There are lots of things we as writers learn as the weeks, months, and years go by. I could likely compile a lengthy list of all the things I've learned as a serious writer in the past 6 years, but right now I'm going to explain the biggest, most important thing I've come to learn.
Subjectivity is alive and well.
And oh so real.
And painful.
And at times, heartbreaking.
And painful.
And at times, heartbreaking.
That light-bulb moment when I realized just how painful this thing called subjectivity was, I wanted to throw my computer across the room. (Don't worry, I didn't.) As one of my characters would say, Merriam Webster is a trusty old friend. So I did what she would do and looked it up.
Merriam Webster defines the word subjective like this:
- relating to the way a person experiences things in his or her own mind
- based on feelings or opinions rather than facts
Good old Merriam also defines the word like this:
- lacking in reality or substance
If you combine all of that, my logical explanation of subjectivity is this:
- personal opinions that you do not have to agree with
I'll tell you a short story.
If we jump back two years, before I started querying my latest book, The Heartbeat Hypothesis, I went through at least 4 critique partners and beta readers. (4 is my lucky number, I guess.) Some of my awesome writer friends even read my story more than once. (Thank you, awesome CPs!) Finally, when no one found any big-picture issues with my story, and all my plot holes had been fixed, I decided my precious manuscript was ready to send out into the world.
So I donned my suit of armor and headed into the query trenches.
This is the third book I've queried, and I had this hope that the third time really would be a charm, so I started by entering writing contests. If nothing else, the feedback and friendship would be a mega bonus. But I was picked (during multiple contests -squee!) and it finally felt like I'd gotten somewhere. I thought this was the book that would land me an agent or a publishing deal.
As months passed, a handful of agents requested my full MS. I was literally over the moon, as I'd never received so much agent interest. Jumping around like a crazy person who drank too many energy drinks and ate an entire bag of skittles. (I'm glad no one saw.)
But then...the feedback I received was all over the map.
Some rejections came with praise. Lines like: This is excellent writing. An amazing concept. I loved it. You nailed it! Something about your story really stuck with me.
But they were still rejections.
My least favorite rejections usually included lines like: I really enjoyed it, but I'm just not sure I can sell it. It is an NA book after all, and NA is (as I've come to learn) hard to sell.
And sure, rejections always hurt, but I always assume an agent won't say nice things if they don't mean it - because otherwise they'd be sending me a form rejection. (Right? Right.) So I brushed aside the rejections and reminded myself of all the good things people had said about my writing and continued onward.
Six months into querying, I received an R&R from one agent. Revise and resubmit?? She loves it?? Done! Pretty sure I would've jumped through literal hoops. Her suggested changes were fairly simple, and I didn't disagree with them, so I spent a couple months churning out the edits. I then had someone new beta my MS before I sent it back to the agent. It took one year for said agent to get back to me, and while she loved the story, she felt some of the character reactions were off.
Cue the mega disappointment.
And thoughts like this.
No one else had mentioned anything about my characters, so I took her email for what it was - her subjective opinion - and continued my search for an agent.
A few months later, I got another R&R opportunity. I was asked to make relatively simple edits (let me repeat, relatively). I killed a lot of darlings.
Before sending my newly revised MS, I sent it to yet another new CP. She got back to me in record time. In her notes, she said there were elements she didn't quite believe. The interesting part was that NONE of her suggestions were part of the edits I'd made, and NO ONE had ever mentioned before.
Not going to lie, she kind of broke my heart. It's okay though, because she's still an awesome CP, and I still heart her, and I always want my CPs to be honest. (Besides, her line edits were on point, so her critique was SO HELPFUL.) But in the end I decided to ignore her major concerns. And until someone else says the same thing, I'm not going to make those changes.
And sure, rejections always hurt, but I always assume an agent won't say nice things if they don't mean it - because otherwise they'd be sending me a form rejection. (Right? Right.) So I brushed aside the rejections and reminded myself of all the good things people had said about my writing and continued onward.
Six months into querying, I received an R&R from one agent. Revise and resubmit?? She loves it?? Done! Pretty sure I would've jumped through literal hoops. Her suggested changes were fairly simple, and I didn't disagree with them, so I spent a couple months churning out the edits. I then had someone new beta my MS before I sent it back to the agent. It took one year for said agent to get back to me, and while she loved the story, she felt some of the character reactions were off.
Cue the mega disappointment.
And thoughts like this.
No one else had mentioned anything about my characters, so I took her email for what it was - her subjective opinion - and continued my search for an agent.
