It’s hours after the last webinar ended for the 11th annual Salem Lit Fest. Mentions of dragons, magic, suspense, mystery, and writing processes are still buzzing around my head. If there was one thing I could take away from this weekend, it’s the number one rule of writing: there is no rule.
Everyone’s writing path is different. Some people are pantsers – they sit at a keyboard and just start typing, or if they’re old school (or authentic, I guess you could say) and don’t mind killing trees, they could handwrite their muse-inspired words in a journal as their ideas pour out and then type them up later, all without any advanced planning. And then there are plotters. They need to know where their story is going, sometimes with a detailed outline of specific events. Scrivener was a highly recommended writing tool mentioned in at least one of the Salem Lit Fest webinars. You can write your text in any order and rearrange it later – useful for both pantsers and plotters.
And after writing the story, what about publishing? Some of the authors mentioned finding a literary agent to help them publish their first novel, some spending years finding the right agent. Other writers don’t wait or feel their story is finalized enough to self-publish it. In this day and age, there are so many options, it can be overwhelming.
Image by RobinHiggins taken from Pixabay
The most important thing to realize about the writing and publishing process is to not take to heart how other writers got to where they are today – you need to do what is right for you, whether that’s getting an MFA in writing beforehand or publishing a book at 15. If you have a story that needs telling, you shouldn’t wait if it wants to come out early. But you need to be willing to put in the time, energy, and effort into it – books don’t write themselves, after all. Just grab any book from your bookshelf or from a library or bookstore and take a look at the Acknowledgements section – some of the best books have the longest list of thank yous. It doesn’t take just one person to publish a book, after all. Think of the author as the parent, and the editors, publishers, publicists, and everyone else are teachers, mentors, and other people who influence the book-child to live up to its fullest potential.
When I was younger, I remember pondering fairy tales and thinking I want to find the right version of this fairy tale. None of what I read satisfied me, although I enjoyed each version immensely. Many of the authors from this weekend mentioned what they were told, about how if you don’t see what you want to read, write it. I may do just that, if the stories decided to come out of my mind at any point.
Screenshot from the “Conversation—Fairytale Retellings” session of the 2020 Salem Lit Fest
Speaking of retelling stories, that seemed to be a common fear among many of the panelists. Many of the authors declared they don’t read books similar to what they are currently writing, so that their story is not too influenced by the other authors’ works. The “Conversation—Fairytale Retellings” session was the only exception since, naturally, you would need to be familiar with the tales you are retelling.
Write what you know. This is another great piece of writing advice that resounded through computer speakers over the past few days. It’s especially easy for the memoirists, but a little bit more difficult for the fantasy writers who are building their own worlds, or trying with effort to write about places that are real, trying to get all the details right for the readers who are familiar with the settings in question. The things fiction writers can write about that they know for sure would be the universal truths of love, friendship, hatred, joy, sadness, pain, loss, and all the other human experiences that many of us have felt at one point or another in our lives.
What I love the most about literary events such as this Salem Lit Fest is the sense of community. The authors didn’t just suggest you read their own books – more often they recommended and praised the books of other panelists, especially the ones from their own panel, which had commonalities to their stories. Many of the books from the various panels had similar themes, which might be why the authors are intrigued by their comrades. After this event, I am more inspired to not only read the books that were discussed, but to write my own stories. Now I just have to decide if I should reserve the books mentioned in this weekend’s videos from my local library, or if I should just succumb to my book-hoarding desires and visit the bookstore’s very convenient Salem Lit Fest page…
Cassandra Sprague 