So, You Want to Write a Book

Since the day I could read, I was infatuated with stories, thatching together my personal book shelf from a very young age; it was at no surprise that before long the desire to create my own had me typing at my computer. I didn’t know it at the time, but this is what taught me the two absolute most important lessons to becoming an author: read and write. I know it sounds redundant; of course you're going to read, how else would you understand the layout of a book and yes you’re going to write … you're writing a book. The point I’m trying to make is that these two components cannot just be a past time, they need to be your life. Novels aren’t like essays or poems, they have their own textual format and it is absolutely vital that you become fluent in its language.

The greatest part of writing that sets it apart from all other artistry is that you always have examples. As a novice, you couldn’t glance at a canvas and depict how the painter mixed the colors or fashioned his brush, but with a novel there’s no smoke and mirrors, you can always see how its creator strung together their words and paragraphs; there is never something you can’t take away and there’s nowhere for them to bury their secrets. If you’re an ambitious young writer and there is anything to take away from this piece, let it be this: practice your writing every day; I don’t care if it’s on paper, receipts, napkins or bathroom stalls; you need to not only want to write, but crave it, and once you’ve done all that, read twice as much.

Okay, you’ve done the homework and now it’s time to write but … where to start? I’m sure there’s hundreds of internet articles that would advise you to first choose an idea, map out your plot line, generate characters blah blah blah; you can give that a flip of the bird. It’s bull. When I first started working on ‘The Veranda’ I didn’t know I was writing a book, I didn’t even know I was writing a story – just write and I promise the ideas will come. Obviously if you start with an idea you’re already two steps ahead of the game, but it’s by no means a requirement. The same goes for writer’s block, there’s no such thing, only people who stop picking up their pencil; you might have to write a couple pages of garbage before the train gets back on its tracks, but nothing is ever not worth writing. As you progress you will constantly find yourself lost in thought, fantasizing your plot’s next steps to a point bordering on obsession, but it’s necessary; nobody just ‘thinks up’ a four hundred page story on the spot, it takes time and dedication.

Let’s jump ahead a few months; you’ve finished your first manuscript– congratulations, it’s a feat not many complete with many soldiers lost along the way, so have a beer, have two, you’ve earned it, but keep the Champaign in the cupboard for now, there’s still work to be done. A manuscript is only the bone structure to your story, now you’re going to need muscles and to do that is going to require editing – it’s a word I can only image most writers cringe at, I know I hate nothing more than to correct my own work but there’s no detours, no easy street. It just has to be done. After you’ve strived through the painstaking hours of revising each and every word within the story, you’re going to want to revisit the pages of your labor but you need to refrain from looking, you’re preparing for your final edit. Like anyone who has ever glimpsed at an optical illusion and been unable to see the face hidden behind the shapes, its near impossible to distinguish until returning to the same image a little later; the same can be said about writing. All those lines you thought were flawless will later turn out to be slop with much required tuning but it’s not your fault, it can be hard to see them without refreshing your mind. After it’s all done, you will be proud to call the work your own. As for where it goes from there, only God can tell.

The truth is I could never really tell you how to create a novel, writing has no E=Mc2; like a fingerprint, every author has their own literary identity – more commonly known as voice – that they and only they can discover. There is one thing however that unites us all, and that is passion. To create something truly beautiful and genuine you need to find your muse; I won’t lie, writing a novel isn’t easy, in fact it could very well be the hardest thing you’ll ever do. There will be times when you’ll just want to throw down your pencil and quit, I assure you I was no exception and endured my own episodes of near defeat; but that’s when you take that motivation, the one thing in your life that has you cry yourself to sleep every night with a pain that just won’t heal, or pushes you out of bed in the morning with a fiery thirst to change the world; you channel that inspiration into every word you put down and when you step back you realize it’s not only by you, but a part of you, and that makes all the difference.

On a final note, I would just like to say this: writing is not just a tool, it’s a gift and one not to be taken lightly. Literature can move mountains and bottle up seas; it has influenced the world for centuries and will continue to do so for many more. It takes a very special kind of person to be able to put his pencil on paper and have people sit for hours gawking at their work. It will act both as your sword and shield but leaving you to judge how you use them, so I will leave you with the wise words of Ben Parker, “With great power, comes great responsibility."