Stealing Silverware
I was raised not to follow the rules. I mean, yes, go to school, work hard, ace your tests . . . those rules. But if you can steal all the silverware from the Hyatt's fancy dining room during dinner--and those nifty salt and pepper shakers--do it! (And yes, I did, thanks to dear ol' Dad.)
When I started writing my first novel, I just set out to tell the story of Cassie Hayes in Spanish Disco. It never dawned on me that a tequila-swilling, pill-popping bitch wasn't the kind of heroine to put in a novel. I never heard of chick lit (the genre it eventually got pegged under). Just never even heard the term until my editor used it--and this was after I signed my contract. I thought Chiclet was a gum. I am NOT being facetious. It was a relatively new genre.
When I wrote Knockout, the best friend/secondary character was a porn actress. Her claim to fame was . . . well, I'll refrain from telling you because I want to keep this site PG-13. But yeah, I wrote about her claim to fame. In my real life (no, I'm not going to reveal I once did porn), one of my best friends was a call girl. She did some interesting calls with some big names in the TV industry. But I saw her as . . . her. I didn't "see" a prostitute. I didn't see a call girl. I didn't see a dominatrix. I saw my dear beloved friend. So it never occurred to me that I would send the editorial board at my publisher reaching for their TUMS when I had a porn actress in my book (I was told to make her a topless showgirl as we compromised on the porn issue). Who knew there were "rules" when you told your story?
On another blog, and it's been a couple of months since I saw the discussion so I honestly don't recall whose blog it was, there was talk about keeping religion out of your books--lest you offend someone (I'm not talking about Christian novels, but mainstream or romance fiction). Well, I pray every day--and often several times a day--and have a Buddhist altar in my office. So it never occurred to me that having religious discussions or heroines who sincerely said their prayers was a no-no.
So . . . I guess my point is I often say f*** the rules. Tell a story. Tell YOUR story. And in the end, I honestly (perhaps naively) think that the "truth" or the soul of your book will win out over a cookie cutter story and heroine we've all see before. A "type."
Anyone? Do you all work and play well with others? Don't eat the glue at the arts and crafts table? Or all you all rule breakers? Please share. And you don't even have to raise your hand.
When I started writing my first novel, I just set out to tell the story of Cassie Hayes in Spanish Disco. It never dawned on me that a tequila-swilling, pill-popping bitch wasn't the kind of heroine to put in a novel. I never heard of chick lit (the genre it eventually got pegged under). Just never even heard the term until my editor used it--and this was after I signed my contract. I thought Chiclet was a gum. I am NOT being facetious. It was a relatively new genre.
When I wrote Knockout, the best friend/secondary character was a porn actress. Her claim to fame was . . . well, I'll refrain from telling you because I want to keep this site PG-13. But yeah, I wrote about her claim to fame. In my real life (no, I'm not going to reveal I once did porn), one of my best friends was a call girl. She did some interesting calls with some big names in the TV industry. But I saw her as . . . her. I didn't "see" a prostitute. I didn't see a call girl. I didn't see a dominatrix. I saw my dear beloved friend. So it never occurred to me that I would send the editorial board at my publisher reaching for their TUMS when I had a porn actress in my book (I was told to make her a topless showgirl as we compromised on the porn issue). Who knew there were "rules" when you told your story?
On another blog, and it's been a couple of months since I saw the discussion so I honestly don't recall whose blog it was, there was talk about keeping religion out of your books--lest you offend someone (I'm not talking about Christian novels, but mainstream or romance fiction). Well, I pray every day--and often several times a day--and have a Buddhist altar in my office. So it never occurred to me that having religious discussions or heroines who sincerely said their prayers was a no-no.
So . . . I guess my point is I often say f*** the rules. Tell a story. Tell YOUR story. And in the end, I honestly (perhaps naively) think that the "truth" or the soul of your book will win out over a cookie cutter story and heroine we've all see before. A "type."
Anyone? Do you all work and play well with others? Don't eat the glue at the arts and crafts table? Or all you all rule breakers? Please share. And you don't even have to raise your hand.
posted by Erica Orloff at 6:41 AM
12 Comments:
I agree that every author should write their story the way it should be written, without regard to the so-called "rules" of the genre (my first published book featured a violinist heroine at a time when musicians were taboo). Quite often, the rule-breakers are the books that have the biggest impact, either commercially or literarily.
