As I am a novelist, you would think my favorite stories are in books. You would be wrong.

I read a lot of books. A LOT of books. As we’ve discussed before, I read over 100 books back in 2021 and I average around 50 books in a normal year. But here’s the thing…

I don’t think I’m a writer because of books.

*insert gasp here*

This has actually grown clearer and clearer to me the longer I’ve spent querying my books. Querying is basically a cover letter for writers through which a writer pitches their book to a literary agent. Often times, as part of that letter, you include “comp titles” for your book. These are meant to give an agent a better sense of how your book might market, even before they’ve read a word of your manuscript. For example, you might say that your book is The Shining meets Jane Eyre.

See? You kind of have to read that book now.

And it’s identifying comp titles for my own works that have helped me further enforce the fact that I am usually inspired as a writer by anything that isn’t a book. Because, wow, is it hard for me to identify comp titles when I’m writing query letters and pitches.

Now, to be clear, I’m in good company on this. I don’t think most writers find it easy to identify comp titles, in the same way that most writers don’t love querying. You’re trying to put a sprawling wild dream into a box, and it’s hard—but necessary, if you want to publish traditionally. It’s the business part of writing. However, the fact that it was hard to identify good comp titles surprised me. Why?

Because I regularly identify stories that are like my own. They just aren’t books.

They’re video games and TV shows. They’re songs sometimes. Or poems, even. They are nonfiction stories sometimes, fragments of news stories (how dare real life steal my imaginary idea no one has heard anything about!). In many cases, my stories fit more neatly into manga or anime because I watched and read so much of that as a child without really realizing how much they influenced my creativity and how different those stories were from more westernized adventures!

(Do you think I could explain the concept of “magical girl” to a literary agent without frightening them?)

It also continues to surprise me what sorts of stories that inspire me to get up and write. It’s so rarely my favorite books. I re-read all of The Raven Cycle by Maggie Stiefvater last year, which is my favorite series. But what made me jump up and need to start writing was Weathering With You which is a beautiful anime feature length film. I read the absolutely intriguing The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab back in 2020 and though I can’t stop thinking about it, it was the series I Am Not Okay With This on Netflix that drove me to revisit a story of mine I thought I had abandoned.

That’s not to say I don’t love the stories in books. I wouldn’t have two bookshelves if that wasn’t true. I wouldn’t read over 100 books in a year if that wasn’t true. I’ve dressed up as a book character for Halloween, I’ve had a friend steal a library book from me for the day so she could read it first, I want to be a novelist, for crying out loud! Specifically a novelist, not a screenwriter.

But stories happen everywhere.

Once upon a time, I had a professor in a writing course tell the class that, basically, video game writing wasn’t real writing. Um…what? No. Storytelling is all around us. Even if you’re not a reader, you are probably still in love with some sort of storytelling or another.

I may want to be a novelist, but the stories that sing to a part of my soul and make me want to be a writer are rarely books. I’m more likely to see something on a screen and go: that. How do I translate that feeling into a book. I love storytelling in books but they rarely make me itch to write.

Unfortunately, that means identifying comp titles will always be a challenge for me. But it does mean I’m writing for the things that make my soul sing.

So to wrap up this blog post today, here’s a list of some my favorite not-novels that make me want to write:

• I Am Not Okay With This (Netflix show - I believe it’s based on a comic)

• Weathering with You (anime film)

• Your Name (anime film)

• Gris (video game)

• Hamilton (musical)

• folklore and evermore by Taylor Swift (albums)

• RWBY (animated web series)

• Steven Universe (animated series)

• The Last Five Years (musical)

• Torchwood (TV show)

• What Sarah Said by Death Cab for Cutie (song)

• Tsubasa: Recevoir Chronicle (manga - which is technically a book so…)

• Sonic X Season 3 (TV show) & Sonic Adventure 2 (video game) (I would be remiss to ignore how much fan fiction taught me how to write!)

• The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (video game)

• Final Fantasy XIII (video game)

• Persona 5 (anime)