even people who haven't read Pride and Prejudice know that "It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife." That's how good her hooks are, they hook themselves out of her book and into our cultural consciousness.
Of all the hooks, Wit is the hardest to pull off. It's a delicate and highly creative art that's insanely easy to mess up and depressingly dependent on individual taste. What one reader considers witty, another might consider overwrought or cutesy. That said, when done right, it can win you readers like nothing else. Even if they're bored stiff with the actual story and characters, people will keep reading so long as the text is packed with enough witty hooks to overcome the rest, which is a claim none of the other hooks can make.
That said, wit is not the same as good writing. Granted, many good writers are witty, but there's so much more to storytelling than being a good wordsmith. Your story should stand on the strength of its characters and narrative, not just because there's enough wit in the language to keep the pages turning. There are plenty of successful authors who survive by wit alone, but I wouldn't call them good writers, and I don't tend to keep their books past the initial burst of witty pleasure (or finish them at all, actually).
Special Addendum: Mixing Hooks
Just like in Food Science where the best recipes rely on mixing fat, salt, and sugar into ever more complex concoctions, the absolute best hooks come when you mix two or more of these hooks together. My absolute favorite novel opening of all time is the beginning of Deanna Raybourn's, Silent in the Grave.
But as with everything in writing, the more you try to do, the better you have to be to pull it off. Mixing hooks is a delicate alchemy, and can easily blow up or fall flat if you don't get it just right. But again, as with everything in writing, the more you know about what you're doing, the easier pulling it off becomes.
Hey girl, this sounds great and all, but who appointed you grand poobah of putting things in boxes? Why do hooks have to be categorized, anyway? You're one of those crazy people who labels everything, aren't you?
... Maybe...
While I confess to a slight obsession with dividing nebulous ideas into workable categories...(What? Nebulous ideas defy examination by their very nature, and without examination, how can we improve? I must catch this cloud and pin it down...FOR SCIENCE!!!)
Ahem, anyway, the point here isn't that these three branches I've outlined above are some kind of Holy Trinity of Hooks. Quite frankly, while I of course hope that you like my categories and find them helpful, I don't really care one way or the other if use mine or make your own or say screw it all together. The point of all this, my dear reader, is to take the washed out, overused, high-school-lit-class-vocab-word hook and turn it into something useful again.
Though hooks are one of the most important concepts of writing, constant flogging has robbed the term of all its meaning, and the only way to get that meaning back is to divide, dig in, and examine. If this article has done nothing but make you pissed at how wrong I am about all this, then it's still done its job, because you were thinking critically about hooks, and that very act pours meaning back into a vital term that deserves so much more than an off the cuff, "everyone knows what this is" comment on a writing blog.
It's hard for me to express how angry I get when I see so many people talking about hooks, and yet saying nothing. "Something that hooks the reader" isn't enough. You can't define a term with itself, especially when that concept is the make or break point for a novel. It doesn't matter how good your book is, if you haven't mastered your hooks, no one is going to get past the first page. If there was one thing I would tell new writers to master above all, it would be the hook, because the hook opens the door to everything else.
Whew, that got long and technical, but still, I trust, enjoyable. If you're a writer, I hope this breakdown of hooks helps you find new, more effective ways to use them in at your own writing. If you're a reader, I hope this insider knowledge helps you realize when you're being tricked into reading a bad book supported by hooks alone (because who has time to read bad books?). Thank you as always for reading, and please feel free to leave your thoughts, good and bad, in the comments!
Yours as always,
Rachel
"Longed for him. Got him. Shit." - Margaret AtwoodPersonally, while I enjoy reading Six Word Stories, I always objected to calling these things stories. With the exception of Margret Atwood's spectacular entry above, none of them have plot or characters. Nothing changes, no tale is told, therefore, I put forth that these short pieces (however clever) aren't stories at all. They're hooks, and when done right, they represent a perfect encapsulation of what makes us want to know more about a story.
"Gown removed carelessly. Head, less so." - Joss Whedon
“I couldn't believe she’d shoot me.” - Howard Chaykin
"Tick tock tick tock tick tick." - Neal Stephenson
"Epitaph: He shouldn't have fed it." - Brian Herbert
"Hook" is one of those terms that gets thrown around a lot in writing about writing. You can't even search about "how to get an agent" or "how to write a book" without someone telling you that you have to hook your reader, often from the first line. And for the most part this is true, good advice, but when you use a word, especially a metaphor, so often and so exclusively, its meaning begins to leach away. That in mind, I thought I'd take a few words to stop the dilution cycle and talk about what the hook does mechanically in a story.
What Does the Hook Do?
