How I Got Dropped by a Literary Agent 

I feel this. Whatever you do, don’t write a book set in a country with mostly people of color if you’re white. I wrote set in Uganda, where I’d lived for a decade (but I’m white). Got an agent. Then got rejected by every publisher who all said they liked the book but… it was too controversial/political. It was a family drama… but my identity made it political. Was a very demoralizing experience.

The pure honesty of this video, love it! Thank you so much for sharing, it feels crazy to tell people who you think should know better than you "no I'm keeping this element of my story just because its mine and I like it." but hearing this video makes me feel like I now have permission, so thanks again! lol

I live in the states and I think it's fine. Hans Christian Andersen wrote a story with a character set in Italy called The Improvisatore. He only visited Italy, but the story was well received. I'll add, you've gone further than I have so far. Thanks for sharing your experience.

Thank you for sharing your story. I'm sorry you got strung along like that!

Oh boy! That was quite the rollercoaster ride. What a frustrating experience but so interesting to hear about and lots of things to keep in mind! Publishing is a goal of mine...someday but for now, like you, I’m trying to improve my writing by writing things I love! As for the UK author writing a story set in the US, that doesn’t seem off to me at all. I’m fairly certain Canadian authors write stories set in the US all the time! I do think that it would be more problematic having it come the other way: Americans writing stories set in Canada/ UK (or Canada at least because we have a bit of an identity crisis up here.) Compared to the US, our “culture” is exported a lot less to other countries so I could maybe foresee some sort of representation issues in that books about Canada become popular abroad relatively rarely so it might upset people if the writer was not a Canadian...maybe? .what an interesting comment! It’s nothing I’ve ever thought about myself before.

Great channel. Should have way more subscribers

Feel free to join our discord server here: discord.gg/c6gZS2p Feel free to let me know what you'd like to see in the server! I want to make it the ideal place to talk to other writers, swap work and stay engaged with writing 🙂

I’m Canadian and currently writing a novel set in rural New England US. Hopefully I can give the setting justice... I have travelled there and have done a lot of research 🤞

I live in a small city in the midwest (US), in Jesse James country. My parents were both from small rural midwestern communities and I've lived in them myself from time to time. And it doesn't bother me at all. Write the book you want to write. Now, if it's your intention to write a gritty, realistic novel set in rural America, and you don't really know anything about it, it's probably going to suck. Among other things there is no "rural US". There are thousands of rural counties in the US and every one has its own distinct culture. But that can actually work to your advantage. The vast majority of your readers will be in no position to tell you that you're wrong. Just avoid obvious silliness, like forgetting (most of) rural America has cell phones, internet access and paved roads, just like everywhere else.

I see no problem with a person from one country writing a story set in another, as long as there is suitable research/respect.

Very good story. Thank you

Wow, thanks for sharing that story, man. And I see no problem for an author from the UK writing a story set in the US. Or the other way around. It’s all about the story and if I connect with the story!

Thanks for a great and insightful video. I've been writing, serious writing since 1996. I've self published one book in 2006. My goal was to show people, one I wasn't all talk when I would tell them, "Yeah, I'm a writer," and two, to test myself, my voice, what I'd learned about the craft at that point and by getting feedback, to know if I was wasting my time. I'm still writing. I've been crafting a series since my wife and I met in 2003. I've had moments of doubt. I've had the feeling I should be slanting my work to a certain market or demographic and none of that worked. What I'm trying to say is I agree with you and that writing for anyone else, changing one's story to fit a preset mold is only compromising personal and creative integrity. I finally decided, I was going to write the story I needed to tell. The story that I wanted to read. The rest will fall into place. The only reader I try to write for and impress is my wife as she knows the world and characters I've created as well as I do, and she tells me when I'm not being true to a particular story and or character. In the end, I know my books will find an audience without me influencing it otherwise.

Just saw this old video, liked your honesty and agree with your comments about going with your gut. If you want to write a story set in another country, don't let anyone stop you. It might be more difficult practically and technically, but your writing challenge then becomes more difficult and more rewarding if you succeed. I'm Australian so I write from that perspective. But, the novel I'm writing now is set in Japan and Germany. It's a challenge, but, hey, isn't all good writing?? Thanks again Kieran.

Hey KW - Really enjoyed your recounting of this experience. (As you may have known...?) I'm an Aussie, writing a SciFi YA [climate fiction] set in... Phoenix, Arizona but the story takes us to Hanoi, Vietnam / Yerga Chefe Ethiopia / Dusseldorf, Germany. Have I been to these places? No. O_o And the first half of your video had me scared, but what a brilliant 'writers-life lesson' you've shared. The setting must be 'believable'. The writer NEEDS to put the reader there, in that world, and this can come down to research and planning, constructing solid reliable prose. To me it is similar to being told you can't write about 'murder' and 'political subterfuge, because you haven't experienced life as a spy... or strangled someone? In any event, I feel for you ~ I hope you don't feel like your best story is in your past, lost to the years, and am positive your best writing is ahead of you! It is for us all! I have enjoyed having a Chicago-based beta-reader for my WIP, as they have given some reliable insights on terminology. Thanks again! ~ Dacre ~

Amazing advice! Thank you! I'm close to completing my first novel (not in english) and I just about gathered enough courage to send it to a professional in the near future. I have a certain vision for it and I would be bummed if I'm asked to change the story dramatically in order to make it conventional. I flirted aswell with short story writing and got published online on a small local SciFi web magazine and that gave me hope to write a novel. I also work full time. Keep up the good work, love the channel!

