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My path to publication: Neurodivergent novelist Sunyi Dean ’ s strategies for writing
from Hot issues
by Frankio
©Richard Wilson
SUNYI DEAN
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An autism diagnosis paved the way for the debut fantasy author to find strategies that worked for a neurodivergent writer
‘In June 2016, I’d just turned 29 and had very little to show for it: two degrees I wasn ’ t using, two kids who didn ’ t sleep, and a host of immigration problems which had aborted any chance of a
‘ real’ career.
‘I also had an unwritten novel floating around in my head, one that was nagging to be penned. Objectively, I knew that my chances of ever being published were very low. Agents sign about one new client for every 1,000 queries, and editors buy perhaps one out of every 100 agented books landing on their desk.
‘But with all my other options closing down, I wanted to try writing it anyway. Sometimes, the act of trying matters more than the chances of succeeding.
‘Desperation is a beautiful kind of motivation. Four frantic months later, I completed a truly terrible first draft of an epic fantasy novel. The book was all kinds of broken, but I’d written something, finally, and felt good about that. I started revising, then rewriting over and over across many months, before eventually approaching literary agents.
‘Querying agents didn ’ t go well. No one was interested in my confused, dense, badly structured story. I collected about 130 rejections without a single agent request.
‘I noticed that my rejections had two overarching themes: we cannot connect to your characters, and your story is inaccessible. As it turns out, there was a specific reason for that. Over the following year, my son and I both received diagnoses for autism.
‘My craft-struggle to make relatable characters mirrored my personal struggle to relate with neurotypical folk. If I wanted to succeed in writing, I therefore would need to learn a skill which had eluded me my entire life: how to build meaningful connections with other people.
‘Connection and emotion became my focus for Book 2. While writing it, I dived into novels with strong emotional cores and analysed them to see why they worked, and how. I read articles and books on emotional craft. I reached out to other writers and spent a lot of time critiquing as a way to learn. My ability to create emotional connections improved –both in real life, and in my stories.
‘My writing was making progress, but my personal circumstances weren ’ t great. Mental illness, unemployment, relationship problems, and other difficult things were taking a toll on my then-partner and I. We bled money and swelled with debt.
‘At that point, I should have tried to get a proper employment; instead, I worked on the next book. Perhaps a selfish, foolish and illogical decision. My ship was sinking and instead of bailing water, I was concentrating on making pigs fly. In The Geek Feminist Revolution, Kameron Hurley writes: “I’d reached a point in my life where I didn ’ t know how to do anything else but finish the book” and I think that captures my mindset at the time, too.
‘I finished the novel and started querying in July 2018. This time, I had a good request rate, and eventually an offer of rep. Just the one offer, but that was enough. After partnering up with my enthusiastic agent, Naomi Davis, we went out on submission to publishers.
‘There ’ s a lot of information about querying, but very little that prepares you for subbing out to editors. My first venture again wasn ’ t fun. Over the course of eighteen months, every imprint either shot us down with rejections, or just didn ’ t answer.
‘In total, I’d now written two books in three years, collecting about 180 agent rejections and 15+ publisher rejections between them. Not the best ratio.
‘While Book 2 was drowning at the submission stage, I started trying to write Book 3. I weighed up the rejection feedback I’d got with my agent and critique partners, and I took a more organised approach to worldbuilding this time. I also studied thriller novels and other mainstream commercial books to get a sense of their structure, pacing, and tension –three issues that had plagued my previous attempt.
‘It took about two years to write and revise Book 3. During that time, my marriage collapsed, Covid showed up, and lockdown came into force in the UK. I moved out of
my ex ’ s house in June 2020 and into a semi-derelict flat, where I drafted the final chapters of The Book Eaters and handed them to my agent.
‘After years of bad luck, the stars just seemed to align. I’d hit on the right kind of story at the right place and time: a highconcept contemporary fantasy with an unusual angle, which borrowed from thrillers for its structure and pacing. Four days after Naomi pitched the novel to publishers, we had an offer for a three-book deal. ’
Sunyi’s top tips:
• Find a community. When writers with similar goals and work ethics form groups and pursue publication together, a surprisingly high number of them get agents and book deals. It ’ s a really common phenomenon. And if you can ’ t find a community, build one. Make a Twitter account, reach out, start a discord or a chat group. Other writers are often desperate to connect. • Arm yourself with knowledge. If you don ’ t, this industry will eat you up like a wild thing. Listen to podcasts, read books and articles on publishing, or watch ‘Book Tube ’ videos. There are loads of free, high-quality resources on both writing craft and publishing careers. No need for an expensive writing degree or masters (unless you want one).
Vicky Leech, commissioning editor, HarperCollins
‘The Book Eaters was like no other book I’d read before or since. It is fair to say that when the manuscript landed in my inbox it consumed me as much as the other way round. There was so much that drew me to this story.
‘There ’ s something about the tone which remains, even after so many readings, beguiling – dark and glittering, terrifying and yet filled with passionate loves. Like snow on a dark landscape the contrasts that Sunyi deploys to tell her story just work. All of this is before we even begin with the unbelievable originality of the book eaters themselves: a clan of creatures so monstrous and convincing they feel almost familiar – like something you ’ ve glanced in the corner of your vision, in the shadows, outside the window, under the bed.
‘This is a tale for those outside of society, looking in. I was thrilled to be transported to Scotland and the north of England for her tale – wild places often neglected in modern fantasy. This book is rooted in the landscapes that Sunyi, a northern writer, lives in.
‘Lastly, of course, this is a book about books: an irresistible story about the magic of storytelling threaded with horror, romance and fantasy that feels oh so real. ’
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