You’ve heard of J.K. Rowling. Love her or hate her, ya gotta admit: the woman has sold some books. 450 million of them. “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone” – the first in the series – was rejected by 12 different publishers. It finally sold, but her editor advised her to stick with her day job – which was teaching – because she probably wasn’t going to be able to make a living as a writer.
“Gone With the Wind” was given the thumbs down 38 times before Margaret Mitchell finally found a publisher for it.
A Bucket of Pig’s Blood
Stephen King’s manuscript “Carrie”? 30 different publishers said, “no” to it. It was finally accepted, sold more than a million copies, got made into movies – you know the Carrie story. The bucket of pig’s blood, up in the rafters – yikes!
“M*A*S*H*” – it was a book, then a movie and then an iconic and long-running TV series. Twenty-one publishers turned down Richard Hooker‘s book. One finally saw it’s worth. All it takes is one.
Agatha Christie – her first novel never got a nod from a publisher. Never. She didn’t let that stop her. She wrote another novel. It finally found a publisher only because she agreed to change the ending. Sometimes ya gotta be flexible. Ms. Christie went on to publish 71 more novels.
A Time to Kill…Publishers
Dr. Seuss – turned down by 27 publishers. What? Now, you can read Theodor Seuss Geisel’s many published books in the air. You can read them anywhere.
John Grisham’s first novel, “A Time to Kill” – rejected many times. Finally picked up by a small publisher, who printed 5,000 copies. It didn’t sell well, until he wrote more novels and they became bestsellers, and then his fans went back and found “A Time to Kill.”
William Faulkner, James Patterson – I really shouldn’t mention those in the same breath, I know – but they do have something in common: their first novels collected MANY rejection slips from publishers. They persevered. If Louisa May Alcott took rejections to heart and stopped submitting to publishers, we wouldn’t have “Little Women.”
“The Diary of Anne Frank,” a book that has had an extraordinary impact on our public psyche, was turned down by 15 publishers before one that recognized how extraordinary it was. Through it, the memory of Anne Frank and all those who suffered during the Holocaust lives on.
The Takeaway
The lesson here is obvious. If you believe in your work, don’t let rejections get in your way. Badass writers reject rejection. Keep submitting. If you don’t believe in your work, no one else will.
Do download the checklist that you see below. Don’t necessarily answer the items in the order they’re in. Wha??? (you’re asking yourself) Why not??? (still you)
How to Use the Checklist
Instead of going down the checklist and deciding on details in an orderly fashion, DO IT THE BADASS WAY. Listen to your gut. Go with what you feel strongest about first. For instance, you may not arrive at a name for a character until you’ve figured out what he or she looks like, or eats for breakfast, or fears the most, or dreams about. And notice I used the phrase, “arrive at.” When you are really in tune with your badass writing self, you won’t have to fight to come up with words. They will come to you. They will recognize the badass creative door that you’ve opened for them and make themselves available to you, without any struggle on your part.
Sounds New Age-y, doesn’t it? It’s not. Being a badass means that you will have the confidence as a writer (and a person, generally) to access your imagination. To acknowledge your instincts and let them play out, on the page. To give yourself permission to BE a writer.
You don’t have to supply every detail on this list, either. Write as many descriptives as it takes for your character to emerge as a tangible being – one that you can set in motion, strutting through your story, wreaking chaos or healing heartbreak, suffering misfortune or inflicting harm on others. If age, appearance and a name are enough to fully flesh out your characters, you’re done with the list! Early on, though, it may be helpful to you to complete it, as an exercise. You don’t have to use all of the characteristics you jot down here in your work. They can simply function as subtext – something beneath the surface that informs the writing you do.
Remember that characters change throughout stories. They’re supposed to, in fact: that change is called an arc. For that reason, avoid falling too much in love with the fictional people you create. That could lead to you being rigid and resisting changes when your characters and storylines are telling you that they are needed.
About Stage Plays
It should go without saying (but I’m going to say it anyway): in stage plays, only use physical descriptions that are absolutely essential to the action of the play. (Don’t specify that a character should be tall if their height is irrelevant.) Keep in mind: the audience is not going to be reading the descriptions. Directors and actors are, for casting and character development purposes.
You may include:
Gender, age, race and regional background IF those things are important, such as if a character has a New England accent (that’s where the regional background comes in).
Personality traits and mannerisms, if they are essential to our understanding of the character. “He is an easy-going man who is uncomfortable with conflict.” “She appears eager to please, but there is a barely suppressed rage just beneath the surface.” “Her movements convey impatience.”
