Analysis of Popularity, pt.2

Now you may be wondering what the first part has to do with a blog centered around writing.  Well, I happen to believe that it’s important to understand why books panned for their quality and content among fellow aspiring and accomplished authors have become so popular.  I think it’s less a stroke of pure luck, the right place at the right time, or catching the time of the rise in e-readers (perhaps bundle that in with right time), as it is connecting with the emotions, concerns, and desires of society.

Erica hopped on the bandwagon of an already popular series and injected into it a way to get what most of us physiologically want in a way that is mentally without guilt.  Adding in wealth, sexual skill, and physical attractiveness doesn’t hurt, but other novels with just those three things haven’t resulted in blockbusters.  The trilogy removing perceived fault from the woman.  This connected with the desire for sex, which already makes many women feel emotionally vulnerable, in such a way that cut out the guilt, and in a way that removed fantastical concern over judgement.

Coming to this conclusion was difficult.  The tendency is to stick to the surface of the matter and move on.  I think if we look at The Hunger Games or even Lord of the Rings, we’ll find some connection to societal emotions, concerns, and desires.

Twilight tapped the desire for love and wealth, and tackled the concern of growing older, looking older, and nearing death, with the desire of freedom from expectation in the sexual realm.  This isn’t to say it wasn’t wanted, but that the pressure to perform was removed.  In our hypocritical society, we are expected to perform while being bad for enjoying it.  Lovely, eh?  Twilight got rid of expectation.  Despite the abusive elements, and yes, they are there plain as day if you take a critical look, the desperation so many women and teens feel on a deep level to be free of certain worries outweighs the concern over Edward’s controlling nature since the chance of finding a vampire to marry is nil anyway.  Between the typical hero character who oozes sexuality and expectation but who is a human gentleman, or one without expectation who is a stalkeriffic jerk, the one easier to handle is the one who doesn’t want anything, the one who couldn’t possibly exist anyway, so why worry about the bad stuff.   Concern, desire, and emotions are otherwise handled.

The Hunger Games is a reflection of a recession-frightened society, where worries over having enough to get by in a country where one in six lives in poverty and over a quarter live in relative poverty and an estimate third can’t afford to get medical care (welcome to America), and so so many of us can understand.  We desire an ability to fight back against corruption that makes obtaining the basics difficult or impossible.  We are scared about our futures, and the fantasy of having some control soothes us.

Lord of the Rings is a surprisingly accurate mirror of WWII that has gone on to become a classic with such a vast world that history and philosophy buffs today enjoy peeling the layers in different ways.  Right there it emotionally connected with people still recovering from war trying to make sense of it all.  The desire to be rid of an evil so great it had the potential to take over the world is similar to Hitler’s threat of world domination.  This book (yes, it was meant to be one book, but paper was too valuable at the time to print as one, and so it was split into three to lower costs, allow recuperation of one part, and then to print the next) allowed people to be apart enough from the reality many still faced clear into later decades with shell-shocked memories, to start healing, and to have the happy ending where the world because peaceful again in a real world where no such thing can ever happen.

To summarize 50 Shades, the nurturing emotion many women have to want to heal is established in Ana’s desire to help Christian, the desire for sex is there, of course, and the concern over judgement, even on one’s own subconscious level (and good grief, being below consciousness, Ana couldn’t have been away of hers enough to personify it), has been lifted by removing Ana’s choice in the matter the majority of the time.

Pick just about any other book that has achieved not only best-seller status, but blockbuster success, and you’ll find these three ways they’ve connected on a deeper psychological level rather than superficially.  Confessions of a Shoppaholic and The Devil Wears Prada are fun fluff that flared up and went poof.  Bridget Jones has lasted a good bit longer by tapping into the concerns, desires, and emotions of its intended audience.

On the one hand, I feel posting all of this is risky.  I don’t want to seem like I’m criticizing authors or their work, something you’re not supposed to do “if you want a job in this town.”  But on the other, I’ve had quite a few people encourage me to post this, and I think it will help writers to start delving deeper into WHY something is popular or why readers aren’t connecting.  This month’s Writer’s Digest features an article by Donald Maass from the agency bearing his name on why some published books don’t sell.  He gives reasons such as timid voices and untested characters, and the advice can help make a better-written story.  He even mentions 50 Shade in an off-handed, almost snarky way.

