Stick with your story, even when you hate it 📚
Today's guest is author Allison Gunn.
Finish what you start — even if you think it’s trash.
Let go of the idea that your draft has to be “perfect” — otherwise, you’ll never make progress. You just need to stick with the work.
Even when the draft feels messy, even when you know it’s not your best, pushing through that uncertainty is often the only thing standing between your current document and a manuscript you’re truly proud of.
Keep showing up.
Maybe that means setting your alarm earlier, carving out time on the weekend, or taking a leap of faith. When writing becomes part of your life, when you decide to keep showing up, to walk it off, talk it through, and keep at it, your stories will start showing up for you too.
In today’s interview, author Allison Gunn shares what helps her stay committed to her writing, how she carves out space for her work, and the moments of magic that make it all worth it.
OUR SPECIAL GUEST TODAY IS…
Allison Gunn
Author
Allison’s novel, Nowhere is available now!
What is the most memorable writing tip or technique that you have heard, and how did it influence your process?
When I was a teenager, I thought my storytelling path would be screenwriting and directing. As such, I followed a ton of film and television writers on MySpace (I’m showing my age here). One of my absolute favorites was James Gunn. This was pre-Marvel, pre-DC, pre-anything that made major waves in theaters, but I loved following him because, as a then-horror writer, he understood the genre better than most. At some point, he shared some advice that has stuck with me to this day.
I’m paraphrasing here, but it was essentially: “Finish what you write even if it’s trash. You might use it later in a different project or revise it to the point where you’re happy with the work. Either way, it’s valuable. The problem is, if you abandon a project because you’re unhappy with it, you’ll likely never finish anything. Every project comes with its frustrations and doubt. So, finish even the crappy projects and learn from them. Keep writing through it because someone out there is always writing faster and better than you. The only way to catch up is to keep pushing forward.”
This has become my cardinal rule. No matter how much I hate a manuscript on a given day (or week), I keep at it. Not only do I respect James Gunn’s advice, but I’ve learned through personal experience that if I end up walking away from an MS, it dies. If I stick with it, even if the first draft is terrible, it rolls back around and becomes relevant once more. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve yanked a piece or concept from one MS to incorporate into another.
Even better, most of the time, I’ve underestimated myself and the writing isn’t nearly as bad as I’d feared on the tough days. This battle is, in fact, part of the process, in my opinion. I’ve heard many successful writers talk about hating their work one day, forcing themselves back to the document, then being elated with the final product. We are often far harder on our art than anyone else is.
When life gets busy, how do you protect your time to write?
This probably won’t be a popular answer because, quite frankly, it’s not fun. Right now, I’m a single mom with multiple jobs, but even when I was working one full-time, well paying and stable position, I took the same approach.
No one else will respect your writing time unless you put your foot down — including life. There will always be other events, responsibilities, etc., and most of them are important. You can’t just skip out on your kid’s play or ignore your bills. So, you work around it which often means long hours, firm boundaries, and giving up some hobbies.
When on a writing deadline, I usually get up around 4:30 am. In my “former life” as an analyst, that meant working from 4:30 am - 7 am on writing, then my day job from 7 am - 6 pm. My weekends would then be entirely devoted to writing except to attend my kids’ events and occasionally seeing friends. It was definitely not sustainable, but it did eventually land me an agent, a book deal, and the ability to have income from my passion.
That early morning wake-up is still around despite shifting careers from a full-time government employee to a freelancer with multiple gigs. It requires a lot of agility to keep up with everything, but I’ve now established a very clear period of time where I work specifically on writing each day. For me, that often means foregoing non-essential events, carefully planning out my schedule weeks in advance, and continually reminding people that writing is, indeed, an actual job. That latter piece has proved to be the most difficult as it seems society tends to dismiss the arts as something other than “real work” despite consuming it constantly (I’m not bitter at all — ha!).
