Kasper asked Nicholas Eames:

Hello Mr. Eames! I'm a huge fan of your work and have found your stories to be hugely inspirational to me as an aspiring writer! My question is something I've really struggled with over the past few years! Have you ever had to scrap a project even after putting a lot of time into it, and if so how do you work past the sort of... feeling of failure that comes with that? Thanks! :D

Nicholas Eames Hey, thanks for the kind words, and I'm sorry to hear you've been struggling.

I think the best way to frame it is that the time you've put in writing is always worthwhile because it's helped you hone and refine your craft.

And boy, do I ever know it! I started trying to write (seriously, with the intent of getting published) at 25, and was, I think, 38 when I finally got a book deal. For about 11 of those years I wrote (and re-wrote, and re-wrote again) a huge 350k word novel that will never see the light of day, but it's hard to regret that time as I learned a ton from the process.

It was extremely hard to give that book up and start something new (which turned out to be KotW) but once I was writing the next thing I knew I had "leveled up" considerably and was on the right track. That said, if you'd have told me 6, 7, or 8 years into that first book that it would never be published I'd have likely been crushed. Alas, I was extremely fortunate that it all worked out in the end.

Hope that helps somewhat! Good luck!

flag