by Anne R. Allen
Back in 2002, a New York Times survey showed 81% of Americans want to write a book. With the indie ebook revolution, the percentage has only expanded.
Of course, most of that 81+% won’t ever write a word. There’s an old, unkind joke that says, “Most people think they have a book in them. And that’s where it should stay.” Unfortunately, it’s kind of true. Indie publishing has brought an explosion of new books. Estimates say 3 million books were published in 2022. We probably have enough books.
I honestly believe not everybody is cut out to write book-length narrative. And that’s not a bad thing.
The problem lies in the fact that lots of people think learning to write is somehow easier than learning to paint, play an instrument, compose music, or design clothing. For some reason, many people think all you need is a keyboard and a block of time and…. voila! books happen.
But those of us who write professionally know that learning this trade is a long, tough slog. It’s also hard on our friends and loved ones. Projects always take longer than we expect.
Nobody’s born with the knowledge of how to craft a novel or memoir any more than anybody is born with a perfect golf swing or a great operatic voice. No matter how much native talent you have, you need to study and practice a long time before you’re going to be able to create something that will succeed in the marketplace
So people need to make sure they actually want to embark on the journey before they start down the book-writing road.
Is a Book What You Really Want to Create?
Remember there are lots of outlets for creativity. Don’t get locked into the idea that writing books is the only path to creative expression. Not everybody has the talent or inclination to create with words.
Years ago, I was in a writing group with a man who struggled with every sentence of his WIP. The group tended to be hard on him because he didn’t seem to grasp the concept of conflict in a scene, and his characters were stereotypical lumps who mostly sat around musing or admiring the drapes.
He dropped out of the group and I ran into him several years later. At an art show. His. His paintings were fantastic: vibrant and creative and alive. He’d found his medium.
But he said he still felt guilty about this abandoned novel. I asked him why. He said he felt that writing was “serious,” while painting was “play.”
He basically thought he should write because he didn’t enjoy it.
I say that’s exactly why not to write. If writing novels doesn’t feel like playing, try another medium.
There’s nothing intrinsically “better” about writing books than any other form of creative expression. I firmly believe that everybody has a creative self that needs to be nurtured, but that creativity may express itself in hundreds of different ways — all of which enrich our culture.
Why be a mediocre novelist when you might be a great painter, stand-up comic, poet, potter, gardener, designer, or chef?
Please note I do not want to step on the dream of anybody who really longs to write book-length narrative.
Here are some Do’s and Don’ts for people who think they want to write a book.
10 Dos and Don’ts if You Think You Want to Write a Book
1) DON’T Write a Book to Make Money
Especially a novel. Sigh. Anybody who’s been in this business for any length of time will tell you why this is a bad idea. Bob Mayer put it very well back in 2016, and the problems have only increased.
“If you desire to write a novel because you want to have a bestseller and make a bundle of money, my advice is to play the lottery; it will take much less time and your odds will be about the same, if not better, and I can guarantee that the work involved will be much less.”
Yes, you’ve read biographies of so many writers that say Jane Austen, or Charlotte Bronte, or Charles Dickens began writing because they needed money. But that was before there were 3 million new books a year for readers to choose from. Everything is different in the 21st century.
2) DO Write if You Love Being Alone
Authors need to be alone a lot of the time. If you’re a born writer, you cherish and crave your alone time like a visit to a lover.
Anybody who needs immediate feedback or has abandonment issues when left alone for a few days is going to have trouble writing for the long periods of time it takes to compose whole books.
If your other possible life paths include lighthouse keeper, park ranger, or sailing around the world solo, then you’ve got one of the major talents that helps you become a successful novelist.
One of the best things ever written about being an author is Michael Ventura’s 1992 essay “The Talent of the Room”. Ventura — a veteran novelist, journalist, and screenwriter — tells aspiring writers the most important talent they need to succeed is the ability to be alone in a room. If you haven’t read it, do. It might help you decide if you’re cut out for this life.
3) DON’T Write a Book for Revenge
When I was working as a freelance editor, the majority of manuscripts brought to me were revenge memoirs (or thinly-disguised memoirs) designed to hurt someone who had wounded or offended the writer.
These things were usually hot messes. Some were pages of nonsensical late-night ranting. Others were attempts at satire so one-sided they fell flat, and others were victim sagas.
