Anyone ever write a book?

[Thaiphoon]

On 10/27/2020 at 6:30 PM, PrplChilPill said:

I did, almost 4 years ago. It was pretty meh.....but I'm trying again this coming month. I'd love if any of you have ever done this to read your advice. Here is what I'm up to.....

https://mikesixel.com/category/writing/

Thanks @MKnight82 for the heads-up!

@PrplChilPill, I have published 4 books so far. And not just "published", they are making me a decent amount of $$ per month.

The 4 books consist of a trilogy and the first book of my second trilogy. I have a 3rd one planned as well.

I just finished book #5 (2nd book in 2nd trilogy) and sent it to the editor this past Tuesday. (*)

I've been published for a little bit over a year now. And while by no means do I have it all figured out, I do know quite a bit about the industry and can help give you some pointers

You mentioned you need to get better at writing. The craft part. You will get better at that as you write and get more experienced putting your thoughts onto the page. But there's a whole host of things you need to decide first.

1) Know your WHY.

Why are you writing? Is it just to get the story out and say "I've written a book"? That is not a slight. Because most people say they want to write a book but something like 99.99% of them don't. Just by writing and finishing a book, you will have surpassed most of them. Then by publishing it, you will have done more than just those who had finished the rough draft. 

Me? It's cool to be published. I love to entertain readers. But I'm also doing it as a business. A side hustle, if you will. I'm 51 years old and it won't be long before I show up to try to get a job somewhere and they don't want to "hire the old guy". So I'm planning 10 years out for my next career (something I can do all the way until the end of my life). And the authors I'm friends with, who give me good advice, are making bank (5 figures and sometimes 6 figures per month).

2) Decide your genre

My suggestion is to write in the genres you love to read. I currently write Space Opera/Military Science Fiction (Space Opera - if you're not familiar with the term, think Battlestar Galactica or Star Wars...those are both in the S.O. genre).

Why do I say that? Because you know what works. What readers are looking for. You know the "tropes". And trope in this sense is not a bad thing. It just means that it is something that is to be expected in a story in that genre. Don't write a book with things readers of THAT genre don't want to read. Example would be trying to market a Romance book and there's no love interest and no happily ever after (or "happy for now"). You could try it. But as a new author with no fanbase, you might not get any traction. So stay in your lane (so to speak) until you get established. 

And don't hop around from one genre to the next as you write each book. Wait a bit. Stay in one genre for awhile. I'm waiting until I get my 3rd trilogy done before I write my Fantasy trilogy and my Thriller.

3) Write in a series 

Yes. Plan for your book to be one of many. Well...wait...go back to #1. If you just want to "Write the Great American Novel" and don't care about the $, then ignore #3. But if you maybe want to make some $ at this, then write in a series. 

Why do I say that?

Because readers usually do not want to pick up one-off books. They love books that are in series. This is the publishing side that authors usually don't encounter until they are finished. So plan to make it a 2 book series. Or 3 or 4 or... whatever #. 

 

4) FINISH the series

Most readers, if they see you are writing a series, will wait to buy any of your books until you have the series finished. Why? Because they don't want to be left hanging. Quite a lot of writers get the first book out, then promise more. And then never write the 2nd book.

So the readers wait until the finished series is out before they gobble it up. I've got sales figures to prove it. Sales of the first 3 books were good, but they all jumped up to a new plateau once the third book was out (which finished the trilogy).

I'll explain this way. I usually DVR a new TV series for the first season and don't watch any episode until it makes it to a 2nd season. Because most new shows never last past the 1st season, and I don't want to invest my time on it.

5) PLOT PLOT PLOT PLOT PLOT 

You mentioned "pantsing" (yes, I know what it is). My suggestion is that you learn HOW plots are put together. My two biggest recommendations for learning how to plot are:

• The Snowflake Method
• Save The Cat method

Google those two. And try to plot your first novel using the snowflake one. I use both now because I know how to integrate them. STC is originally for screenplays but it is adaptable to novels.

As you go through the snowflake one, outline each chapter (doesn't have to be too descriptive - just a few sentences that tells what happens). 

And don't be afraid to pants it either. Some of my BEST stuff was unplanned stuff that I pantsed WHILE I was writing the book. I would then make changes to the outline and go back to writing. So while I plot the HECK out of my novels, I allow for some discovery writing as well. Think of it as jazz improvisation. You must follow the chord changes, and the overall song, but you can do what you like inside that box.

