Writing is Risk Taking
It’s called a novel for a reason.
That was something my first agent said to me, when we came up with a scene he had never seen before in a book. I say “we” because it was really that, a collaborative effort during revisions to really make the book stick out. It was for my first standalone novel Witness to Death, and people who’ve read the book have referred to the idea in question as “that scene.”
But the lesson that stuck with me is that novels have to have those moments. Something new, a glimmer of something never before seen. And usually that involves risk.
So much of writing is putting yourself out there, adding ideas that twist and tweak expectations. Sometimes it’s the novel’s hook that is the risk (that’s what I’m working on now, shhh). Sometimes it’s a scene. But you never truly know how the moment is going to land with readers—it might go gangbusters, it might bomb, and it might land somewhere in the middle.
Here’s what I know, people who read Witness to Death love that scene. It was what they talk about after reading the book, it stuck with them. However, I have talked about that scene without context at book signings, and I know it’s put people off from buying the books.
It was a risk.
So, here I am always trying to find that moment that I don’t want to write and get it on the page. It’s not safe, it’s not easy, but writing is hard.
I was talking about risk and writing in a different context the other day and it gave me the idea for this article. I want to see new things in novels.
This newsletter is not a writing advice letter. A lot of times, it’s just my musings and what I’m trying to figure out. A letter to me, I say.
And for that, I want to remind myself to take the risk. Go the harder way. Write that thing you’ve never seen before.
It’s a novel idea.
What I’m Reading
If you aren’t checking out Ryan North’s Fantastic Four, you really should be. He and his various artists are doing an awesome job, well, taking risks. Each issue is a standalone story which usually focusing on a different scientific idea. There’s an issue where language goes away. An issue about the physics of falling. It’s as if North comes to each story and challenges himself to write as smart as possible. Each month, I’m blown away by the ideas. It’s so perfectly FF. Try it out.