What ideas are you looking for?
Want to know how I went to my “where” and found an original “what”?
In other words, how did I beat the odds to not only score an incredible agent, but get 70% of the agents I queried to request my full manuscript?
I focused on finding ideas that AREN’T like everyone else’s. You can, too. Listen up.
The question
“Where do you get your ideas?”
It’s the question pro fiction writers hear most often.
For the average reader, the question is simply the most concise way to discover how an author took them to another place, touched them, made them want more. For others, particularly the aspiring writer, the question might be seen as a key to a secret club (or Fort Knox if it’s Stephen King’s, James Patterson’s, or J. K. Rowling’s key).
Ask 10 writers and you’ll get 10 answers ranging from witty, to straight forward, to annoyed. Some are inspired by news stories, some by dreams. Ideas can come from anywhere.
The dutiful aspiring writer will likely try whatever technique their favorite author ascribes to, and if that doesn’t work for them, they’ll move on to the next. That’s great, they (and you) should keep going until they find what works for them. In my opinion, it won’t take most scribblers very long to find their “where”.
But, now that you’ve found this secret idea garden, with all of the possibilities in the universe buried just beneath the surface, another dilemma forms. Another mystery.
“What”, exactly, are you looking for? If you want to get past the gatekeepers (namely literary agents), your “what” needs to stand out. In order to find it, you need to understand the winning ideas in your market/genre. Study the “whats” that have made your favorite authors household names.
I did. Then I did something pretty simple. Once I understood what was selling, I wrote what wasn’t selling.
You wrote what wasn’t…huh?
It’s counter-intuitive, I know. Hear me out.
I took a look at the New York Times Young Adult Bestseller List awhile ago. Here’s what I saw in the Top 10: Twilight, Percy Jackson and Olympians, The Hunger Games.
All great series, the kind of fantasy stuff I wanted to write. Me and a million other writers.
Agents were harping on all the derivative fantasy getting pitched to them, and I knew my chances for recognition were slim if I went down the well traveled road I wanted to take. I needed to find a gap.
What was missing from the bestseller list?
It was obvious. None of the books in the top 10 were based in any sort of contemporary reality.
How could I spin that? How could I still write an epic story about a hero in a fantastic situation facing evil monsters/villains without any true fantasy elements? That’s the sort of “what” I needed to find. Once I had that framework in place, my ideas came naturally.
My novel WHISPERTOWN (repped by Jamie Weiss Chilton of Andrea Brown Literary) was the result. A noir-ish murder mystery, set in contemporary times, with a hero in a fantastic (but not supernatural or post-apocalyptic) situation.
I sought my idea, my “what”, with several specific goals in mind. 1) To be able to write a query that stands out from other queries 2) Get a top-notch agent 3) Get a book deal with a major publisher.
Right now, I’m 2 for 2. WHISPERTOWN will be going out on submission next month so we’ll see how number 3 works out then…
Notice that my goals weren’t to “write what I know” or “write what I love” (though I do love WHISPERTOWN). I’ve always wanted to be able to walk into my local bookstore and see a book with my name on the cover (that wasn’t in the true crime section). If you desire the same thing, it’s time to get past romantic notions about this job. My methods may sound mercenary to you, but even mercenaries have to start somewhere…
This post is long, but there’s a ton to discuss here. If you have specific questions, lay them out in the comments. Otherwise, I’ll continue in a separate post.
Keep Writing!!
I love the directness of this post – you’re very clear that you wanted to get an agent, land a book deal and see your book on shelves. I have no doubt WHISPERTOWN will be there soon!