Where Do You Get Your Ideas?

Did you know you can't copyright an idea? Anything you write is automatically copyrighted to you, but only the words themselves, the ideas can never be copyrighted. However that's okay, because no matter how original you think you are, the idea has been done before.

In fact, that's the great thing about ideas, plots, tropes and clichés. They're free for everyone. The other good thing about them is that if people love a plot, trope or setting, they're probably going to go looking for other books, movies, TV shows and comics with that same idea.

Writers get asked where they get their ideas all the time. The true answer is probably something like: 'Cultural narrative is a concept and tradition that has been passed down since mankind developed language'. We don't 'get' ideas. We 'reuse' ideas.

I think when writers tell would-be writers to read widely, this is one of the important reasons why. Sometimes I meet people who don't read much, or maybe they only read one genre, and they are often convinced they have a really, truly original idea. They're nervous to share it with me. It's always ultimately a huge cliché in a genre they don't read/watch. One that has been done to death, but they have no idea.

A woman in her 50's once told me about her 100% original, never been done before plot where a person from our reality passed through some kind of gate or portal into a fantasy setting. No really. She was super offended when I said it was its own subgenre.

So really, when someone asked me where I get my ideas, the answer is: I mush together a couple of things I love into a new Franken-plot. Take the plot from Die Hard, shove it into the setting from Avatar and then stick in my favourite characters from Psycho Pass and Ouran High as love interests and BAM, that's a novel right there.

Notice I didn't just say I was re-writing Die Hard, I took elements from a bunch of places, themes and ideas that I liked and wanted to play with. This is how you come up with ideas. However for a lot of writers this comes so naturally, it's hard to see what we are doing.

David Farland addresses a similar idea in his book 'Million Dollar Outlines' and calls it resonance. I highly suggest reading his book and even listening to some of his interviews on youtube. Resonance is when ideas remind us of, and build on the culture that comes before in order to give readers a call back memory to other things they have loved.

I think some writers are deathly scared of using ideas that are 'too similar' to other works. Pro tip. Your idea, whatever it is, is similar to other works. If you don't know what they are, it's just because you haven't read them yet. No one cares. Its fine. Once you get over that fear, 'finding' ideas is much easier.

Recently, Meg and I greatly enjoyed watching Yuri on Ice (check it out on crunchyroll if you haven't seen it already), a gay romance about competitive figure skating. Instantly, we knew we wanted to play with the idea. So we wrote a gay romance about a figure skater and an ice hockey player (Bite the Ice). Because we were so enthusiastic about the show, it only took us two weeks to write a complete novel, which is now in editing.

Currently, we are writing a book that is based on an idea I had when I first watched frozen. However instead of a princess fleeing her home to hide her magic powers, it is about two brother magi who were driven out and hunted for years, but now the people who persecuted them are begging for their help to save them from an even bigger magical threat (As Light As Ashes).

So if you are struggling to come up with ideas, read more, watch more, play more then take a handful of the ideas you love the most and jam them together into something new. If you love things, it comes through in your writing. And I can promise you you are not alone in the tropes and ideas you love. Other people who love the same things are looking for more. Your fans will be the people who love the same things as you, and that is an awesome situation to be in.

So go forth, write the things you love.

Remember, you can't copyright an idea, so stop worrying about it.

The Importance of Personal Writing

About thirty percent of my daily writing will never be read. Not by editors, not by friends, not by fans. The reason is, at least 30% of my writing is for me.

I keep a traditional journal, in which I record events and my thoughts and feelings on my daily life. It contains a lot of lists, because I like lists, and venting. The venting allows me to express all my anger or frustration, often directed at people I usually love, without needing to come into conflict with them or bad-mouth them to other people. I also find venting my frustrations or listing problems allows me to let go of them. I don’t feel the need to ‘hold on’ so I remember them, they’re written down if I need to reference them.

I also write down a lot of my daydreams in my journal. A lot of things that anyone in their right mind would be rightly ashamed to admit. Again, this frees up mental real estate for me, because sometimes I get caught in daydream loops, where I am so busy fantasizing about what I want, I forget to be productive.

I also have a prayer book, which is reserved specifically for prayers. These aren’t wishes or daydreams.  They are often promises to myself and God, in areas I would like to be a better person. Or requests for guidance. I like to read through them regularly, as well as writing new ones.

Anyone who sees me regularly in person has also seen my ideas notebook, which I carry with me at all times. The notebook itself is replaced regularly. However the leather cover has been with me for fifteen years now and I love it deeply. This is for writing ideas, snippets, dialogue, writing exercises and diagrams. Mostly it’s related to writing, but I may plan other things in the ideas notepad, such as the layout of my vegetable garden or lifestyle exercises. (EG: Where do you want to be in 1 month, 6 months, 1 year, 2 years, 5 years etc.)

