"Undeclared" Release Week Post 4!
UNDECLARED
RELEASE WEEK POST 4
WHAT TO EXPECT WHEN YOU’RE EXPECTING
When starting a new book, readers have expectations. If it’s a comedy they want to laugh, if it’s horror they want to be scared, if it’s romance they want to swoon. Writers have expectations, too. When we sit down to write comedy, we want it to be funny. We want romance to be romantic, and we want horror to keep you awake at night.
When I write, I normally have a general outline. Nothing too specific, but I divide the story into acts and make sure events are happening at certain times to keep the story on pace. I know the characters, their voices, their hopes and fears, what they want and what they need. And I generally know the plot.
That all went out the window when I started “Undeclared.” I knew a lot of things, when I started. And then slowly but surely, they started to change. They morphed into something different, then back to the original, then into something entirely different all over again. I thought I knew what to expect with this story, but I didn’t. That’s not my writing style, and it kind of drove me crazy. I mean, when I write, it’s not simply because I love writing (though I do). It’s because my end goal is to publish a book. That’s hard to do when the story won’t cooperate.
As I was working I thought of the parallels of my own difficulties writing Kellan’s story, and Kellan’s challenges within the story. Then I thought, that’s so annoying. I don’t want to talk about that. And as the story slowly unfurled itself, it turned into something new. It surprised me, in a nerve-wracking but ultimately delightful way. And that’s the real parallel between Kellan’s story and mine. We went into the experience (college for Kellan, the book for me) thinking we knew what we wanted it to be, and it simply refused to cooperate with our expectations. It put us through the wringer on the way, but once we got to the end and looked back, I reluctantly admit that the torture was worth it.
As a general rule I prefer to be the one telling the story, but this time it was the other way around, and once I stopped expecting this book to be what I wanted it to be, I think it became exactly what it was supposed to be.
RELEASE WEEK POST 4
WHAT TO EXPECT WHEN YOU’RE EXPECTING
When starting a new book, readers have expectations. If it’s a comedy they want to laugh, if it’s horror they want to be scared, if it’s romance they want to swoon. Writers have expectations, too. When we sit down to write comedy, we want it to be funny. We want romance to be romantic, and we want horror to keep you awake at night.
When I write, I normally have a general outline. Nothing too specific, but I divide the story into acts and make sure events are happening at certain times to keep the story on pace. I know the characters, their voices, their hopes and fears, what they want and what they need. And I generally know the plot.
That all went out the window when I started “Undeclared.” I knew a lot of things, when I started. And then slowly but surely, they started to change. They morphed into something different, then back to the original, then into something entirely different all over again. I thought I knew what to expect with this story, but I didn’t. That’s not my writing style, and it kind of drove me crazy. I mean, when I write, it’s not simply because I love writing (though I do). It’s because my end goal is to publish a book. That’s hard to do when the story won’t cooperate.
As I was working I thought of the parallels of my own difficulties writing Kellan’s story, and Kellan’s challenges within the story. Then I thought, that’s so annoying. I don’t want to talk about that. And as the story slowly unfurled itself, it turned into something new. It surprised me, in a nerve-wracking but ultimately delightful way. And that’s the real parallel between Kellan’s story and mine. We went into the experience (college for Kellan, the book for me) thinking we knew what we wanted it to be, and it simply refused to cooperate with our expectations. It put us through the wringer on the way, but once we got to the end and looked back, I reluctantly admit that the torture was worth it.
As a general rule I prefer to be the one telling the story, but this time it was the other way around, and once I stopped expecting this book to be what I wanted it to be, I think it became exactly what it was supposed to be.
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