(3) Here are all the things you CAN and CAN'T do as an author!

I initially planned to do my next newsletter topic on how to find good critique partners, and I still plan to in the future, but a conversation has popped up on BookThreads that has had me thinking a lot about a different topic: authorial/creative intent.

This has been an ongoing discussion for a while now, where readers share the things that authors need to stop doing in books or tropes and traits that are overdone. It circles back every so often with a new “no-no” for authors. Some of the most recent ones were prologues and dual POV.

No prologues has been a big point of discussion for years, and the reason is that a lot of people use them the wrong way. So, I get it! However, some books do need a prologue, or a prologue can offer a really interesting entry point into a story. Someone on Threads mentioned “What is this prologue doing that chapter 1 cannot do?” and that was a great way to frame it, and can be a good litmus test on how to frame the opening of your book.

ANYHOO, the more interesting one that got my gears turning was that Dual POV has gotten rid of yearning in romances. I found this particularly funny because I got tons of reviews on Love and Other Conspiracies saying they docked it some stars because it wasn’t dual or it would have been better if it was dual. It was something I tried early on. That book went through so many iterations and set ups to get it to where it ended up, and one of them did include it being dual POV.

And it didn’t work! Granted, there were some hiccups in the set up as well, but bringing Hayden’s voice into Hallie’s story of growth and belief in herself actually felt wrong. Writing in Hayden’s voice has always been really hard for a variety of reasons. First, he’s got a lot of thoughts. A LOT. He’s thinking of all kinds of theories and cryptids and is probably going a mile a minute up there, but he also just always came out really… sad? Of course, yes, he does have clinical depression and is medicated for it, but it did not bring the right tone to the story. So, I cut it and that allowed me to realize that ultimately, Love and Other Conspiracies is really Hallie’s story.

When I set out to write Love at First Sighting, I knew right away that story would not work without Carter’s POV. The mystery was so tied to his personal trauma and backstory that we absolutely needed his headspace there as much as El’s, if not more. For Entities to Lovers, I initially conceived it as dual, and then for a little bit earlier this year, I wondered if it was a book that was truly meant to be single POV. Then, my brilliant editor made some suggestions that changed Ezra’s character where we did absolutely need his voice in the story as well! In the book I hope to be my 4th, much like LAOC, I absolutely did not want the MMCs POV in there. This was about our FMC and her journey and I think having his headspace in there would actually make his yearning stronger because we don’t know what he’s thinking. Let’s let him be tortured and mysterious!!!

This topic actually came to me right around when Taylor Swift’s The Life of A Showgirl album came out a couple months ago. Taylor was incredibly clear from the moment the album was announced that this was a really intentional project she took on. It was super poppy, brought her back to work with Max Martin and Shellback, had specific influences and inspirations. After listening to it, it was extra clear. It’s an album that’s capturing where she is in her life right now, and I can see exactly the type of music she was aiming to experiment with.

Meanwhile, the internet was mostly:

she forgot how to write like folklore

where is jack antonoff when we need him??? even though a year ago, they were all saying she needed to never work with him again

i was hoping for something like ttpd wtf

Again, like with books, those opinions are all valid and people are open to feel however they please, but it was increasingly clear that a lot of people didn’t exactly get that creators set out to do certain things with each project. I cannot speak for every author, but I do know most of us try out a bunch of different things or brainstorm different permutations and approaches to the story before it takes its final shape. Sometimes our editors or CPs get involved and help us find those best ways forward to craft our vision and tell the story as we intended.

I view each book as a new challenge and a new set of problems and questions to conquer. One of the biggest questions I ask myself is: “what do I want this project to be?” or “what do I want this project to do?”, and every single book has a different goal for me. I approach similar things like 1st vs 3rd POV, plotting, whether the romance has a third act breakup or not, and a million other things when creating a story all to determine if they are getting me closer to executing the vision in my head.

When writing Love and Other Conspiracies, I wanted to write something that felt like my favorite episodes of Ghost Adventures or Buzzfeed Unsolved, but with kissing and a strong emotional journey for my MCs. I wanted Hayden and Hallie to be the main characters from day one and while certain aspects of their character changed, I knew it was always going to be THEM.

