Monday, April 13, 2015

What qualifies as unique?

Always remember that you are absolutely unique. Just like everyone else. ~ Margaret Mead


I started my writing path because I didn't find heroines I could relate to. It's really as simple as that. I was a 50-something woman with a high tech background who lived in the Midwest and did not desire a sheik, an urban career involving stilettos, or a hidden baby. God forbid there should be any babies, hidden or otherwise.

So I started writing about 50-something heroines in small towns or suburbs who get embroiled in likely but not necessarily realistic homicides. Things just kinda happen to my heroines and along the way they find a guy. Sometimes they settle down, sometimes they don't.

It took me a few years to sell the idea to a publisher. None of the big publishers would touch it, of course. I had a couple of offers from editors who suggested if I changed the heroine's age or the location, they might consider it. Uh, no thanks.

Eventually my books found homes, with 3 different publishers. I'm not a NYT best-seller, but I didn't really set out to be that. I set out to write books I'd want to read.

Am I unique? Sure, in a sense. But a lot of other writers have taken new paths down trails that publishers said had no future. Sports novels, divorce novels, novels about heroines with disabilities. So you see, it's true. We're all unique, in our own way.

J L Wilson
Look for my Goodreads giveaway, ending soon! A springtime book for spring-loving people!

3 comments:

Jannine Gallant said...

Why shouldn't we write books we want to read? I do it, too. And when editors/agents suggest hotter sex might make them sell better, I refuse. Descriptive sex in books generally makes me roll my eyes. (I know where everything goes, and I assume my readers do too!) Good for you for sticking to your guns!

Donna Michaels said...

I started writing for the very same reason, JL! I was tired of reading a heroine who was 19 years old, even when I was that age. These heroines never acted like I would, or anyone I knew, and they felt terribly false. Plus, they were in desperate need of a backbone. lol

So glad you've stuck to your guns and wrote for you!!

Diane Burton said...

Good for you, JL. Write what you love, what you want to read. Readers will come.