Ally Carter

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The Crazies

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I know I’ve talked about writing and publishing before, but today I’m not talking about getting started in this business.  I’m talking about surviving in it.  Two very different things.

So much has changed in the six years since we sold my first book.  Six years.  Somehow it feels much longer.  After all, Cheating at Solitaire was a midlist chick lit novel published in chick lit’s darkest days.  I’d Tell You I Love You But Then I’d Have to Kill You was a YA published before all the soccer moms fell in love with Edward Cullen.

Trends come.  People go.  And I feel very much like an “old timer” these days—so much so that I feel obliged to gather you all around…

And warn you about The Crazies.

 

What are The Crazies?
Earlier this year I went to dinner with some other writers at a conference.  It was a beautiful night, and we all sat at a table outside, talking about The Crazies.

The Crazies are a hard thing to define, but most of us have had them—the what if this book sucks, what if this book tanks, what if my career is over, what if my career never really starts anxiety that comes with this business.

Now, many new writers might think that The Crazies go away after the first book, or after you hit “the list” or after…or after…  And maybe they will diminish someday or at some time, but I can safely say that six years, seven books, five New York Times bestsellers and two major motion picture deals later, my Crazies are still here and stronger than ever.

 

Crazies Management: what not to do
I don’t know where The Crazies come from exactly, but I suspect they have their root in insecurity and are magnified by helplessness.

After all, once a book is finished, writers have very little control over its success or failure.  And still we want to DO SOMETHING, so many writers try to fill that void with promotion and “networking” and Google. So much Google.

I am as guilty of this as the next person—probably more guilty than many.  But I am also certain that The Crazies are the disease.  Blogs
and Twitter and Google are a few of the drugs we do to dull its pain.

But drugs are just that…drugs.  And obsessing over Goodreads reviews or Twitter chatter will only make The Crazies worse.  Much, much worse, largely because it is a cycle.

Someone will always be getting more exposure.  Someone will always have a better cover or more Facebook friends or be getting Twitter replies from “cooler” people.

Do not be confused.  The danger in these “drugs” lies not in what they can do to the YA genre.
The danger is what they can do to YA writers.

Writers.

Individuals.

People.

If you’re worried that all of this talking and twittering and blogging is going to hurt YA, don’t.  That’s like saying that people really into fantasy football have the potential to hurt the NFL.

The genre is going to be fine because for every writer who is currently medicating their crazies by obsessing about the online YA world there are 10 or 20 or 200 who are out there…writing.  And those will be the people who are creating the trends that don’t exist yet.

Those are the writers who hold the future of the genre in their hands.

 

The Crazies: how to fight them
Lesson #1 in Crazies Management is simple:  Don’t worry about what (or how) other people are doing.

The number of Twitter followers you have is an indication of how many people are following you on Twitter.

The quantity and quality of the blog reviews you’re receiving is an indicator of how much bloggers like your book.

An author’s online presence (or lack thereof) is not a predictor of success.

Suzanne Collins has an unfrequently-updated website.  To my knowledge, she isn’t best buds with Rowling or Meyer or King.  She did not “network” her way into Hunger Games.  She wrote Hunger Games.

Your career will be determined by the books you write, too.

 

Lesson #2 is just as big:
Friends don’t let friends have The Crazies.

I’ve heard the complaint a lot lately that the YA community is like a high school.  That we’re essentially broken up into cool kids and geeks and there’s some kind of social hierarchy.

Well, I think that if more YA authors seem to be friendly it’s not because YA writers are cliquish: it’s because more YA authors are friends.

I have met some of the best friends of my life since I started writing YA fiction.  These people are important to me not because of the blurb I can get or the blurbs I can give.  Not because there’s some sales bump that happens every time Holly Black @-replies me on Twitter.

These people matter to me because they care about me and I care about them.

These are the sponsors who help me battle The Crazies.

The sheer fact that these friends live all over the world means that we tend to do a lot of our “hanging out” online.  Twitter is our watercooler.

It’s also merely the tip of the friendship iceberg.  After all, I talk on the phone with Jennifer Lynn Barnes almost every day.

Does that make us cliquish?  I don’t know.  Frankly, I don’t care.

And as long as your corner of the online social world is about friendship and not “networking” or “getting your name out there” or climbing
some nonexistent social ladder, then I am going to say something really controversial:  friendship is good.

