Saturday, May 30, 2009
SO YOU WANT TO WRITE A BOOK
When I was on my blog tour I met a number of bloggers who are on the cusp of writing their first book. (No names, but you know who you are.)
When I say on the cusp, I mean they’ve been thinking about it a lot. And when I say thinking, I mean ruminating, obsessing, agonizing, losing sleep over it.
I’ve been in touch with a few of them, and as far as I can tell, they have the three basic ingredients it takes to actually get that first novel out of their heads and onto the page.
They have the talent. They have the desire. And they are all scared shitless.
Scared is normal. In fact, right now, try this little experiment. Grab a ream of typing paper. Now tell yourself that all you have to do is fill up these 500 pages with words, and you’ll have a book. If that doesn’t make you violently nauseous, come back when you are. Insecurity is a basic requirement for being a writer.
Legend has it that in 1958 Harper Lee got so fed up with the many drafts of her first novel, that one winter night, in the middle of a monumental creative meltdown, she opened the window and flung all five years worth of her work onto the snowy New York City streets below.
Then in a moment of sanity she called her editor, who promptly instructed her to go downstairs and scoop the pages out of the slush. She did, and the book was published two years later. It was on the bestseller list for 88 weeks, and in 1961 won the Pulitzer Prize.
It’s called To Kill A Mockingbird. Maybe you heard of it. Fifty years ago, Ms. Lee would have found that hard to imagine. All that talent, and she still had to cope with the angst.
So — do you still want to write a book? Maybe I can help. I can’t tell you how to do it. Especially if you’re planning to write a sex manual, or the definitive book on quilting, or one of those How To Build 17 Major Appliances in Your Basement for Only $39 books.
What I can tell you is how I write. I’ve only written four books, so on the Fraud to Expert Continuum I am far from being an authority. But after four novels I’ve learned a few things and formulated a few thoughts of my own that I think are worth sharing.
Plus I’ve written for the theatre, for film, and for television, and while I had to learn to work within the structure of each one, there are some things that carry through.
One of them is creating a Character Bible. I’ll write about what that is, and how I do it in my next post (I'll shoot for Wednesday).
Questions? Comments? I’m as insecure as the next writer; so a little feedback would let me know whether or not I’m being helpful or just talking into the Velterein.
Marshall posted on May 30, 2009 4:05 PMNo, no please continue. This is interesting and now that you're plugged into my reader I can follow. But, I have to say I really have no interest in writing a book. (Devil on his shoulder says, "He's a lying sack of shit. Infact he has this story about a guy who unlocks the key to eternal life.")
Audubon Ron posted on May 30, 2009 10:49 PMI don't think this age thing is really going to be such a huge barrier for us after all. :)
I'll be stalking you for that next post, brother.
Mr Lady posted on May 31, 2009 12:12 AMI'm midway thru my third novel -- each taking 5 years to write thanks to the day job -- and I tell friends you need to ba a little nuts to finish a book.
Essentially, I've assigned myself 'homework' every day for the past 15 years, with no promise of eventual compensation. Had I used that free time for something practical, like stuffing envelopes or mowing lawns, I probably could be a millionare by now.
So keep up the writing advice, Marshall. But just make sure it comes with a recommendation for a good therapist.
gregory huffstutter posted on May 31, 2009 12:24 AMPlease, do continue. I'm curious to know your process and what goes through your mind as you write.
Shelly posted on May 31, 2009 8:22 AMLead on, Macduff (or is it Lay on, Macduff?)
Sam posted on May 31, 2009 8:50 AMI'd love to continue reading your writing advice. Even if I don't ever take it.
I saw a picture once of an author sitting in his/her "writing space" surrounded by post-its of what was presumably the time-line & plot details of whatever they were writing. Being a graphical thinker, I thought this was genius. But then I thought the hard part would be figuring out what to put ON the post-its. More contemplation has suggested that there may be more hard parts than just that.
In fact if I step temporarily out of denial, I suspect that the only easy part is the one I visualize about writing: the long pause to gaze contemplatively at the ceiling and take a long deep sip from the wine-glass.
So I think I've got that part almost nailed. When I get it, maybe I'll be ready to move on to post-its.
In the mean time: bring it on. I'd love to ignore whatever advice you can provide!
Also: happy you're posting again. How did crazy stalker-fans make it a whole year between books prior to author-blogs? Don't answer that, because it probably involved effort.
harmzie posted on May 31, 2009 11:50 PMHeck no, I don't want to write a book! My lord, it's hard enough trying to come up with interesting stuff to write about on my blog. But I'm so glad that you are putting such great information out there for those who do. Can't wait to read more about "the process."
Suzannah Banana posted on June 1, 2009 12:35 PMWriting a book? Oh dear, that would be like pulling teeth or something. I wouldn't be able to write a (half decent) book if my life depended on it since good books follow a nice structure, with character development and other things I am unable to do.
That's why I can certainly appreciate people who can write a book. I'll be interested from the sidelines in how you go about writing a book though. I'm sure there are different formulas that work and it'll be interesting to see what yours is.
Daisy
Daisy posted on June 1, 2009 9:32 PM