WANT TO WRITE A BOOK?

COMING SOON!I’ve now written and published three novels and a book of short stories. My fourth novel, Rich Man, Dead Man , will be released in September. A number of readers have asked questions about writing and what my experience has been with “finding a publisher.” A few have told me they have this book they want to write and know it’s worthy of being made into a movie. Some have suggested I write the book for them. I decided, instead, to blog about my experience with writing and publishing a book.
FIRST IN THE SERIESIt won’t be a surprise that a lot of people say they are going to write a book…someday. That was me in the ninety’s and well after the turn of the century. I outlined a story and finally, in 2008, began writing. I loved it! I committed to spend at least one hour every week-day working on my story. Instead, I found myself writing three to five hours and soon had my first draft completed. I was proud of my work, but suddenly realized, I didn't know what to do next.
So I set my project aside and began researching the questions about writing, publishing, and marketing a novel. I did internet searches, talked to friends and acquaintances with varying degrees of experience in writing and publishing, and bought books on each of the topics. The information was overwhelming, much of it conflicting. I digested enough to divide the project into three broad categories; writing, research and editing, publishing, and marketing. That’s how I’ve divided this blog series. Here’s the first.
Writing, Research, and Editing.The fun part of being an author is telling the story. If it’s not, you might want to re-evaluate whether you really want to be a writer. That task, however, is more than getting those thoughts out of your head and onto paper or a computer screen. A few things a new writer should consider follow. Is an outline necessary as a guide to writing? I’ve written from an outline and I’ve written freestyle, just letting the story flow from my mind onto the pages of a Word document. When I use an outline, the finished product never looks much like the outline I started with; when I don’t use an outline, if I reached a point where the story doesn’t flow from my brain to my fingers on the keyboard, often described as “writers block”, I begin outlining until I am back on track. A new writer might use an outline as a starting point, then decide, after a little experience, which method works best. For me, it's a combination of outlining and free-flow.
Early in my research I found authors, agents, and publishers repeatedly warning to edit your work, have your work edited by a professional, and, oh, by the way, edit, edit, edit. I considered myself a capable writer, but heeding the numerous warnings, I asked my wife to edit the manuscript. I was surprised at the errors she corrected in both sentence structure and punctuation. Next, I asked a professor who teaches creative writing to edit it. Even more corrections and advice on improving the sequence of how the story is told. Finally, out of an abundance of caution, I hired a professional editor. All three made corrections, though a "professional editor" can be quite expensive. I have since hired professional editors and I have created a network of authors with whom I trade editing services. Frankly, I think the other authors, well-selected, works best for me. No matter which approach you take with editing, be sure you edit before publishing. Misspelled words, bad grammar, and poorly constructed sentences will ruin an otherwise laudable writing project.
A word of caution. If your editors are personal friends, make sure they will be honest with you. Often friends are hesitant to critically review such work. And develop a thick skin! If you engage editing services, you want the editor to find fault with your work. You’ll decide which criticism to take and which to ignore, but be open. Finally, no matter how many edits, even by multiple editors, don’t be surprised if the first call you get from a friend reading your book is to tell you about an error she found. Some say a book is never error-free. But try to create a work that won’t embarrass your high school English teacher.
Just a word or two about researching the topic of your book. I followed the advice of those who suggest writing about a subject you are familiar with. That said, research is still necessary. For instance, if your story takes place in an earlier time period, it might be important to know what was happening politically and culturally at that time, what technology was available, and generally, whether events you might describe could even have occurred then. For example, how available were cell phones in 1985?  Were they widely used? When did personal pagers cease to be a part of our communication system? For a crime writer, you may need to know when fingerprints came into popular use by investigators. Whatever the question, I suggest you NOT rely on Google searches alone for your research! A little time at the library, or even an on-line library if available, may be a much more reliable resource.

Next time I’ll write about my experience with publishers and publishing.