Writers Tricks of the Trade Volume 6 Issue 3 | Page 20

Thanks to Brian
Klem’s blog for this
one

FINDING YOUR NICHE
MORGAN ST. JAMES

There is nothing sweeter to a writer than the moment when “the great idea”
hits. The problem is that sometimes the great idea is a hard one to convert to a
complete novel because it’s too limited or difficult to rein in. Maybe there is too
much to include for a single novel or not enough.
Have you ever heard someone describe their work in progress as being a
romantic, sci-fi mystery with historical roots, humor, steamy sex and—oh yes,
they’ve thought about introducing some vampires, need to figure out how to still
use the sex but qualify it for the young adult as well as adult market and last, but
not least, they’re toying with the idea of bringing in a psychic and a few rock stars.
Wow. All of that in one novel? This might sound exaggerated, but I’ve heard
descriptions strangely like that.
And, of course the novice author says, “My book will be a best seller because
will appeal to readers in just about every possible genre.”
Time to take a deep breath

It’s time to remember that as the author you are the one in charge. You
orchestrate the ideas, they shouldn’t control you. Of course it’s tempting to
throw in a little of this and a little of that, but the result could easily be a mishmash that no one wants to touch, including readers if it ever gets published. It
reminds me of the period of time I was an interior designer. I’d been hired to
design a small muffin shop that would seat a maximum of twenty people. The
owner had seen an 8,000 square foot upscale restaurant with a seating capacity
over two-hundred people and wanted to include almost every detail in his little
shop.
It didn’t take a genius to figure out that the “throw everything on the wall”
approach wouldn’t work and it is just as risky to try this as a writer.
Time to take a deep breath, develop a clear story line and begin to plot a
novel, novella or short story using that Great Idea in the way you should.
Sometimes, even though it seemed wonderful, as hard as you try you can’t seem
to make it work. If you play around with it and come up with zip, put it on the
shelf and go on to the next idea.
What next?

It is natural to be influenced by books you see racking up the big sales. That’s
what people are buying, so you might think, well I write romance but maybe my
idea for a romance should take place on the planet PipeDream. Then it could be
a space-travel fantasy romance. Fantasies are still pretty big sellers, so I’m pretty
sure it would attract more readers. At that point, you should ask yourself this
question.
MAY - JUNE 2016

PAGE 12

WRITERS’ TRICKS OF THE TRADE