A few months later, I got another R&R opportunity. I was asked to make relatively simple edits (let me repeat, relatively). I killed a lot of darlings.
Before sending my newly revised MS, I sent it to yet another new CP. She got back to me in record time. In her notes, she said there were elements she didn't quite believe. The interesting part was that NONE of her suggestions were part of the edits I'd made, and NO ONE had ever mentioned before.
Not going to lie, she kind of broke my heart. It's okay though, because she's still an awesome CP, and I still heart her, and I always want my CPs to be honest. (Besides, her line edits were on point, so her critique was SO HELPFUL.) But in the end I decided to ignore her major concerns. And until someone else says the same thing, I'm not going to make those changes.
I had lengthy conversations about subjectivity with two of my close CPs. We all agreed that the feedback we'd received about our own stories was all over the freaking map.
You should age this down to YA.
You should age this up to adult.
This maybe starts in the wrong place.
I wasn't connected to your characters.
I'm not thrilled with your title, are you attached to it?
I LOVE this.
You made me cry! And laugh!
I LOVE your characters.
This is great, so stop fretting.
What's a writer to do with all those different opinions?
First, let's think about this. You could give your manuscript to someone new a million, bazillion times, and every single person will have something they think you should change. (I'm almost positive this is a fact.) I don't know about you, but I read published books all the time and find things that I would change if I were editing their story. And there are some books I flat out couldn't stand. Even books that are praised far and wide.
There is no perfect story, or poem, or anything.
And if you can't please everyone, you should aim to please yourself. Listen to the feedback you receive, and let it churn in your brain. Scream if you want to. Cry if you have to. But then decide if it's something you agree with. If you don't, then don't do it. It's your brain, your words, your writing. You do you, and the magic of writing will live forever.
And so do you.
(Subjectivity is a cold, cruel bitch, but once you get to know her, she's easier to deal with.)
Title: THE HEARTBEAT HYPOTHESIS
Genre: NA Contemporary Romance
Word Count: 65K words
Query:
Genre: NA Contemporary Romance
Word Count: 65K words
Query:
Audra is only alive because Emily isn't. After the heart transplant, Audra vowed to make good use of her gift. Go to college. Declare a major. Give dating a try. (You know, live.) When Emily’s unfinished bucket list winds up in her hands, she sees it as a perfect way to repay her debt and adopts it as her own.
Completing the list leads to piano lessons from Emily’s brother, Jake, the unobtrusive, art major with a fondness for the color black. Despite the walls he tries to hide behind, he’s easy to like and all too easy to fall for. As their lessons continue, he offers to help with the rest of the list—even the weird ones like pie-smashing and rainbow-chasing. Then Jake admits why he won’t talk about his sister. He doesn't believe the bullshit story about how she died.
Unraveling the mystery behind Emily’s death means collecting secrets and pushing Jake’s trust, but she’s willing to—if it brings him the peace and closure he so desperately needs. But Audra may have overestimated her detective skills, and underestimated her knowledge of Jake and his haunted past. One wrong move could shatter his trust and end up breaking both their hearts.
First 250:
Everyone liked to call me a miracle. I
guess they didn’t understand the concept. If I made it to my destination without
suffering a major breakdown first, that would
be a miracle.
Pete’s Coffee Shop was ten blocks from
campus. I opted for walking, hoping it would clear my head. Big mistake.
Halfway there and my lungs burned like I’d inhaled fire, every breath a
conscious task. Damn, I needed to exercise more. By the time I reached the
coffee shop, I’d be covered in sweat, huffing and puffing, ready to pass out on
the floor for a nap.
That wasn’t the kind of impression I
wanted to give Jake.
I frantically ran through the words I would
say when we met, like an actor before opening night. Needing a distraction from
my racing thoughts, I tried singing in my head, reciting poetry—even sung
through the alphabet.
A light breeze tickled my skin, blew the
scent of freshly-cut grass past my nose, which reminded me of summer camp, watermelons,
and watching my dad ride the lawn mower. The I love the sunshine, the birds, and the smells phase evaporated the
moment I saw the baby-blue and yellow sign for Pete’s Coffee Shop. My quick
pace became a measured shuffle, the soles of my shoes clinging to the pavement.
Holy fucking shit. I couldn’t do
this.
Calm
down. Jake’s a person, the same as any other person, the same way you’re a person.
But he wasn’t just a person—he was my
heart donor’s brother.
So I haven't blogged in a really, really long time.
