Road Trip Wednesday is a ‘Blog Carnival,’ where YA Highway's contributors post a weekly writing- or reading-related question and answer it on our own blogs. You can hop from destination to destination and get everybody's unique take on the topic.
This Week's Topic is: How far would you go to get published?
Not gonna lie, when I first read this, I thought it meant like, how long will you keep trying until this happens? To which my answer is FOREVER DAMNIT I AM THE MOST STUBBORN PERSON ON THE PLANET with the possible exception of these people.
Just to give you some context, if I'm this competitive about other stuff:
You can bet that when it comes to publishing one of my books... Well, my true precioussssss is not a ring, we'll just say that.
But then I reread the post, and I realized that the question was really: How much are you willing to compromise?
Usually compromising has a negative connotation. I have friends who order me not to let anyone change a word of their favorite section in my novels, because that would be caving in, or letting the publisher take away my artistic freedom. And that's great, loveable, awesome feedback. But it's also wrong.
Almost any paragraph, scene, or character is cut-able if it's necessary. Even edits that I initially hate when I first hear the suggestion often turn out to be needed when I think about it some more. Sometimes I disagree with suggestions for revisions I've received from friends, beta readers, my critique group, or even agents. But usually even if I don't like their exact idea for a fix, the areas they mark do have problems that need to be addressed. 9 times out of 10, I've been able to find my own solution that solves the problem they noticed, but that sticks to my view of the story.
But I realize that working with a publisher will be different. They'll have paid for the novel. They might have suggestions I don't like that I need to incorporate anyway. And I'm fine with that, because in my experience, even the edits I don't like eventually do make the work as a whole stronger.
However, very very rarely, I come across some lines I will not cross. For example, I generally have diverse characters in my fiction. Most of my main characters are not white, or not heterosexual, or not able-bodied, or maybe not even all three. I have heard of some publishers (though hopefully none I would ever work with!) requesting changes to protagonists who they think "will not appeal to a wide enough audience."
That's the one suggestion that crosses the line for me. I'm willing to change attitudes, voices, secondary character involvement, scenes, even major plot points. But as much as I want to be published (and trust me, I want it SO BAD), I will not alter my characters to make them "more mainstream."
If you let people whitewash your stories, or straighten all gay characters*, the fictional world is never going to look as diverse as reality. We've come a long way with equal rights. We still have further to go. Art, literature, film -- that's where the changes in people's perceptions start. They start with you.
* Note: if I had a secondary, unneeded character who was gay, and the editor asked me to cut that person, I would. That's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about someone saying "this character needs to be straight because straight people don't want to read about gay relationships."
I think your use of the word "compromise" is spot on! And the use of the current topics of whitewashing and straightening are excellent examples of areas where writers need to stand their ground. The balance is understanding which of our soapboxes are truly important.
ReplyDeleteI know how you feel. Publishing my book feels like "my previoussssss" to me also. I would stop at nothing to see it on shelves! - that's to say I would work hard and query a lot. I wouldn't want to change my characters simply because they bothered someone. Writers create characters to fit a role and if the character changes, everything around that character has to change too. And then, the story is not the same.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Athena: Your use of COMPROMISE is perfect for this prompt. Like you, I'm unwilling to compromise the essence of my story and characters. I AM open to all types of suggestions from publishing professionals, though, provided I find them inspirational and appropriate for my story.
ReplyDeleteGreat post... very well said!
One family member won't read my book, and I suspect that the interracial romance put her off. She's always had an issue with bigotry, but as a child of an interracial marriage (even if one is a step-parent and not a blood relative) it was an important part of my book. If an editor asked me to change that, it would be a definite "buh-bye".
ReplyDeleteI wonder if it's new writers or unpublished writers that are more unwilling to compromise than, say, a seasoned, published author. I'm unwilling to compromise anything that would change a character's personality or the storyline as well. But I wonder if authors who have 2-5 books published a year - like Nora Roberts or Danielle Steele or James Patterson - they don't seem to care anymore. Most of their books are so similar anyway. It seems that they write specifically to appease others, and I wonder if that's really what they first set out to do back when they were still unpublished? Do they get to a point in their career where they've written all they NEEDED to write and are only left with what everyone else expects? Do they still care about integrity and independence in their writing?
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with you. I'd be willing to change almost anything but the race or sexual orientation of my characters.
ReplyDeleteGreat answer! And cute video lol
ReplyDeleteAlso, I agree with Athena and Katy about the compromise term. I'll do almost anything to improve my story, as long as the essence remains the same.
Very true and nice video :-)
ReplyDeleteOf course our stories can always be better but by better it´s the writing, the plot, the dialogues, some quirks of the characters maybe...However, bending the rules we set for ourselves would be crossing the line
@April -- good point! I wonder about that sometimes too... but then you have authors like George R.R. Martin, who, despite being insanely popular in the fantasy world, is like "eff you all, I'm writing what I want on my own deadline. *6 years later*"
ReplyDeleteSo I think it could go both ways for published/well-known authors too. I always have wondered how Danielle Steele still gets ideas x.x
Great answer! And I agree with your comment about going mainstream. There needs to be a balance of comprising but standing up for your novel if an editor wants to change it just to cash in on a trend.
ReplyDelete