Writing a Book
Photo by Kourosh Qaffari (Unsplash)
Instead of studying, I am writing another novel. It is weird why I suddenly like to write stories again because I used to hate writing stories. Writing a story always seemed like a forced task because it was schoolwork. This made me hate writing stories because I always connect stories with school but now I am out of school, I found the suppressed passion for writing and reading again. However, it is still slightly contradictory because I have always preferred writing informative articles and what not but I surprised myself by writing not one but two novels.
My question would be now can it even be considered a book if that story is not published because it is not published and I am somewhat sad about it. At the same time, I am relieved. Just like always, I am torn about this. Maybe I am missing out on a great side hustle but maybe I am saving myself from all the embarrassment. It is a fragile scale that I don’t want to tip. Maybe I will publish something in the future but just not now.
Reasons why I do not want to publish
The reason those novels are not published is that first I don’t want others to know that I wrote a book. People who never cared would suddenly care and I just hate that kind of attention. There are also the people who always cared who would question who I am because the me they know would not be writing about these things.
Second, I am somewhat also embarrassed about it. It is not because I believe that those novels are bad but it just felt like another clique that I brought to life. Every aspect of the story somehow reminds me of another story that another person wrote. That novel just does not feel like mine even though I wrote it, which just feels odd.
Third, it never feels finished. Always when I thought a book is finished, I always think of other important aspects that I just can´t miss out on. There are always small plot contradictions and grammatical errors every time I reread the pages I wrote. Honestly, if it were up to my perfectionist side, I would never finish anything because she always finds something else that I could add. The trick is to tear it away from her. That is why I never reread my articles I already published because I will hate myself for the great opportunities I have missed.
My Experience
This challenge was fun, to be honest. Not only did I find out that I could write so much about something that only exists in my head. I also found out that I could write about things I do not feel. If someone would ask me to describe my emotional state, I would tell them that I feel emotionless and numb for unknown reasons but in the stories, these characters are experiencing these things that I cannot. It sounds a bit crazy but it answers my question of if I could describe in detail something I have never experienced or felt. The answer, I can and I have no idea how.
Let me explain, in one of the novels a character is shot. There are shooting survivors out there but I am not one of them. So I have no idea how I could have possibly described in full detail how the character felt from the physical pain to the emotional state because I have never experienced it before. The words just came flooding into my mind and I have no idea where they came from.
After writing that scene, I looked up how shooting survivors described their experience and my description was surprisingly accurate, which somewhat shocked me. Don’t get me wrong each survivor had different experiences but my description of the character´s experience just had aspects from every survivor's real life experience I read. I have no idea how or why I know how a bullet piercing through the skin could feel or how a person could feel in that very moment but I could just write it, which I personally found odd yet interesting. Maybe it was just logical deduction and reasoning but that still astonished me a bit.
Writing a novel also allowed me to go to this other world I could explore through the eyes of my characters. After spending time in lockdown, it was certainly fun to go to another place even though it is just in my mind. It was also fun to see the difference between the idea in my head and that same idea on paper because somethings that worked in my mind does not necessarily work on paper or at least not like it was supposed to.
This other world is also a world the characters I created could explore without the fear that it would come back and bite me in this world. In real life, actions have consequences but in stories, they do not. The author makes up the rules so one can write about a world where people who steal are the good guys. One can make up a world where humans defy the rules of physics. One can make up a world where the characters try the things one has never tried. The possibilities are endless and only limited by the imagination. That sounds like a clique but it is true.
Things I wish I knew earlier
However, the reason why I am not publishing a book or the experiences I have gathered are not the reasons why I am writing this article. In this article, I want to point out a few things I wish I knew earlier and things I need to constantly remind myself of while writing another novel.
1. Have a rough idea of the plot
The reason why I started to write stories is that I have these ideas in my head that I want to bring to life. These storylines, these characters, and these messages I wanted to bring across. It was also a fun challenge to write more than seventy-five thousand words about a single topic, which I thought was impossible prior to this challenge. I couldn´t have done it if I did not have a rough idea of the events I wanted to include. If you would tell me to write a story on the spot, I could not. For me, it was easier to bring this story to life if I already roughly knew that story.