 

Living with The Crazies
Will my Crazies ever go away?  Maybe.

But I think the easiest way for the Crazies to subside is if you have a very solid prediction of what is going to happen.  But I don’t want my career to be stagnant.  I don’t want to keep doing the exact same thing in the exact same way to the exact same results.

As long as I keep taking chances I think those chances will keep worrying and stressing and freaking me out.

And I think that’s a price I am more than willing to pay.

 

-Ally

Comments

  2. Oh Ally! Please don’t go crazy or get The Crazies too much! Stay healthy! Be confident (Now, I’m not saying that your’e not)!
    Millions of fans out there love you and your books<3 🙂
    (Also, I hope that maybe, just maybe, you would take my FAQ into consideration. Please, please Ally. I'm sorry that you are struggling with The Crazies and writing the book, so you don't have to reply to this. I'm just saying.)
    Love you Ally! 🙂

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  3. *cheers*

    I’ve also met some wonderful friends via writing, who live all over the world. The fact of the matter is: sometimes you need writer friends to keep you sane while, well…writing! And as you said, it goes to follow that you’ll “hang” with them on social sites, because it’s the easiest way to keep in touch.

    I really assessed my feelings about the “YA community as cliquish” a couple of days ago, and for the most part, I just don’t see it that way. I actually kind of love the YA Community. I’m almost certain if I hadn’t found my writer friends, I would have given up long ago by way of permanent case of The Crazies.

    Now, if we’re talking about how social networking sites can be a huge time suck, that’s a whole ‘nuther story. 🙂

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  4. wow, this was really helpful!

    i live with those, but i’m not a writer XD i bet that world is a hard one to live on!

    keep the books coming!

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  6. Ally your books rock! I love all your blogs too. You’re a very popular auther. The reason I picked up your first book, I’d Tell You I Love You But Then I’s Have To Kill You,is because I saw so many girls in my school reading your books. I read ALL your books over the summer. I’m a fast reader. =) It did take me a while to get GG4 because so many people wanted to read it so the hold took a while to come in. I hope GG5 is going to be great and good luck with everything! ZACH AND CAMMIE FOREVER!!!

    Reply

  8. I really liked this post–especially since there’s a lot of discussion going around about what effect the online community is having on YA writers and their writing.

    I like keeping it simple. Keeping it about the writing, and friendships. That’s how I combat The Crazies, too (and I really am prone to The Crazies, especially the negative self-talk part…).

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  9. Ally, you are one smart gal! The crazies are killing me, and I haven’t even finished the novel yet! :{

    And I am addicted to Twitter…oh, so addicted.

    Thanks for this post; loved it!

    Angelia

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  10. To pull out a still-funny-to-me 80’s expression: WORD.

    I’ve weaned myself off the crazies, mostly, by deciding to ignore a lot of the more paranoia-feeding, obsessive aspects of checking reviews, agonizing over star scores, etc. And you’re exactly right, the seduction of the online environment can be awful. But the crazies never seem to go away, either … every book, I’m nervous, almost to the point of being sick. Never stops.

    Nice to know I’m not the only one feeling that way!

    It’s not that the YA field is cliquish, to my mind, it’s that YA authors have very little opportunity to interact the way that (say) romance writers or SF/F writers do. So we tend to get really excited about the opportunity when it comes … at least I do!

    Rachel

    Reply

  11. Thank you so much for posting this. I’ve been suffering from the crazies a lot lately as I wonder if I’m doing all the “right” things as a new author. I’m glad people are talking about it.

    I don’t think the YA Community is cliquish at all. I feel like it’s a big sisterhood who welcome and help each other and truly believe in writer karma. We’re YA writers and we value playing nice in the sandbox and giving each other the occasional helping hand. At the RWA conference I really felt the YA love, and it’s published YA authors who are keeping be sane as I’m trying to navigate new-authorhood.

    Reply

  12. I get The Crazies all the time, whenever I am presenting something to the world and waiting for the world to accept or reject it. But what I have learned is this: Even if something bad happens (like me freaking out in the middle of a presentation in Intro to Communications class back in college and fleeing mid-speech), it is never as terrible as my brain makes me think it will be. In fact, things usually work out just fine. So I made a list of all the times I thought the world would end and how I was proven wrong each time. I then take out the list and read it when I am suffering from The Crazies. It works.