No editor can make something like that readable.
Besides, you can get yourself sued.
A lot of unpublished and self-published memoirs are written by people who want to tell “what really happened” in a rotten situation like family abuse, workplace bullying, or military SNAFUs.
Writing this stuff down is fantastic therapy. But it doesn’t usually translate into anything another human being will want to read. There’s a reason shrinks get paid the big bucks. It’s exhausting to listen to people’s tales of woe.
Exploring these issues with writing can spark a creative idea that might blossom into a piece of fiction or poetry or a painting or other work of art. But don’t expect a lot of people to want to experience the raw material of your pain.
You have to be an accomplished writer to turn that kind of pain into art.
4) DO Write a Book if you See Stories Everywhere
Stories drive all kinds of books, both nonfiction and fiction. Are you the kind of person who sees an idea for a plot in every newspaper headline? Does every stranger’s tale of woe make you think of a great story arc?
Some people are born storytellers whose destined medium is the book. These people think in terms of stories from the time they can talk. They have to write. It’s like breathing.
Whenever you read a news story about odd human behavior, you wonder who those people are and what motivated their behavior.
Before the end of the news piece on the surge in bank robberies by senior citizens, you’ve got a whole scenario going and you know what all the characters look and sound like.
You know Gladys and Myrna robbed those banks because they needed money to finish their craft projects. Because craft supplies cost so much more than they can charge for the finished products on Etsy, they have had to turn to a life of crime to afford all those needlepoint kits and crochet patterns. The bank teller who refused to give them the money, Holly-Ann Wiggins, is a crafter herself, and she recognized them from their You Tube video on tatting…
If random people pop into your brain at regular intervals and beg you to tell their stories, you’re probably one of those people who has a novel in them. Or three or four or ten….
5) DON’T Write to Show Off How Smart You Are
Some of us get labeled “nerds” early in life, and our defense is often to talk in long sentences using big words in order to look down our noses at the dummies who don’t understand us.
Okay, I have to admit to using the word “exceedingly” in many conversations at the age of seven. I could also trot out several quotations in Latin and Greek (my father was a Classics professor at Yale, so I had a good source of ammunition).
I was so sure I was impressing people.
But the truth is that stuff doesn’t make you popular in 2nd grade and it sure doesn’t get you readers when you’re an adult.
Unless you’re writing for an esoteric academic journal that’s seen by ten people including the editor and his long-suffering student assistant, you’re not going to succeed by showing off your knowledge of little-used Latinate words and obscure historical factoids.
Readers don’t care how smart you are. They care about compelling characters and a good story — whether it’s fiction or nonfiction.
6) DO Consider Writing if You’re Great at Thinking of Worst-Case Scenarios
Always imagining the worst? Paranoid? Anxious?
Can you write that stuff down instead of panicking?
You may have a novel in you!
Novelists need to be able to put their characters through the worst possible challenges for hundreds of pages before they reach their goals. People who shy away from conflict and drama may be able to write lots of fabulous prose, but if they can’t think of enough awful things to happen to their characters, they won’t be able to write successful novels.
A novel or memoir about smart, happy people having a great time in the good old days when everything was perfect is not going to attract a lot of readers. Humans want stories. And stories need conflict. If you’ve got dramas going on in your head all the time, they may help you write a compelling book.
7) DON’T Try to Write a Book Because Your 3rd Grade Teacher Called You “Talented.”
This may have been what happened to the painter I mentioned in the introduction. I see it all the time.
In fact, this post was sparked by a question I saw on Quora. Somebody had decided to write a novel, but he said he didn’t know anything about storytelling and he didn’t much like being alone and he didn’t like to read or write very much and didn’t want to be bothered to learn about craft or stuff like that.
Why did he want to write a novel?
Because somebody told him he had writing “talent.”
It probably happened in his formative years, poor guy, and he’s been trying to live up to it ever since.
I know that telling kids they have writing talent seems like a great idea. It builds their self-esteem and makes them more confident and happy.
And I’m not saying we should stop being encouraging to our kids, but make sure you praise ALL their talents. When somebody gets the idea they have a “special gift” in only one area, it can backfire.
For some people, it can paralyze them with fear about living up to their potential.
