The Role of Luck in Publishing Success

I attended writing workshops when I took writing seriously. The instructor, John Harman, was a ghostwriter of thrillers and had also written books similar to John Grisham. I really enjoyed John’s workshops. He mixed up his sessions on how to plan your story and strategies on writing query letters. There were only fifteen people in the classes, which was great, as we could discuss and share more freely as opposed to being in an auditorium.

I learnt a lot from these workshops. Apart from the discussions, which allowed more targeted learning from the questions that were asked, the most useful tool I learnt was to create scenes. I use this planning process for each new book. I set my story into scenes with a few dot points per scene. It’s not prescriptive, as the plan allows me to be more creative and organic with the storytelling, plus it also keeps me on track if I veer from the main storyline.

For instance, each scene will have a main dot point with some scenes ranging from four to ten dot points. It depends on what is happening in the scene. The dot points will include setting and action. Below is what I had for a scene from The Guardian’s Legacy.

Scene 3

• Setting: school
• Visits his grandfather after school
• Iasos drops a bombshell about taking on the role of guardian
• Provides a little background of the history of the family’s connection with an ancient heirloom
• Setting: Parent’s place
• Father is anti Nik helping his grandfather – bad blood between the two
  • Nik’s father was a junkie and unreliable according to his grandfather and unable to take on the role of protector
  • Need a person who is committed, understands the role of guardian and strong intelligence/knowledge of history

My writing also improved during these sessions, from reading and critiquing each other’s work, including feedback from our instructor. However, it wasn’t just the practical sessions that I benefited from; it was the advice he gave, and it has stuck with me ever since.

No one knows anything

John Harman

We were discussing publishing and how authors get their work published, when one day John said ‘no one knows anything’. Essentially, nobody understands why some books get published and others don’t. No one can say why some books and authors are so successful, such as JK Rowling, James Patterson or Michael Connelly, and others languish. What makes them publishable and popular with readers? What I took from that advice, while one’s writing needs to be good and stand out, it is also luck and timing. If we look at JK Rowling, a Bloomsbury editor’s child had read her manuscript and later published The Philosopher’s Stone based on their child’s avid interest in the story. This was after JK Rowling submitted her manuscript to lots of publishers over many years. She was lucky a child read her book and whose parent was an editor. Her timing was also fortuitous, for if the editor had only read the book, she wouldn’t have had her book published. It was luck and timing that the editor took the manuscript to read at home.

Whenever I feel that I’m not progressing or getting traction with my writing, I go back to John’s advice. Writing is a long-term game. There are no shortcuts, just the drive to keep going. The world of publishing is unpredictable. No one knows what will work and what doesn’t. My approach is to keep writing and have fun creating stories.

If you’re a writer, what advice has someone given you? If you’re not, what pearls of wisdom were you given? Please leave a comment below.

writing, writing advice, writing workshops