It turns out that I'm probably a better writer than I am a blogger. But I'm working on it.
And yes, I am trying to bribe you with Supernatural gifs. (I hope it's working.)
In the year and a half since I posted, I've definitely become a better writer. (Hopefully this means good things for my inner-blogger.) I've read a lot of great books. I've read a lot of bad books. I've had thousands of new writerly moments: what did I write? - his gaze met my gaze - such crap. and oh shit...that's kind of brilliant. And honestly, improvement has been more rewarding than I'd ever thought it would be.
The more time that goes by, the more I love the writing community. I'd say we're all pretty lucky to belong to a group of awesomeness. People who love books are my kinda people.
This was my second year attempting NaNoWriMo and the first time I won. (Wee!) So I thought I'd share how I managed to win and what I learned from winning (and not winning last year).
I always attempt to plot my novels before I start. It never works out. I'm basically a pantser who wants desperately to be a plotter. By the time I start writing I know how it will start and how it will end. I usually know a couple major plot points. I'd say this is a common theme among pantsers.
So the first couple days of NaNo went wonderfully. Of course that's mainly because I was stuck in that I love this story and it's going to be awesome mindset. Then I missed a couple days of writing... Just like that, BAM. I'm behind. All is not lost though. There are still 20 days left. I've still got this.
Somewhere around 10k words in when the beginning is over. At least for me it was. I have no idea where I'm going or how I'm going to get from the dreaded middle to the rocking ending. Most of the days I averaged a little over 1000 words--not enough to win. BUT I was determined to win. I didn't win last year so I had to win this year. For 30 days, winning was all that mattered to me.
By the time Thanksgiving rolled around, I had 15k words left. That's a whole lotta words for only a few measly days. There was a lot going on in my head. How am I going to finish? I can't write that many words in one day! Writer's block, I hate you and yes, you do exist. After my mental freakout, something weird happened...
I decided to write 500 words at a time. After 500, I could do something else for a bit. (Mostly, it was playing League of Legends. Killing people virtually helps tremendously sometimes.) Then I'd write 500 more. When I broke it up like that, it didn't feel as daunting. I'd usually end up writing more than 500 because I'd get on a roll or be in the middle of a scene. And before I knew it, I was writing 3000 words a day like it was nothing. I should also mention that I just kept writing. What was that one guy's name? Who cares! It's Jimmy now. Was her hair blond or red? Doesn't matter! That last sentence was not something my MC would ever say. Fix it later! Once I fully embraced that just keep writing mentality, my word count just kept rising.
With 24 hours left and 8k words needed, I sat down and typed like a mad woman with all the coffee in the world.
I finished NaNo with 50,009 words. There are plenty of places I know are full of things like: Add dialogue here. Something fun happens, but I don't know what yet. There are lots of broken and incomplete scenes and crappy dialogue. But there's a completed draft to work with. And that's the whole point right?
Since the end of NaNo, I started rereading my novel. I expected it to be the worst draft I'd ever written. Surprisingly enough, I think it's the best draft I've ever written.
So what I learned from NaNo is this: winner or not, if you want something badly enough, you can make it happen. Maybe it only takes 30 days, maybe it takes 30 weeks. This year I finished NaNo. Last year I didn't, but I ended up finishing it earlier this year. And that one is now a fully edited and polished manuscript which I love dearly. And I'll have more news on that one soon. ;)
Finish your novel already. I know if I can do it, so can you.
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Today is an exciting day - we have FOUR HUGE SURPRISES for
you! Jennifer L. Armentrout's (writing as J. Lynn) FRIGID is set to release on
e-book at the end of July. If you're anything like us, you're probably on pins
and needles and just cannot wait to get your hands on a copy of this book.
FRIGID has already been given the honor of being named a
Romantic Times Top Pick and we're super excited for you to be able to read it
as well!
Well, there's good news! Are you ready for those four
awesome surprises? Here we go!
1. Due to all the excitement
surrounding FRIGID, we have decided to run a special e-book pre-order
promotion. We have worked out a deal with the distributor to release FRIGID a full two weeks early -- on
JULY 15th!!! -- if we meet our e-book pre-order goal. EEEEP! That's right,
if you are like the rest of us and want to be able to read FRIGID in its
entirety before its original release date, all you have to do is PRE-ORDER THE
E-BOOK NOW! What are you waiting for? GO! Pre-order it!
Pre-Order Links: Barnes
& Noble / Amazon
2. Need something to hold you over
until FRIGID releases? Well, starting right now, you can read the first three
chapters of FRIGID for free! Just read below!