We need to go further than just technical skill and really try to understand the psychology behind why readers are willing to overlook bad writing and otherwise unacceptable situations to embrace certain books.  We need to look at what society is so desperate for at any given moment, and start listening to readers instead of refusing to scratch the shiny surface with a wave of the hand and a nonchalant remark about just hoping to write the right thing at the right time.

But what do I know?  I’m just some aspiring author with a manuscript I hope to get agented and sold who decided at the beginning to take the novel approach (ha ha ha…) to appeal to what I am seeing readers say they want rather than to appeal to agents.  Yes, agents are readers too, but between agent-readers with more refined tastes and mainstream readers, I’m going to appeal to the mainstream, and this means doing my best to understand my intended audience.

Without consciously realizing it, I set out to address these three areas.  Well, I did consciously address the desire I’ve observed for heroines who don’t wait around to be rescued.  But I inadvertently tackled the concern of abusive situations being portrayed as normal and desirable, while also handling the emotions many survivors have about feeling out of control and having a need to take it back, something many who haven’t lived it can understand in other areas.  I then set it in such a way that Juliette reclaiming control of her life from her ex won’t legally bloody her hands, so to speak.  I suppose time will tell if I’m correct in my presumptions.  Until then, I will continue to study blockbusters and listening to what readers want.  Starting Friday I will begin featuring interviews with non-author readers, those without aspirations of publication to prevent bias in favor of their own work.

Analysis of Popularity, pt.1

Warning: This post contains potentially triggering content for survivors of abuse

For a few weeks I’ve made an active effort to crack the code and understand why certain books have become so popular while other, better-written books languish on the shelves never to be read by the masses.  This isn’t quite as easy as it seems.  “Oh, people like vampires/sex/etc.” isn’t a good enough answer.  Plenty of books have the main elements of popular novels, and do have superior writing.  So it’s something else.

Adding to my challenge is my paradoxical desire to both break out of the mainstream while desiring to like what the mainstream finds enjoyable.  I really wanted to like Twilight, and I wanted to like 50 Shades.  In fact, when I first saw a preview for Twilight, I was stoked to see a movie I, at that time, didn’t know was based on a book.  Then I heard about 50 Shade and didn’t realize it was based on a series that had disappointed me on so many levels.  Sex!  Smut!  I’ve been open about my enjoyment of that stuff since long before it was acceptable.  I was let down even more, and on a profound level because of the undeniable abuse.  Remove the sex scenes (which really do not accurately portray BDSM (read about it from someone who currently lives the lifestyle), and you’ve still got an abuser.

While we wouldn’t, or at least shouldn’t, accept this treatment toward our sisters and friends, women by the millions are loving these books, some to the point of leaving their husbands or even conceiving babies they otherwise wouldn’t to be a member of “the club.”  Sadly I’ve heard about some women currently in abusive relationships questioned on their motives for wanting to leave because they “have their own Christian/Edward.”  Many more are holding out for such guys.

Why?  What is going on?

It hit me last week, and I’ve been mulling it over.  Many first-world countries still treat women and sex as a “lay back and think of England” situation.  Men who love lots of sex are “studs.”  Women are “whores.”  Men who use condoms are “smart.”  Women who want birth control are branded as “sluts.”

When a woman is forced into sex, only the cruelest people will say she deserved it or is to blame. Ana usually did not consent willingly.  On a few occasions, yes, she did.  But on many others, she felt backed into a corner, and on a couple instances, said NO, but Christian forged ahead.  Because she always had the most mind-shattering orgasms, a lot of people see this as okay.  It’s not abuse because she enjoyed it.  

Let’s think about that for a moment.  Real-life rape victims can orgasm.  While we like to think of the mind as the biggest sex organ, the truth is that orgasms, like male erections, are physiological responses to stimuli.  Ask any teenage boy who’s had a spontaneous locker room orgasm if he wanted it to happen.  Gay or straight, boys don’t ask for it any more than rape victims ask to lubricate or orgasm.  The message that an orgasm means it wasn’t really rape adds to the emotions victims have who’ve been through this.

However most of the time, Ana was afraid to say no, at times scared he’d hurt her, and at other times he got her drunk, knowing full well how alcohol affects her.  She’d become convinced she’s hurt him by not doing what he wanted, helped along by his saying as much and guilting her terribly for their handful of days apart just a couple weeks after first meeting.  