2. Character profile
To fully flesh out my characters, it was certainly helpful to write character profiles for the main characters. Writing character profiles for side characters can be waste of time but also fun to think of. Writing a character profile is just basically another way of discovering who this blurry character is who at that moment only exists in one’s head. The basics like the name, birthday, birthplace, age, etc… need to be included. Then the appearance and details about their walk, talk, etc… Just small details that make a character the character one is imagining.
Most importantly, one will have to write about psychology. How does that character tick? What is the motivation of that character in that story? All those trivial details may be irrelevant for the story but it helps to understand the character before writing about that character and what that character may do. If I hadn´t written a character profile I would still be constantly rewriting the first novel because I got a few things wrong or forgot them. Character profiles just gave me a clearer picture of the character I want to bring to life.
3. Picture that story
What was also helpful for me was that I had this tiny movie in my head of the story I wanted to tell so I could just write what I “saw”. Since I knew the personality of each character, I could see how they interact with one another and how they would react to certain situations. It was also helpful with the description of the surroundings. Having an idea of how that place looked, how the characters are dressed, and how the scene would play out certainly made writing easier.
4. Don’t plan too much
On the one hand, having an idea and a plot is good. On the other hand, if certain storylines don’t work out on paper and one still wants to follow the original plan would make the stories feel forced. Hence, don’t plan too much. My best side plots and details came during writing or post-editing but never while I was planning. In other words, plan but also be ready to deviate.
5. Don´t fuss about the details at the start
Writing a book is just scary but it helped to know that I do not have to finish the book on the first try. When I was writing my first draft for my first book, I always wanted to squeeze in as many details as possible because otherwise that story just feels bland. However, I learnt that it would be easier to add the details later if you already have the core of the story finished. This means that the first and even the second draft should just be about getting the story right instead of the filling details and making the story more worth reading.
6. Don’t go into too much detail
If I would describe everything on a microscopic level, I would have gotten my seventy-five thousand words in no time but the story will be just filled with unnecessary information that does not drive the plot forward. In other words, too much detail can make the story feel as if a dog is chasing its own tail. Never-ending and boring. Therefore adding small details is all right and even wanted but just not too much.
7. After writing rethink
Since I normally anyways can´t sleep at night, I thought I might as well do something useful in the time I lie awake in bed. For instance, I rethink the chapter I just wrote. I would put my laptop away. Close my eyes. Imagine the story in my mind. “Play” that scene. Look for flaws, contradictions, anything that does not make sense, etc… It is always at night where I find the most things I need to change.
8. Act out the characters
I don’t know if this common practice for other authors but for me it is always easier to describe certain scenes by picturing them in my head. If that does not work, I sketch the things I want and describe that. For example, I could only “see” my character in a dress but I don’t know how that dress looks like so I draw it and then describe it.
The same goes for characters emotions and actions. When writing I might subconsciously act out the actions my characters are doing or show the emotions my characters are showing so I can more fluidly write what the characters are doing because I have a better idea of what they are doing. Again, I don’t know if other authors do it or not but I found it helpful to make the writing seem more natural instead of being artificial.
9. Read the story aloud
While writing articles and now novels I figured out the hard way what sounds good in your head does not necessarily mean that it would sound good on paper. This also helped with finding grammatical mistakes. Just by reading, aloud helped me find tons of errors and contradictions. I never would have found those if I were just reading what I wrote again.
10. Reread the whole novel after two weeks
When I thought I was finished with my first book, I thought that that would be the final version of my novel. However, when I just left it for a week or two and returned, I found so many plot holes. So many contradictions, grammatical errors, missing aspects, etc… This somehow ties in with the fifth point. Don’t fuss about the details too much because one has the chance to reread and rewrite anyways.
Conclusion
Writing a book is all about finding a perfect balance between too much and too little. I guess just like everything else in life.
Those are just the top ten things I wish I knew earlier and learnt while I was writing. Of course, there is more that I didn´t think of or other things I have missed but I guess I just have to live with the thought that there will be more I did not mention.
For anyone who has been thinking about a story, I would suggest just go for it. You could surprise yourself with all the things you could write and how creative you may become.