Friday, May 1, 2009

Are rules meant to be broken??

When you're a kid, if you say a bad word, you get a spanking, or a time out. When you're a teen and break curfew, you get grounded. When you break a traffic law, and get caught, you get a ticket. If you hurt someone, you get sent to jail (when the justice system works properly, that is).

Basically I'm saying...you break a rule/law, you get punished. That is what has been engraved onto my brain since the beginning of time.

But now I'm being told to break the rules...make my own rules.....

So far during this querying process....I've played by the rules. I did my research. I scoured the Internet for agent websites. I read everything they had to say. I determined if they were a good fit for my writing or not and then when the time came, I sent them my query. And I did it to the exact specifications on their website. Some ask for just a simple one-page query letter, some want a synopsis with it, others want the first 5 pages of the manuscript, some want the first chapter or even the first 3 chapters. But the point is...I followed their directions to a tee!

But now I have met someone in the publishing world who is telling me that the way to get noticed is to break the rules.

So now I'm torn.

Do I abandon everything I've ever known,
basically everything I stand for??? Do I try to do it this way??? Or do I stick with what I've done in the past??? Obviously it hasn't gotten me far.

5 comments:

  1. I think above all other things you have no choice but to listen to YOU. What YOUR gut, your heart, your mind says. Anything else is going to look disingenuous...

    Keep on keeping on. You are still a wee infant in this process as you know...

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  2. Hmmm...well, I wouldn't say infant! LOL!!

    How many people out there say they want to write a novel??? I actually did it.....three times. Granted, they are not published, but the fact is I did it. I have three completed works of fiction all over 60,000 words each. I think this definitely moves me past the infancy stage!! Then add in my pieces that were published..some I even got paid for. And add in the live readings I do, with the most recent one being a feature spot at The Screening Room.

    Kindergarten status, maybe even middle grade... I think that's more of where I sit...for now!

    And as much as I do believe people need to stay true to themselves...maybe this was the kick in the pants I needed to move to the next level.

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  3. I think you try whatever you have to-albeit it through traditional or innovative ways! The way you have been trying hasn't worked(up til now anyways!) for you. Why NOT try another way? Unless it's something that is asking you to break the law or act against your own moral code-what do you have to lose? Try ANYTHING. :)

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  4. I wasn't referring to your writing status but publishing, there are stories out there of authors who wrote for 15-20-25 years before getting a book deal, doesn't matter how many words, it matters on one persons luck and finding that one person to publish.

    Sorry if I offended you.

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  5. No offense taken...just needed to say that I am getting myself out there and I'm actually doing it all. I hear tons of people say that they are going to write a book...I actually did it....multiple times and I am proud of that...I feel accomplished! :)

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