Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Randy Singer (Advice for Novelists, Part 48)

Thanks so much everyone for sticking with me so long during this advice for novelists series. It's been a pleasure to put together.

For those just joining us, I've asked editors, authors, agents and publicists their answers to the question:

"If you could say one thing to aspiring novelists, what would you say?"

Today we're featuring Randy Singer's response:

Write for the audience of one. It sounds cliche, but the challenge comes when we start thinking "What does the market want?", "What does my editor want?", "What are people going to say about this book?" If we write the story we think God’s given us, that’s our best story.

The story you can’t stop thinking about, the one you daydream about, that’s the story God’s given you. It’s the characters you love, the story that just flows out of you. Our best writing occurs when we aren’t under contract deadline, we don’t have to produce, we’re just producing because we love the story and we love the characters. My whole life is boiled down to this issue of enthusiasm and passion and loving what you’re doing, working hard in that sweet spot of where your gifts and your interests intersect.

--Randy Singer, novelist, lawyer, pastor. His latest novel By Reason of Insanity has just released. Visit him online at his website.

Read other responses in this series by clicking here.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Amen.