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Hello writers! Welcome back to the writtenbyemiley blog!!
In this blog post, I will be using one of my projects titled "Unspoken Words" as an example. If you have been following me for a while you might have a little knowledge about it, but if not let me fill you in with some backstory. I have only been taking writing seriously for about 2 and a half years now. I've always had ideas and dreams, but it wasn't until then I decided that this is what I want to do with my life and I am going to make it into a reality.
Unspoken Words is a young adult literary fiction novel I started almost three years ago (a long time, I know). It was my first real book idea that I genuinely tried to pursue. The first time I sat down to write a "draft" was about two years ago and safe to say that piece of writing could not even be called a draft. It was only about 23,000 words which made it more of a novella and the writing quality was just so poor and not enriching whatsoever. Now you might think I am being too hard on myself, but just bear with me here. One year ago I decided I wanted to write a good solid draft of the novel. This time it went much more smoothly and I was able to get through about two-thirds of the draft. The writing improved tremendously and I felt like I was getting a good understanding of the story. But trust me when I tell you it did not end there.
The main genre of the novel is mystery and I had gotten to a point where it was just about to hit the climax of the story, but something just didn't feel right. I did some self-reflecting and after a few days, it hit me. You see as I was planning out the draft I was constantly thinking about what other people would want to see in this book and what scenes would get people to read it. I wasn't writing my story for me, I was writing it for the market. I realized I really didn't like the story I was writing anymore. Literature and its market has tremendously changed in the past couple of years--and mostly not in good ways. I recently watched Ana's new podcast (@ananeu on YouTube) on a similar topic to this and it felt so validating to see someone having the same opinions as me. I feel as writers we are always thinking about what we should write that is going to be the next bestseller rather than writing the stories we actually want to tell.
I knew from the beginning that I wanted there to be a subplot of romance and that it wasn't going to be a clean cut fluffy romance. I wanted it to be emotional and raw and show the true feelings and fears behind falling in love with someone. I feel that in books nowadays when we see the trope "enemies to lovers" it's always the same story over and over just in different fonts. I don't any of my novels to feel like "I think I've read this before". Now don't misunderstand me, I do not think there is anything wrong with using common tropes to describe your book (if you follow me on Instagram you would know I do that a lot). I think tropes can be very helpful to a writer to help readers understand what type of book they are writing, but I do think tropes can be dangerous. If a writer is depending too much on a trope then it could lead them to feeling limited--almost like being trapped in a box.
I know not every writer feels this way and maybe this sort of thing doesn't bother you at all, but I hope someone could relate to this in one way or another.
Now for a happy ending, I am going to be writing Unspoken Words once again, so don't worry because one day you will be able to have her in your hands (so exciting to think about!!). But I'm going back to page one with the novel and I am going to make sure that I pursue her in the way that I always intended. I am aware that it might not be super appealing to some because of his darker and more complex themes but that is okay! I am pretty active about my writing on my Instagram, so go there for more. As writers, we need to accept that not everyone is going to love our novels, but there are going to be some (maybe even just a handful) that truly appreciate the art of your writing and that is what is going to mean the world to you.
Write the story that YOU want to write.
If you are still reading thank you so much!! Please leave a comment with your thoughts on this topic, I love talking to you all.
sincerely,
emi
I laughed when you said "three years (a long time I know)" gurl I've been writing this darn book for nearly 10 YEARS. 😂Anyways good for you for being determined. Also I read a little about what your book Unspoken Words was and it was the one I found most intriguing. Can't wait to hear more about it 🙂.
I loved this post so much! And yes, it can be discouraging for new authors (like myself) who want to write but feel like their book doesn't suit the current market! I'm so sad with how these fast fashion books are going and how people think its practically literature. You're story was so inspiring, and I'm so excited for Unspoken Words! So glad you decided to show the raw parts of the book rather than make another generic story to appeal for the market. Though its a painful wait, I know the end product, the feeling of you feeling truly proud of your work, will be worth it!