The Beautiful Game From Idea To Publication, By J.R. Luis

On The Table Read Magazine, “the best entertainment eBook magazine UK“,  J.R. Luis shares her experiences from idea to publication when co-writing her new contemporary romance with Vanessa Lanang, The Beautiful Game.

Written by J.R. Luis

https://jlusmith88.wixsite.com/website

Hi folks! I’m J.R. Luis, author of adult contemporary romance novels, and I’m so thrilled to share some of my thoughts and experiences on The Table Read. My debut novel, Lucky Star: A Hollywood Love Story came out in December 2021, my second novel, Unfortunately Karen, followed in November 2022, and my third novel, The Beautiful Game (co-written with Vanessa Lanang) and pitched as How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days meets Bend It Like Beckham, was released June 2024.

Inspiration

Like most authors, I find inspiration in so many places. A hypothetical discussion with a friend, sitting in the waiting room at the dentist, or as is the case with my newest release, The Beautiful Game, while attending a local professional soccer game. I vividly remember sitting on the sun-warmed bleachers, staring down at the field at this gorgeous soccer player as he caused all kinds of problems and immediately knowing, there’s a story here.

While some of my novel ideas have had to percolate for a bit, or I’ve had to combine different concepts I’ve been kicking around to make a complete story premise, the idea for The Beautiful Game came all at once and in full form. I knew our female protagonist had just gotten out of a long, disappointing relationship and wanted nothing more than a wild rebound to get her mind off things.

I knew our male protagonist, based on that very real and very sexy soccer player, was facing trouble in his career and personal life and was about to get a huge ultimatum that would upset his status quo. I knew when their paths crossed, the best kind of chaos would ensue, and so I messaged Vanessa and asked if she’d want to co-write this with me. I think we nailed down the beat sheet in less than a weekend and the rest of the novel poured out of us in similar fashion.

Creative Writing Process

Even though The Beautiful Game is a cowritten novel, the writing process was not too different from when I’m writing a novel alone. Once the beat sheet is in place, I tend to “word vomit” until I have a first draft, and then I go in and flesh out the imagery and feels, polishing more and more with each round of edits. Vanessa and I had a system where I would get a basic draft of a chapter down, then she would go in and add more visuals/feels, then suggest phrasing changes or note when we were overusing a word. Then I would polish what she added, tweak anything else that needed it, and send it back to her. It also helps that Vanessa and I have similar writing styles, so even though we have unique writing voices, it was easier for us to blend the two and come to a unified voice that we both liked and reflected our individual preferences.

Maybe it’s because I have a lot of non-writing responsibilities and I don’t get to write as often/frequently as I’d like, but I (thankfully) don’t run into writer’s block too often. On those off days when I sit down and can’t find the right words, I think about the advice from the amazing Laini Taylor, who said something along the lines of, “If you’re stuck, just write about what you want to be writing about.” That might sound simple, but it’s been so helpful to me, even if it means there’s writing sessions where I’m literally typing, “The character needs to go into this place and meet this other character. They need to have a conversation about thus and so and this plot point needs to occur.” It’s usually enough to get me over the hesitation, and the next time I sit down to write, I’m ready to actually write the action and dialogue of the scene that tripped me up.

From Idea to Publication

From the conception of The Beautiful Game to publication was a long, hard, six-year road. You read that correctly. SIX YEARS. While Vanessa and I were able to get the idea and then write the novel in about six months’ time back in 2018, that was only the beginning of our journey.

We queried the MS using Twitter pitch parties, cold queries, and #MSWL (manuscript wish list). And while we garnered a lot of interest, we also got a lot of rejections. Most all of them were complimentary. The hardest one was from an agent who said she adored the novel, but she had just signed a manuscript that was too similar and therefore had to pass.

After about ten rejections, we compiled the feedback, made revisions that matched with our vision for the novel, and launched into another set round of querying. This time, we were offered a revise and resubmit from a midsize publisher. Cue our happy editing! Unfortunately, the editor didn’t love the revision and passed. She did suggest that if we turned up the spice factor, she thought another editor at the same publisher would be interested and said we could mention the referral. We contacted the editor, and she agreed to take a look as long as the MS met her spiciness standards. So Vanessa and I edited it again, and resubmitted. And again, the editor didn’t love the MS and passed.

After this extremely disappointing set of rejections, Vanessa and I made the difficult decision to shelve the project and spent the next few years focusing on novels that would become our individual debuts. (Speaking of that word vomiting, I actually wrote several books in this time, many of which I hope will see the light of day at some point, lol.) Vanessa, after being hired as the main editor for Winding Road Stories’ romance and young adult lines, first made my dreams come true by acquiring Lucky Star: A Hollywood Love Story. Then at a business meeting in 2022 with the CEO, Michael Dolan, Vanessa mentioned our little soccer romance that had been shelved so long ago, and as a former sports’ editor, he expressed interest. Next thing I knew, Vanessa sent me an email saying we had a contract and that our book would be coming out Summer of 2024. Moral of the story: No writing is wasted and never give up!

Find more from J.R. Luis now:

Kindle: https://amzn.to/4dBBluQ

Paperback: https://amzn.to/4dDO5RQ

Learn more about J.R. Luis on her website here: https://jlusmith88.wixsite.com/website

Find J.R. Luis’ other books here: https://www.amazon.com/stores/J.R.-Luis/author/B09NP2891Y?ref=ap_rdr&isDramIntegrated=true&shoppingPortalEnabled=true

Find J.R. Luis on her social media sites here:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100072461585640

X (Formerly Twitter): https://twitter.com/AuthorJRLuis

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/author_jrluis/

Substack (Who’s Got Time for Romance?): https://jrluis.substack.com/