Rules aren't meant for art

After watching the amazing and moving documentary, Struggle: The Life and Lost Art of Szukalski, it really hit me — what I'd just done with my own art — in a way that hadn't until now.

I rejected the way things are supposed to be done. I didn't care about word count or genre, or anything else when I started writing my book. I don't write according to rules that are repeatedly pounded into our heads as writers on social media. I reject most structures that authors say you have to stick to or your book will fail.

I just write what I'm deeply inspired to write in the way it wants to be written. All the technicalities came later as they were required for listing it for sale, or to make it discoverable, but otherwise, I absolutely hate most rules and regulations surrounding books. I knew this was a risk, too.

I published my book my way without the structure required by traditional publishing, and I went with my heart and my gut, and my book is doing better than I thought, considering it's by a virtually unknown author just starting out. Of course, I hired an editor to make sure it was up to par and didn't skip the necessary work since no one's first draft is perfect, and I'm thankful he saw my vision and helped me flesh it out to keep it as it was.

Whenever someone tells me how my book has helped them or how much they've loved it, I can't honestly express just how much that means to me. I took a chance for the first time to publish something — a piece of art that I was terrified to share because I thought it wouldn't be accepted or thought of as 'good' because I chucked all the rules out the window — and it's been okay.

For the longest time, I was worried that my stories were too strange to be liked. They didn't fit the mold most books do, and I repeatedly tried to search for books by others that resembled mine for comparable titles while submitting (when I was in the query trenches, and I later realized it was pointless). I grew frustrated because while my book is considered fantasy, it didn't fit neatly there. It doesn't really fit neatly anywhere. I'm also autistic, so taking the term 'comp title' quite literally, it was already a challenge. I just thought my work wasn't good enough or too niche and no one would read it because I was comparing it to others, as we're taught to do.

I didn't want my books to sound like other people's, though. I didn't want to pick a genre and a wordcount, and other rules to guide me, before writing my book because they didn't even cross my mind when I started. I didn't want to adhere to a times-old story structure. I didn't want to outline anything. That whole process annoys the hell out of me and it kills any creativity I would have had, and then I don't write.

I realize books need to be marketable, but in requiring writers to apply rigid rules and structures to their writing before they write the thing, or to tell writers it's rare to succeed with something, or write something well, that's different, you're disregarding the purpose of creating art. And writing is a form of art, even though people often think of drawings, paintings, and other visual forms first.

We've created this system in traditional publishing where chasing trends and trying to write like others is praised. Not that those books can't be original, but when I look on the bookshelf of a major book store that mostly carries traditionally published books, I see little diversity in cover design or topics.

If you're marginalized, especially, your story has to be a tragic inspiration or groundbreaking enough to matter. If you're white, cisgender, and straight, your open door to publishing is a lot wider and accessible.

The point of art is diversity. Unique ideas (and yes, unique ideas are still possible). The whole damn point of being a creator is to create something you love that has meaning and heart behind it.

There's a reason self-published books, as well as indie publishers, are growing in number. I've seen many self-published authors sell more on release day, or generally, than most traditionally published books at one of the big five publishers. And the Big Five (or is it four now?) know it, too. They try to stomp us indie creators out because they know we are a threat to them.

They do this where they can, including their attempt to take booktok away from indie authors on TikTok. The big trad publishers sold out so TikTok would create a space on the platform where people could buy books directly, but indie and independently published authors are exempt from the service. So the Big Pubs essentially tried to wipe out the little guys like bullies who want all the cake for themselves.

Traditional publishing is a goal many strive for, and that's valid for those people. Their works are no less than anyone else's. But there's something to be said about having all the power for your creative work. You don't have to hope that the few sets of eyes out there to judge your work will find it to their specific taste. Just look at the number of manuscripts that are rejected by agents and publishers, some hundreds of times, only to finally go on to become bestsellers that people adore.

You don't need someone else to tell you your book is worthy. Someone's individual taste doesn't determine how worthy your books are because their taste isn't the end-all-be-all.

Of course, you need an editor and you have to find people to help you whip your book into shape to be ready for publication, but to have the power to choose people who understand your vision and who don't want to change it to fit a trend or a bias is something special. You ultimately have the power over your own art, and that produces something special and unique.

Those are the books that, in the past, never got published. Those are the books that fill a niche agents and publishers won't touch because they don't see the marketability. Those are the books that people of color, transgender people, queer people, disabled people, and other marginalized people need, but because our stories are often not considered palatable or marketable to a mass market of cis/het-abled people, they get snubbed, especially if a trad publisher has already found their token marginalized author or story. (Yes, this is sadly something that happens. We're belittled to tropes by some.)

If your book has been rejected over and over again by agents or publishers, don't lose hope. That isn't an indication of its worth. And if you feel your book is too niche, too strange, or too outside the rules to be accepted, put in the work and then publish it anyway. Go with your heart and your gut no matter how niche or odd you feel your book may be, and it just might be the very book someone needs that they can't find.