Tell Your Story
Write from the soul, not from some notion what you think the marketplace wants. The market is fickle; the soul is eternal.
Jeffrey A. Carver
I just finished a book at the end of last week. I fought this book hard! I had ideas about where I wanted it to go and it had different plans. This book gave me no end of difficulty! I wanted something funny and light but in the end, after struggling with a few hundred words here and there, I just gave it the reins.
I let the story tell itself and in the end, that’s all I can do. It worries me sometimes because there are some stories that as you write them, you know they will push buttons. As an author you want the story to be easy to read, you want to write it in such a way that readers respond. But sometimes, the story will push buttons, it’ll be dark or emotional and it can only be what it is.
I know the popular refrain is to write to market. But in truth, the business moves slow but trends change fast so unless you’re right there when the trend hits, chances are by the time you finish and get the manuscript subbed, the trend will have moved on.
In the end, all you have is the story trying to get out. Tell that story and you will find readers. Trends are trends, but a well told story can have vampires or secret babies or greek millionaires or none of the above and move mountains.
Tell your story.