As a new author I strongly recommend you learn to outline. It will help you immensely!!!

6) You can't edit a blank screen/page

What do I mean by that?? Well...ever get stuck trying to figure out the PERFECT sentence? Took you an hour? Maybe two? Because you wanted each word to be perfect so you edited each sentence as you went along.

Yeah...DON'T do that!! 

You'll die before you finish the book.

Write the story. Get it written. Get the rough draft down so you've exercised your brain to be creative and most importantly so that you have a finished draft. (Trust me on the "Exercising the creative brain" - I can now go from a blank page to 1500 words in a very short time.)

THEN go back and try to make it better (by adding other things to scenes - like the five senses -touch, smell, etc... and improving dialogue, etc...)

But keep going.

7) Your first stuff is gonna be doo doo

Not a knock on you. It is for 99.9999999% of authors out there. 

Everyone THINKS they can write a book. But it's hard to do it in an entertaining fashion. And it's like anything else. Did you hit the first fast ball ever thrown at you? How about the first time someone ever asked you to do anything that required skill? You sucked at first, right? Same with writing. Your words will get better. 

Let's say that you aren't going to master the "Craft" part of writing until you have written 250k words. Well...you can' get to 250k unless you start with the first one. So get writing.

Which is ANOTHER reason why you don't stop and go back to revise until you have written the rough draft.

8  ) Everyone is a storyteller

This makes #7 invalid, right? No. Everyone IS a storyteller. Humans relate to each other by telling stories. We are sociable that way. Just take your natural gift for storytelling and put that to the keyboard. You CAN be a good writer if you put the time and effort into it.

9) Tools

Word is a good tool. I know plenty of writers who use it. I use a different program specifically for writing (not sure on Webby's rules for saying it in public but will do it on your site). But don't let the shiny tool syndrome distract you from getting your words down.

10) Cover / Editor

Cover - Get a good cover artist. The cover draws them in. Make it genre-appropriate (look at the best selling books in your genre and try to emulate what works). For example, going back to Romance. Thy typically have a woman and a barechested man on the cover. That's genre approprate for Romance. For my genre? It's typically spaceships in battle with each other or Space Marines on the cover. A Fantasy book might have a guy with a sword, etc...

Editor - I don't care how much you think you know about the English language. Find an editor who does books in your genre. They can help you avoid getting to cliche and trite. And will catch things you miss (and you will miss them - there's a thing called "page blindness" where after awhile, you can't see your errors you've made because your brain has seen them too many times and no registered them). A good editor is a great thing

Simply put, these two things are HUGELY important. Get the best you can afford to pay for and make it the best book you possibly can right now.

Cover draws them in. Your story entertains them and leaves them satisfied. And then they want more.

BONUS 

Some things NOT to do.

a) don't have some big boring Prologue that "Explains the world up to now". Just one big wall of text in an "infodump". Readers skip that crap. If you want to expose cool things about your world, do it in dialogue or actions (remember, your characters LIVE in the world, and don't need to explain things to each other or themselves. They just know things).

b) avoid cliffhangers that are like the stupid telenovellas. Even if it's just book 1 of a 3 book series, make the book its own complete story arc (but within a broader storyarc over 3 books). Think of Episodes 4,5,6 of Star Wars for a good example of how each one is its own story that begins and ends, but there's a larger story playing out. So don't just cut off a book just to do it. 

c) said = is a perfectly good dialogue tag (you don't need to get exotic about the tags, but it is also okay to use a few others for variety - but use them sparingly). People ignore it as they read. You can skip using it when two people are having a conversation, and then only put in who is saying what every few lines (that way, if it's a back and forth, you don't have to type "said" a million times).

 

That's about it for now. I just got finished plotting my 3rd book in the 2nd trilogy when I saw this. Going to bed now (I have a very demanding day job. A wife and 2 kids - so I write late at night).

But will answer any follow up questions you might have.

 

(*) Don't ask me what the titles of my books are. I do not want to run afoul of Webby's rules on self-promotion. In fact, if @Webmaster wants me to take this down later, I will. 

 

 

 

 

[Thaiphoon]

One other thing. Do not copy other people's work. But don't think that just because the high concept  "has been done before" means you're copying something or that you can't make an entertaining story that is YOURS. And these high concepts are adaptable to many different genres and can result in wildly different stories.

