How to Write Your Best Book: Part One
Writing your first book can be both an intimidating and exhilarating experience. You are scared and excited at the same time. Turns out, this never goes away. You are always learning and relearning how to write a book.
After writing four books, I assumed it would be easy to tackle my fifth. I was wrong. As my friend Tim Sanders says, genius is a team sport. Writing Real Artists Don’t Starve was no exception to this rule.
“Genius is a team sport.Tweet thisTweet
When I started writing this book, after learning the truth about Michelangelo’s wealth, the nagging idea wouldn’t let go. I knew there was a message worth sharing in there somewhere, but I wasn’t quite sure what it was. I felt stuck.
So, I reached out to author, friend, and writing coach, Marion Roach Smith, for help. During the course of several conversations, Marion walked me through the process of researching, writing, and editing Real Artists Don’t Starve.
In Part 1 of this series on The Portfolio Life, Marion and I talk about why you don’t have to start writing Page 1, visiting Ernest Hemingway’s house in Cuba, and provoking your reader to be successful.
Listen in as we discuss clarifying the argument of your book, creating a “closet” structure to write within, hitting your stubborn beliefs with a hammer.
Listen to the podcast
To listen to the show, click the player below (If you’re reading this via email, please click here).
Show highlights
In this episode, Marion and I discuss:
Why doubt is an indicator of respect for your craft
How reading a book is like an adventure
What questions and doubts reveal about your book’s structure
The original title for Real Artists Don’t Starve
Attending a witch camp to research a book about redheads
The modular method of writing a book
Why you don’t have to be right to write non-fiction
A practical writing strategy for not wasting 40,000 words
Asking surgeons unorthodox questions about their experience in the world
How long to research before you start writing a book
Quotes and takeaways
You re-learn how to write a book every time you write a book.
“We are all apprentices in a craft where no one ever becomes a master.” –Ernest Hemingway
If you have no questions or doubts, you’re not conscious of how textured the writing experience is.
“Books are a cumulative experience.” –Marion Roach Smith
“Once you understand the argument and can put it into a sentence, you can build the best book in the world.” –Marion Roach Smith
“How do you write a book? One word at a time.” –Marion Roach Smith
The best way to get someone to learn something is to put it to music or make it funny.
“You can never stop short of fulfilling that obligation to your reader to make it as good as it can be.” –Marion Roach Smith
“When people cling to the idea that they have to starve to succeed, they’re going to starve.Tweet thisTweet
Resources
The Roots of Desire by Marion Roach Smith
5 Steps to Writing a Great Memoir
The Memoir Manifesto
Real Artists Don’t Starve
What does your research process look like? Where in your book do you start writing first? Share in the comments