But your compromise on the porn actress illustrates that we shouldn't be divas about it, either. We should at least be aware of the reasons some "rules" have come about and be willing to make that compromise.
Some things won't work well with the audience they best target. Some things are ahead of their time (a few years ago, I never would have written the threesome I put into my last book *g*). And some things will never fly but must be written anyway, maybe to be changed later, maybe to satisfy only the writer's soul and never see light.
Hi Natalie:
Wise words. I am definitely not a diva, but I also usually just write my book. I think that's how you get a book that resonates--as a writer you are creating YOUR world. as you see it. Without a lot of rules. You can always refine later.
And yeah . . . Freudian Slip is so different . . . and I don't think I could have sold it as my first novel. But like true north, I know it's working.
I've already caught some flak, from an author who writes cozies, about some of the graphic violence and descriptions of its aftermath in my novel. In one scene, my protag physically tortures a suspect.
Yeah. I write hardboiled, and I'm not afraid to break the rules.
But, at least until I become established, I'll probably have to play by whatever rules my editor dictates.
I'm cool with that.
Jude:
That's why, I think, you have to be careful who you get critiques from. Sometimes people don't "get" the genre. It's why sometimes I've seen friends get bad reviews and it's so clear from the tenor of the review that the person simply didn't get it.
Hi Erica,
Great post! I, for one, am glad that you break the rules.
When I first started "getting serious" about my writing -- i.e., finally decided that I wasn't going to treat it as just a hobby anymore -- I attended every writing workshop I could. I read all the how-to books I could get my hands on. The only thing I learned was that the "rules" were meant to be broken.
I'll never forget one workshop featuring a guy who has become very famous recently (will not name names). He said that no writer should ever attempt to write a book with the president in it because the book would have to be "too big" to be believable. Seeing how the book I was working on at that time was about the president's daughter, I was quite upset.
There's an entire industry out there selling the notion that there are "rules" you should follow in your writing if you want to sell. Can you make it easier on yourself by adhering to them all? Maybe. I don't know. But the books that stay with me are the ones that cannot easily be shelved into a specific "genre." I hope that's how people will feel about my books someday.
Louise :)
Maybe it could be summed up as: write the book you are passionate about, and write it really well. If it breaks the rules but is well written they my bend the rules for it, or may ask you for changes. But if it is written well (because you are passionate about it), then it will sell even if it breaks the rules.
I spent most of my life trying to please everyone else, to the point that I never knew what I wanted or liked. I convinced myself (or let others convince me) to do and be what everyone else thought I should be. I gave up on all of the dreams I had as a child to "do something with my life".
When I was in college I finally figured that out and went in the opposite direction, doing everything I could to destroy peoples expectations of me. That went over really well *snicker*.
Now I am rediscovering my childhood dreams and desires through the wonderful job of fatherhood. Children really are the best teachers if we just listen to them :)
That is why I decided to go back to one of my earliest dreams of becoming a writer. Once I learned the lesson that I cannot please anyone else if I don't please myself I found that life was just that much easier and filled with wonderful people and things.
I still play by the rules, but only the rules I choose to play by. But finding a way around a 'rule' without breaking it is by far the most fun :-D
Louise:
I tell people that much of the biz is a crap shoot. No one has a magic formula. I lost all respect for a writer I know when she started shilling for some kind of writing program--pay her money and she'll tell you the "secret formula" to writing a novel--and selling it--in five days. This with like one sale under her belt. No one has the golden ticket to Willie Wonka's place. It's perseverence and luck and timing and talent. I don't think you can follow a formula. Here's to breaking a few rules.
ewoh:
Wow . . . what a really eloquent and beautiful comment. Yes, yes, yes. Isn't there a commercial--shows a bunch of kids saying, "I want to be stuck in middle management" and all these funny things because we DON'T tell our kids to shoot for mediocrity. We tell them shoot for the moon and break some rules while doing it. We just often forget that.
E
You know I loved this...
:) d
PS Thanks for the tips about Gaiman and the blog link!
Dana:
No problem. Enjoy Gaiman.
E
ewoh kinda said what I was gonna follow up with:
The better you are, the more accepting others will be of the "rule-breaking."
But of course, Pirate of the Caribbean says it best:
"They're more like guidelines, than actual rules."
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