Love at First Sighting is an interesting one because everything was done with the intention of pulling off the elevator pitch of: “What if a girl saw a UFO, then fell in love with her hot Man in Black?” I wanted to tell a compelling mystery with an old 1940s noir vibe, but set in a modern world. As I conceived the idea further, I asked myself: “If I was someone trying to keep alien secrets quiet, who would be the worst person to end up being assigned to?” The easy answer: someone who puts everything on the internet, so thus, El being an influencer was born.

This is actually one of the most common criticisms of the book. I have so many reviews that are just like “I don’t like influencer FMCs” or “She talks about her job as an influencer a lot”. People are entitled to those opinions and I do not fault them for that, however, I did not make her an influencer because I thought I was being witty or funny and wanted to namedrop brands and be “hip” (lbr, I have never been hip and cool a day in my life). It was fun, don’t get me wrong, but I did not choose that career because I just really wanted to write an influencer character. It just suited my story and concept best, and I love the character El grew into.

I do think that algorithms and how catered social media is to us to be part of the problem. We get recommendations based on all our interests, we talk about a pair of socks we liked and there’s an ad for it on Instagram an hour later. There is so much content out there that you can find something for everyone at the click of a button, but I do think it’s making readers overall be a little harsher when things are not made for them and leads to a lot of broad, sweeping statements that feel a little limiting to me as a creative.

If I followed every rule the internet had for me as an author, I would never write another book again. If I cut every prologue, even if it worked best, someone would say they skipped it because they don’t read prologues. If I only ever wrote in dual POV, someone would say there’s no yearning, but if I only ever did single POV, someone would say that the story was lacking because we didn’t get the MMCs POV. If I only ever wrote in 3rd person, someone would want me to write in 1st, and uno reverse. No author can please every single reader, nor should we try to! No piece of media will ever be universally loved. There’s just no way.

I’m a firm believer that a story will tell you how it needs to be told. It won’t always be easy, and you may have to run through a bunch of different iterations and trials to get it to where it needs to be. These rules and demands placed on us can be a help and guide us in the right direction, but literally every single book is different. Every single book is going to call for a different approach or problem solving maneuver to get it into shape to execute your vision.

Some of the best books I’ve read over the years have been ones that just dared to do the thing, whatever it may be. A great example is Midnight Duet by Jen Comfort (and Jen Comfort as a whole is just a MASTER of having such distinct visions and executing them super well), which dares to ask the question “what if gender swapped Phantom of the Opera with extra horniness and he’s in a German hair metal band” and commits to the bit completely and it fucking rocks. I also think about a lot of horror films that know they’ve got something unique and really dig in. Abigail is a great example. A locked house horror film about a group of criminals who literally kidnap a vampire ballerina. It’s gory, it’s funny, it’s straight up ridiculous but it knows what it is. Weapons was very much the same way.

When we live in such a risk averse entertainment landscape, I have such an appreciation for stories that just commit and charge forth with their agenda and goals so clearly. I wish that publishing would work toward embracing these kinds of stories more, particularly from marginalized authors and new perspectives we do not get very often because I believe ideas and stories that are bold are needed now more than ever.

Ultimately, no one is entitled to like your vision or intention. That’s okay (and if you are an author, stay out of your reviews and do not interact or go fight people!!!!!), but I do sometimes wish readers would be more understanding when it comes to an author’s vision. It’s so lovely to talk to readers who say “I love the way you did this” or “I love how you made this choice” because it feels good when people clearly notice the work you put into doing something a certain way.

Now, before I start coming across like I am preaching auteur theory like a film kid again, let me sign off with this: The Dos and Don’ts of writing a book can be helpful, but if all we ever do is follow them, we would have no books to read because you cannot please everyone. Please believe in your visions and write them because they are so needed.

Now, how about some recent faves?

Reading: I just finished Your Favorite Scary Movie by Ashley Cullins and it was a blast, and an absolute must read for anyone who is a big fan of the Scream series.

Watching: Straight up, we’re just watching a lot of Chopped.

Playing: I just finished Dispatch the other day and that game is AWESOME. Super interesting storytelling, great music, and wildly funny. It’s also a great game for people who are not typical gamers because it’s mostly choice based gameplay with some quick-time events. I just bought myself a Steam Deck so I expect to be playing many more games than I was before because it’s more portable. WOOO go me!