So, the end of my current WIP is in sight and now I need to think of the next project.
It isn't a question of inspiration; I have a dozen ideas floating in my head at anyone moment. But which road to take?
I'm assuming the third agent is going to reject my ms, so I'm working from that supposition. The ms I entered in the GH is ready for submission. However, it's a vampire story and I think the market is saturated with vampire stories. My current WIP is a historical. It would be easy to slide into another historical considering I've done so much research and I'm comfortable with my historical "voice." But...historicals are a tough sell.
Yeah, I know, it is wrong to write for the market, it's a no-win proposition, but I don't want to devote several months to a work and see it go nowhere. I feel like I'm in a spot in my writing where it's not simply writing the book of my heart (oh, I hate that platitude)but thinking of something truly viable for the market. I don't do this for fun anymore. Not that I have lost the joy in writing, I still find satisfaction in putting fingers to keyboard, but I have to consider what I'm writing and if I'm willing to let it molder in my hard drive.
For example, one of my favorite WIP's took place in 1763 in the Piedmont area of Virginia. The daughter of a plantation owner has been possessed by a demon. My heroine was an exorcist. I did so much research, got about 10K words and realized no one would buy it so I dropped it.
I don't mourn it and probably will never resurrect it, but I certainly feel if I want to get published, I have to remain within set parameters.
And so I have to come to a decision. I probably have a couple of weeks, but it is difficult to choose a path when there are so many forbidden and seem so much more interesting.
8 comments:
I think you have to do a mix. Write the story you WANT to tell, but give it enough marketable angles that it'll work. Good luck!
Tough choices. Michelle is right though. If you can find the right mix of what you want to write, and find some marketable angles for it...that's the best of both worlds.
If the writing is great, you can sell anything, especially a book of your heart.
I still think you should do one in Colonial New England. I really think the market is going to shift again and you'll be ready for it when it does. :)
Rene - I feel your pain. I'm not sure I could ever write a contemporary, so I stick with historical and just keep hoping my ms lands on the right desk at the right time when all the stars are aligned.
Do what FEELS right is my only advice. If you force yourself to write something just because, well, I'm not so sure that will work. OTOH, if characters with a saleable story start knocking on your door, I'd sieze the opportunity :-)
Writing the "right" story is hard. With the trends constantly changing how are we as writers suppose to keep up?
I try to write a book I would want to read and throw in aspects I feel are selling. Easier said than done, I know! Best of luck!
Rene, the book of your heart CAN be the book of the market. It means taking the story you want to tell and layering it with enough hooks to make it marketable. This is so hard to explain in a comment, so this is inadequate. I do a whole workshop on this. But it can be done! I struggled with this myself for a long time. Don't turn away from the books you love; find ways to make them marketable.
If you want to finish your story and do something with it, why not epub it yourself?
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