Write the Book You've Always Wanted to Read
if it sparks your interest, it will catch someone else's
I used to love to read fiction, but I never had any ambition to write fiction. I started writing because I desperately hoped someone would write the kind of book I wanted to read, and as far as I could tell, no one had. I religiously scroll bestseller lists, peruse Goodreads suggestions, scan bookstore shelves, ask for recommendations, but I seldom turn up anything I enjoy. So I threw up my hands, said screw it, and set out to write one myself.
Is this an unusual path to becoming an author? Maybe, but there you have it.
More than half the novels I buy get shoved aside unfinished in frustration or boredom. But I’m no reading slacker. Even with my busy schedule juggling a full-time job and managing a farm, I finished over 50 non-fiction books last year, many of them pretty dense. I reread 2. I started about 10 novels; I think I finished 3 or 4. I liked 1. I haven’t loved a novel since I was a teen. Something about the fiction that’s out there today just doesn’t do it for me.
And I thought: I can’t be the only one?
So, I set out to write the sort of book I would enjoy reading, both in style and substance. Writing it was more of an excuse to research a subject that interested me and take pleasure in thinking about a story I would have loved to find on a bookstore shelf. I never planned to let anyone else read it. I certainly never intended to publish any of it.
But then I talked to fellow historical fiction readers who said the same thing to me: they were sick of the books on offer and couldn’t find anything they wanted to read either. “Not another effing WWII book!” they would all groan, or “Ugh, another woke rewrite of history.” The readers I talked to (mostly fellow fans of historical fiction) were tired of being lectured, bored of cookie-cutter tropes and characters, and sick of the same tired settings and themes. They wanted fresh books with grey morals and complicated character arcs that challenged them, making them ask uncomfortable questions about themselves and the world they thought they knew. Books that exposed them to new cultures, events, and eras without preaching to or infantilizing them. Books that entertained.
I’m not saying my books accomplish any of this, but they make a valiant effort. That’s all I’ve ever asked of any book I’ve opened: Show me something new, be honest, make it a little interesting, and leave me asking questions. It’s a tall order, but in reality not all that hard. And yet, I can’t seem to find many works of historical fiction that pull it off anymore. Books today seem very eager to rehash things we already know, make them pretty (or edgy, or melodramatic), and wrap them all up in a tidy bow with the answer bubbles neatly filled in for us at the end. Is anyone else left wanting at the end of this?
I can’t be the only one. There must be other writers out there who have books in mind they’re longing to read that they just aren’t finding on the shelves. Chances are, others out there can’t find that book either. We’re probably looking for it. But the publishing industry is strange. They have odd, narrow ideas about who they think readers are and what they think readers want—or rather, what they think we should want. You’re lucky as a writer if the story you most want to tell fits that bill. Your book has plenty of company up there on the bookstore shelves. But, contrary to publishing industry wisdom, if you don’t already see books like yours up there, maybe it’s time to change that?
Is there an unusual book you’d love to read—or write? Have you already written it?
Tell us about it…