That Thing You Do Before Your Write

I have been attempting to become more active in the writing community. This has led me to engage in more conversations on Twitter and around the internet involving writing. I want to learn as much as I can, while at the same time spreading around the knowledge to others as much as possible.

Thus, came about the writing process. This, in my opinion, is one of the most important processes that a writer can get down. But there is something significant that I see so extensively throughout blogs that I feel compelled to point it out.

THERE IS NOT ONE SINGLE PROCESS TO WRITING A NOVEL.

I would argue that there are as many ways to write a novel as you can think of. More importantly, there is YOUR way.

I want to focus on the way that I write a novel. Not only will this give you a delicious look into my haphazard mind, but it may spark some new idea of your own.

When I write, the first step for me is coming up with an idea. I look at this less like a step, and more of a happenstance. It is simply a thought. A feeling. Many writers out there will understand what I mean. It is kind of like those cartoons where the light bulb goes off above the character’s head. I never feel pressure to come up with an idea. Why?

Because to me writing is fun.

I do it because I want to create worlds. I want to tell a story. I don’t know if I could put so much time into something that I didn’t find enjoyable. This is why you will never find me sitting around forcing myself to think of a plot or a story arc.

“But, Stephan, shouldn’t you follow the (enter last amount you heard) steps to writing a novel?”

The answer to that, my dearest reader, is no.

The reason the answer is no, is a skosh more complicated. The first step in my writing process is not a step at all because if I don’t have an idea slowly budding in the back of my mind, then there is no story to begin with. I guess you could say that the first step of my writing process is deciding which ridiculously amazing idea floating around in my mind is bursting to come out first.

For example. I wrote an anecdotal parenting guide a few years ago. It was back when I didn’t have a single thought of being an author. I used to journal, in a way. I would write down little stories about my children, so I could look back on them and remember what it was like. Then one day it hit me. Just hit me. It burst through my living room wall like the Kool-Aid guy and hit me.

I would make it into a book. And I must say, it was the best idea ever. I had so much fun, but it was also hard. I had to do tons of research about how to write a book. I had to make sure my editing was on point. It took me out of my comfort zone. And most importantly, it was one of the best experiences I have ever had.

Now that is an example of where I already had a few thoughts down on paper. One thing led to another, and I kind of fell into a book. What happens when you don’t have notes and other things to go off?

Enter the other side of my mind: The pantser.

Many of you have undoubtedly heard me talk of a YA fantasy that I am currently querying. But let’s take a step back and understand the process. Link of Fates was a novel long in the making. When I was a junior in high school, I sat down one day and typed up the first three chapters. Did I plan it? Did I plot story arcs? Did I care what other people thought?

NOPE.

I just wrote for the joy of writing. Its like Bob Ross and his happy little trees. I have happy little nouns and verbs. Pronouns and adjectives. Anyways, they all seemed to find their way onto the same page and next thing you know I have three chapters.

So, life happens, and I put it away and forgot about it. Or did I?

Remember that idea, floating in the back of your head that you must pick out and write about? That is the one, my friend. And for seven long years it kept coming back and back and back and back and I finally listened to it. Earlier this year, I finally wrote the last twenty-one chapters. Talk about a long process.

Or is it?

The writing process and especially the first step is one of the most important. It is crucial to your story. The idea. The spark. The butterfly feeling in your stomach when you get up and can’t wait to put black down on the white paper.

There is not one way to write a novel, because we are all different. We think differently. We are different. In that light, it would make sense that we all write differently. Other than that, I will tell you that you must write no matter what other people say. There will always be a Debbie downer. There will always be someone who thinks your idea is stupid or overused.

You do you. And don’t you dare let someone tell you that you can’t do something.

The Shark and the Podcast

It is astounding to think that I have finished the first book in a novel. I seem to be cautiously wading out into the shallows. But these are not the calm and quiet shallows of a beach. Crystal clear water, and seagull’s squarking and gliding through the air. A soft breeze moving through your hair. These shallows have sharks, and somehow you are supposed to swim across them. But there is a catch.

You have to tie a blood soaked query letter to your back leg.

That is my first impression of the writing industry, and although it may be a smidge of an embellishment, it is not completely untrue. I remember the days of old. The dreaming of getting a book published. Back then it was easy, back then it was safe.

Now, you can’t be afraid. You can’t sit back and hope that you wrote a good enough book to be noticed by agents and publishers. You have to go out there are make it happen. You have to have a following.

Enter Twitter

So, I am not old, but I am not young. I never really got into Twitter. I mean, I have always had one. I think everyone has. But I never really used it. What makes it even better is that I sat there on my author Facebook page, hoping and wishing that I would start a large following.

I began to get on Twitter more. I began to actually interact with people. Not just retweet, but actually find someone who is having a conversation and join in. A funny thing happened. I started getting followers. Now, I don’t have a ton, but you have to start somewhere. I am somewhere around 300 more than I had a few weeks ago. 

