6 Reasons Why Writing a Book is Harder Than I Thought

by Kasey Tross

Writing a book is hard. Like, really hard. It's like climbing a rope or doing hip-hop- it seems pretty simple when you see it happen; you don't really know how hard it actually is until you try it.

It's haaard.

I was explaining this to a friend the other day (who I think was asking me, "Kasey? What's the deal with that book you were writing? Isn't it done yet?" and I was like, "It's haaaard.") and I started to wonder if anyone else has had a similar experience to mine when it comes to writing. I mean, you pick up a book and read it and I think it's easy to just assume that the story was just there in the author's head and they just sat down one day and wrote it.

That's not how it works, people. Not by a long shot.

At least not for me, anyway.

Here's my list of 6 Reasons Why Writing a Book is Harder Than I Thought. Do any of them ring true for you?

1. It's puzzling. I've learned I'm pretty good at writing, but only marginally capable at storytelling. I don't think up a story all at once. I get little bits at a time. The story comes in odd, mismatched pieces, with random scenes and curious characters showing up at various points in the process, while all the while I'm trying to piece them together into some sort of coherent whole. I often think this might be much easier if the reverse was true.

2. Directions, please? Thanks to the above, it's easy for me to get lost in my story. I need directions. But there's no map. Or GPS. Or little old man sitting outside a convenience store who can tell me to turn left at the field with the brown cows. So I find myself writing a scene and then going, "Wait- when was the last time these two characters saw each other? I think I wrote that part like 6 months and 4 chapters ago. I don't even remember what they said. What do they know? How will they feel seeing each other again? Do their reactions even make any sense?"

3. That awkward creative amnesia. Along the same lines of #2, I often go on writing binges when I'm hot and heavy with my MS for several weeks, then I have a cooling off period for months. So when I get back to it, I think I'm doing okay, and then a few weeks in I realize there's a whole other character I'd written before whom I'd completely forgotten about, and now I have to find some way to work him back into the story. It's awkward.

4. Details, details, details. I never imagined that I'd be looking up times for sunrises and sunsets during specific times of year, or creating my character's entire family tree just to give myself a framework from which to write, or researching horse medications and symptoms of smoke inhalation. I feel like every few chapters I'm stumbling over an odd little detail which, if not pursued by hours of research, might break the integrity of my whole book.

5. Notes. So many notes! When you're writing a novel, and doing it in this haphazard, as-the-inspiration-hits kind of way like I am, you end up with a lot of random notes written on whatever is handy when inspiration strikes (see my last post, The Problem With Muses). So I make these notes and leave them places, and then I try to figure out exactly where that awesome idea I had last week in the car on the way to the dentist went...and of course 3 weeks later I find it under the seat in my van, scrawled on the back of a school fundraiser flyer, stained with something I hope is soda. And then I realize it doesn't really matter now anyway, because I dropped that scene a week ago. *sigh* I literally spent 3 hours last week collecting & sifting through my pile of hastily-jotted notes just trying to find some semblance of organization.

6. Overarching editing. There comes a point- at least once a week, it seems- in which I decide that some Major Edit needs to occur in the book. Needs to. And it's never anything simple. It's almost always something that requires me to go back through the entire. thing. and comb through every page to add or subtract whatever this Major Edit is. It's kind of a pain in the butt. A Major Pain. (On the good side, I get lots of opportunities to read through what I've written and see my story's big picture, which helps quite a bit with #3.)

So for those of you who have successfully completed this process and have written an entire, fully coherent manuscript, you are my heroes. I bow to your greatness. I aspire to the top of that mountain of accomplishment, and I hope to join you there one day, when I'm finally finished slogging through the swamps of my own creative muck.

The good news in all of this is that maybe- just maybe- I'll learn something from this headache and the second book won't be quite this hard.

Maybe.

Did I mention that this is haaaard?

Interview with Adrienne Quintana, author of ERUPTION

by Merry Gordon

Her 2013 NaNoWriMo game was so hardcore that she finished a book on November 1st.

Her techno-thriller Eruption—already generating buzz on Publisher's Weekly and Goodreads—officially hits the shelves in January courtesy of Cedar Fort Publishing & Media.

And to top it all off, she has ridiculously perfect hair.  

(I would know.  I sit behind her in church.)

She's Adrienne Quintana, Mormon Mommy Writer extraordinaire, and she's ready to dish—on publishing, on comfort food, on the myth of "having it all"—in today's blog.

Talk to me about Eruption.  What inspired it? 

A:  I’m a daydreamer.  My kids call it “zoning out.”  The idea for The Tablet struck me near the end of 2012 while I was driving down I-10 in Phoenix on my way to pick up the kids from school.  I don’t recommend completely zoning out on the freeway, but a quiet car on a long commute can be a great place to ponder the universe and come up with cool story ideas.