Then there is personal fiction writing I do on the computer. Much like the snippets or scenes I do in my notebook, I also write longer things, just for me. I have several novels I work on regularly that will never be published, which I write just for me. Sometimes I take characters I love from my own books and write them into other worlds and settings. Or give them different endings in their own settings. Sometimes I write fan fiction.

Even Meg and I write private co-authored stuff that is just for us. I’ve been sick a few days and unable to focus on our two works-in-progress. So Meg and I wrote a 12k novellette. There is no conflict in it. It’s got about four scenes and it’s about two characters going on a road trip. It was very relaxing to write. We enjoyed it immensely. We felt good about writing it, even though we knew its sole purpose was to keep us both entertained. It did its job very well. It’s the kind of thing I will probably dig out and re-read every few months. But without any conflict or plot, it will never be shared. I doubt anyone else will find it interesting—it was the act of creation that gave joy, not the finished product.

I think it’s critical that all writers have their own private writing and there are several very important reasons:

1. Knowing no one will ever read, or judge something allows you to be truly honest. To truly let out whatever is inside you. To fulfil those private fantasies without trying to make them fit a consumable mould. To release negativity and shame and vomit it all straight from the brain to the page.

2. It gives you an outlet for the dumb shit you should keep out of your shared writing. The hero fantasies, the things that in your heart of heart FEEL awesome, but don’t work in a proper manuscript.

3. It gives you room to see if things work. It’s hard to takes risks in your writing—or anywhere else in your life—if someone is always looking over your shoulder.

4. Having space to write complete and utter shit without having to worry that anyone will ever read it, keeps writing fun and makes it easier to polish the shared stuff. Imagine if you had to wear a black tie outfit, with perfectly done hair, all the time? Your life would be exhausting. You need weekends in your PJs on the couch too. Private writing is slobby couch time for your brain.

5. Some things will probably make other people uncomfortable. But you still want to create them. Your life is going to be slightly improved when you learn which graphically detailed novels about serial killers are for sharing and which are going to get you committed.

So there it is. How much of you writing is private? Really, truly intentionally private? Not just ‘I am ashamed or afraid to share this, but I secretly want everyone to love it’ private? Do you already keep two separate kinds of writing (for you and for others) or does this sound like something you want to try?

I’d love to know your thoughts.

Branding and Career – Part Four: The Five Book Plan

The Five Book Plan

There used to be an idea in traditional publishing that new authors didn’t start to earn any money until they had three books published. Taking on a new author meant taking a loss until that threshold was met, so publishers were keen to have a long term relationship with authors, knowing full well that for the first three years weren’t going to be solvent.

Now, that number has jumped from three to five. With some editors even claiming the magic number has moved to seven. This is why publishers are even more wary of taking on new authors and why self published authors often give up after a book or two. There are a lot of strong opinions on these topics—none of which I am going to go into here. Instead I want to focus on what you can do as an author to best utilize this information to build your career.

This is where we put the information in previous blog posts in this series into practical use. You have some idea of your brand now and who your fans are/will be. You also, hopefully, know how you want to use your time and what method of publishing is best going to suit your interests, so it’s time to look at your five book plan.

Your first five books in any brand (pen name) are about building, and keeping, your audience. So it’s a good idea to have some sort of structure in place. There needs to be a flow between books, elements that will keep the same people coming back. As I mentioned when in the blog post about your target audience, different people have very different interests. So if your first book is a YA romance about vampires and your second book is about a fat, middle aged detective solving a series of violent torture rapes, fans of your first book are going to be deeply unimpressed with you second book. And even if your third book is a YA romance about were-ocelots, those first fans probably aren’t going to come back. Once burned, twice shy.

So it is generally a good idea to stick to similar themes, similar genres and a similar target audience for the first five books. If you really want to write both children’s picture books and hardcore fireman erotica, do so by building two separate brands (pen names), but keep in mind you need to write five books for EACH BRAND before you can expect to see a decent income coming in.

Obviously this five book rule is not a hard and fast one. Some authors do very well with their very first book. However when you look at ‘overnight success stories’ they are usually 5-10 years in the making. By the time you hear about most ‘overnight success stories’ you will notice they actually have 3-5 books out. Harry Potter, for example, really started to make the news right before the release of book 4.

Publishers really love series for this reason. If readers like a book, it makes sense they will like another book, set in exactly the same setting, with exactly the same characters they already like. So if you already want to do a series (or two trilogies in the same setting) your five book plan is very straightforward.