I digress. But you should follow me. But seriously, I digress.

*whispers “follow me”

I was at drill a few weeks ago. I know, I know. Then Army just keeps taking and taking. In all truth, I did sign up for it. Like literally signed a contract. So, I suppose I had it coming. Anyways, I was there and talking to one of my buddies, and he made a good point. He says that I should start a podcast. Apparently I am always carrying on a dialogue about something interesting, which actually got me to thinking about it.

A podcast. Me, talking to myself. Just the thought brings a smile to my face, and gets my chest fluttering in ways that I can’t describe without a thesaurus. No promises, but I am looking into it. I’m really excited about it. Hopefully it gives me an outlet, and saves my wife from my rants and raves.

Long story short, it is good to be back to writing. I am currently querying for the first book in my series The Pearls of Solus. It is a YA epic fantasy, and I haven’t been quite this excited about something since the Titans made it to the Super Bowl in 1999.

In other news, I am writing the second book in said series, but I am getting distracted by a budding idea. I have already written a chapter, but safe to say it is fantasy as well. It has a sort of medieval setting and is centered on a power struggle between siblings. I can neither confirm nor deny that this has anything to do with the fact that I am one of six siblings.

It's Good To Be Back

Well, it has been a while, I have to say. The Army tends to make me do things that have the potential to keep me away from a computer for extended periods of time. Not that it is a bad thing by any means; nevertheless it’s good to be back.

I can’t say that it was a complete loss, being gone. In the two weeks I spent in Texas I was able to get back several of the beta reads that I sent out, so that was awesome. It seems as though the editing process is going to go on forever, but I know that once I get that feeling, it will be done. At this point I am not sure if that feeling is going to be one where I am completely satisfied with my work, or a feeling of “I can’t read this again.”

You see, the whole point in writing a book, for me, is to get it into the hands of my readers. At some point I am going to have to stop moving commas and periods and just get on with it. If grammar bothers someone so much that they can’t read a story for what it is, then should they really be reading it?

I started the Pearls of Solus series back in 2010. Don’t worry, I haven’t been writing on it that long. The majority of the writing has happened in the past year, but the beginning of it all was back in 2010. I remember not even planning to write it. I just had a thought one day and began to write it down. That thought became a chapter, and then two, and then three; three absolutely horribly written chapters. When I begin to feel as though my writing is not up to par, I always pull up those early drafts and begin to read just to see just how far I have come.

Work, family, school, you name it and it was going on back then. It is still happening. I now have three wild children and work has obviously not changed, but something has. Maybe it was my motivation, or maybe I will never know. The bottom line is that one day in early 2017 I pulled up that old story I had started and began writing it again. It is now a complete story and is hovering around 72,000 words. When I think of the fact that the longest thing I have written was my parenting book, A Father’s Guide, coming in at around 22,000, then the magnitude of what I have done begins to come into reality.

I have spent so much time wanting to make it perfect and hoping that every single person in the world loves it. The truth of the matter is that it will never happen. There will always be that one person who doesn’t like fantasy or that grammar Nazi who just can’t go on because the period was in the wrong place. I have seen so much with sending out beta reads. I have had someone not make it past the first couple of paragraphs. I have also had someone read the entirety of the book in a week and absolutely love it, and are impatiently waiting for the next one.

I will never be able to please everyone, and I feel like that was something I had to figure out by myself. It was so stressful before I actually had people read my novel. But now I am able to see just how different everyone is, and I think that is so awesome. It won’t be long now, and whether you hate it or love it, it is going to happen and I couldn’t be more excited about it.

The Four Elven Factions

For hundreds of years Elthiol and Aerian ruled the elves from their palace in Dendrelfin. There came a time where the ways and means of the elves began to differ. Before long the city was slowly split into several different factions who began to grow tired of the forest life, and longed to be closer to the callings of their hearts. The elves that remained in the forest were known ever after as the green elves. They loved the woodlands and the trees, and they were the largest and strongest of all the elven clans. They could be identified by their forest green clothing, and were impossible to be taken at unawares. They were well versed in the lore of the woodlands and were friends to all birds and animals of the forest. 

The blue elves or the elves of the sea were masters of the waters. Upon leaving Dendrelfin, they soon became friends with the nymphs of Niadia in the south, for they shared the same love of water. Their raiment was light blue, and they took their people and withdrew from Dendrel Forest, and settled far in the east by the firth of the River Ost. Along the eastern coast, they sailed up and down, looking for new lands and wider seas. Many times, they would venture further to the east into the vast unknown sea, seeking for legends of other countries and peoples. They were great voyagers and new every inch of the coast and could sail the waters better than any other race. 