For others, it can instill a sense of entitlement that can make for really bad art. And keep them from doing stuff they really might actually enjoy.
For more on this, see my post on 8 things more important than talent.
8) DO Write if you’re in Love with Words
If you’re a person who verbalizes thought — who is always looking for just the right word to describe that shade of blue, that feeling, that pang of cosmic pain — you’ve got writing in your soul.
If you go to look up a word in the dictionary and find yourself lost in it for hours…you’re probably a born writer.
But note: you may not necessarily want to write book-length narrative. I know a lot of people writing novels who prefer writing poetry or short fiction.
A novelist has to be able to see the big picture: not just the word or phrase or exquisite image, but the paragraph and the chapter and the story arc.
Write what you love. Not what anybody — not even the schoolteacher who lives in your head — says you should.
Instead, heed the words of the great Joseph Campbell and follow your bliss. If you don’t find that bliss alone in a room with a keyboard, don’t let anybody beat you up about it. Go out and find it!
That WIP will still be sitting in your files if you find out your bliss was there all along.
John Steinbeck said, “If there is a magic in story writing, and I am convinced there is, no one has ever been able to reduce it to a recipe that can be passed from one person to another. The formula seems to lie solely in the aching urge of the writer to convey something he feels important to the reader. If the writer has that urge, he may sometimes, but by no means always, find the way to do it. “
If you have that “aching urge” that can’t be soothed by anything but writing a book…go write one!
9) DON’T Try to Write Because You Want to Tell People You’re a Writer
Saying you’re a writer gives you a certain cachet at parties. Or some people think it does. It’s easier to explain why you’ve been in that minimum wage job for five years if you add that you’re supporting yourself while working on a novel.
And that’s fine — if you’re actually working on a novel.
But if you haven’t written more than a grocery list in the last three years, and you never got past that “It was a dark and stormy night” opener, you may not be cut out for this profession. And that’s okay.
A writer writes. If you don’t write, you’re probably not a writer. And there is absolutely nothing wrong with that.
Instead of getting defensive and angry every time somebody asks how that book is going, find something you actually want to do.
And if you’re one of the people who would simply rather read a book than write one, then THANK YOU!! Readers make what we do possible.
10) DO Write if You’re Self-Motivated and Can Keep Your Eyes on the Prize
If you like long-term projects and you don’t rely on outside validation for your sense of self, you have a much better chance of succeeding as a novelist.
Some things come with the territory. You can pretty much guarantee you’re going to have to work at day jobs to pay the bills long after you’d hoped to be writing full time.
You’re also going to get lots of flak from your friends and family who can’t figure out why your project is taking so long.
If you can tune it all out and hang onto your dream, getting energy from your characters and finding joy in your story, you’ve got what it takes to write a book.
by Anne R. Allen (@annerallen) April 23, 2023
What about you, scriveners? Do you think you first wanted to write a book for the right reasons? What motivated you to start writing? Do you know wannabe writers who should be painting, making music, or designing gardens? Have any advice for the person who wants to write a book?
BOOK OF THE WEEK
No Place Like Home: Camilla Randall Comedy-Mystery #4
(But it can be read as a stand-alone)
Wealthy Doria Windsor is suddenly homeless and accused of a murder she didn’t commit. But Camilla, with the help of a brave trio of homeless people, the adorable Mr. X, and a little dog named Toto, is determined to unmask the real killer and discover the dark secrets of Doria’s deceased “financial wizard” husband before Doria is killed herself.
And NO PLACE LIKE HOME IS ALSO AN AUDIOBOOK!!
***
featured image courtesy of Wikimedia
Anne—On-target advice! Thank you. 🙂 I think so many people say they want to write a book because it “looks” easy. Ha! They don’t realize that what they’re reading is the finished product. Not the lousy drafts, the DOA plot ideas, rotten dialogue, boring info dumps and ho-hum characters — ie the Everest-sized mountain of false starts and go-nowhere crapola that ends up on the cutting room floor.
Ruth–Isn’t it the truth? Newbies are usually not prepared for the crapola. They don’t know it’s part of the process.
For some reason, many people think all you need is a keyboard and a block of time and…. voila! books happen….
Ain’t that the truth? I used to think this, too. Then I got serious, and boy was I wrong.