The concept started out simple: a girl finds a tablet with strange pictures on it.  As she investigates further, she discovers that the pictures are from the future.  Her future.

The Tablet didn’t turn into Eruption until almost a full year later when I finally decided to take the simple idea and run with it. I sat down and started answering questions.  Why was the tablet sent back in time? Who sent it? How was it sent? Then I zoned out in front of my laptop for the next two months.  

As a writer, how do you know when you’ve written something good?—not necessarily perfect, but that “ooooh” moment when you know you’ve just nailed it and have something solid to work with as a draft?

A:  My mom is probably one of the most positive people on the planet, and I’m guessing that is part of why I’m not overly self-critical. Self-confidence is essential when busting out a first draft.  I can’t keep going back to change things.  I have to be like the contestants on American Idol and just sing my little heart out.  The judges can smack me down later. In the meantime, I’ll enjoy the performance.

As long as I feel entertained and inspired while I’m writing, I assume that the concept is good.  Then I rely on people I trust to help me refine and edit.  I felt like I was on to something with Eruption when my test readers finished the book quickly and gave good feedback.  It wasn’t perfect, but I was ready to start shopping the manuscript around.

You’re a writer.  But you’re also a wife and a mom of four, in addition to being a woman who finds time to exercise, serve in church callings, and manage more than sweats and ponytails on any given day.   Tell me a little about the life/work balance.  There’s so much societal pressure for women to “have it all” – is that possible?

A:  I firmly believe that no human can “have it all” or “do it all.” I couldn’t do it all when I was a working mom putting my husband through Law School.  I couldn’t do it all with four young children.  I couldn’t do it all when I went back to school.  I will never be able to do it all. But I can do enough.  With Heavenly Father’s help, I can be enough. 

I love Ecclesiastes chapter 3 where it talks about times and seasons.  Heavenly Father is aware of the seasons of your life.  He knows your desires, goals, and dreams.  Don’t be afraid to tell him what you want.  He wants you to succeed and he will help you.

To accomplish something as time consuming as writing a novel, I had to learn to simplify my life.  I said no to non-essentials.  My housekeeping suffered.  My laundry piled up.  I wore plenty of ponytails. But I made sure to let my family know that they were still my top priority.  I made a commitment that if my pre-schooler asked me for something while I was writing, I would stop and meet her needs.

Multi-tasking is my best friend.  I write when I have any spare time.  I write in the carpool lane.  I write in my head while I’m at hot yoga or doing dishes.  I write at midnight.  I try to embrace every spare minute to work toward my goals. I try to be thankful for the time that I do have instead of wishing for more time.

How do you react to a bad review/critique of your work?  What is it that makes you get back up on the proverbial horse?

A:  Bad reviews and critiques sting but I have a lot of experience getting over the pain.  My grandpa has been dishing out constructive criticism since the day I was born. He told my parents I was ugly. He said I’d look much better if I’d just get bigger like everyone else and grow some hair. It turns out, he was right. 

Again, with criticism, I try to channel my mom’s positive vibes.  When someone gives her a pile of horse poop, she immediately starts looking for the pony.  I figure that if someone cares enough to read the entire book and offer me feedback, I should take it as a compliment.  If the criticism rings true, I try to use it to improve. If it doesn’t, I just try to let it go and move on.  My writing is not going to be everyone’s cup of tea. 

What do you know now about publishing that you wish you’d known when you began writing?

A:  Most of what I’ve learned about publishing, I’m glad I didn’t know when I started writing.  The editing process was a real eye-opener.  After almost a year of self-editing, I was surprised at the number of changes that still needed to be made to the story. Eruption was like my baby, and they were asking me to slice and dice and move and cut and paste and sew it back together.  It was gut-wrenching and time consuming, but so worth the end result. My little Frankenstein baby turned better than I could have imagined.

Another thing I’ve learned about publishing is that building relationships is paramount.  Get to know everyone. I have been fortunate to work with wonderful people. The cover artist, Kristen Reeves, took my ideas and made them come to life.  My editor, Daniel Friend, helped me see things from the reader’s perspective.  My copy editor, Melissa Caldwell, had eyes to catch the small details.  My publicist, Kelly Martinez, is my best friend.  We call each other cousin.  These are all people who have helped to shape my success.  I know who they are and I appreciate each of them for their contribution.

How does your faith influence your writing, either in terms of content or practice?

A:  I hope that my faith is apparent in everything I do.  With writing specifically, I was conscious of keeping the content uplifting and appropriate for any age.  The character’s morals and values are in harmony with the gospel. I didn’t write or edit on Sunday.

On a deeply personal level,  Eruption is about Jace Vega’s relationship with her father. Her struggles mirror my own journey to feel the approval of both my earthly and Heavenly father.