Each writer has to figure out what works for their life situation. If the goal is to make writing a career, then it will require quite a lot of sacrifice for an unknown amount of time. It’ll also be an uncertain journey with insane highs and extreme lows. Nevertheless, it’s been worth every moment for me. Even on my worst writing days, even when I’m sweating bullets about paying bills between freelance gigs, it’s the only job I can see myself doing. Obviously, if full-time professional writing isn’t the priority, the schedule can be adjusted and toned down. For me, however, it has required pedal to the metal dedication while carefully balancing the relationships and additional responsibilities that mean the most.
How did you get your literary agent? What was the querying process like for you?
The querying trenches are SO HARD, but they do help you grow a thick skin! I used QueryTracker religiously and obsessively researched agents. I watched their openings, triple checked their manuscript wish lists, and individualized each query package. In addition to QueryTracker, I used my own spreadsheets to keep track of correspondence, agency rules (because they’re often different), agent preferences, etc. For Nowhere, I probably queried around 35-40 agents, and 60-something for a different manuscript I’d just completed. Part of the discrepancy there was that I was learning along the way, so I hadn’t worked out a process for querying when I started out with Nowhere. To be honest, I was so discouraged by the lack of responses to my now-debut, that I had stopped querying it altogether in favor of the other manuscript.
However, I also participated in pitching events online. I didn’t have the money to travel to conferences and network in-person, but the pandemic changed the game on that front. Suddenly, these events were happening online and far more accessible to the general public. I’d gotten “hits” via multiple outlets, but ultimately, #PitDark on Twitter connected me to my agent. Even then, however, it wasn’t a quick process.
Initially, she requested Nowhere based on my #PitDark tweets. However, after reading it and making some tweaks, she still passed because she didn’t feel that she was the best fit at the time. (I can literally feel thousands of other writers nodding in unison with the scenario). However, she invited me to send her any future manuscripts. I took her up on that about a month later with the other manuscript I’d begun querying. Imagine my shock when she reached out offering representation for Nowhere! Between submitting Nowhere and submitting the other manuscript, my now-agent had crafted a strategy for selling the book and was comfortable taking it on without risking my career.
I really want to highlight that last piece. Sometimes, agents absolutely love your manuscript and it sticks with them, but that doesn’t mean they’re the “right agent” for the publishing process. There could be a thousand factors involved, but it often boils down to whether they can reasonably position your book in the market. While this can make querying authors frustrated or bitter, you actually want an agent that will be that transparent with you. An agent who takes on a client without having a sales strategy or industry experience can be a major problem in the future. If you’re looking to publish traditionally, it’s likely that you want the work to reach a larger audience. If that’s the case, you want to partner with someone who has a well defined strategy to make that happen.
It’s difficult to reconcile, but publishing in any format is monetizing your art which means sales come into play. If you pair with an agent that does not have the same goals as you, it can lead to some serious heartache. So, just because an agent (or thirty) passes, it doesn’t mean your work is “bad.” A lot of times, it simply means they did not have a business plan for it in which case, you should probably be thankful they passed. Better to keep hunting than to be stuck in a detrimental partnership.
Ready for feedback that takes your story to the next level?
“Having Alyssa edit my manuscript was truly one of the best decisions I could have made. Her suggestions absolutely made my story better. Then, the very first agent I queried requested to read the whole manuscript after reading the revised pages we worked on!”
—Laura Geraghty, historical fiction author
What’s a myth about publishing or being an author that you wish more people understood?
The most damaging thing I ever obsessed about during the querying/publishing process was social media engagement. There are definitely instances where certain smaller publishers prefer someone who has a large following, and of course, when self-publishing, that’s extremely helpful. However, I discovered very quickly that I’d wasted more hours than I care to count trying to build my social media presence. I hate living online, so when I learned that many of the recent successful authors out there were signed without huge followings, I instantly regretted wasting so much time stressing it.