About Using Real People as Inspiration
Do it! There is absolutely nothing wrong with basing your characters on people you know – as long as they’re interesting. However, to prevent hurt feelings, make sure you change names and a few essential details, so Uncle Rufus does NOT realize that the foul-mouthed, abusive alcoholic in your story was inspired by him. No sense getting Uncle Rufus on your bad side, or stirring up family drama.
Use yourself, too. What you’ll find, as you progress as a BADASS WRITER, is that even characters that are drawn from your real life – acquaintances, relatives, loved ones – will evolve into composites. In one play I wrote, “The Bucket List of Booze Club,” several of the characters had experiences that mirrored mine, but were also distinctly different from me. Amy, had an emotional a monologue about giving her mother, who had Alzheimer’s, showers, and how her mother seemed so vulnerable at those times, so afraid of falling. My mother had Alzheimer’s. I gave her showers, and tried to allay her fears about falling. However, Amy was also a talented baker who was trapped in a lifeless marriage – neither of which applied to me. Another character, Jen, complained about bad first dates with men she met online. Jen’s hilarious stories were drawn from my bad first dates I had with men I met online! (At least I got something out of them.)
In a novel I wrote, “Palm Tree Pipe Dreams,” the protagonist is a wanna-be screenwriter from the Midwest who is living in L.A. and working as a low echelon, much-abused admin for a successful talent agent. I was a wanna-be screenwriter from the Midwest living in L.A. and working as a low echelon, much-abused admin for a successful talent agent…who also appears in the novel. I changed his name, but kept his self-centered, smug, patronizing personality.
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What is their race? I’d love to say that race doesn’t matter, but it does. Usually. It is one of the first things we notice about someone, along with gender and age. Don’t be afraid to assign a specific race to a character, and it doesn’t have to be your race. (See my blog post on the worst writing advice ever.)
What is their gender? Or are they gender fluid, or nonbinary, or transitioning from one to the other, or…?
Describe their physical appearance and the way they present themselves. I added that latter part to keep this as broad as possible. The things you note here can be permanent or temporary, such as short, thin, loves colorful clothes, fat, appears uncertain, balding, voluptuous, has a limp, smiles incessantly, tall, energetic, soft-spoken, confident, weary, etc. Don’t limit yourself to the obvious. (Read my blog post on Badass Character Descriptions That Will Inspire You.)
Family background: Did the character grow up with a single mom, or in a two-parent household, or with two same-sex parents, or with parents of different races/cultures/religions so there were clashes? Were they raised by a grandparent, an only child, a twin, one of many siblings, a middle child, the baby of the family, the oldest one? Did the family moved around a lot, stay in the same house for decades, have lots of stability, have no stability because of…? (Mental illness, substance abuse, etc.) Did they grow up working class, middle class, poor, wealthy? Our childhoods have a profound effect on how we are as adults. Give some thought to the familiar circumstances that shaped your character’s character.
What are some major events in their lives that have affected them? There will be some overlap here with the family background section, and that’s ok. Did a parent die young? Did they adopt a child? Get molested as a child? Win the lottery? Lose the big game? Witness a murder? Get featured on a sports arena jumbotron with a person who was not their spouse? Spend time in prison? Spend time as a caregiver for a loved one? Win a nationwide singing competition? Were they in a car accident that changed the trajectory of their life? Did they do something heroic? Something cowardly?
Where is the character from? What country, or state or region; a big city, a suburb, a small town, a rural area, a remote village. Did they start out in one place and move to another at an impressionable age?
What are they passionate about (if anything)? Hobbies? Interests? Are there activities they’ve always wanted to try, but haven’t yet? Are there things that broke them? Are they passionate about nothing? If so, why? Did an early disappointment in life teach them that embracing things enthusiastically is risky?
What do they love? Who do they love? Why do they love?
What do they fear? What do they dream of?
Who do they admire? Who do they despise? Who do they feel close to?
What are their political or religious beliefs? Do those differ from those of the people in their lives – people who are close to them or who they work with or deal with? Are they contrarians, or do they go along with the crowd?
What do they hope to achieve in life? (Or have they already achieved it?)
What do they regard as their biggest failure? Their biggest success?
How would you describe a character’s relationships with the other characters in your story? Yeah, this gets complicated. Relationships, though, are the beating heart of fiction and drama, so give them plenty of attention. They can be simple, tangled, tortured, dysfunctional, bitter, loving or fractious. They will also change, or be revealed, during the tale you’re telling. Think about the relationships in your own life. The closer you are to someone, the likelier that your relationship with them has many layers, some healthy and supportive, some negative and frustrating.
Write Like a Badass 