As its namesake implies, the purpose of a hook is to "catch" a reader's attention. The starting point for all narrative is interest. Even before they've read a word, readers can be attracted by an evocative cover or a clever title, but the real kicker with hooks is that one is never enough.
This is where the fishing metaphor breaks down. Readers are not trout. You can't just have one powerful hook to pull them into the boat and leave it at that. Rather, you're enticing them to climb into the boat of their own accord, first with a good title, then with a good first line, then with good tension, then with plot twists. It's never done, it's always hook hook hook until they've reached the last page, and then you've got to hook them again for the sequel.
I actually wrote about this eternal hooking process in a post called Story Velcro. The basic idea is that if you want your reader staying up all night and turning pages, you have to keep sinking hook after hook into them until they're stuck to your book like velcro. And, of course, with so many hooks, you need to vary it up to make sure the reader doesn't get bored and the hooks become less effective as a result. So, let's take a look at what types of hooks we have to work with.
Because I enjoy dividing things into categories, I like to separate my hooks out into 3 broad classes: Big Ideas, Suspense, and Wit.
Big Idea hooks are exactly what they sound like: big ideas that capture the imagination and then use that thrill, that inspired curiosity, to make you read more. Because of their inherent Wow! nature, Big Idea hooks are often high concept, like the opening line to J. M. Barrie's Peter Pan novel, Peter and Wendy, "All children, except one, grow up." This hook immediately sets out an impossible situation that makes the reader want to know "Why doesn't this child grow up? What's going on?" It also, coincidentally, meets the criteria for a Six Word Story. See how that works?
But the Big Idea hook doesn't have to be highbrow or complicated. It can just as easily be straight and to the point, like the exceedingly simple and highly effective "Snakes on a Plane," which is quite possibly the greatest hook of our generation. (Seriously, they sold the entire movie, millions and millions of dollars, on that line alone. Now THAT's a hook!) The essence, however, is the same. We hear a big idea, and we immediately want to explore it.
Sometimes the Big Idea is the core of the novel as well as the hook, the central spoke that everything else radiates off. Other times, the Big Idea is just one of several cards in the writer's hand. However it's used, though, the Big Idea hook packs the biggest bang for your buck. As Snakes on a Plane showed, people will put up with some pretty awful drek if they love the Big Idea enough. That said, Big Idea hooks rely on execution (i.e., how well you actually explore and use that Big Idea to tell a story) and can overshadow the narrative they're supposed to be pulling the reader into if used incorrectly (see the final two Matrix movies for an example of how Big Ideas aren't everything).
Long story short, the Big Idea is the Dirty Harry gun of hooks, and should be treated accordingly with respect and caution.
But while the Big Idea hook is the most flashy of the three, the Suspense hook is by far the most prevalent and omni-useful. The Suspense Hook is a line that rouses curiosity by implying an interesting situation without giving away the details. Going back to our Six Word Stories, Joss Whedon's "Gown removed carelessly. Head, less so," Howard Chaykin's “I couldn't believe she’d shoot me,” and Brian Herbert's "Epitaph: He shouldn't have fed it," are all examples of Suspense hooks. Each one is a tiny peek into a much larger, more complicated situation, a tantalizing hint of a vastly interesting story, and we as readers can't help but read the next line to find out what happens next.
"What happens next?" is, in fact, the core of what makes the Suspense hook work. You are hooking interest via that most powerful of human drives: nosiness. We always want to know what's going on, what are people doing, even if those people don't actually exist. A good Suspense hook grabs that curiosity and turns it into a page turning engine.
This sort of thing is the bread and butter of the Mystery and Suspense genres, but human curiosity exists everywhere there are people. So long as your reader is human, you can count on enticing them with a leading, suspenseful hook. Keeping them, of course, will require actually making that suspense pay off.
(On a side note, "Weather Report" openings (i.e., "It was a dark and stormy night") also fall into the Suspense category since they are there to create atmosphere, interest, and general What's going on?-ness in the world at large. That said, they tend to do this badly, because unless there's a hurricane bearing down on our heroes, weather is not in itself very interesting. There's a reason these openings get a bad rap, so unless you're dead confident you can knock it out of the park, I'd avoid trying to make weather into a hook.)
Finally, we come to my personal favorite hook: Wit. Wit hooks are exactly that: bits of writing so charming and interesting and well done that we will keep reading just for a chance at more. Jane Austen was a master of the art, and several of her Wit hooks are now well known lines everyone repeats. Even people who haven't read Pride and Prejudice know that "It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife." That's how good her hooks are, they hook themselves out of her book and into our cultural consciousness.
