How to Write a Book...

How To Write A Book…

I mean, it can’t be that hard, can it? There are thousands and thousands of them out there and almost as many ‘how to do it’ books. If others can, then I can too, one might think. There are courses and podcasts and workshops and surely people are making a big fuss over what is, after all, just a long story. All it needs is a good beginning; something to happen in the middle and then it all wraps up nicely at the end. Simples. On top of that, the fact is, I’ve already written and published one book, conquered that ‘difficult’ second novel, (which is out very soon) so by now it should be a breeze, right? 

In my experience, not so much! Browsing through all the beautifully finished novels in my local bookshop, scrolling down the happy faces of authors and their wonderful creations on Book Twitter, Bookstagram and even (yes I know), BookTok, it is so easy to feel inadequate and lacking at their seemingly effortless production of incredible novels. But the truth is, it isn’t so easy to produce a good book. However much I read about exactly at what point the inciting incident should take place, when to make the big reveal, hit the climax, produce the twist, bring in the resolution, none of it helps at all. I am definitely not one of those writers (you know who you are) who can plot it all out using spreadsheets (I have a phobia of spreadsheets); draw up character profiles and chapter plans before I begin to write. I’ve tried it, and it doesn’t work for me. I really wish it would.  

Instead, each time I write a book, it is a bit like being dropped into the middle of the Pacific Ocean, and told, now find your way home. I swim wildly in different directions, sometimes land up back where I started and then have to begin again. So far, I have eventually arrived, exhausted and dripping, at a destination. But usually, it wasn’t the one I imagined when I set out. Whilst this is painstaking, slow and frustrating, it can also be adventurous, fun and rewarding. Like landing up on an exotic, idyllic island rather than the familiar port I had been expecting. 

 How do I do it then? Well, it starts with a theme. For example, I want to write about the dangers of eating too much ice-cream (I don’t, but bear with me). I think of an ideal setting and time to set the story. In this example, the hot summer of 1976 on Brighton beach might be a good start. I need some characters. Children might be good here – they are innocent and have no idea just how reckless it might be to overindulge in the cold stuff. Children usually come with parents, so they might have a role to play. Are they perhaps non-attentive ones who let them do just what they want and eat as much as they like? Could the children befriend a dubious character along the way? I have an idea for the ending – the children turn their backs on ice cream forever and never eat the sweet sticky stuff again. But when I set out to write, I have very little idea of what happens in the middle and how we get there. 

 This method has both benefits and drawbacks. It is during the writing of this first draft that the main plot develops, I get to know my characters and subplots and additional themes arise. My characters behave in ways I didn’t expect and turn out to have depths and motivations I couldn’t have known without writing them. They fill my head even when I’m not writing. They become absolutely real to me. Furthermore, new characters arise unexpectedly, and some are scrapped. For example, when writing the first draft of my second novel, The Hidden Child, I had intended to write part of the story from the point of view of young Mabel, the little girl who has epilepsy. But her voice just wouldn’t work. Instead, out of nowhere came the voice of epilepsy itself. A sinister, mocking voice which stayed, and Mabel’s was scrapped. Epilepsy now has its own character development, plot and even a twist which intertwines with the main story. It took several drafts and lots of re-working to get all of this to work. 

 The downside of this is that I throw away a LOT of words. For the current book I am writing, this ‘first draft’ is my third attempt. I threw out the first at 30,000 words, the second at 40,000. But now I am three-quarters of the way through this draft, I know I will keep going to the end. None of the previous drafts were a waste of time. With each one I understood much better the blind alleys, the things which worked, the characters. I couldn’t, in other words, have got to this point without them. Once I’ve completed this draft, I will be far from finished. I will have a messy, hole-filled rough manuscript to work with. But then (with luck), the magic can happen. I will re-write it, several more times, ironing out all the problems, finessing the writing, pulling all the strands together into hopefully, a coherent whole before I send it to my agent. If (and it is still a big if) a publisher then likes it enough to buy it, I will undoubtedly have to edit it several times more. 

 This is simply my method. Everyone’s  is slightly different. There is no right or wrong. 

 So, my advice, if you want to write a book, is experiment and you will find your own way. Don’t be afraid to try! The books, the courses, can only teach you so much. They can’t teach you your own creativity – that is innate in you. It can feel devilishly impossible at times. There will be days when you want to toss your laptop in the bin and give up. There will be tears and frustration, despair and hard grind. But there will also be the good days when everything flows, and you are flying high.  Days when you cannot imagine doing anything better in the world. And then, one day, it will come together, perhaps not exactly as you imagined originally, but something else, just as captivating. 

 And if you have found the secret to an easier process than me, please do let me know. 

 Happy writing friends!

Louise xx