Harald–So true. Into every writer’s life, a whole lot of rain must fall. A book takes a lot of time–plus blood, sweat, and tears–before it makes it to the finish line.
Love that quote from Bob Mayer and he should know, given the huge number of books he has penned! Excellent list of Dos and Don’ts, especially loving the truth about being alone. It takes beta readers and editors and others to get a draft to the final finish line but before that community 1% happens at the end, 99% of a book comes from sitting alone and slugging it out with your inner plotmaster and wordsmith.
Carmen–When I saw that quote, it really hit me because it was written by such a prolific writer of popular fiction. If he thinks it’s better to play the lottery, it is. 🙂
Good one, Anne! And I would add something I’ve discovered to it all: Many people dream of becoming a full time writer and being able to make enough to leave their day job. I did that in 2016. And guess what? Writing books has become my day job, with deadlines, and I’ve lost my beloved hobby! Now, I have no idea what to do with my down time, and everyone needs an escape from work, as much as they might like their work.
Melodie–Thanks for sharing that insight! I think this happens to a lot of writers. They also can become blocked when writing time isn’t something they steal from other more mundane activities, and it becomes work. I know a writer who had a huge success with a first novel and quit his day job. But then he realized the really hard work was a blank page. He fought a massive case of writer’s block for years.
Such a truly meaningful post, Anne, thank you. My take on it is simply that we all tell stories because that’s the human condition. But as you rightly point out, relatively few of us do that with words on paper. Carve, sing, lead, swim fast, fly high, the list goes on. That’s how most write a story, and those tales stick with us just as much as whatever we find between the covers of a book.
Put another way- those who write are influenced by all they’ve seen and lived through. So we’re all going to be in the story one way or another.
Will–I think that because we’re taught writing in school, but we learn a lot of other crafts from family members or at summer camp, they don’t seem as “serious”, so telling our stories through carving or ceramics or other visual arts seems “lesser” to some people. But of course it’s not. Each story needs the right medium.
I like this post 🙂 I have a number of the DOs. My favorite DONT is bc your 3rd grade teacher called you talented. I’ve written stories since I was a little girl. No one ever called me talented and they were never picked for school things. I wanted them to be chosen and it really hurt my feelings. For many years I thought I just not have it because no one thought I was talented as a child. This makes me feel so much better now!! Even as an adult no one had told me I’m talented, I’m still pursuing the craft, though.
Tonya–Do read my post I linked to in this piece “8 Qualities more important than talent” Usually when people say “he’s so talented” they really mean “he’s worked his butt off to get that good.” Raw talent, whether you have it or not, is mostly irrelevant.
After a BA in English/writing and an MA in fiction writing, and 30+ years of experience, I’m still learning the craft.
Liz–I’m still learning too! I think when you stop learning, you lose the spark that makes your work good. Some popular writers go downhill after big success–because they think they already know everything.
The thing that gets my ire is when people who think they could have written any of the 17 books that I have written.
After I self-published “The Joy of Not Working” in 1991 and it became a true international bestseller (now over 315,000 copies sold in print), people would actually proclaim to me in person. “I could have written that book.” My response was, “Look, I first had the idea for this book in 1981 after I got fired from my Engineering job. So, I gave you 10 years to write it — so why didn’t you? Truth is, if you could have written this book, you would have. You didn’t — and that proves to me that you could not have written it!” These bourgeois babbling bozos normally shut up after I call them on their BS.
Fact is, with my 17 books having sold over 1,100,000 copies and having been published in 22 languages in 29 countries, I know that am pretty good at what I do. Nevertheless, I also know that I could not have written any one of the millions of books that have been published. I am particularly clear that the great books —those that have sold millions or hundreds of thousands of copies — could not have been written my me. I could not have written the generally good books either. Insofar as the really bad books, I am not stupid enough to have written any of them.
Here are two quotations to put writing in proper perspective;
“Only amateurs say that they write for their own amusement. Writing is not an amusing occupation. It is a combination of ditch-digging, mountain-climbing, treadmill and childbirth. Writing may be interesting, absorbing, exhilarating, racking, relieving. But amusing? Never!”
