Reading Books You Wish You'd Written: Double-Edged Sword?

Last week, in the midst of my massively crazy photo shoot during which I had literally NO time for anything else, I managed to read the entirety of Laini Taylor's Daughter of Smoke and Bone. If you haven't read this book--stop what you're doing. Run, don't walk, to your local bookstore and buy it. Then read it. Right now. I'll wait.

OK, now that you've read it, you know what I mean. BRILLIANT, right? The imagery, like a Dark-Crystal-inspired macabre-beautiful dream from the depths of your subconscious, where everything has a twisted and personal meaning. The sheer creativity of this world and this concept. I just wanted to weep. And I had one single, overriding thought after finishing it, comprised of equal parts envy and awe: I wish I had written this.

Is Writers' Block a Myth?

It’s supposed to be the plague of writers everywhere. Writers’ block—the deadly disease that makes you stare at a blank page for hours, without the slightest clue what to write. I’ve heard of this Writers’ Block. I’ve even known people who claim to have had it. I never get it myself.

Maybe this is because I’m a working writer. As a copywriter, I work under deadlines. I have to get a brochure or an article in to my employer within a certain amount of time, and if I don’t, I don’t get paid. That incentive will kill any budding tendency toward Writers’ Block, in my opinion.

Maybe it’s not fair to say this—I’m sure there are plenty of people for whom Writers’ Block is a debilitating condition. But in my opinion, Writers’ Block is a luxury for amateurs. When your next paycheck is riding on you coming up with something, you come up with something.

Want to Write a Novel? Make it Your Job.

This weekend, I've had several conversations with people who want to write novels. I meet a lot of people like this. Would-be writers who insist they have a novel in them, but who just sit down and nothing comes out. Or they're writing about a page a month because they want everything to be perfect. Or they're just not...sitting down, or writing, at all. I've written three novels and am working on a fourth. All are in various stages of disrepair and chaos--I haven't gotten orderly first drafts out of my process so far. But I do have finished first drafts. I can't say it's a perfect process, but it's better than doing nothing.

So if you've been working on your novel on and off for decades already, or you just haven't sat down and started, here are a few tips for getting a finished first draft.

"Write What You Know": Bad Advice?

I took a lot of creative writing classes in college. And over and over again, in poetry, fiction, and creative nonfic classes, I received the same advice from professors: write what you know. I heard this over and over. If I wrote about something beyond my experience, I was sometimes told I was overreaching—and I heard friends and classmates being told the same thing. Often, I was told to dial it back—to reach within my own experience for ideas.

I think this can be great advice—but also very limiting advice. Too limiting if you take it literally. And it depends on the type of writing you’re doing. For instance, I write both poetry and novels. My novels are all over the place—I write fantasy, romance, historical(ish) fiction, and the occasional YA. None of my storylines are ever based on my own life.

YA Heroines and the Discovery of Sexuality

I love reading YA. And I love YA heroines. I’ve been seeing them much more in the past few years than I have when I was younger, which is really heartening—it means hopefully the publishing industry is becoming more comfortable with publishing YA novels with female protagonists.

I’ve understood that in the past, publishers avoided female protagonists for YA because while girls will read about girls and boys, boys only want to read about boys—so sales are better for male protagonists. Which I think is a huge shame—because I remember as a child (I grew up in the 80’s) absolutely hungering for strong female characters I could relate to. My favorite character in Lord of the Rings was Eowyn—a minor character to many readers, but to me, she was crucial.