Different Strokes, Different Folks, Different Paths, Different Maths

By C. Kevin Thompson

To say the writing life is a “one size fits all, write the same, market the same, sell the same” society is naïveté at its finest.

Take Tom Clancy, for example. Ex-military. High-ranking Naval officer. Decides to write a story. Has it published via the Naval Academy’s press…a press which strictly published non-fiction, military-type books on sea vessels and war strategies. Having the obvious clout necessary, Clancy managed to see his novel make it to print via this obscure press most people didn’t even know existed.

The novel languished in obscurity as a result.

Then, one day, President Ronald Reagan was exiting an aircraft carrier on some sort of guided tour. As he walked up to the gaggle of reporters waiting dockside, one of them noticed he was holding some books in his hand. When asked about them, he obliged, giving his impromptu review of each work. When he held up an unfamiliar novel by the name of The Hunt for Red October, President Reagan said something like, “As for this one, I don’t know who this author is, but I want to know how in blue blazes he knows so much about military strategy,” almost implying the Pentagon had a leak of dangerous proportions.

At that moment, a very successful author was “born.”

Or take Frank Peretti, for example. The story goes he sent his manuscript, This Present Darkness, to Crossway Books to be considered for publication (this was back in the day when you could do that…you were actually encouraged to do that). The editor thought the work was too wild for Christian audiences and rejected it. Summarily, Peretti sent the manuscript to over 30 more publishers. All of them rejected it. Finally, after making the rounds with publishers who might have an interest, he sent it back to Crossway, who by this time had a new editor. This person saw something the others didn’t and accepted it.

However, a published book does not a success make. The book languished much like Clancy’s first novel until an unlikely person by the name of Amy Grant held the book up at a concert one night and asked something like, “Has anybody ever heard of this book called This Present Darkness?” After encouraging her audience to check it out, Frank Peretti was well on his way to becoming what many people see as the trailblazer of modern Christian fiction.

Then there’s Michael Crichton. He was supposed to be a doctor. Was in Harvard’s medical school as an honors student back in the 1960’s & 70’s. He needed to help pay the bills mounting from such an endeavor. So, in his spare time, instead of bagging groceries or cleaning toilets, he decided to write. His first novels, Grave Descend, Drug of Choice, The Venom Business, Easy Go, Odds On, Scratch One, Zero Cool, and Binary were all efforts at paying the med school bills. Ever heard of those novels? Probably not, because they were written under a pseudonym, John Lange. Then, one manuscript turned some heads, and the Michael Crichton we all know now was born with the publication of The Andromeda Strain.¹ But he didn’t stop with novels. He also wrote movie and TV scripts, for such notable titles as Twister, West World,² ER, and of course, he wrote both the novel and the scripts for Jurassic Park and The Lost World.

Different strokes for different folks. Different paths with different “maths” (ways of getting to an answer).

What’s your stroke? We all have a unique one. No two golfers are the same. What’s your path? How will you be remembered as a writer? How will your story end? Or will it?

¹ Please take note at how many novels Chrichton wrote before he became “popular”, and please take further note at how many books he wrote before he truly burst on the pop culture scene with Jurassic Park.
²_{This 1970’s movie is now being made into a 2016 TV series by Jonathan Nolan of the Batman: Dark Knight Series.}

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C. Kevin Thompson’s debut novel, The Serpent’s Grasp, won the 2013 BRMCWC Selah Award (Fiction-First Novel category). His second novel, 30 Days Hath Revenge, was an award winner, too. When he’s not creating new fiction, he’s writing for four blogs, and enjoying his family. Visit Kevin at www.ckevinthompson.com.