A Journey of an Aspiring Author -
What Have I Learned So Far?
Anyone who has thought about writing a book knows how intimidating the process seems. For an aspiring author, everything in the writing world is new. The amount of information to be found on becoming an author can be more than overwhelming. So where to begin, you ask? Is it the story? Is it your motives? Is it the theory of writing? Being 5 chapters in my second manuscript, I'd say start with whatever sparks you first. The most important part is to begin your research in the first place. By the end of the day, you will need to know all of it anyway and you will figure out the sequence once you are in. Check out this visualized process picture I have made so far to get a quick overview of the steps.
For me, it began like for the most - the idea of the story. But instead of diving head first into the theory of writing, I jumped forward to learn about the possibilities of publishing it. For me it was important to understand if I am willing to do the work after investing all this time in writing the book. Only after realizing it is doable, I read a book about structure, plotting and character development. Based on that I built:
- 40 pages of character descriptions,
- 20 pages of chapter insights,
- a spreadsheet with almost 90 lines marking down each scene and its outcome.
Overkill? Maybe, but…
In November 2022 I decided to take part in NaNoWriMo. It is a worldwide event where authors aim to write at least 50 000 words a month (1667 words a day) to develop a habit of daily writing. This really helped me to stop (over)planning and finally get to writing. At first I stuck with my plan but then the story began to write itself. By the end of the month I had a little more than 50k words of manuscript I could now start editing.
The experience taught me 3 things:
- I will have to edit no matter how much planning I do before.
- I lack skills for describing things, resulting in finishing my whole story in only 25k words at first.
- I prefer to balance between writing and editing instead of having to edit 90 pages of text all at once.
Luckily, it was easy to find books on how to give vivid descriptions I could use while self-editing. Although I ended up not using all the preparation I had done, I don’t regret doing it. This was an invaluable part of my writing journey, making me aware of the basics of writing.
While self-editing my first manuscript, I decided to start writing a new book instead. Why? The more I did research for my book the more I realized the topic was too sensitive for me to make it work in my book. I struggled months before making the decision and can't be happier for trusting my guts. The new plot makes me a lot more confident resulting in more successful writing sessions. Also, the quality of my writing is much better thanks to all the practice I got from writing the first story. So once again - no regrets.
Knowing the steps ahead to get my book published, I then set up my author page and took lessons about online marketing. Finding the balance between writing my manuscript and blog posts is still a work in progress, putting my time management skills to a test. Although each of them teaches me different skills needed for writing, both of them give me the most important one - practice.
Despite everything I have learned and achieved so far, writing my first mystery thriller novel is still an ongoing challenge. There are days where I can't force myself to write and knowing all the work I still have to put in cripples me. These days, the hardest part is to forgive myself for slacking and continue where I left off. My key to get myself motivated again is to remind myself why am I doing this.
Writing a book is a brave thing to do, that is why it seems scary at times. But most of all it is just hard work, overcoming challenges and not giving up.
If you are also an aspiring author then know this - you are not alone. Sure, the whole process might seem hard to comprehend at first but that is why I have taken it apart to pieces. This way the whole journey of writing a book becomes taking small steps, one-by-one, towards your goal.
If I can do this, then so can you!
- Jete