Now take a society that says women’s enjoyment of sex is still somehow bad, while claiming our bodies are for the sexual enjoyment of men (see: the disgust against breastfeeding and how quickly men judge women and demote them or elevate based on sex appeal), and we’ve got a situation ripe for the desire of any method of guilt-free enjoyment.   If a woman is forced, she’s not responsible.  If birth control was sprung on her and she’s too surprised to say no, she’s not a slut.  If she orgasms, she gets the benefit of that without guilt.  By denying the abuse and coercion, it doesn’t feel wrong.

This is symptomatic of something wrong with our society.  I realize there are many people out there who have religious viewpoints, and I’m not going to sit here debating that.  If you want a theological debate, contact me privately.  I am well-versed in the five main texts.  But that is not for here. However many religious women from many faiths have been loving these books too.

When we are told that we are wrong for enjoying something so much that our subconscious way to be guilt-free is to fantasize about our choices being taken away, we’ve got a big problem.

But more than that, we’ve got a situation that, when put in the written form, appeals to women.  I’ve discussed this with, at this point, about four dozen women.  Of course this isn’t a huge cross-section of society, but I’ve expanded beyond my personal friends and have included both lovers and haters, and have noticed a pattern.  This isn’t absolute, but those who are more sexually open have tended to hate the books, and those who are less open have tended to love them.  Again, this isn’t absolute.  One of the biggest haters I know has religious guilt issues.  

An average, ordinary housewife wrote a fanfic and inserted her fantasy in a way she found palatable.  I do not, for even a single second, think Erica set out to write a book about abuse and call it romantic, and I’m not sure she knows how to handle so many people claiming she purposefully set out to endorse abuse.  Not intending something doesn’t absolve someone of responsibility for what their actions ultimately cause, and I believe her fault is in continuing to encourage this behavior.  Perhaps easier than to turn around and admit problems, I suppose, or the allure of money, or maybe even a contractual obligation with the first movie coming out summer 2014.  I’ve had a few interactions with her on Twitter, and she’s been kind, even encouraging my writing.  this makes it harder for me to still be disappointed, but I have to be honest.

As far as male fans, what straight guy can resist the fantasy of being a hot young billionaire desired by every woman and who happens to have magical skills in the sack and the control that testosterone tends to cause a desire for?

 

“‘Ghost Stories’: The ubiquitous anti-feminism of young adult romances”

“Teenage girls are being told that romantic desirability is the proof of, and the reward for, individual worth.” – The NewStatesman

 

Sacred Blood was carefully crafted to be the polar opposite of this. I want to scream the ending because it is the exact opposite of typical romances, to the point I can’t even think of it as a romance, but don’t want to spoil it.

I strongly agree that young women today have been facing an onslaught of books defining the female value by how much she is desired by men and how much they can stroke her ego. Right from the first chapter of SB, Juliette establishes herself as a smart little spitfire who knows it, and while she’s in a bad relationship to start, she doesn’t need her intelligence validated by others.

I also agree with the insta-love. What once upon a time was called infatuation, feelings of love for someone you really don’t know, is now treated as the real thing. Most romance-type books I can think of are guilty of. Physical attraction isn’t the same as love. Real love is built on common interests and experiences together, truly knowing each other. Want to guess how I carried out the relationship between Juliette and Tristan?

Oh goodness, yes, the best friend who is there to serve as the ugly bridesmaid. Old trope, and a tiring one. Libby is, of course, the opposite, a true friend who isn’t some rarely-seen background character. She stays in the trilogy until the end. I tire of the prop-friends who are replaced by the love interest and his family. In my opinion, this is lazy writing. Letting her drop off the planet would be a lot easier, but what kind of relationship mandates friends from before the love interest cease to exist? Bella dropped her non-paranormal friends. As Tristan tells Juliette, she’s not Bella.

I am thoroughly convinced I have a story people want, though agents are snapping up more of the same, tired story lines where girl falls in love in a second, girl gets ego stroked, girl gets into a love triangle with a couple hunky guys, girl often completely misunderstands the point of literature despite claiming to be a lover of it, girl is weak, girl gets rescued, girl gets won like a prize by the nicer guy. Guess how many of these happen in Sacred Blood.

Our young women readers really do need something different to read.  Why are they presented with the same entree over and over?  I will be replacing my writer interviews with reader interviews.  So many other blogs already cover writers.  We need to start listening to the readers and learning if they really want to the same dish all the time, of if they’re simply choosing the most palatable among what they are presented.  I am sensing a desire for a shift from more of the same to something more empowering, a longing for stories where women are strong and aren’t demoted to eye candy.  Already our world stripped a murdered woman of her law degree, her other accomplishments, and even her name, reducing her to nothing more than a nameless sexy girlfriend of her well-known boyfriend.  I am purposefully withholding her name.  If you don’t know it, you’re helping make my point.