Of all the hooks, Wit is the hardest to pull off. It's a delicate and highly creative art that's insanely easy to mess up and depressingly dependent on individual taste. What one reader considers witty, another might consider overwrought or cutesy. That said, when done right, it can win you readers like nothing else. Even if they're bored stiff with the actual story and characters, people will keep reading so long as the text is packed with enough witty hooks to overcome the rest, which is a claim none of the other hooks can make.
That said, wit is not the same as good writing. Granted, many good writers are witty, but there's so much more to storytelling than being a good wordsmith. Your story should stand on the strength of its characters and narrative, not just because there's enough wit in the language to keep the pages turning. There are plenty of successful authors who survive by wit alone, but I wouldn't call them good writers, and I don't tend to keep their books past the initial burst of witty pleasure (or finish them at all, actually).
Special Addendum: Mixing Hooks
Just like in Food Science where the best recipes rely on mixing fat, salt, and sugar into ever more complex concoctions, the absolute best hooks come when you mix two or more of these hooks together. My absolute favorite novel opening of all time is the beginning of Deanna Raybourn's, Silent in the Grave.
"To say that I met Nicholas Brisbane over my husband’s dead body is not entirely accurate. Edward, it should be noted, was still twitching upon the floor."This is an absolute perfect mix of suspense and wit. I want to know every single thing about what's going on here, and I am still grinning like an idiot over how charming it is. I bought the omnibus of her first three books on the strength of this line alone. A highly effective hook.
But as with everything in writing, the more you try to do, the better you have to be to pull it off. Mixing hooks is a delicate alchemy, and can easily blow up or fall flat if you don't get it just right. But again, as with everything in writing, the more you know about what you're doing, the easier pulling it off becomes.
Hey girl, this sounds great and all, but who appointed you grand poobah of putting things in boxes? Why do hooks have to be categorized, anyway? You're one of those crazy people who labels everything, aren't you?
... Maybe...
While I confess to a slight obsession with dividing nebulous ideas into workable categories...(What? Nebulous ideas defy examination by their very nature, and without examination, how can we improve? I must catch this cloud and pin it down...FOR SCIENCE!!!)
Ahem, anyway, the point here isn't that these three branches I've outlined above are some kind of Holy Trinity of Hooks. Quite frankly, while I of course hope that you like my categories and find them helpful, I don't really care one way or the other if use mine or make your own or say screw it all together. The point of all this, my dear reader, is to take the washed out, overused, high-school-lit-class-vocab-word hook and turn it into something useful again.
Though hooks are one of the most important concepts of writing, constant flogging has robbed the term of all its meaning, and the only way to get that meaning back is to divide, dig in, and examine. If this article has done nothing but make you pissed at how wrong I am about all this, then it's still done its job, because you were thinking critically about hooks, and that very act pours meaning back into a vital term that deserves so much more than an off the cuff, "everyone knows what this is" comment on a writing blog.
It's hard for me to express how angry I get when I see so many people talking about hooks, and yet saying nothing. "Something that hooks the reader" isn't enough. You can't define a term with itself, especially when that concept is the make or break point for a novel. It doesn't matter how good your book is, if you haven't mastered your hooks, no one is going to get past the first page. If there was one thing I would tell new writers to master above all, it would be the hook, because the hook opens the door to everything else.
Whew, that got long and technical, but still, I trust, enjoyable. If you're a writer, I hope this breakdown of hooks helps you find new, more effective ways to use them in at your own writing. If you're a reader, I hope this insider knowledge helps you realize when you're being tricked into reading a bad book supported by hooks alone (because who has time to read bad books?). Thank you as always for reading, and please feel free to leave your thoughts, good and bad, in the comments!
Yours as always,
Rachel
October 22, 2013
Odds and Ends
Okay, no more contest posts after this, I swear, but I still need to hear from
Jessie
and
Amy
. Come on, ladies, send me your stuff so I can send YOU stuff! Everyone else's books are signed and going in the mail, so you should all be receiving them soon. Thank you everyone for helping me spread the word about FORTUNE'S PAWN!
In other, non-contest-related news, fellow Orbit author Michael J. Sullivan has written an absolutely amazing guest post over at Bookworm Blues about his decision to go back to self publishing and the challenges the publishing industry is facing. If you care about the publishing game at all, it is absolutely worth your time to read through this post. Highly recommended!
In other, non-contest-related news, fellow Orbit author Michael J. Sullivan has written an absolutely amazing guest post over at Bookworm Blues about his decision to go back to self publishing and the challenges the publishing industry is facing. If you care about the publishing game at all, it is absolutely worth your time to read through this post. Highly recommended!