I'll give you an example

• an orphan
• who is mentored by a wizard
• finds out he is the chosen one
• and becomes the hero that saves the day

That ^^^ above describes

1. Star Wars
2. King Arthur
3. Harry Potter

Those 3 stories couldn't be more different. And all are hugely entertaining. And yet...the basic concept is roughly the same when you boil it down.

Even if your story has the same basic concept as another story. Put your own twist on it and make it your story. Don't blatantly copy. But the essence I described above can be used to get wildly different stories.

 

Okay. It's 3:26 am. Good night

 

[jetsfan4life51]

I'm currently writing an informational book, more like a manual or guide.  Health and fitness.

[MikeT14]

I have read Thais first book in his trilogy. I liked it! So I’d be more than happy to recommend a book if anyone is curious or interested 😂

[Daniel]

34 minutes ago, MikeT14 said:

I have read Thais first book in his trilogy. I liked it! So I’d be more than happy to recommend a book if anyone is curious or interested 😂

I’m curious. PM me @Thaiphoon or Mike if you’re worried about breaking forum rules.

[MikeT14]

2 minutes ago, Daniel said:

I’m curious. PM me @Thaiphoon or Mike if you’re worried about breaking forum rules.

You got it

[PrplChilPill]

@Thaiphoon

wow! Thanks. 

That is a lot of stuff, and please PM me the names of your books. Odds are I'll ask for more help....and, I'm 56 and am already hitting that "too old / experienced" or "too expensive" problem in interviews. Odds are HIGH it will be fantasy or SF with fantasy elements. The first book in the trilogy is written, but has TOO MANY characters, imo. And, I did the stupid cliffhanger thing, but that is easy to fix (and I was planning to if I go back to that book).

Again, thanks. I look forward to reading your book.....

[RuskieTitan]

2 hours ago, MikeT14 said:

I have read Thais first book in his trilogy. I liked it! So I’d be more than happy to recommend a book if anyone is curious or interested 😂

 

2 hours ago, Daniel said:

I’m curious. PM me @Thaiphoon or Mike if you’re worried about breaking forum rules.

Same, some good info in here from someone who knows what they are talking about. Saved for myself.

Edited October 30, 2020 by RuskieTitan

[Thaiphoon]

30 minutes ago, PrplChilPill said:

@Thaiphoon

wow! Thanks. 

That is a lot of stuff, and please PM me the names of your books. Odds are I'll ask for more help....and, I'm 56 and am already hitting that "too old / experienced" or "too expensive" problem in interviews. Odds are HIGH it will be fantasy or SF with fantasy elements. The first book in the trilogy is written, but has TOO MANY characters, imo. And, I did the stupid cliffhanger thing, but that is easy to fix (and I was planning to if I go back to that book).

Again, thanks. I look forward to reading your book.....

I'll do it on your site.

One other thing. If your editor says "fix this and send back to me to review", do it. What bit me in the butt was that my editor would fix things, and then I made a hash of it to fix things in my manuscript but then didn't see that I had made additional errors when I added content...and I never sent it back to my editor for a final review before publishing. 

So some reviewers bashed me for some grammatical stuff (weird commas, etc...) that occurred because I had page blindness and couldn't see it (plus I write late at night and am usually tired). So I ended up fixing the first two books and re-released them.

Also - my first 3 covers I'm doing again with some better cover art. I love the covers. I just think they can be better now that they are making me more $

[The Gnat]

No books, but I have done NaNoWriMo a few times. Decided with a 2 year old, too busy this year, but I want to get back to it in the future.

[TENINCH]

I'd like to throw all my dumb posts here over the past 15 years into a book. 

[PrplChilPill]

Ok, well, I picked what I'm writing, and now I'm re-working the start of a draft I did a couple years ago. 

[Malfatron]

2 hours ago, TENINCH said:

I'd like to throw all my dumb posts here over the past 15 years into a book. 

That would be daunting even for Stephen King

[TENINCH]

3 hours ago, Malfatron said:

That would be daunting even for Stephen King

I'm sure I have a bunch of posts praising Christian Ponder. That would be the scary chapter.

[Daniel]

On 11/2/2020 at 11:50 AM, PrplChilPill said:

Ok, well, I picked what I'm writing, and now I'm re-working the start of a draft I did a couple years ago. 

Cannibalizing something already written is fine, if it fits in something else, but beware of over editing.

You’re just as likely to edit out your own voice into blandness as you are to fix the problems there are. And you’ll spend forever trying to get the first chapter right before moving on.

What did you pick?