The Cold Hard Truth on the Process of Writing

Myth 3: My Story will change how you think of [Genre] - Part 2

We're entering the sinister side of this topic: Intentional Misrepresentation.

Intentional misrepresentation is when the writer knowingly misleads readers with regards to their work.

There are three forms that intentional misrepresentation can take: false categorization, the call for help, and the out and out lie.

The easiest form to discuss is the out and out lie. This is when a reader asks a direct question about the book and the author lies about it. I'm going to share two stories with you, then I'll dissect what happened and how it hurts you, the writer.

I'll admit, I've lied about what was in my book once. I am ashamed, I will never do it again. How that went down was as follows. I ended up reading yet another fantasy-romance denier (remember I loathe romance) and had asked explicitly if certain tropes existed. In this case: strong independent woman meets arrogant anti-hero and hates his guts but after having worked together for some big mission, she realizes how much she loves him and can't live without him.

Out of curiosity, does that sound like a fantasy novel to you? Yeah, it didn't to me either, but the characters was a mix of a human falling in love with an elf, so what do I know about core fantasy stories. Apparently nothing.

She spun her story that it was about two people from a human clan and elven clan coming together to form a shaky alliance after years of war. As it turns out it was through the power of love! Wretch! (Weird fact: I LOVE romance movies but hate romance books.)

The sucker that I was, I read the first three chapters because the chapters were under 1,000 words each, which was problematic in of itself but for craft reasons. The things I had specifically asked about were VERY present. I didn't read on. I didn't follow her. I made a note about the title of her book and author name, then added her to my block list, but only after I did the following.

I was looking for a review partner at the time. I already knew that our partnership was a mismatch. After all, she was writing romance in a fantasy setting, I was writing dark fantasy. She was an okay writer. Though I could help her with craft, I felt betrayed. Now that it was her turn she asked: "Does your story have the chosen one trope?"

At the time, I only suspected I had a chosen one trope, but in my mind, it was such a menial detail that it could be overlooked. The fact that I suspected that the trope existed indicated that I already knew that the trope she hated was present. Out of fear that she would reject the work, I lied. I knew I did too. But I was angry, bitter, and I wanted her to feel what I felt when she lied to me. I felt that she owed me. So I told her in no uncertain terms that: "No, I didn't use that trope."

In her mind, my deception was way worse than hers. Boy! Did I get an ear full; plus a ton of flames that I attribute to part of the territory when dealing with romance writers. I never experience that kind of backlash from any other genre fiction writer, though I don't doubt they exist.

I blocked her at this point, as is part of my practice when a writer actively deceives a reader – in this case the reader being me. It's not all bad. I got a valuable lesson out of the experience and thanks to her, I now know for sure that the chosen one trope definitely exists in the work, despite how I intended to use or minimize the trope. It taught me a valuable lesson in readers perceptions. It doesn't matter that I minimize the trope later in the book, the reader never made that far to find out because elements of the trope exists.

My next story is about the time I encountered a traditionally published author at my local bookstore. I love talking to authors who are just starting out on their journey. They tend be a bit hard to handle, so I try to make it a practice to see how they respond to certain questions. I sit back and just listen.