Guest Post: Rachel Dunning on Writing to Please Everyone

Writing to Please Everyone (HINT: It Ain’t Gonna Happen…)

by Rachel Dunning

 

The first book I ever wrote got two reviews almost instantly after publishing:

A scathing, horrible, painful, depressing one-star.

And a glorious, over-the-top, mind-blowing, filled-with-gifs, praising, laudatory five-star.

The one-star was on Amazon.

The five-star was on Goodreads.

By chance, I happened to see the five-star review first. It’s why I’m still writing today.

There are only two truly important skill levels a writer should know about:

Good enough.

Not good enough.

The key word there is enough. Authors try too hard to write “the perfect story.”

It’s never going to happen.

Let’s take some examples (and some of my favorite books), pulled from Goodreads.

 

The Fault in Our Stars, by John Green

One-Star: The characters were “flat,” “annoying,” “unlikable.”

Five-star: “The characters were perfection!”

 

The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins

One-Star: “…the characters were pretty bland”

Five-star: “A sharp and intelligent heroine”

 

The Stand, by Stephen King

One-star: “I expected so much more.”

Five-star: “I’m simply speechless.”

 

Need I go on?

 

There is no Perfect Story

And there never will be. Perfection is the wrong goal entirely in writing, in any art, in anything. There is no such thing as perfection, there is only improvement. Your writing can get better, yes, but it will never be perfect.

There is such a thing as “Good Enough.” It’s not perfect. It’s probably far lower than you think it might be. It depends on the genre, the market, many things. But all you need to do before publishing your first story is be “good enough.” You will get better, but you will never be perfect. So why be afraid?

When I receive an email from someone telling me she’s read every single one of my books, I am always amazed. That someone could actually like my stories that much gives me a smile that lasts me for weeks.

To that person, my stories are perfect.

Writers hold back on hitting that publish button because they’re afraid of failure. We all are.

But you are never going to write the perfect story, so why don’t you just go ahead and write?

I’ve published about seventeen novels in the last two years (I think, more or less.)

I loved every story I wrote at the time.

At the time, it was the best possible story I could write, and I wrote my best at the time, and worked to make the next one better.

But I never stopped publishing.

I always tried to do as good a job as I could at the time.

But when the pitcher threw the ball and I was at bat, I batted.

Some of those books were home runs, others were a strike.

I wrote.

I published.

I am a far better writer today than I was two years ago. I know more about characters now, more about plot, more about what my readers are looking for.

Next year, I’ll be better still.

But I’ll never stop publishing, or writing, or trying to improve.

 

Writers are Fools

We are. We’re the biggest fools in the world. Musicians are smarter, so are painters, Hollywood producers, that girl waiting tables in LA hoping to be cast for that A-budget movie…

We, writers, are the dumbest of them all.

Being a writer is like going out into Times Square not knowing if you put your clothes on that morning. And you only find out when you arrived that you didn’t, because someone takes a photo of you and puts it up on their three-million followers Twitter account…with a one-star review next to the shape of your…ahem.

And what do we do? Hell, we do the stupidest thing anyone could ever do: We get up the next morning, we go on over to Times Square, and we wait for someone to tell us if we put our clothes on.

Here’s the funny thing: Some people will think you have, others won’t.

The stupidest thing any writer could ever do is to write another story.

It’s also the smartest thing she could do.

The Smart Writer

The smart writer writes, and writes, and writes, and writes, always attempting to improve her writing.

Writers are admirable (and this is no self-praise, this is a comment on all writers) because, despite perfection itself being unattainable, we strive for it. We strive to write that story which will make someone weep, smile, and maybe even look at their lives a little differently afterwards. Why? Because we want to.

We are dreamers, and only dreamers could believe in perfection.

So, does perfection exist? No. Should you still aim for it? Yes. And when you get shot from guns, when you get laughed at, when you find yourself butt-naked in the middle of Times Square–take a photo of yourself. Smile. Post it on Facebook.

Because you are a writer. And no one can ever take that away from you except yourself.

If you wrote a book and failed, write another one.

If you’re halfway between writing a book but think it isn’t good enough, publish it anyway.

No one can ever stop you from writing.

They might try, but they really can’t.

Only you can stop yourself.

You will get fans. People will enjoy your books. You will get five-stars. Remember those things when you get down.

Only you can stop yourself. I know I said that already. I’m saying it again.

 

Title: Debt

Author: Rachel Dunning

Content Warning: Not intended for readers under the age of seventeen.
Genres: New-Adult Romance,  Sports Romance

About the Author

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