This month's suggested topic is "Marching to a Different Drummer."
This is also a brilliant way to both intrigue and frustrate readers. "I love this series! When's the next book? And that series too! What about that one? Or the one over there?..."
There is good news and good news and good news here though.
The first good news is that you get to try a lot of things. Invent characters, learn things you never thought you'd learn, like the length of the Wright Brothers first powered flight being shorter than the cargo hold of a military C-5 "Galaxy" transport jet. Or that a favorite of Russian bagged snacks is toasted brown bread, rusks, in flavors such as: onion, BBQ, crabmeat, and jellied meat with horseradish. Learned all this and much more for my upcoming Miranda Chase thriller:
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| www.books2read.com/condor |
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| www.mlbuchman.com/miranda-chase |
The world of the firefighting Hotshot crews and the Fire Lookouts high in their lonely towers are only the first two that I've tackled.
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| https://books2read.com/the-complete-hotshots |
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| https://books2read.com/the-complete-fire-lookouts |
So, sure, following a thirty-two, or even just a dozen, drummers has its drawbacks (like making your brain feel like it's going to explode).But I highly recommend it!
Why?
Because it creates so much fun!
M.L.
"Matt" Buchman has 60+ thriller and romance novels, 100 short
stories, and lotsa audiobooks. PW says his thrillers will make “Tom Clancy fans
open to a strong female lead clamor for more.” Booklist declared three novels
“Top-10 Romances of the Year.” A project manager
with a geophysics degree, he’s designed and built houses, flown and jumped out
of planes, solo-sailed a 50’ sailboat, and bicycled solo around the world…and
he quilts. More at: www.mlbuchman.com.
8 comments:
Your last sentence is the clincher, Matt. "Because it creates so much fun!" When writing is no longer fun for the author, it is obvious to the reader. I can tell when the author has snubbed her story to meet a word requirement or added/padded in the opposite direction. I'm not sure why publishing houses and authors think that writing to a total number of words or pages is a good thing. Love those covers!
Matt, loved your post! And the last line is why I have so many series in different genres. I write what I'm loving at the time. I hope that it comes through in the writing. Happy new series to you!
If you weren't having so much fun, you wouldn't be able to put in the long hours each week that you do!
I'm also a genre jumper, because I have wide interests. However, I must admit that not sticking with one does slow down the branding and recognition process. However, your comment about "fun" is so true. There are so many reasons a writer runs out of steam in a series or a genre, and the biggest one is they aren't having fun anymore.
I write because I can't help it, and it's more fun than most of the alternatives!
YES! to all of the above. If the writer finds no joy, it is so screamingly obvious. When I hit one of those it's not only a series ender for me, but often an author ender.
James Clavell (Shogun, etc) was the only author I always bought on first day in hardback no matter how broke I was. Until I hit Whirlwind. I not only lost any interest in him, I actually stopped rereading his books (which I did on occasion) and eventually sold the whole set.
So, as an author, if I feel myself doing that (getting impatient with a series ender perhaps), I stop myself. I reach back and until I uncover the reason I started that series in the first place and the joy I found in initially writing that series. Once I have that firmly back in place, then I can happily plunge back into the final book. (Danger warning: More than once, this has been so effective that I resurrect the series and continue it from there. :) )
Love your enthusiasm in everything you do, Matt. And you knw your limits. I could learn from you :-) Instead plodding through something that is NOT fun (whether reading or writing). it's time to set it aside. FUN is the keyword.
Deb, It's not the easiest trait to self-monitor. We get so used to the "daily grind" that we don't even notice it chipping away at us. Pursue the fun. Pursue it hard. Treat it like a new habit--Focus on finding the fun in everything for 21 days, by the end of 3 weeks, it WILL be a new habit. Incredibly useful trick that I think I need to repeat more often than I do to bolster that skill.
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