— Edna Ferber
“What people really want … is to be broke. At least, that’s one likely interpretation of a new YouGov poll that shows more people [in Britain] would rather be a writer than anything else. Now, it’s possible they’ve all got their eyes on the J. K. Rowling squillions, but the financial reality is rather more depressing. Most book manuscripts end up unwanted and unread on publishers’ and agents’ slush piles, and the majority of those that do make it into print sell fewer than 1,000 copies … It’s not even as if writing is that glamorous. You sit alone for hours on end honing your deathless prose, go days without really talking to anyone and, if you’re lucky, within a year or so you will have a manuscript that almost no one will want to read. Your friends and family will come to dread requests for constructive feedback …”
— John Crace writing in The Guardian
Ernie–What great quotes! Thanks for sharing. New writers can learn from your success.
This is a great post, Anne. My best friend told me years and years ago that I should write a book and I thought, “I can’t write a book. I wouldn’t know how to begin”. And so the journey started when my kids were gone all day and I had free time. I had no clue I would need to take classes and learn a LOT before I would have a book worthy of being printed and sold. What a journey it’s been and I’ve loved being a writer whether I make any money or not – and I really haven’t actually. The “ongoing” money has always surpassed the “incoming” money!!!
Patricia–Writers are earning less and less, if you can believe the recent polls. But some of us have to keep writing. Once you find your medium, you have to keep creating.
My initial motivation was due to having a plethora of personal issues in the early 00s, so I decided to write as a coping mechanism. It took me a long time to level up to mediocre, and even longer to level up to average.
What keeps me going now is that I’m spending quality time with a decades worth of slushies (my current project was originally started 11 years ago) and pulling out various stories to beef up and expand.
The only advice I can give, which was given to me many, many years ago is to just write. I started blogging some 15+ years ago for the explicit purpose of practicing my writing and it just morphed from there.
GB–Many things in our 21st century life are bad for writers, but I think blogs are magic. Writers can practice their craft and get immediate feedback. So that’s great advice. Just write–and try it on a blog. “Leveling up to mediocre” is a fine phrase! We all have to do that when we start.
Wonderful article, Anne! I’m relieved to know I am doing all the right things and avoiding all the wrong things, so that’s a good starting point!
I assumed my first novel would be my only one – the idea lived in my head for 30+ years and I self-published. But I loved the process and had an idea for my second book that I felt compelled to write.
I’m now querying book 2 and taking a break from paid work to start book 3.
No, I don’t ever expect to make money from it but that’s never been the purpose for me.
Tamsin–Best of luck with Book #3. And of course you couldn’t write just one book. That’s the problem with the “everybody has a book in them” mindset: people are talking about one book. But they don’t say “everybody has a good game of golf in them” or “a good painting”. They say they can become “a good golfer” or “a good painter.” If you go to all the trouble to learn the craft of writing, why would you stop at one book?
Fab list Anne. I’m with you on all your valid points – especially #1 lol. 🙂
Debby–Seriously. If you think all writers are rich, ask one!
It is a good blog post, Anne, butI sort of disagree with this one. Or rather I would rewrite it.
4) DO Write a Book if you See Stories Everywhere
I would say, “DO write a book if you constantly have stories playing out in your head.” Fantasies and historical fiction, to name two genres, are rarely about what we see around us everywhere. For some of us, the stories are in our heads and the only way I ever found to silence the characters is to write the stories they are acting out. Anyway, that is how I think about it.
JR–Oh, I think there are fantasy stories around us all the time, too. Look at how medieval our politics are these days. And just today a strange little lacy-winged bug kept following me around the house. All day, no matter where I went. It was driving me crazy. But then I thought “Maybe it’s a messenger from the Fey, trying to tell me something.” 🙂
Anne, So right on the money!! or lack there of!
Thank you for not only the sage advice but the quirky comments that make your blog so much fun to read. Some of us are on the cusp which allows us to fall on either side of the writer fence…Love writing…love alone time going back to 1869 – code word for getting back to the WIP…but best of all for me I enjoy finding and sharing someone’s local story and luckily found my niche to write up lots of them in the Estero Bay News, which feeds my writer soul.
Judy–And we’re so grateful that you write for the Estero Bay News! I love our little community newspaper. I think journalism and writing books go hand in hand!
I’ve never thought of that decline in this way before. It makes sense.
