October Novel Prep Challenge

“The artist cannot look to others to validate his efforts or his calling. If you don't believe me, ask Van Gogh, who produced masterpiece after masterpiece and never found a buyer in his whole life.”
― Steven Pressfield, The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks & Win Your Inner Creative Battles

Hello Professor Dra-Q-La,

I’d suggest reading the above book. It’s pretty fantastic, and deals extensively with overcoming our inner doubts as artists.

Anyway, when it comes to Hallmark Stories . . . they’re so not my cup of tea. And they aren’t for most writers. A great example is Stephen King, not only is he a niche writer, his stories often end badly for all involved. Many of his books, when taken to Movies, have the endings reworked into that sort of Hallmark everything is okay ending. Trust me, the books end harshly on occasion. And they don’t hold a candle to his short stories. Almost all of those turn out bad for the characters.

Finding a niche is important because almost all readers are niche readers. Once you establish your audience, they’ll be upset if you stray from their niche to try something radically different.

As for Greek Gods, there’s an audience for that. The Percy Jackson novels show there’s a younger audience, and Sherrilyn Kenyon Dark Hunter series (with easily over 20 novels) features the Greek Gods set in our day an age, and how that messes up the lives of us poor mortals. These books mingle romance with mythology, and she doesn’t waste time talking down to her audience.

The point I’m trying to make is to go with your heart. As an artist, it’s vital we tell the truth. Not the hard truth of two plus two, but the truth of our hearts. When we stray from that truth, and start looking and mimicking what’s popular to fit in, we lose ourselves. More importantly, we lose our audience. Readers can spot a faker from a mile away.

My novel is going to mix gay romance with a zombie apocalypse, will my audience be huge? Probably not. But that’s the book in my heart, and it’s the story I plan to tell.