The grey elves or the dark elves were great friends of the dwarves before their extinction. They wore dark grey cloaks and were well versed in stonework and masonry, which they learned deep in the mountains by the teachings of the dwarves. When the dwarf kingdoms fell they were consumed with sadness and they left Dendrel. Because their calling was the mountains, yet their hearts mourned, they settled in The Harrows, which lie at the foot of the oldest mountains in Runa. In this dark forest, they continued their work, and shut out everything from their life before. They shunned the light, and only trusted themselves. Working in the shadow of the mountains, they brooded in the dark and to this day, there is a dark evil in that forest, and few go there save in great need. 

Lastly, there are the red elves, or mercenary elves. These were the outcasts, and accursed. They clothed themselves in dark maroon, and they trusted no other faction or race. Many prisoners and criminals were not kept behind wall of stone for fear of disrupting the forest but were banished from Dendrel. As time moved on, they began to gather together. They moved throughout Runa doing work for those who would pay the highest price. They loathed the forest, and Dendrelfin, but called it home due to its central location to Runa. 

The Five Reasons Why I Write

I keep stumbling across articles about the best reasons why you should write. Articles and blogs like Top Ten Reasons to Become an Author, and What Not to Write About. Now, this bothers be in more ways than one, because there is only one person in this world who knows you well enough to decide the best course of action: YOU. I find it hard to believe that other people’s advice is being taken over that of your own. The truth of the matter is that you alone can decide what you want to get out of your writing. 

I have decided to put together a list of the best reasons why I write. Why? There are too many conflicting ideas when it comes to writing. If you are going to take the advice of another author, then it must be objective and focus on writing as the verb and not as the noun. People continuously confuse writing as a pleasure and writing as a career. If you have traditionally or self-published a book, you have a writing career. If you keep your writing locked in a safe and it never sees the light of day, then you are writing for pleasure. 

I see far too many authors talk about how if you are writing for the money, then you shouldn’t be writing at all. I would like to point out the paragraph above. If you put a book on sale and begin to see income from it, then you are writing for the money. Even if it is only one single book. I mean let’s be real for a moment, if it was just because you enjoyed doing it, then you wouldn’t go to all the trouble of getting it published, and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. Just imagine an architect or an accountant who refused to get paid for their services because they were doing it for fun. It doesn’t work like that, and neither does writing as a career. 

Gracefully steps down from soap box

Without further ado, I give you my top five reasons why I write: 

1. Escape Reality 

This one is one of the more obvious ones so I chose to start with it. It will depend on what genre you are writing, but in the long run it means the same thing. I write fantasy, because of the worlds I create, and the characters I describe, I am able to somehow escape reality. Don’t get me wrong, I love my life. I have a great wife and amazing children, but when you can create a world, and immerse yourself into it, some amazing things can happen. Don’t let your imagination erode away without letting it stretch its legs and breathe the fresh air. 

2. It Was This Or Piano 

I firmly believe that for the most part, people need an outlet. Some people play piano, and guitar, while others build birdhouses and fix cars. Not that I find the world of automotive repair dull or birdhouse building particularly boring, I just chose writing as my hobby. I think that if you are looking for an outlet, then it needs to be something you really enjoy doing. For me writing is that outlet, and I love to be able to spend time in it. Maybe not as much as I would like to, but I also have three children, who seem to suck time right out of reality. 

3. Tell Your Story 

We all have a story. A life that sometimes peeks out of the shadows long enough to want to be seen by the rest of the world. This was the main reason why I wrote A Father’s Guide. Was it an all-inclusive parenting guide? Nope. And that was not the intention. I kept thinking about all of the funny and interesting things that my children did, and I thought that I could share that with the rest of the world. The parenting book was just the car that drove it there. Your story doesn’t need to be the greatest thing in the world, just great to you, and worth sharing. 

4. Share Your Passion

If you have a passion, and I am not talking about enjoyment, I am talking about a passion for creating something, then why not share that with the world? My mind begins to wonder away from writing, and onto other things. What would music be like today, if the Beatles never made a record, or if Slash never picked up a guitar? What about if George Washington was comfortable with British rule or Thomas Edison didn’t have a knack for inventing things, what would things look like today? The world would go on, but would it really be the same world? You will never know what kind of difference your passion can make until you put it out there. 

5. Legacy

This one is here, but not for the reasons you may expect. I don’t need to have my name on the most influential person list or win a Nobel Peace Prize. What I do want to do is leave my mark on the world in at least some small way. It is no different from finishing college or landing that big promotion. For me it is my children. I want them to grow up and see the things I have accomplished and be motivated by them. In fact, I’ll go up one more level. I want them to see the things I have done, shrug, and say they will do better. If there is one thing I would strive to do is to put my children in a better place than I am now. 

These are the reasons that I write. Maybe we share the same ones, and maybe yours are completely different. The most important thing about having a reason to write is not the specific reason; it’s that you have one in the first place. What are the reasons why you write?