I love the Brits. “Disappointed” and “annoyed.” Most Americans would have been furious lol. Great video (even if I’m watching it years later). Thx for sharing.

Did you ever rewrite the novel to align with your original vision? If not, are you working on something new?

That would be very frustrating feeling like you're getting strung along like that. I thought it was going to end "the I saw my story stolen and published by someone else." Glad that didn't happen. Being British and writing about the US wouldn't be annoying at all, it works for Lee Child who writes the Jack Reacher novels. I would have to say the most annoying thing, to me, about living in a place and reading something or watching a show/movie set in that place is when the geography is completely wrong. I live near the Black Hills and Badlands NP. 'Warehouse 13' was supposed to be set in the Badlands, but they made it like Iowa, green and full of trees, couldn't watch it after that. Same with a Jack Reacher novel. The geography was wrong and the travel times across the state were unrealistic, it just killed it for me. But we do have a cult with a compound and some local 'folklore' about it, so there is that. I heard a bit of advice from somewhere else, too, that seemed sincere: write the kind of story that you want to read. If you write a story set in the US I'd read it, and probably correct you're geography, lol. But seriously now, you're advice, along with some other channels I've been watching, has helped me to actually just start writing, even if it might not be good yet.

When I revise anything I'm writing, I always keep a copy of the original draft. That way, if I decide at some point I liked the original version better, I can still go back to it. I'm curious to know if you kept your original draft. If the revised version was never picked up and never shopped, you could still write that book the way you originally wanted to.

I've read some amazing books by UK authors with stories in the US and vice versa, but i have also read a series by a UK author thats in the US and it did not work!

I'm from India. All that the Indian authors can write is some cheap romantic crap. So I read novels from writers all over the world. I had/have no problem with a writer writing a story set in some other place or country. Well, I'm sorry for you. It might have been so frustrating to be in a situation like that. But as always, there are ups and downs, and I'm glad you got past that situation. Btw, where can I read your works? I really want to read your book, "Hollow". I saw it's trailer and it was amazing. *Waiting for your reply*

I know I'm 3 years late to thhis, but to answer your question, No, i would not mind reading a U.S setting written by a UK author. Provided I couldn't tell a UK author wrote it. You'd have to get it right.

"Obviously didn't say anything to the literary agent. Because why communicate...?" hahaha it's me. But oh man, two years?!? That's so frustrating. Have you considered going back to the original version of the book and sending that out again? I don't want you to give up 😭 In terms of a UK writer setting a story in the US or vice-versa, I think it can absolutely work if you put a some time and research into it. I'd have no problem with it at all. There's definitely weird little cultural differences that you might not know about or you might use a term that's common in the UK and not here in the US. But if you had an American reader as a beta reader, they'd catch that and you could fix it. It would probably also help if you'd visited the area of the country you were writing about just to get a better sense of that place in particular. But honestly, I think a lot of UK/US culture is very similar. I think it'd be harder to set a story in a place that was wildly different.

wow this is a horror story

I know for me, I wouldn't care a sniff where the author was from and where the setting of the novel took place. Is it something I'll enjoy reading? Yeah? Then we're golden. Now, if the writer is so out of their depth and they talk about this horrible snowstorm they're facing and this is set in LOS ANGELES...then yeah, I'd be removed from immersion and would likely stop reading at that point. Yes, that's all it would take. To have a setting and then something so anachronistic about your plot that removes me from immersion immediately. I would only have to hope that a good enough writer writing about a setting they've never seen would research it enough to avoid such things in the first place. Really though, if you're from Germany and writing about a setting in London, or Australia, or the US...I wouldn't care as long as your story catches my attention and is entertaining to read. Pigeonholing someone to write about a setting in the UK SIMPLY BECAUSE they are from the UK is preposterous. You, as a writer, are building a world that may not exist. Or if it exists, this is how you're imagining it. As long as you don't go right off the rails with your imagination of the setting, keep writing.

I think you'd have to at least live in the country for a few years and know the language. American is different to English, different culture and slang. I live in Italy and i'm English, and when i read people's books set in Rome etc they read like tourist guides, full of stereotypes and the odd Italian phrase used completely incorrectly. So I get it, but some people could probably pull it off, it just helps. It's a bit like how white people are currently being told they can't write as a minority, but if they don't include any minority characters in their book....well you know what i'm saying. It's lose lose.