Liz–I met an aspiring writer recently who was incapable of hearing any constructive criticism, no matter how gentle. I finally realized she didn’t hear anything that was said to her. She blocked it all out. Her high school course in creative writing taught her everything she wanted to know and she wasn’t going to let anybody confuse her with the facts when her mind was made up. A writer guaranteed to never finish a book. Some people fall in love with their own ignorance and calcify their own brains.
This is wonderful! Thank you – I recognize so much here!
Elizabeth–I’m glad it resonates with you!
This is such a good discussion, as always. This is so validating on so many levels. Too many of my MFA students — a range of ages, so they aren’t kids — come into class using many of these “don’t reasons” why they write. But too many hate being challenged to go deeper into the story and the characters. One student, for example, wrote 16 chapters of backstory, and rather than revisiting how backstory is used, was very loudly miffed because I didn’t understand her story. It would be one thing if this was a rarity, but it happens way too often, and then these same students “report” me to their advisers and it becomes a whole other issue. Some take it to the next level, going onto book review sites to give my books a one-star review. I take some solace in knowing that once a term is up, I’ll never hear from these students again. But I am counting the seconds when I don’t have to teach anymore.
Bobbi–Weaponizing online reviews to “punish” enemies is a horrible aspect of modern life. But it was only recently I ran into it with students using “reviews” to punish their teachers for trying to teach them something. The dingbat I mentioned in my comment to Liz also attacked one of my books with a one star review. Just for suggesting her protagonist would need a goal at some point in the story. The review only advertised her own ignorance and Amazon took it down. But–yikes. No wonder you don’t want to teach any more!
Ouch. If everything I know about writing I learned in high school, I’d be a functional illiterate!
These are excellent quotes! Thank you!!
“Blogs are magic”! Yes!
Best. Advice. Ever. Anne, you nailed it with this post. I run to my keyboard each morning because I know I’m gonna have a blast… alone, with my characters, headphones cranked, fingers clacking away, for hours on end. Recently, my eldest granddaughter started writing short stories. I asked her why. She said, “To be like you, Nanna.” I told her that was a terrible idea, if that’s the only reason. “Are there stories inside you, honey?” She said yes, a lot of stories. “Is it fun?” Another yes. “Write on, my sweet. Write on.” 😉
Sue–What a sweet story! I hope your granddaughter keeps writing.
Hi Anne and Liz, I so appreciate this discussion!
No need to ask, I don’t know any writer friends rolling in the dough lol 🙂
This article made me happy! Most surprising was #6. I’ve always felt that going into worst-case-scenario mode was an annoying fault, but now I have a healthier perspective on it. Thank you!
Joan–I’m glad it made you happy! That kind of anxiety comes from a vivid imagination. And writers need vivid imaginations. And living out our worst-case scenarios in our writing helps us cope.
Fantastic list, Anne! One thing I was not called at school was ‘talented’, it was usually, ‘Why can’t you be more like your sister’ who was 2 years older than me and great at everything 😂
Back in the day, I did secretly dream of making a goodly sum of money with my writing, then I woke up! These days, I write more for me, I guess, and now that I have to go back to work, I have even less time to write, but, if nothing else, I’m determined to keep on blogging – it may not be stories, but at least it’s still writing 😊
Wow. Thank you for sharing this discussion. It’s really important. Bobbi
Bobbi– 🙂
Wow. This is great! I have tried the most unusual effort and have found the unique problems to be just enough to keep me going in spite of it all. I love how you speak honestly and uniquely right where (and when) we need to hear it. I hope to use this page to carry my writings to the next level.
Norma–That’s so good to hear. A big day-brightener! With that attitude, I know you’ll succeed. 🙂
A while back there was a popular Western Cowboy writer, who when he sold his first short story, he went out and celebrated by putting a down payment on a house. Unfortunately, that was a hundred years ago, and the writer lived in the sparsely settled West.
P.S. His name was Will James.
Harry–I think Ian Tyson sang about Will James. Those were such different times. Without radio, TV and now, streaming services on our phones, those stories in pulp magazines were a major source of entertainment. And writers got paid accordingly.
I love that you’ve offered warnings and alternatives! You’re absolutely correct that not everyone is meant to write a book, but you’ve wisely pointed out that those stories can be told in different ways.
Deborah–Yes. A story might become a play or a poem or a painting. So many ways to be creative!