TikTok creator criticised for writing three books in three months
- Beth Reeks from south Wales is the author behind Netflix hit The Kissing Booth
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An author popular on BookTok – a subsection of TikTok – has come under fire for saying she’s written three books in as many months.
Beth Reeks from south Wales is the author of The Kissing Booth and its sequels – now a huge success on Netflix, sparking three film adaptations featuring the likes of Jacob Elordi and Joey King.
Beth, 28, who has written 14 books under her pen name Beth Reekles, posted a video on TikTok with the caption: ‘When it’s only April but you’ve already finished writing three books this year.’
She posted the video using a viral clip from Taylor Swift’s I Can Do It With A Broken Heart, with the lyrics: ‘I cry a lot but I am so productive.’
Even though Beth has now said her original video was a joke and lacked context (two out of the three books were already nearly complete), it has sparked debate on the platform about how long it actually takes to write a good quality novel.
Author Beth Reekles (pictured) was met with criticism after she said she’d finished writing three books so far this year
YouTube star Jack Edwards from Brighton, who describes himself as the ‘internet’s resident librarian’, wrote in a now-deleted video: ‘I just saw an author post on TikTok that she has written three books so far in 2024.
‘It’s April! And I just think, I don’t know if that’s the flex you think it is.’
Jack, who recently went on a writing retreat for his own novel, added his caption: ‘If you’re writing three books in four months… I will not be reading them.’
Another commenter said: ‘If you write bad romance books then 3 is possible.’
But others have defended Beth by arguing that male authors such as Stephen King and Brandon Sanderson write just as quickly – but as soon as a female romance author does the same she is criticised.
Jack did not name Beth in his original video and took the video down after the comments began to get ‘nasty’.
However, he later confirmed in subsequent comments that the video had been about her – and Beth herself directly replied to his video to clear up some misunderstandings.
Beth said: ‘That’s me, I’m the author who posted that she wrote three books in three months, which I am very proud of and I just thought I would add some context, as that seemed to be missing from the original video.’
Beth took to her TikTok account to clarify she hadn’t written the books from scratch and that other authors write just as quickly
YouTuber Jack Edwards posted a video on TikTok saying writing three books in as many months wasn’t a ‘flex’ – though he didn’t name Beth and has now deleted the video
She clarified that the books weren’t finished and they were just first drafts, which she would be editing for the rest of the year.
She also added that the ‘three books’ mentioned hadn’t been written from scratch either. One book just needed to be finished, one deadline was moved forward from August to April and she said she’d ‘procrastinated’ writing the third.
The successful author said her natural writing method is to be ‘fast’ and it’s not uncommon for her to produce 10,000 words in a day – often for multiple days in a row.
On several occasions, she said she has written more than 50,000 words of fan-fiction within a week.
Her tight deadlines had also meant she had written faster than usual – but even then she had just completed the first draft and the ‘hard work’ of editing was still to come.
Many commenters pointed out that fantasy author Brandon Sanderson and IT novelist Stephen King are also known to write at a fast pace.
Beth continued: ‘There were some very interesting comments in the problematic sense that they said: “This is a red flag if you’re not Brandon Sanderson…”.
‘Like we’re really in a post Barbie movie world essentially saying it’s OK if it’s the fantasy genre or it’s OK if it’s a man doing it. But it’s not OK when it’s romcoms and romance and women. That’s really the stance that you wanna take?
‘My books aren’t for everyone. But they are easy going lighthearted fun romcoms that hopefully people enjoy reading and make them happy. That’s all I’m intending to do.’
Beth’s fans rushed to TikTok to defend her, saying it was ‘motivating’ to see someone finish books so quickly
Beth’s response has racked up more than 300,000 views and many of her fans leapt to her defence, with one writing: ‘Brandon Sanderson has probably written 3 books since you posted this video. Everyone writes at different paces.
‘Let people read what they want to read!! Reading is supposed to be fun and for enjoying there seems to be this: “If it’s not classics it’s not good” kinda vibe and I’m not here for it’;
‘What’s frustrating is that this writer is getting slated for it but Stephen king and Brandon Sanderson do the same thing and get applause for it.’
A fellow fan wrote: ‘It IS such a flex doing first drafts that fast! It’s very motivating.’
‘I wish all authors would write this quick,’ another added. ‘I hate waiting for sequels.’
Meanwhile, fellow author Hazel McBride said: ‘Coming from a very fast writer… when the story is in your head sometimes you just need to get it out!! I can write a book in two weeks but editing takes me months.’
In his book On Writing, Stephen King revealed that he writes on six days a week, for three to four hours at a time.
Meanwhile American author Brandon Sanderson has written more than 45 novels, short stories and graphic novels – and it is not common for him to release more than one each year.
Beth wrote The Kissing Booth when she was just 15 years old, publishing sections of the book to story-sharing platform Wattpad at a time.
She was then discovered by Penguin Random House, while Netflix made three successful films out of the series.
The Kissing Booth, starring Joey King and Jacob Elordi, was released in 2018 and was the streaming giant’s most rewatched film of the year.
In 2013 Beth was even hailed by Time Magazine as one of the world’s ‘most influential teens’ in a list that also included Justin Bieber, Malala and Malia Obama
Her new romance book The Reunion is coming out this summer.
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