Why Do You Think You're the Exception?

Why are we any different from the writers we love?

Hello friends,

Last night I was at the wonderful launch event for Bobby Finger’s debut novel THE OLD PLACE (it’s so good get it ASAP!!!) (Are you in San Antonio? Go see him Thursday 9/23 at Nowhere Bookshop at 6pm!) and he was talking with the amazing Jia Tolentino about the genesis of his novel, among other things. I had several brainstorms in like five minutes. Bobby is that good.

Bobby’s novel is that good, too. And it started as a screenplay. Bobby has written a ton for places like Jezebel, the New York Times, and Vanity Fair, and is the co-host of the hilarious pop culture and entertainment podcast Who? Weekly. He said last night that he’s written several screenplays, just for fun, just for himself. That is excellent.

I readily admit I know very little about screenplays. I’ve read a few (more on that below) but I don’t sell them, I am not very involved in the rare chances my clients are writing them for their own work (as requested by a production company, not just for funsies) and I have honestly actively tried not to learn too much about them because if you think everyone and their uncle wants to show me their novel, there are even more people who want to show me their screenplay. And I can’t help them.

BUT. I knew Bobby from the internet and mutual friends in NYC and loved his writing online. In 2020, he sent me a query and referenced this post I wrote here about why your screenplay is probably not a novel and was like but I think mine might be? and he pitched me the book. And I thought it sounded GREAT, so I said I’d read the screenplay and you know what???? IT WAS ALSO GREAT!!!! I could see it as a novel and I sent Bobby off to write sample chapters of a novel version and the rest is history.

But this is not the exception I am talking about. Bobby thought he was the exception to my “rule” (it’s not a rule) about turning a screenplay into a novel, and you may be, too. (This is not the encouragement you need to send me your screenplay and be like just do what you did for Bobby! because I didn’t do anything for Bobby but tell him to do it, so this is me telling you to write the novel version if you want to. No need to email me.) I’m talking about another exception, though. Last night Bobby talked about the years he spent on the screenplay, and the subsequent year or so he spent on the novel and then the year plus for the book publication process and how hard it was. It didn’t sound overly hard, how he described his writing and editing process. Just the normal garment-rending and teeth-gnashing that I’ve heard and experienced myself. And the whole process—first glimmer of an idea to the book coming out yesterday—took a long time. Years! Which is also par for the course from what I’ve heard and seen and experienced myself.

So, why do we—myself included!!—think it’s going to be different for us? Why do we think that writing is or should be easy and quick, that if it’s hard we’re doing it wrong, that it should be fast because, I don’t know, slow is bad? Of course we don’t want it to be hard and slow, but I see so many writers beat themselves up because they should be done with it by now or querying took a year so that means something was wrong or editing with their editor took X much longer than they thought. But that’s normal?? Writing takes a long time?? Publishing takes even longer???

(Of course, slow is bad for living off of writing. I know. I’m doing what I can as an agent to mitigate that.)

Why exactly do we always assume we are the exception? Again, I am including myself as a writer here! Why are we surprised when things take a long time when it comes to books? Or when our drafts require editing? Or when any bit of it is hard? I’m coming at these questions not from a stance of incredulity and accusation, but from one of wonder and curiosity. I honestly wonder why we writers cannot accept the fact that writing is hard and slow and then just get on with it.

I know why, of course. IT’S BECAUSE IT SUCKS!!!! lol. Hard work is not that much fun! Faster is better! We see other writers who (seemingly) write drafts in 3 months and 3 months later the book hits the shelves (in traditional publishing, of course. This is normal in self-publishing). It’s rarely actually like that, friends! It just looks that way on the internet. Yes, some people write fast and make it look easy. Some people’s production schedules are faster than others for a whole host of reasons that have nothing to do with the quality of the book. Life is a rich tapestry, and so is publishing.

I frequently say On Here that you should not assume you are the exception to any “rule,” and mostly I mean the ones that are like “always send consecutive sample chapters with your submission” and “if an agent says they don’t do mysteries, don’t send them your mystery.” But I also mean that you should not beat yourself up because writing is hard and you think it “should” be easy, or think you are somehow lesser because your road to publication has been, is, or will be challenging. It’s basically hard for everyone, whether you see that hard or not. You’re not an exception to that rule, either.

I struggle to take this advice myself. Agents! They’re just like us! It’s ok if that’s hard, for me, too. I’m working on it.

Go buy Bobby’s novel. It’s great. And buy one for your parent because they’ll love it, too.

OXOXOXOX,

Kate