Failed Writer's Journey: Comps. Or One of These Things Is Not Like the Other but We'll Pretend It Is
I do not like comps.
Comps, for those of you smart enough to not attempt being a published author, are works that supposedly represent aspects of the work you are trying to sell. It can be in tone, or plot, or voice, or themes. That sounds easy, but it turns out that it is surprisingly hard, at least for me.
The snarkier among you might be loading some comment about how if I would stop thinking of my work as a precious snowflake, unique amongst the world of commercial hacks, I would recognize my work in the work of others. Believe me, I am aware that my work is not unique. No plot, no voice, no theme has not been written a hundred thousand times already. It’s the combination of the three that make a book worth reading — it’s the execution that matters. Unless you are a genius (and the dude that drove five miles in the wrong direction yesterday does not qualify as a genius), its been done before. No, I think, actually, my problem might lie in the other direction.
Some people start writing because they are so inspired by a work that they want to create that feeling again. They admire the writing, or the theme, or the voice, or the characters so much that they, at least in the beginning, want to recreate the feeling so they can have it again. I am not that kind of writer. I find that a lot of my ideas come from the notion that someone has done something wrong.
My inspiration is usually something that I dd not like, even in works that I did enjoy. Susanna Clark’s Johnathon Strange and Mr. Norell is a brilliant piece of work, but every time I come across it I mutter “How can you have a king of the north in that time period and never mention the Luddites!” and start back in on my Fsck English Magic book. I cannot read G.R.R. Martin (technically no one can since he’s never finished the damn books. Ahem.) without thinking that the zombies would be cooler if they choose to defend the environment and weren’t just a mindless stand in for it. And those are famous, successful authors — imagine what I am like with people less well known. It is not that I am not inspired by good writing. I would give someone’s left arm (doesn’t need to be mine. Plenty of left arms in the world) to write with the humor and piercing insight of Terry Pratchett, for example. But I most feel the urge to create when I feel something is off, something is missing. It occurs to me that I may be more of a nihilist than I realized.
Or a bigger jerk.
When I go looking for comps, then, I think I fall into this trap. I see the differences more than the similarities, and I am thus not good at finding the pieces in a work that translate to what I am trying to do. It is almost as if I need to turn my reader brain off in order to parse out what this book does that I may think my books does, at least to a certain extent. Otherwise, I just see either books I wouldn’t want to change and thus, at least subconsciously cannot be related to my work since my work is often in opposition to other works, or books that give me another story idea and thus cannot be comps for what I am working on.
All of this sounds pretty arrogant, I know. But I do not think it is. I think that the best books have some point of view, some theme worth exploring. And sometimes those themes, those points of view, or most animated when they stem form an honest disagreement. People are inspired by many things. Some see a rainbow and want to paint it anew. I see a rainbow and ask, “Where are the rest of the colors, mate?” For me, that leads to the interesting art. Or at least the art I am interested in producing.
Or I am a bigger jerk than I realized even two paragraphs ago.
All of this is a long-winded way of saying you should read or gift The Future and We Are Watching Eliza Bright (neither link is a commission link). Yes, I did find comps, with a lot of help from my writing group. And while I am under no illusion that what I write is as excellent as these books, I do see aspects that are reflected in the things I am trying to do with my own work. And I hardly even think about how I would do those books differently.
Weekly Word Count
About 3300. I finished a flash-ish short story at about 1300 words and did a lot of work in the prep phase for my next project. Pre-work, planning, to me counts a writing. Its required, in my process at least, if I hope to ever have a finished piece, and so to be those words are as meaningful as any I end up putting to paper.
Have a great weekend, everyone.