Claiming victory

I believe every author has that moment of “What am I doing? Is what I’m writing any good?” And then if you can get beyond the quality of the work, there is the question of “Does anyone even read this?” I’ve heard it described as playing a solo in front of an empty music hall.

After all, where do authors get feedback? Looking at review sites like Goodreads and Amazon have a catch 22 built in to them. For me, an excellent review can make me feel like I’m on the top of the world. A bad review (and I’ve gotten a few) can make me go into one of those funks as noted in the first paragraph.

Another great analogy I heard from another author is that reviews are like a drug. Once you start seeking them out for the “high” they give, you need to keep getting those great reviews to feel good about being a writer.

Some authors refuse to look at their reviews for those very reasons. I’ve heard of authors that have other people (a spouse, a friend, a family member) look at the reviews and then share only the good ones.

And then there is the financial aspect of being an author. I read somewhere that 99% of the books published sell less than 100 copies. Fact is, a very small percentage of authors make any sort of tangible money from their work.

So, why, oh why, should an author continue to write?

I can only speak for myself, but this is what I’ve come up with: Writing is something I love. It’s a magical experience to discover ideas as I write. It’s a way I can express the creative nature burning inside of me.

There’s more. I have gotten quite a number of reviews, personal emails and even face-to-face comments stating how I was able to connect with the reader—how my work touched them on an emotional level.

As I get older, I realize I most likely have few years ahead of me on the earth than behind me. The books and short stories I’ve written will live on long after I pass away—in a sense, it’s part of my mark I left on this earth.

So, when someone says to me, “You’ve been doing this writing thing for a while now and you’re not rich or a New York Times bestseller—sorry it didn’t work out for you.” Who says it hasn’t?

I believe authors can’t truly know the range or scope of how their books have made an impression on people. It can’t be tracked by sales—I’ve read a number of books several times I’ve bought only once. My wife lends out books to friends that they have enjoyed.

At what point should an author give up? One of my favorite authors, Greg Keyes, had written seven books before I’d discovered him. I hadn’t heard of the Harry Potter books until the fourth one was released. Stephanie Meyer had written five books before I’d heard of the Twilight series. I could go on and on. I fear too many authors give up because their first book (or first few books) weren’t smashing successes in the public’s opinion.

If you love something, truly love it, don’t give up on it. Don’t let others determine if you can claim victory or not.

Write what you want to write

When I get asked for advice from people who want to write books, one of the things I tell them is to write the book they want to write. In other words, don’t write a book based on what they think other people might like. Why? I honestly believe that the book will be more engaging.

There are many times I’ve been asked or told to do things in my life. Often, I’ll do them out of obligation, but if my heart isn’t into it, I don’t really enjoy the experience and I doubt I do the best I can.

Let me use school for an example. I got my BA in Communications—Broadcasting with an emphasis on Production. In other words, I learned how to direct TV shows. However, for my degree, I was forced to take a Public Relations class. This wouldn’t have been that bad except that I had to take it with students who were focusing on Public Relations as their major.

Our final assignment was to do some research for American Express and then present it to a big wig at the company. It was a class assignment that was broken down in several smaller parts. I was grouped with my fellow Broadcasting students and we were given a fairly easy assignment. I’ll admit we put minimal effort into the project—doing only what was required.

On the day of the presentation, it was obvious that the students majoring in Public Relations and gone overboard and did one heck of a presentation. Ours paled in comparison.

During the same semester, I was required to direct several projects—including a dramatic scene and a musical number. For the drama scene, I did a scene from Shakespeare’s Henry IV. It included students studying acting as well as a full blown set I created. It was a boatload of work, but one I really got into.

For the musical number, the BYU symphony was going to be touring the Middle East and they needed a promo music video made. I had to enlist the help of fellow students and others to assemble a TV shoot for the symphony. I only had the symphony for an hour. We had them play a three minute song several times while I had the camera people shoot different shots. It was a ton of work, and a lot more than was required, but I enjoyed it and it showed in the final product.

I’m currently writing the third book in the Bariwon Chronicles. It’s called The Zealous Star. One thing I wanted to avoid in writing a series was to re-writing the first book three times. In other words, have the second and third books be “echoes” of the first book.

I feel I was successful in doing that for The Waxing Moon—it’s quite a bit different than The Hidden Sun. Both are separate, distinct stories.

Mock cover for The Zealous Star

As for The Zealous Star? I can honestly say it is quite a bit different yet again. Part of me worries that people will get upset—that they want clones of the first two books. However, I’m telling a story I want to tell, and in the end, I believe it will be a better book for it.

Don't let the facts ruin a good story

Have you ever told a story in a group setting when friend or spouse or family member interrupted you and said, "That's not the way it happened!" And then they correct some minor part of the story with a "fact" that didn't really matter to the point of the story.

Here's an example: (completely factious of course, to protect the innocent, namely me) I'm at a party with TV co-workers for the holidays. The subject of typos or on air mistakes gets brought up. I start to tell the story of when we aired a tease that said, "Gigantic Monsoons Ahead!" and instead of video of stormy weather, there is video of ladies getting mammograms.

As I'm telling the story, I say, "It was about 6 months ago when we had these tease that said ' Gigantic Monsoons Ahead!' when. . ." I'm interrupted by a co-worker who says, "It couldn't have been 6 months ago because I was on maternity leave and I remember that happening."

"It must have been more like 4 1/2 ago," she continues, "because if you think about it, that would have been closer to monsoon season."

I'll stop the story there. But hopefully you get the point. Was it 6 or 4 1/2 months? Does it really matter to the point of the story? Does anyone else get frustrated when this happens to them?

Of course, this carries over to my work as an author. Since my first two books take place in a made up land during the Medieval time frame, I'm sure historians would go ape do-do over all the words in the book that wouldn't have been used in that time period. (Side note: I did take all the "OK"s out of the book on my own because that is a fairly modern term).

However, does it really matter?

I love the saying that we must "suspend our disbelief to be entertained". To me, that doesn't mean throwing all logic out the window--like having King Arthur use a laser gun to kill Attila the Hun. But rather, ignoring little things here and there that may not be perfect, or even 100% accurate, to enjoy the overall experience.

So the next time you hear someone telling a story, think about the point they are making before you interrupt and say something along the lines of, "It wasn't really a purple dinosaur, as much as it was magenta."