However if you don’t want to do a series, you have to put more thought in. Most authors have plenty of ideas for stories they want to tell, but can you organise them into a more effective, streamline order? Can you see a flow between them that will hook a reader into buying the next book? Can you, for example, start with the ideas that are a bit more commercial before you branch into the more uniquely bizarre? Or do you want to open with something specialised and niche, then build outward?

I don’t claim there is a right or wrong order to publish books, however it is still worth giving it some thought. If you want to be traditionally published, editors will be looking for evidence of the next five books and if they are going to fit together in a way that will keep fans returning. (At the same time, don’t include your entire five book plan in your query letter either, wait until they ask or you have a signed contract before talking long term. It’s like talking about marriage on a first date, otherwise!)

Exercise time!

Write a list of all the books you ever hope to write. For some of you, that will be dozens. For others, maybe only a few.

Separate those books into brands (or genres, if you haven’t got that far or only want one brand).

Pretend you have nothing else in print (or don’t, depending on where you are in your career) and list three different possible ‘first five book plans’. It doesn’t have to be anything but five titles, in order from first to fifth. Consider the strengths and weaknesses of each of your three plans.

Obviously if you only have a series planned, this exercise isn’t going to be very useful to you. However hopefully, overall, this post has given you something to think about when you are deciding what to write next.

One more thing!

This month I released a short story on kindle. It would mean a lot to me if you read it and reviewed it. Reviews = sales. 

Branding and Career - Part Two: Who is Your Target Audience?

“To be a success as an author, all you need is ten thousand people, each willing to give you $10 a year.”

I’m not sure who said that, but I read it recently and it stuck with me. Ten times ten thousand is one hundred thousand. Which seems like a very nice living to me too. However, if you’re writing and selling books, you’re probably not getting ten dollars per unit sold.

I strongly believe in the ten thousand fans idea though, so when you are planning your career, you need to think about what it will take to get ten dollars from each fan every year—keeping in mind publishers or Amazon are going to take their cut. So that may translate to three novels a year. Or a dozen short stories. Or a novel and a webinar. Or two novels and merchandise. What you offer fans, and how you get your ten dollars, is going to be unique to you.

As a fan, my top choice would be to get three novels from my favourite authors each year. I’d be paying more than ten dollars though, and they would be getting a lot less. I bought the kindle version of ‘King’s Rising’ the day it launched for $7, but I suspect C.S Pacat probably received about $2 of it, depending on her contract.

For her to get $10 off me a year, I guess she’d have to write five books. I would be extremely happy, but I don’t think she writes that fast. Of course, C.S Pacat has a lot more than 10, 000 people buying her novels.

So who are your 10, 000 people?

If you’re going to have a loyal fan base, you need to know who they are, so you can cater to their interests. It’s a bit recursive though, since you’re trying to work out who likes your stuff, so you can write stuff they like, so they like your stuff.

But let me put it this way: let’s say you write action/horror and your audience is men in their 20s. Men in their 20s also like things like video games and attractive women, and they worry about things like their careers, finding a long term girlfriend (or boyfriend) and their role in society. So if you had none of those themes in your first book, but added some in to your second book, those men in their 20s would probably relate more with your work and be even more likely to buy your next book.

But let’s say instead you write historical romance. Most of your readers are women in their 30s and 40s. They’re not interested in video games, sexy young women, or finding their role in society. Most women in their 30s and 40s are pretty confident about their role. They’d be much more interested in stories that show women their age achieving goals, making a contribution, being sassy and in control.

So to turn readers into fans, you need to know who they are, so you can research their interests and the themes that matter to them and put more of that in your work. Whatever you do, don’t make assumptions. It’s patronising and probably bigoted. Do proper research. Talk to people. Ask people who liked your work what other books they like, and why they liked them. Take notes, then actually read those books. Most readers will talk about books they love until the cows come home, then die of old age. I promise it’s not hard.

Each time you write a book, before you start, make a note:

Target Audience:

Age?

Gender?

What themes and conflicts interest them?

What other books are they reading?

Why?

If you really pay attention to what people are saying, and don’t just impose your own beliefs and attitudes over theirs, you’ll see a difference in how people respond to your work. It will take two or three books for you to really see the tangible effects of this. But in the mean time, it gives you a sense of grounding. Particularly when you start editing, pull your hair in despair and think: ‘Who will ever read this crap?’

It also helps, of course, in deciding what platform is best for promoting your work. Go where your fans are.

Final Thought:

Remember, you’re not changing what you want to write to cater to other people’s interests, you’re just adding in a little extra on top of the stuff you are passionate about.