My Application to Be Your New Favorite Author (Part 1)

Hey, it’s me! I’m back once again for a monthly blog post and writing update…and as the title of this one might suggest, I’m here to make some pretty bold claims. Hopefully one or two that will get you as excited as I am about my upcoming novel-in-progress! I got the idea behind this post from a few places: firstly, from a fellow writer on Instagram; and secondly, from some conversations I’ve been having with other writers lately about developing a kind of author brand for myself. This website was the first step — now, I’m trying to work on my social media presence by raising general awareness of who I am and what I do (no easy task for an indie/aspiring traditionally published author!), as well as, most importantly, why I do it.

Before I begin, let me fill you in on where I’m at with Knight School in the Debut Author Diaries (TM). I’ll be honest: the last time I sat here giving a writing update, I was struggling a bit. I was still trying to plug away at my book by finishing the ending first, then the beginning, and going back to the problem middle, but trying to reconcile all the feedback I’ve gotten over the last year or so has been a challenge, and it left me questioning where I really wanted to go with this story. I was falling down the impostor syndrome rabbit hole (you know the one), and I was frustrated, not feeling like I was making much progress.

So what was the solution? I decided to take another look at the story from top to bottom, rearranging, paring away, and adding back pieces that were left on the cutting room floor to reorient the book to my new vision of what I was trying to convey. Re-outlining, if you will. And you know what? It worked. I think that every once in a while, when you’re working on the same piece of writing for a long time, you can lose perspective and start to question everything about what you’re doing. It feels like everything is falling apart on you…but I’ve found that’s just a sign that you need to take a step back and really sit with yourself and understand what your story is trying to do and say. As someone who’s currently negotiating a breakup with their karate studio of 20 years, I very much believe that walking away from something you love for a while and rejecting the grind can often be for the best — and that was definitely the case here. Thanks to my easing up the pressure on myself, I was able to form some great new ideas and solutions, and now I’m back to work feeling much more enthusiastic than I was a month ago.

Where does that leave me? Well, now that spring is here, I’m on the clock in terms of meeting this year’s goal of querying Knight School starting in this season. I suppose I technically have until mid-June before spring is over and I’ve “missed” the window, but will I finish my edits before then? I certainly hope so…but I know that my journey with writing has always been unpredictable. Right now, I’m hoping I’ll finish edits and get my act together sometime in April. Keep your fingers crossed for me!

Now that that’s out of the way, I’ll get into the meat of this month’s post: what basis, exactly, do I have for claiming I should I be your new favorite author? It’s a question with many answers that hopefully I’ll get to in time; right now, I’ll start with an exercise that I’ve been thinking about recently from a few close friends and a great local writing group I’ve become a part of. The challenge was to think of three words that best describe your writing “brand” — that is, what readers can expect from your particular kind of writing. It’s definitely not as easy as it sounds. Encapsulating your entire personality and style in only three words is tough! But as any writer with even a little experience will tell you, a consistent brand is essential to enticing your ideal readers and building a community around your work.

While my novels The Showstopper and Knight School, along with some other projects I have in the works, may vary greatly in terms of subject matter and setting, there are things they have in common. So, if any or all of these things is your cup of tea, I have a suspicion that we’ll get along just fine. The three words that describe my writing are:

Irreverent: Even in my characters’ darkest moments — sometimes especially in those moments — I believe it’s essential to have something that lightens the mood, whether it’s inappropriately-placed humor that breaks up tense and heavy scenes. some kind of commentary on life or society disguised in a joke or a cutting remark, or just a generally ironic and satirical style I’ve tried to cultivate over the years. The world can be a pretty depressing place most of the time: fiction has always been my escape, and I believe a lot of other people feel the same way. That, and if I really thought for any length of time about the state of things nowadays, I’d rage or cry — so instead, I choose to laugh whenever possible through sometimes pointed, occasionally dark, but always off-kilter and wacky humor.

I’m a big believer that in comedy, either everything is sacred, or nothing is, and that everything is fair game for parody or satire. A big part of why I wrote Knight School in the first place was to challenge what I see as the current genre trends in fantasy (dark, romantasy, etc.) with a stated mission to “make fantasy fun again.” The often sassy dialogue between my characters is inspired by my favorite dry-humor sitcoms and the anarchic, rapid-fire banter of the animated shows I love so dearly, and I believe it’s my greatest strength. If you fall in love with characters who bicker wittily back and forth and cast a critical eye on the world around them, regardless of when or where it is, you’ll probably love what I do.

Intelligent: I’m sure everyone hopes their writing sounds intelligent; what I mean by this word choice is that my stories are meant for readers who want to dig a little deeper into ideas, concepts, and themes, past the surface level and into greater meaning. While I stick to wanting my stories to be fun, I also want them to be smart. I obsess over plot holes, logic-crawl my way through every aspect of my writing, and try to ensure even the smallest of details are consistent and air-tight for future consideration.

I believe that every part of a story should contribute to the greater whole for a holistic and all-engrossing storytelling experience: there is no character unimportant, no plot point left unresolved. I often plan out not just individual books, but entire series from beginning to end before I write a single word, as I want to be intentional about everything I do and use all the story elements at my disposal to build up to an epic grand finale that is the logical conclusion of everything you’ve read. If you’re looking for stories that entertain you while also challenging you with deep thoughts and character growth and surprising you with twists and turns, I’m confident that you’ll be interested in my books.

Passionate: A few years back I was introduced to the Enneagram personality test; I’ve never given much stock to these sorts of assessments in the past, but I was floored when this one absolutely nailed who I am as a a person down to the last detail. As a Type 1 (if you want to do more of your own research, look it up and you’ll basically understand everything about me), I’m classified as a Body type: surprising to me considering I pride myself on being a sensible, reasonable, and intelligent person who’s not driven by his emotions of whims, but rather his brain. The truth is Type 1s like me just tell ourselves that we’re not influenced by our feelings, when in fact they’re of paramount importance: people like us often have immediate and strong gut reactions to almost any idea or situation for or against; we then use our reasoning brains to retroactively justify with logic why we feel the way we do to others.

So what does any of that have to do with passion in my writing? I think what I’m trying to say here is that I have not only a very powerful sense of right and wrong that guides me in everything I do, as well as some rather strong opinions about anything you might care to name — and this translates directly to my characters. Through them, I don’t just want to entertain people with good one-liners or interest them in a well-thought-out plot: I want to make them feel something. In today’s world, where apathy is rampant because we’re all so burned out all the time, feelings are the real currency of writing to me. Whether you agreed with something my characters did or not, whether you liked my story or hated it, I want to know, and I want you to feel when you’re reading it. My books are for those who don’t just want to skim the surface, but really dive in and fall in love with the fictional people I create just like I do. I very much hope you’ll be one of them!

Any of these striking a chord with you? I’d love to know! Comment on my social media post or send me a message through this site, especially if you like the sound of what I’ve said here and want to become a part of my community. The more, the merrier!