The pendulum needs to start swinging back toward the center.  I don’t think we need to sort of stories where the woman trample all over the men and devalue then any more than we need more books where women are worth only as much as they are desired by men.  How about respect and each person being valued for their own uniqueness?

All this talk of hetero love in books full of the same cookie-cutter people…  Well, not all my characters are straight, nor chaste, nor Christian, nor white, and it’s no big deal.  As writers we can give readers better than more of what they’re already read and get more creative.  Stop with the “there are only X number of unique story lines anyway” excuses and start figuring out how to make a story your own.  We want readers to pay for us, right?  Let’s give them what they deserve while helping send a better message.

My brain is on strike

Everyone says vampires and werewolves are overdone, and by that, I mean five people I know, and the rest of the world.

So I decided to make some changes to my manuscript.  The beings that the two sides are are different.  I won’t reveal how in this entry.  But they are beings that not many people have heard of because they are not common in popular literature.  One of them was mentioned in a Dresden Files book, and the other has no pop culture references.  This wasn’t as easy as a find-replace.  If only!  I had to change explanations in my manuscript and heavily revise a chapter on their history.

This took about a week, and I don’t mean a few hours here and there.  I spent sixteen to eighteen hours a day combing each chapter.  One night I got a single hour of sleep, and not once did I get more than three.  My eyes are tired, my hands are tired, and my brain wants to ooze out my ears and worm away in a gelatinous mass to avoid more abuse.

On the upside, the abuse I’m putting myself through for this has resulted in me taking vitamins again.

Whew!

Losses averted!!  Been rough, but doing fine now.  I’m back in the saddle, gentlepeople of the world!

Saying good-bye

We’re losing a couple family members, so I’m focused on that.  I’m trying to force myself into enough denial to get back to my normal posts, Tweets, etc..

The death of originality?

For all the talk about wanting something new, something that hasn’t been done before, a different take on a common subject matter, something unique, we’ve had remake after remake, fanfic after fanfic using the same story lines.  On Tuesday another fanfic is being released by a major publisher, and many reviews so far have been about how similar it is to the source material.

I posted to Facebook about this earlier, and received many virtual eye-rolls.  Many of my friends detest another fanfic that is similar, and in face they and the source form a neat little triangle.  So the knee-jerk reaction was to dislike.

Then I found a book set to be released at the end of this month that is a retelling (hard to call something a fanfic when it wasn’t posted online first) of a classic book by a well-known author you might have heard of named Jane Austen.  I posted the hook to Facebook with the question of what book that sounded like.  Instantly people recognized the book even without me telling them it’s set in the same time period as the original.  But then the unexpected happened.

I found a lot of people to be ambivalent about the rewriting of books.  Who cares if it’s all been done before anyway, even if it’s a writer sitting there with the source material and paraphrasing?  One friend of mine, someone who self-published, doesn’t care if someone does this even with her book!!

So off to a forum went I, and the vote was unanimous.  What’s wrong with copying someone else’s book as long as you change the names and a few details?

Have we really come to this?  Are we really supposed to accept rewritings and embrace stealing stories?  That is how I see this.  I can give a pass to writing a book that ends up being similar to one you didn’t know about.  But I have a hard time giving a pass to purposefully copying the storyline of another work.  I’m surprised at how many other readers and writers don’t have any issue with this all of a sudden.

I can’t abide by this, at least seriously.  At best I may be able to write something sarcastically.  But I don’t have it in me to copy someone else’s work and then try to claim it’s my own.  I’ll do my part to keep originality alive.

Utter exhaustion

I am working myself to the bone and I’m sure it’s affecting my health at this point.  I’ve had seven pots of coffee to get through today, and I still passed out on the couch with my computer in my lap.  I’ve got a new pot that just finished.  Until I get an agent, I will continue to try to find ways to improve my manuscript while working on the draft of the last in the trilogy.  