Okay, let’s break it down by the numbers:

·         5 to-read books on your bedside table:

The Fault in Our Stars

The Hunger Games

Jane Eyre

The Hiding Place

Anne of Green Gables

·         4 authors you love:

Charlotte Bronte

Jane Austen

Dan Brown

C.S. Lewis

·         3 go-to comfort foods for those days when the plot unravels:

Chocolate chip cookies (made by my daughter Marina)

Chips and salsa

Lindor Truffles

·         2 times you knew you hit a breakthrough in your writing life:

1.       When I set a daily word count goal and stuck with it.

2.       When I realized that Eruption was about more than a girl with a tablet from the future.

·         1 piece of advice for newbie writers:

Don’t wait until you think you are good enough.  Start today.  

*****

Can't wait for the release?  Enter here to win an ARC of Eruption and other prizes as we count down the days until January 13th!  You can also follow Adrienne on her blog, on Facebook,  and on Twitter @AdrienneQuintan.

First Novels and When to Move On

by Katy White

In 2007, I started my first novel.  The idea jumped into my head, took root, and within four or five months, I'd written about 120,000 words.  I loved it.  I thought it was awesome.  I sent it to a couple of friends who gave me feedback and I realized that it wasn't one book, it was three!  So I started from scratch again and wrote the first and second books, now around 90,000 words each.  I wrote an uber rough draft of the third that was around 60,000 words.  I loved this series so, so much.  There aren't enough o's in "so" to tell you how much I loved it.  

I made some connections after these new rough drafts and realized that the first book actually needed a major overhaul to incorporate all of my epiphanies (the sexy villain was actually the mentor's son?  WHAT?!), which I did.  Then I took a break of, honestly, about three years.  I didn't touch it, but I probably thought about it every day.  I came back to the story in 2011 and rewrote the first draft again, and rewrote the second book, too.  I sent it out to friends, and, after getting more feedback, I realized I started in the wrong place.  I decided to tell all my backstory through "Lost" style flashbacks (a nod to Gina for her post about the benefits of TV watching.).  I made those changes, and the feedback now from my readers was awesome.  Everyone loved it.  

It was time to see what agents thought.  I started querying.  My first batch of five queries led to a request for a partial with one of my dream agents.  HOLY COW!!  A week later when I was rejected, I reminded myself it was a number's game.  I kept submitting in batches of five every week, getting two more partial requests over the following month.  I was encouraged by the requests, discouraged by the rejections, and confused about what it meant that, after around thirty queries, I hadn't received a request for a full.

So I entered a couple of contests for my first five pages--and I even won one of them!--but after getting half my manuscript, even that agent rejected me.  Fortunately, though, she gave me very detailed, very helpful feedback.  My entry had some problems, but just as big a problem was the fact that my genre wasn't selling right now.   At a major writer's conference only a few months earlier, a panel of editors and agents explained that they wouldn't take on a book in my genre, period.  It was dead.  Over.

So was, oh, five, six years worth of my work.  At least, that was my initial thought. 

Since letting this book--this series--go in early 2013, I've written two new books.  Meanwhile, I spent a single year querying, revising, entering contests, re-querying, rinse, repeat.  But I honestly don't feel like I wasted a single second of my time with that first attempt.  Because I needed this time to research, to learn how to plot and how to avoid tropes, to learn the ropes of the publishing world.  Most importantly, I needed this experience to teach me that it's okay to move on.  It's okay to love your book and want to live in that world, and to still let it go.  If you love something, set it free, and all that jazz.  Right?

One of my favorite authors, Malcolm Gladwell, explains in his book "Outliers" the rule of 10,000 hours.  He says to achieve mastery in a particular field, one must spend 10,000 hours essentially "practicing" that craft.  Now, even if I wrote two hours a day consistently, every day, for the seven years it's been since I wrote my first word of my first book, that's still only 5110 hours.  A far cry from the 10,000 I need for mastery.  But every one of those words gets me closer. 

A poll of 150 published authors several years ago asked the authors how many novels they wrote before selling their first.  The breakdown is below:

32% wrote one novel
13% wrote two
11% wrote 3
8% wrote 4
9% wrote 5
3% wrote 6
13% wrote 7 or more novels
6% wrote some short fiction first
5% wrote a ton of short fiction first

Over half of these authors had written three or more novels before publishing their first! Some of them indicated that, after they were published, they were able to understand the flaws in their first novel and revise them sufficiently to get them published.  But I hope these numbers are as encouraging to you as they are to me.  Because these tell me that it's okay to let go of your novel.  It's okay to move on--heck, it's probably essential to our success.  

We've all said it a million times:  writers write.  And sometimes, that means shelving the old to make room for something new.

Please, sound off below with your thoughts, tips, and experiences with moving on from your first novel!