by Angela Ruth Strong, @AngelaRStrong
I’ve been trying to think how to best sum up all I know about writing for my final blog here. But the truth is there’s a lot I don’t know. There’s also a lot that agents and editors don’t know.
In my years as an author, I’ve repeatedly heard stories of brilliant books that unexpectedly tanked as well as about books that surprised publishers by becoming bestsellers. Unpredictability makes our industry a dangerous beauty. Writing requires risk.
For this reason, I’ve often resorted to a rule I learned in a self-defense class. It’s a little unpleasant to picture, but it can help your career survive. With that warning in mind, I offer an analogy that keeps me going.
“When you’re physically being attacked, and your best opportunity to get away is to poke your assailant in the eyes, you don’t aim for their eyes with two fingers. You use all five fingers. It increases your chances of connecting.”
In the same way, don’t expect everything you write to find an audience. Yeah, you write with an audience in mind, but it’s their response that publishing professionals can’t predict.
So you also write from your heart. You write words that will make you a better person and better writer even if nobody else ever reads them. You don’t believe they are wasted but part of creating something that will eventually connect.
The benefits of this advice are twofold:
- You’re free to kill your darlings the way Stephen King suggests. Because if something doesn’t work the way you hoped, you can move on. You’ve got lots more opportunities.
- You’re free to try new avenues. Maybe your next idea is the opportunity you’ve been waiting for.
Of course, there are exceptions to every rule. If you’re Luke Skywalker, you put on a helmet that blinds your own eyes and grab a lightsaber. If God’s only given you one story to write and called you to keep working on it for your entire life despite overwhelming opposition, then that’s what you need to do. He’ll be your driving Force.
As for the rest of us, we’ve got dreams to pursue and this one life to pursue them. So don’t hold back. Take chances and give yourself room to fail. Put everything you have into your art.
There will always be a lot we don’t know, so let’s write to find out.
Gemma Bennett is the leading lady of her own life, and her true love is writing screenplays. With her trusty pink notebook in hand, she signs up for the Citizen’s Safety Academy to research her newest blockbuster hope, a rom-com with a police officer as the hero. And the fact that the handsome and heroic Lieutenant Karson Zellner is the one leading the training? Well, who can blame her for wanting to spend evenings with the man she swooned over months ago when he responded to a call at her apartment?
Karson already has his fair share of problems before Gemma shows up, and he’s not exactly a fan of the ditzy blonde who can’t seem to stay out of trouble. The last thing he needs is a damsel in distress to rescue; there are plenty of people in real need of his help. The fact that she seems to think his job makes him a superhero is just one more strike against her. This isn’t a movie, and he feels like the furthest thing from a leading man.
Gemma can’t seem to stop doing the worst, most embarrassing things at just the wrong time. And as time goes on, Gemma begins to realize that the scripts for a perfect screenplay and a real-life happily-ever-after are two very different things. Can she step out of her own way to find the hero her story needs?
Angela Ruth Strong survived breast cancer, works as a flight attendant, and uses her own crazy life experiences as inspiration for the stories she writes. Her books have earned TOP PICK in Romantic Times, been nominated for a Christy, won the Cascade Award, and become Amazon bestsellers. She and her husband also got to play extras when her novel Finding Love in Big Sky was adapted for film. To help aspiring authors, Angela started IDAhope Writers where she lives in Idaho. Visit her at www.angelaruthstrong.com.