To be absolutely clear: Sacred Blood was planned as the first in a trilogy, but it does stand alone.  If a miracle happens and SB gets picked up and a publisher wants more, I will have the other two already drafted out.  I’ve got a good reason for not wanting to worry about that later.  It’s really easy to tell when a writer tries to fit new events with old ones.  In Twilight, the werewolves being werewolves stopped fitting in with the plot, and the way to force them to fit was to suddenly have them no longer be werewolves and only Edward knew.  This made no sense.  So with my series, I’m working potential problems out now and making edits if needed so that the books fit seamlessly together.  My concern isn’t to polish up these other two books, but to get them rough drafted.

Between the sequels, constantly checking my first manuscript to figure out how I can make it better, trying to figure out how I can come up with $3k or more for a good copyeditor (Neil Gaiman told me directly to skip the copyeditor and just attend a six-week class he’s teaching 1,000 miles from where I will at a cost of $5,000 which would also mean I’d have to stop working for that time), on top of a full-time job that right now includes a commission for a gown that will be worn at an official Oscars cast party next weekend, my volunteer work, and dealing with regular life, I am breaking down.  Tired in every way.  Physically, mentally, even emotionally.

My only escapes are my ballet classes and Pandora, the New Kids on the Block and Boyz II Men stations.  Usually the latter it in the car on the way to ballet.  On Monday I hurt myself though because some of my worries started creeping in.  So I pushed myself too far and pulled a muscle.  The pain felt good since it distracted me.  I came home, showered for an hour, and went back to writing.  

Despite being midnight now, my agenda tonight includes finishing a new chapter for Sacred Heart (the third book), going over one of my Sacred Blood chapters with a finer-toothed comb than the last time I went over it, and sewing about 2,000 beads to a gown (thank goodness I can do a couple at a time).

Don’t misunderstand me.  I love what I do.  I don’t love the exhaustion that’s been coming with it.  If the world didn’t need a strong female lead who gets herself out of abuse instead of embracing a bad situation until she gives in and convinces herself it’s wonderful, then I wouldn’t feel pressure to not waste time.  I’ve got several dystopian ideas rattling around in my cranium, but when I write those, they can sit a while.  Since an early edition of my manuscript resulted on one beta in a bad relationship getting out and being happy now, I can’t help but hope that if this book can be published and get into people’s hands that it might help others who need it in addition to having a fun, and at times tense, adventure.  When it comes to helping, I’m all about sooner rather than later.

Well, that coffee isn’t drinking itself, so back to the grindstone.

Writer’s Wednesday: An Interview with Kevin Cunningham

Today I bring you my friend Kevin Cunningham, author of To Hell With Fate.  I’ve known this guy for years, almost exactly five of them now.  Wow, how time flies!  He’s also been helping me with editing.  I think he could aim pro!  He’s multi-talented in writing and tech, and an all-around great guy and friend.  Now if only he wasn’t a San Francisco Giants fan. 🙂

Read for a brutally honest and eye-opening interview with Kevin.  Especially catching is how he met the editor-in-chief who approved To Hell With Fate for publication.

What inspired you to start writing?
The truth is, writing always found me rather than me finding it. In high school, I had to stop doing athletics my freshman year due to my grandmother getting sick, and my mother had to take care of her, thus I lost my ride to school. The only afterschool activity with someone from my particular suburb was journalism, and thus started a four-year journalistic career. When I was in college, the only elective that was available to me was screenwriting, which led me to a cinema degree. When my photography business was going under in Los Angeles, and I felt homesick, I was asked to write stories about my hometown San Francisco Giants. That started a decade as a sportswriter, and my current side gig of writing a webcomic about the Giants. About the only writing I ever was inspired to do on my own was poetry in high school, and I don’t remember why I got started. I just kept doing it because the girls liked it.

I hope none of it ever sees the light of day.

Who have been your biggest inspirations?
I wish I could say writers like Neil Gaiman, Aaron Sorkin and Mark Twain, filmmakers like Steven Spielberg and David Fincher, musicians like Aerosmith, and so forth. But usually not. Well, maybe musicians like Meat Loaf. The real inspirations in my life are the people in my life. More of the things I’ve written have been based on the friends I’ve had and the strangers I’ve run into. If I feel inspired by the masters who’ve I read and admire, I usually just end up feeling inadequate next to them.

When did you decide you wanted to be a writer?
I’m not sure I really want to be a writer. Being a writer is tough. It’s thankless. Everyone thinks they can do. Quite a few of them actually can. There’s a competition in this business that I’m sure Johannes Gutenberg never envisioned. And it’s an industry in such flux and weakness these days, both in terms of fiction and journalism. You’d be crazy to want to be a writer.