3. Can’t get enough of the hot
FRIGID cover? Want to see some behind the scenes photos that are sure to make
you swoon? You’re in luck! Below you can watch a slideshow of all the behind
the scenes photos from the photo shoot! Go on and watch it. We’ll wait, because
there is still one more great surprise!
4. And last but not least, if you
live near Philadelphia, PA, you're in for a very special treat -- Jennifer will
be in Philly in November signing not only FRIGID but also the last book in her
immensely popular COVENANT series, SENTINEL! But that's not all, Adam, the
super hot cover model from FRIGID will be there as well! So, yes, you'll get to
meet Jennifer and Adam! Plus, there will be other great prizes that you
seriously won't want to miss out on (dinner with the author and model,
perhaps?)! Stay tuned for more details to come!
We hope you're as excited as we are!
So now....Go pre-order FRIGID! Go read those chapters! Go watch that slideshow!
And Enjoy!
Manuscript Title: TO SAVE MY LIFE
Author: Lindsey Frydman
Age group: YA
Genre: Sci-Fi Romance
Word count: 61,000
250 word blurb:
Author: Lindsey Frydman
Age group: YA
Genre: Sci-Fi Romance
Word count: 61,000
250 word blurb:
Seventeen-year-old Aiden is the Artificial Intelligence and Robotics Lab’s greatest creation. That is, until an ominous test labels him “too-human-for-a-robot”, and AIR demands his destruction. Desperate to stay alive, he escapes the secured facility outfitted with nothing more than a stolen gun and titanium bones. For the first time in his life, Aiden is on his own.
Soon after breaking out, he runs into Eva, who says her father is the head of AIR—the same man hell-bent on ending Aiden’s existence. AIR is calling it project termination, but Eva thinks murder is a more fitting term. Instead of turning him in, she agrees to help the frantic fugitive. After all, they both know he’s as good as dead without her.
While they hide, Aiden gets a glimpse into what it’s like to be human. Suddenly, dying means more than losing a life filled with tests, security cameras, and steel walls. Now it means losing the girl who’s shown him compassion, affection, and maybe even love. With AIR hunting him, Aiden is faced with a choice: stay with Eva and risk her life, or let her go and give up all the things that make his life worth living.
Query Kombat was an awesome experience. My query and first 250 are a million times better thanks to everyone who gave me feedback. So thank you. :) Thank you a million-trillion times over.
Nickname: Android Adoration
TO SAVE MY LIFE
YA Sci-Fi
61,000 Words
Query:
Seventeen-year-old
Aiden is the Artificial Intelligence and Robotics Lab’s greatest creation. That
is, until an ominous test labels him “too-human-for-a-robot”, and AIR demands
his destruction. Desperate to stay alive, he escapes the secured facility outfitted
with nothing more than a stolen gun and titanium bones. For the first time in
his life, Aiden is on his own.
Soon
after breaking out, he runs into Eva, who says her father is the head of
AIR—the same man hell-bent on ending Aiden’s existence. AIR is calling it project termination, but Eva thinks murder is a more fitting term. Instead
of turning him in, she agrees to help the frantic fugitive. After all, they
both know he’s as good as dead without her.
First 250:
If I failed this test they’d deem
me as faulty, malfunctioned.
Broken.
You’d
think after six-hundred and fifty-seven days of existence, I’d be used to the
tests by now. I couldn’t study for them, let alone understand them.
I
stood outside door three-fifty-eight. The shiny, grey surface looked like all
the rest. It was what lay behind the door that mattered. And when it opened and
I stepped inside, all the resolve I’d been grasping slid away from me.
The
man moving forward was nearly the same height as me. His face was square and he
wore small-framed glasses. I spared a second to wonder why he hadn’t corrected
his imperfect vision with surgery. But then he smiled, reached out his hand,
and I stopped thinking about everything else.
“Hello,
Aiden. I’m Chief Carter.” He shook my hand firmly. “I’ve been waiting a long
time to meet you.”
“I
certainly hope I don’t disappoint you, sir.”
He
chuckled like what I said was funny and his smile widened. There was something
wrong about it though. It was stretched too thin, the ends too crooked. “As do
I. Please, you can call me Carter.”
I
nodded. I’d heard his name before but I’d never heard anyone refer to him as Carter. It seemed too casual for him,
with his off-centered grin and narrowed eyes. He was trying to appear friendly.
Guess I had to give him credit for that.
He
took a seat on the long, black couch. “Please sit.”
