Thursday, December 19, 2013

My advice? Have no expectations.

I want to share about a review I came across a while ago for Going Under where the reader was torn between giving the book four or five stars. She was torn because while (I assume) she enjoyed the writing (or what I would call the technical aspect of the work), she didn’t like the storyline. She admitted her confusion in the review as she had just previously read Good and loved it. And there you have it: She had just recently read Good and loved it.

Apples and oranges, anyone?

She, like many readers, had an idea of what to expect when she opened the pages of Going Under based on a previous work of mine. She expected something like Good. And it’s okay that she had certain expectations. That’s human nature to set a bar for subsequent works by an author we enjoy. It’s also human nature to expect the same thing from that author. Kind of like opening a can of Pringles. You expect that they will be every bit as delicious as that last can you opened. You can count on consistency. You can count on the same great taste.

Well, I’m here to tell you that you shouldn’t count on anything when it comes to my work. Why? Because every single story you read of mine will be different. Vastly different. Many of my early diehard Hoodie fans didn’t take to my second novel, Honeysuckle Love, at all. Why? Because the stories were on opposite sides of the spectrum, and fans were anticipating another Hoodie-esque work. Sorry to disappoint. After Going Under made its debut, there was a lot of pressure to produce another Going Under-type story. But I knew there was no way in hell I was writing another Going Under. That was a special book written at a specific point in my writing career. To try and duplicate it would have been disastrous, not to mention completely offensive to me and my readers. But nevertheless, that was the expectation. And I didn’t meet it.

I wrote a story about a heroine so very opposite of Brooke that one could be seen as the good angel on the right shoulder and the other as the bad angel on the left. The story also introduced themes and tropes that the indie book world doesn’t much like. You could say I swung all the way to the other side with the Too Good series, and I regret none of it. Here’s why: If I had to produce the same story over and over again, I’d most definitely put those stones in my pockets I talked about in an interview. I’d pull a Virginia Woolf in a heartbeat because writing for me is not about pigeon-holing myself in any one kind of genre or one type of story. That's boring to me, and I really don’t like to be bored. Moreover, one of the most liberating aspects of being an independent author is the ability and freedom to write whatever I want!

I like fresh stories. I like a challenge. I like creating newness because life is filled with enough repetition. Life is filled with enough of the mundane. So my stories will always reflect something different. Not one will sound like the other, and I intend to keep it that way. Now, in saying that, I will also add that the one constant you can count on in my work is good writing/editing. I think that throughout my works—as different as they are—their one commonality is my voice. That won’t change, and you can expect to always hear me in my work. But you will never read another Cadence. You will never read another Brooke. You will never read another Anton.

Incidentally, the reviewer settled on four stars. This was her way of reconciling her expectations of Going Under with what she actually got. I chuckle thinking about how she would react to Hoodie. For those of you who’ve read the book, you know what I’m talking about. And yes, as different as my stories are, I wrote them all. I am the same author who posed as an eighteen-year-old black boy from the ghetto, a self-absorbed justice-seeking eighteen-year-old girl, an impressionable and naïve seventeen-year-old who fucked her 28-year-old teacher, a poverty-stricken sixteen-year-old with social anxiety. All of them are me—my stories, my hard work—and they represent a growing library of works that are as different as the cultures of the world. Let’s see if I can keep going.

You just finished reading the Too Good series. And I can make this one promise to you: You can expect nothing like it with my next work.

7 comments:

  1. For this I am thankful. Nothing is worse than reading the same book over and over because authors are too scared to branch out. I LOVE that your work shocked me. I didn't know what I was getting when I read Good ,but I am more than happy with what I read. You keep writing what you feel and we will keep reading it.

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  2. So many people feel the need to write under false names of pseudonyms. Why? I've written middle grade fantasy. I've written YA. I've written NA. I want to write what I want to write and I don't want to write under a different name for one genre and another name for something else. Eff that. I yam what I yam.

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    1. Ha ha! I know what you mean. I think it comes down to expectations and branding in the publishing industry. Trad publishers want to know what they're marketing when they market you, and if you find financial success in a particular genre, they expect that you stick with that genre (more for them than for you since it's all about money). That's what's great about being independent, but at the same time, there's still an expectation from indies that they stick to a particular genre. Not quite sure why. It's not like books are big surprises when they come out. A book description, genre tag, and disclaimer accompany nearly every book, so it's not as though a reader would pick up one of mine and exclaim, "What is this?!" I'm sure there are many writers who feel compelled to write across genres because it's exciting, different, and challenging. And because, well, we've got a lot of stories to tell :)

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  3. I get what the reviewer is going through. I just finished Too Good series and I loved my Cadence. Just read a couple of pages of Going Under and I am like OK...........uh......what? The heroine revealed something about herself, I am like confused because I loved Cadence and for a reader to love a book the has to be a connection with the characters which was instant with Cadence and Mark. Thank you for this advice.I need to separate each book and read each character because it is their story I shouldn't expect another Cadence or Mark. Let me go read Going Under about Brooke and HER story .

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    1. I'm sure many readers have had the "OK.....uh.....what?" reaction if they went from the Too Good series to Going Under. And vice versa, actually. And it's simply because the main characters are sooo different. I completely understand the confusion. Those who read Good after Going Under were confused by a heroine who was naïve and innocent (since Brooke was far from that). Readers who picked up Going Under after reading Good were most likely screaming, "This girl is a total bitch! Where's Cadence??" I get it. And that's why I wrote the post. I want readers to never expect the same types of heroes and heroines from me. Each book will be totally different, and I'm still unsure if that's a wise business move. I understand reader expectations. I understand readers become comfortable with certain authors, enjoy a book or two of theirs, and expect those authors to deliver similar stories for them in the future. I just can't or else I'd have a terrible time writing stories I enjoy. Again, maybe not the wisest business move, but it's vital to my creative process.

      Brooke isn't easy. I didn't write her to be easy. I didn't write her to be likeable. At least not at first. Maybe your mind will change as the story progresses. Perhaps it won't, and that's okay. I've found that some of my favorite books have featured main characters that I absolutely abhor :)

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  4. I don't understand why some people like to put creativity in a box. I've read going under and good. I appreciate them as separate books. I love the fact that you write outside the box and have more than one type of character. Who wants to read the same ish in every book?! I sure don't. I'm a writer myself (nothing published... yet) and I have so many different characters that have absolutely nothing in common. You get 5 stars from me, just off the strength alone that you made no apologies for your writing that's clearly wonderful.

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