I went to a meeting today at a TV company. Before I started writing novels I made my living writing and producing TV shows. Anyway, I get to the meeting and I tell the guy (who was very nice, by the way) that I am now writing teen novels. When I tell him my subject matter it's clear he's intrigued. He tells me he just started reading Twilight. And I say, "mine is nothing like Twilight."
I love Twilight. It's one of my favorite series of all time. And I'm sure many of us wished we'd written it... although if we had we couldn't enjoy the reading so much. Anyway, I've been to too many meetings lately where I say what I'm working on now, and people reference Twilight. Believe it or not, aside from Summit (the company that made Twilight) most execs out here had never herd of it before the movie. So you can imagine how I feel when people ask "is it like Twilight?"
What I'd like to say right here tonight, is that we all must follow our own muse--not some one else's. I know it's a me-too world, and when something succeeds too many clones will show up. But I write what I write, and I hope you will read and enjoy it. I didn't write it to copy Twilight, or any other book. I hadn't even heard of Twilight three years ago when I started my first novel. I wrote it because my muse said "write this." What I've discovered in life is that when you try jumping on the band wagon, you usually fall off. I don't know what any of you guys are trying to accomplish out there, but I hope you are following your own heart, your own muse and not someone else's.
By the way, by the end of the meeting the guy was saying he wanted to do a TV show with me... after he read Never Slow Dance With A Zombie. I wanted to say: "Why don't you finish Twilight first."
And then twenty minutes later, I dropped of an ARC... I can gripe all I want, I still need to make a living ;-)
On another note: I want to thank Chelle76 for mentioning E's blog in her blog, On The Tip Of My Fingers..., as one of her favorite blogs. I was stunned. Mainly because hers is one of the best, most intimate blogs I've ever read. You can check it out here: http://chele76.blogspot.com/ And I apologize, Michelle, for thanking you in your comment section three times. Sometimes, I am an idiot!
That's it for tonight. Sleep tight, don't let the zombies bite.
I hate people's (including my own) tendency to do that, to relate everything even remotely connected to the latest "big thing" they've heard of to that "big thing".
ReplyDeleteNot all YA books are "like Twilight". Not all children's books are "like Harry Potter". And, I don't Tweet "like Oprah".
This phenomenon is particularly frustrating when applied to creative endeavors, because you want people to be able to have a point-of-reference for your work. But when that goes so far that people think that any book with a dragon is "like Eragon", it's really obnoxious. And it puts a lot of authors on the defensive.
From the sounds of it, you handled the converstaion very well. But, I'l bet the question would have been a little more nerve-grating if he'd asked if NSDZ was more like "My Boyfriend's Back".
LOLOL!
ReplyDeleteOh wow, it's bound to happen...and I've done it myself...compared something to a bigger book or whatnot, such as Twilight, but not all the time and not just b/c it's a YA book. If it's about vampires, and it's for teens, then yeah...I think Twilight...and if it's for adults, Twilight for adults! But it does get old and I do feel bad for authors that have to hear it all the time. It's good to do your own thing. Twilight as been done. We need something new!
ReplyDeleteI like to write myself, but I just go with my own ideas...inspiration from other places, but I don't want to do a re-make of a popular book. That's not fun.
-Lauren