    In the meantime, I am a YA librarian and I can tell you: the teens at our library adore you and your books! And, in case that wasn’t enough, my fellow librarians fight with me over who gets to read your new novels first. You know you’re doing well when librarians wait for the UPS man to arrive, sneak your new novel out of the box, and then go hide behind the circulation desk to read it before their coworkers even notice it’s gone. If that isn’t enough reassurance, I don’t know what is.

    Reply

  13. OMG – I’m in the middle of the crazies myself. My debut YA novel PULL comes out next month, and I’m filled with those “what if” questions you mentioned. Thank you for this, I was going Google, Twitter, Facebook crazy. Nice to know I’m not alone and that maybe it might be better for me to just relax – at least a little bit.

    Reply

  14. I love this post. You know what I love even more? That I got the link from one of our closest writing friends via Twitter. I think one of my favorite things about writing are all of the amazing people we’ve had the opportunity to meet as a result. Writing friends are the only known cure for the Crazies. I’m sure of it.

    Reply

  16. The Crazies are horrible. I’m thirteen, and while I know that getting published as a teenager is very rare, my hopes are extremely high. I’m (trying to) write a novel, and The Crazies keep getting me … however, thank you so much, Ally, for your advice! I believe that it’ll definitely help.

    Reply

  17. i love this post so much i want to hug it through my computer.

    also i am standing on a table and cheering.

    thank you for saying this. i LOVE our YA community.
    i love them so much.

    Reply

  18. Dont worry! your an amazing writter and with every twist and turn… and im sure there will be many posts to back me up… but we and many other fans are with you100% 😀

    am i right?!!? can i read/hear some noise!
    *giggle*
    ~rachel

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  19. I really hope you’re reading this Ally.
    Because I just wanted to tell you never ever ever to get the feeling another author out there is better then you. Because you are AWESOME!
    And unique, and just wonderful.
    I’m convinced your middle name is criativity and even when your novels take a twist I don’t like or the fact the books take long to come out I’m always thankfull for people like you.
    I just wanted to give you this note of encouragement and ask you to suggest us some good books.
    Keep the GREAT, AWESOME, LOOOOOOOVELY work up.

    Reply

  20. Thank you so much for this awesome advice! Said in black and white and it was REALLY helpful! I’m a young writer and the Crazies never help, in fact in makes me jealous when I read other people’s books! 🙂 But really, this post was extremely uplifting and helpful!

    ~Ivy

    Reply

  21. Dearest Ally,

    One of the best parts of Twitter/blogs/the internet as a whole for me as a writer is that it reminds me that I’m not alone when I get The Crazies. The disease flares up with every book (& it’s only 4 of them out there so far so yeah, totally hoping that it’ll go away one day). I go thru the steps: trying to avoid googling, refusing to read blog reviews, not clicking over “just to glance at” Amazon ratings . . . and emailing/calling/texting friends who are either recovering from their latest crazy or approaching the next one.

    Grateful to my YA (& Adult) Author Friends for being crazy too,

    M.

    Reply

  22. Ally, you are the most amazing author EVER. Like if I had to choose between the hunger games and your series I don’t think I would be able to pick. Your books are so good and you make me want to read as much as I can. Don’t ever doubt for a secound that nobody will like your books because I know a LOT of people (including myself) that LOVES them. And I know the wait for GG5 will be worth it! Good luck on Heist Society 2 I can’t wait to get it. Thanks for writing such amazing books!

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  24. Thank you for writing this for me, I mean (cough) the whole world.

    I’m going to bookmark it and refer back to it often.

    Lisa

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  25. I agree whole-heartedly with the part about YA “cliques” vs. YA friends. Everyone I follow or tweet at or blog comment on is someone I feel a connection to–not someone I want to be connected with. I think writers get so desperate, like you said, to do SOMETHING, ANYTHING, that they feel they must always be networking and scrabbling up some perceived hierarchy of popularity or status, hoping it will translate into sales.

    I don’t follow YA authors because I hope it will make my own books sell more copies. I follow them because I enjoy their books or I enjoy their friendship.

    And the YA readers, for the most part, don’t care about any of this, as long as we keep writing good books! Thanks for a very thoughtful post!

    Reply

  27. ally you are my favorite author and the reason i am wrighting my book now. i come to your page like 20 times a day for insparation. i can’t wait till the next book!

    Reply

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