But I write. Some people think I’m good at it. And I can’t stop myself from doing it. So, I’m a writer.

Where do you do most of your creative imagining?
The shower. And driving. There aren’t many places in the world where it’s impossible (or damn dangerous) to pull out a pen and paper or an iPhone to jot down notes, but damn if God or The Universe (whichever you care to believe in) hasn’t found a way to find the few places where I can’t to try and strike me with inspiration.

Which of your character creations have been your favorite, and why?
Oof, that’s a tough question. I think my favorite character is one from a screenplay I wrote, and who is going to be in a future novel/short story series of mine, a guy named Albion. He’s a fairy, but the kind who looks human, is old, keeps a neatly trimmed grey beard, and likes to pontificate, especially when no one is interested. Yep, this will be my entry into the world of fantasy. But he lives in the human world, and has for a long time, and unlike every other character, human or non-human that lives in the human world in a fantasy story…he likes us humans. He views us with the wonder we view all these fantasy realms we have created. Even in his old man crankiness and one liner whips at his contemporaries, he still loves where he chose to go. It’ll be a unique character in the world of fantasy.

Um…I probably shouldn’t have told you that. Please wait until after I write it to shamelessly steal that character bio, okay?

Which of your character creations has been your least favorite, and why?
That’s a tough question…do you mean least favorite to write? Or my least favorite human being in terms of his (or her) world? There’s a character I’m writing right now for an adult-oriented comedy who’s just a douchebag. I mean, seriously. He’s one of those dudes you see at bars, who’s drinking himself into a good time, and he does it all the time, and he just doesn’t give a shit about if you are. And you can tell what part of his good time he’s in by how he’s treating you. I hate guys like that. Part of it’s my personal self-esteem issues. Girls always like those good-time guys, it seems. I really hold animosity for how those guys act to me, and how they act to the girls I often like (or even those I don’t care about). But they are people, too. And I have to write this guy sympathetically.

Someone’ll tell me it’s healthy and character building. But seriously, fuck those good-time guys.

Tell us about your first and most recent manuscripts.  What have you
learned in the time between them?
That’s a tough question, since I’m only working on my second novel, so I’ll cheat. I wrote my first screenplay in my aforementioned college class. I was supposed to have 20 pages for my final. I had 140 pages complete draft.

It sucked. Oh my God, it was bad, right down to the title “Kids Got It Easy.” Keep in mind, I was a 19-year old punk writing this.

I kept trying to write a story that was different, something unique that no one had ever heard before. And in the end, I was writing the same ol’ teenage tripe that would go straight to VHS. (Yes, I’m old, deal with it. At least I didn’t say BetaMax.) It wasn’t because I was a dumb kid with no experience in life. It was in how I thought other people wanted to read a story. I was wrong.

The beauty in life are the things we see everyday. They’re the same things we all see, at different times, in different ways. And a lot of the time, people don’t want to see different, or unique. They want to see, and read, the things that we all have been through. It’s how we connect, and feel connected to others. It’s the same reason why we hear the same damn pop songs every five years. There’s nothing new there, it’s how each generation bookmarks our own lives. What’s Lady Gaga to our generation was Britney to another generation, and was Nirvana to my generation, and was the Beach Boys to another, and Elvis to another. But every generation deserves their own bookmarks.

That stupid “Kids Got It Easy” script was the heart of my first novel, “To Hell With Fate.” You couldn’t recognize it if you just read the two of them. It evolved a few times inbetween, and I wrote other things; screenplays, short stories…all sorts of stuff. But I guess I really wanted to tell that story.

What have you learned that would have been helpful to know when you
write your first manuscript?
Frankly, it’s the technical stuff. Writing in this day and age, it’s changed from pen and paper. We all use the computer, and it’s made things a hell of a lot easier…and a hell of a lot tougher. In the process of writing my first manuscript, I learned a lot about the things that writers need to know about things technically: How to use styles, how Headers and Footers work, the difference between a Page Break and a Section Break. (Keep in mind, I use Apple’s Pages software rather than Word, and it’s a hell of a lot easier than Word’s mishmash of commands.) Too often, the technical stuff would get in the way of my writing, and that’s a bad thing.