Increased social media presence is oftentimes a bonus. It certainly helps build your audience. In reality, though, many of your followers whilst in the querying trenches are hitting a follow button for reciprocation, and that’s not even counting bots. They are not typically your target audience (i.e. readers). I watched other authors build a massive social media presence, have initial wins, then stall in their publishing journey. Meanwhile, there were newly signed authors with no social media presence at all acquiring major deals.
I’m not certain whether the frequent advice about social media engagement is coming from specific rejections or genres. For instance, I’ve heard speculation that romance novels oftentimes find representation easier if the author has a large following. In general, however, I’ve found social media does not matter nearly as much as is often emphasized when trying to publish. Don’t get discouraged if your following is less than whatever you’ve been told it should be. Your manuscript and persistence matters far more than the number on your profile, at least in traditional publishing. It’s a nice bonus, but if it’s taking a toll on your writing, it’s time to reevaluate. Unless you’re a major influencer with a wild tale, your following won’t land you a solid book deal in traditional publishing.
What’s one thing you do (creatively, mentally, or physically) that helps you stay in it when writing gets hard?
MUSIC — There’s nothing that inspires my writing more than music. When I turn something on that really resonates with my current manuscript, it can totally change the tide. For instance, the MS I’m working on at present really took off once I started listening to Ethel Cain’s album, Preacher’s Daughter. It was like magic. I’d had a foundation for the MS, but once that album crossed my radar, the floodgates opened for refining the plot.
WALKING — I get stir crazy, especially after sitting for hours. Oftentimes, I’ll turn on music and walk or just pace in my tiny living room. Sometimes, I’ll even repeat the characters’ dialogue out loud while doing this to feel the flow of the conversation. It might sound odd, but movement helps me get out the built-up energy so I can refocus.
TALKING — I’m terrible at pitching my novels in a concise manner. That doesn’t mean I can’t ramble about them to my closest friends and partner. If you can find people who will just sit there and listen to you talk about the story, it helps work out the plot holes and irritating knots of the MS. For me, those people rarely have to say anything. Simply forcing myself to talk about my work rather than keeping it bottled up in my head is often all I need to smooth out whatever issue I’ve run into while writing. It’s something that I’m still working on because I hate sounding disorganized or insecure about my current work, but with the right people listening, it’s almost magical how well this approach works.
ART — the last thing I’d point to is consuming other artist’s work, whether that’s literary, film/tv, etc. Some people prefer not to take in too much new material while working on their own projects in case that interferes with their own work. I used to feel that way myself. However, I’ve learned within the past couple years that it’s actually inspiring and puts me in the right headspace to keep pushing forward even if the work doesn’t directly influence my MS. It’s all about feeding our brains, and that can’t happen in a vacuum. If you’re really worried about accidentally borrowing from another author, consider tuning into a new series, going to a museum, or cranking up an album you’ve always wanted to check out.
What part of the writing process brings you the most joy?
Honestly, most of the process itself brings me joy. I even (usually) enjoy editing. It’s beautiful to see the story morph and evolve. However, on a micro-level, I’d say that the moments when a character throws me a curve ball — when they really exert their own voice and change their trajectory — I’m absolutely thrilled. Those are the moments I live for.
I’ve had a couple people look at me like I’ve totally lost my marbles when I talk about characters “talking” or having a mind of their own, but I suspect a lot of writers can relate to this. It’s beautiful when our characters are so vivid and alive that they divert from whatever we as authors had planned for them. Granted, that’s coming from a ‘planster’ rather than someone who typically plots out every moment of their novels, but even if you’re an author who sticks to an outline, I’d wager there are times when your characters (even the minor ones) rebel against your vision. I live for those moments. That’s when the entire process feels magical.
ICYMI… last week on YouTube, I broke down the controversial statistic that took Threads by storm:
Do 50% of writers really use AI?
Lots of great advice here Alyssa. Thank you for supporting us!
Thank you! This article is uplifting.