The One Where I Write About the Journey, Not the Destination
My first one, AS YOU TURN AWAY, is a messy book. My main character goes through some shit, and my hero tries to lend her the strength to breathe and stand back up, until she can learn the strength and confidence she needs to stand on her own beside him. Quinn is grieving, and not very well. She’s torn between what she wants, and what she’s been told. She wants to chase happiness, but she’s terrified of it. With AS YOU TURN AWAY, I didn’t think about how Quinn would be perceived. It never occurred to me that because she was messy and real and scared and scarred, she’d be labeled unlikable. But knowing what I know now, I still wouldn’t change her. She is who she is. And my book is what it is. Not neat. Not perfect, and definitely some “first book pitfalls,” but it’s close to my heart.
Confession: Sometimes I write transparent books.
My second book, ONE SONG AWAY, is fairly transparent – and I don’t think that’s a bad thing. It’s a HEA. It’s fun and it’s a bit dramatic at points. It’s also romantic, and has messages about sex positivity, bisexuality, positive friendships, and family. Plus there’s lots of kissing and a scene at a club that gets pretty SA-WOONY. I didn’t write this book to try to be mysterious. I didn’t want people to have to unravel if Sophie-Claire and Jake will end up together.
I wrote ONE SONG AWAY to make people smile. To make people laugh even. To make them cheer for my heroine, and okay, maybe want to shake her at times. I wrote ONE SONG AWAY to make people remember that time in their lives when they started a new chapter with nothing more than their confidence and the clothes on their back. I wrote ONE SONG AWAY to tell all the rebels out there that you can say “Fuck normalcy,” and be whoever you WANT to be. I wrote this book to make it known that all guys in fiction don’t have to be assholes mistakenly labeled alpha males. Some are beta males. Some are neither. Some are a mix.
If you’re looking for a book that fronts, this one isn’t for you.
Confession: 99% of the time for me, it’s far less about the destination and more about the journey.
Truth: I had more fun with ONE SONG AWAY *because* I wasn’t focused on the destination. Same for AS YOU TURN AWAY. Hopefully the same with every book I write. Before I start a book, I usually know who the main characters are, and if they’ll get a HEA or not. And while eventually I do plan to write a few books with a HFN or maybe not either of those things, ultimately for me it’s the in-between that matters.
I love the little moments where we see characters reconnect, or an unexpected friendship form. I write in a category where a HEA is not only possible, it’s probable. There’s a lot of transparency in New Adult, but there’s also too much importance placed on the destination. My life is about the journey, and I want the fiction I write to represent that. Once I let go of preconceived notions like focusing on the destination, I had a ton of fun with my first two books, and I want to follow that model, if you can even call it that, with my next books.
Confession: I’m a pantser.
Obviously not totally, because when I start a book, I always know who my main characters are, the central conflict, and the setting. Other than that…my books happen organically. I get ideas from everywhere, but I just let them happen. Occasionally I will outline, but I almost always find that outline later and snort because yeah, it changed. Again, just like above, I have loads more fun that way.
What are YOUR writing confessions? I’d love to hear one or two of them, and see if we match up on any of them. Do you worry more about the journey or about the destination when reading?
