How Did You Write So Many Books, So Quickly?
The short answer is: I didn’t.
The longer answer begins with an observation (the regrettably late) Richard Laymon made years ago when asked how long it took him to write a book. His reply was that it took twenty five years and six months: six months to write the book, twenty five years to learn how to write. And I’ve found that, at least going by my own experiences, that that’s accurate. I started writing a great deal less than twenty five years ago, of course, but the theory is the same. Before I produced anything readable, I produced garbage; and before that, I struggled to produce anything at all. As my actual writing skills have improved, so have my production skills.
These days, I can more or less budget six months per manuscript. Some, like The Price of Desire, have taken me a great deal longer. Others, like The Demon of Darkling Reach, just came pouring out. The White Queen took me just about six months. None of which, of course, explains how I’ve managed to produce five books (The Price of Desire, The Demon of Darkling Reach, I Look Like This Because I’m A Writer, and the forthcoming A Dictionary of Fools and The White Queen) in seemingly less than three months.
Which, therein comes the magic. Of rejection. You see, before I decided to go ahead and take matters into my own hands, I dealt with agent after agent telling me no and on a very long timeline. Why it should take someone a year to write back to you and tell you, I’m not interested is a mystery to me. And, indeed, one of the reasons I decided to go the indie route was also that this “hurry up and wait” philosophy just didn’t work for me. We’re all only given so much time on this earth; I didn’t want to spend it waiting for some arbitrary gatekeeper to decide if my writing was any good. I’d rather let potential readers do that.
I was still working on The White Queen when The Demon of Darkling Reach came out; were this a traditional publishing situation, you, the reader, would still be looking at another year or so before The White Queen hit shelves–regardless of when I’d written it. But, this being the world of indie, the only thing standing between you and a completed book is the actual nuts and bolts of turning a manuscript into a completed book.
Because I kept writing while I thrilled to the word “no,” over and over again, I have quite a backlog. Not all of it is publishable in its current state–or ever. A few things are half done; some I plan on going back to finish (for example, a stand alone novel set in the modern day), and some I don’t. But between the last of this run of books coming out (A Dictionary of Fools will hopefully be hitting shelves before Halloween) and the next offering, you’re probably looking at a wait time of six to eight months.
Which begs the question: what are you most hoping I’ll work on next?
In the pipeline are:
The Black Prince , the third and final installment in The Black Prince Trilogy
The Pleasures of the Grave , the third installment in The House of Light and Shadow
A Thousand and One Nights , my stand-alone novel set in modern day
My as-yet untitled personal memoir
I, Demon , a compilation of horror shorts and one novella
An as-yet untitled (but outlined) guide to success in indie publishing
The first volume in my as-yet untitled (but again planned) epic fantasy series
I’d love your feedback!