Every writer I have met struggles with stuff like that. Even those that think they know have a lot to learn. And when it comes down to it, knowing your technical side will make any writer look better to whomever they’re sending to, whether it be a peer, a mentor, an editor or a publisher. If you know what’s what about how to format, it’ll make others think of you as a better writer. It’s like saying that a painter who puts a better frame on his work will be regarded as a better artist, but it’s the way of the world.

What piece of writing advice has bent the most useful?
Fuck people. Because, well, fuck ‘em. They suck. They’ll tear you down. They’ll hate your work. Or worse, they’ll not care about it. They won’t read it. They sure as hell aren’t going to buy it. And you want them to like it?

Figure out who you’re writing for. Tell your story to one solitary person. Or for one solitary person, even if they won’t get to hear it. Maybe it’s your father or mother. Maybe your kid. Or your niece. Or that neighbor kid. Or your best friend. Or that cute girl that you just can’t find a way to talk to. Or somebody you saw on the news. Or maybe it’s even yourself, you greedy bastard. But whomever it is, figure that out. That person is all that matters. Make them happy. Screw everyone else, because it ain’t for them. You make that one person happy, and you’ve done your job.

And, ironically, that’s what’ll make other people like what you’ve done.

I can’t remember who gave me that advice. But it’s the best damn advice I’ve ever heard.

What was the query process like for you?
Oh, don’t make me answer this. I kind of cheated. At my real job, the one that pays, I was talking about that first manuscript to a coworker about how excited I was to be getting it down, and how good it was coming out. And another coworker was sitting right next to me. When I’m done, I see that other guy sitting there looking at me slack-jawed. I’m like, “What?”

He says, “You know what I do when I’m not here, right?”

I shake my head.

“I’m editor-in-chief of an ebook publishing company,” he said.

No shit.

That didn’t get my book published. He doesn’t indiscriminately publish co-workers, and has even turned down his boss, the lady who is in control of whether or not he can get a promotion at the paying job. My book had to be good. But, he was willing to read it, no query letter needed. I lucked out.

Also, it taught me that editors-in-chief of publishing companies outside of the big few also have to have ‘real’ jobs. Remember that. We all do it because we love writing and stories, not because of the awesome salaries. So don’t sell them a story. They might have to work sales in their ‘real’ jobs. They’ll know a sell-job. Make them want to love your story, instead.

And any other questions you’d want to ask yourself. :)
Q: Seriously, what the hell was I think when I did that thing with that girl?
A: Damned if I know. And this very non-specific, generic question applies to a lot of things I’ve done with a lot of girls. From high school to college to last New Year’s Eve. Sometimes it’s been great at the time. Sometimes it wasn’t. But I keep feeling the need to apologize for all that stupid crap of done, because usually I’m not thinking, I’m just doing.

When I write, it’s usually because I get to think about it, think about what the right thing to do was, and pretend like that’s what I did.

Yeah, I admit it, the girls are my favorite inspiration. Still are, for all the good it’s done me.

Q: Vampires or Werewolves?
A: You’re doing it wrong.

Q: 50 Shade of Grey?
A: ..Is what you get in a low-quality gif of a black and white film. Also, it’s giving disgusting, perverted and quite possibly twisted people a bad name. Seriously, that’s not cool.

Q: If you weren’t writing, what would you be doing?
A: Living the things in life that would make me want to write about them.

Q: Are you single?
A: I hope that if you’re asking this, you’re beautiful, creative, just the right amount of crazy, think that 50 Shades of Grey is a farce rather than a bucket list, believe that there are happy mediums in a world of polarizations, can find a way to admire Hilary Clinton, Condoleeza Rice and Sasha Grey, and think that I’m more funny than lame, but are okay with the fact that I’m lame, too.  (Note from Alys: Ladies, I can honestly tell you Kevin is a sweetheart.  He’s the kind of guy who is open, honest, respectful gentleman.  Any lady who ends up with him is going to be a lucky one.)

Q: Are you serious?
A: Am I supposed to be?

To Hell With Fate is currently available through the publisher’s website for 30% off!  To Hell With Fate at Untreed Reads  (I, Alys, have one of the few, if not only, print version, which makes me quite thrilled and honored.)

Problematic Things We Love

To quote one of Jenny Trout’s Twitter posts, “Okay, here is a challenge to all the bloggers on the #50ShadesIsAbuse tag: this week, blog about something you love that is problematic.”

We can love things while acknowledging the inherent problems. If you’re up for the challenge and to take a hard look at something you love, blog about it and enter the direct link here. Also share this link in your own post about it.

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