JP McLean

Writing Addictive Fiction

10 Lessons From Writing a Book

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West Coast Sunset

Following are ten lessons I’ve learned from writing a book.

Three years ago, if someone had told me I’d write a book one day, I would have laughed – not out loud – but I’d quietly question their sanity. Following are ten lessons I’ve learned from writing a book.

Write a book?  Me?  Today, the only person’s sanity I question is my own. Not only did I write a book, I wrote three.  It’s been a long, all-consuming, hedonistic, educational, inspirational, and frustrating experience. And I wouldn’t trade it for the world.

Here are a few tidbits about writing I’ve learned along the way:

  1. I’ve learned how little I know;
  2. I’ve learned that most character archetypes and story arcs have been around since the beginning of time;
  3. I’ve learned the value of a creative story editor and a keen-eyed copy editor;
  4. I’ve learned to love search engines;
  5. I’ve learned the importance of a sense of humour;
  6. I’ve learned to repeatedly thumb the pages of Strunk and White, the Handbook for Writers and The Canadian Oxford Dictionary;
  7. I’ve learned that there are creative, intelligent writers out there who are willing to share their time and considerable knowledge;
  8. I’ve learned that cold/beta readers are indispensable;
  9. I’ve learned how much I love writing;
  10. I’ve been humbled by the generosity of friends, family and fellow writers who share this passion.

I’ve also learned I’m neither crazy nor alone, but that’s a blog post for another day.

Want to know more? Check out How I Got My Start and read the press release published by the Comox Valley Record.

You can purchase all the Gift Legacy books on the Bookstore Tab.

I hope you’ve enjoyed ten lessons I’ve learned from writing a book.

After The End

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An old typewriter sitting on a rough wood table

I’d been writing for months before I told anyone. It would be many more months before I typed “The End” and found the courage to let someone read what I’d written. I say courage because it felt like exposing myself, as if I were admitting I’d developed an embarrassing fetish.

After my secret was out, I felt less guilt about choosing to plunk away at the computer rather than weed the gardens, but where was I going with my writing? When I finished writing Awakening, I went looking for the answer.

It thrilled me that I’d written a book, but what did I do with it?

Most publishers won’t accept unsolicited manuscripts. You have to submit through an agent. My research showed that getting an agent, let alone getting published, was a long shot. Nonetheless, this is how it was done. I researched potential agents, prepared the required submission material, and sent out a dozen query letters.

While I waited for their responses, I began to question the sanity of the process.

I’d already made a considerable investment in time and money: a manuscript evaluation, several manuscript printings, postage back and forth to cold readers, an editor, and cover art.

Did I want to invest more time on the minuscule chance I’d find an agent? And if I got an agent, did I want to wait again for them to sell it to a publisher? And if my agent had the good fortune to sell it, did I want to wait a year or more for them to publish it?

My research also showed that most new authors are paid a pittance, get no marketing support, and being untested, don’t have the negotiating clout to improve their contracts. Some of those contracts include language that makes it difficult to get rights back. Additionally, if the book doesn’t sell well in its first few months, it fades from bookstore shelves.

I don’t begrudge agents or publishers their right to whatever business model works for them.

But is their business model a good fit for me?

The answer is no.

After further research, I decided to indie publish. Because I don’t (yet) have the technical skills to navigate the process, I partnered with a local company. They handle the formatting for hardcover, trade paperback, and ebook editions, and make it available at multiple retailers.

It’s a compromise. I don’t have full control, but I haven’t signed away my rights. Indie publishing isn’t for everyone, but so far (for me at least) the pros outweigh the cons.

I’m investing in me and I’m not finished yet. The second book in the trilogy, Revelation is on the verge of publication, and I’m indie publishing again.

As it turns out, “The End” is just the beginning.

 

Photo by Patrick Fore on Unsplash

Where do the ideas come from?

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A question I’m frequently asked is where do my story ideas come from?  Truthfully, it’s a mystery. I’m as surprised as anyone that my imagination was responsible for the ideas that became The Gift Legacy.

It’s a process

I’ve come to believe that idea generation is a process. It starts with a seed you may not even know you’ve sown. The process is probably some deeply ingrained human problem-solving skill.

An ape restingApes in sub-Saharan Africa are likely doing the same thing. While they’re busy picking bugs out of their mate’s hair, their subconscious is working out how to keep the elephants from mucking up the watering hole.

For me, Emelynn Taylor and the idea of an unbidden gift were the seeds. New scenes would pop up at the strangest, often inconvenient, times. I learned not to go anywhere without a notebook and pen. I would jot down ideas that grew from snippets of other people’s conversations, or glimpses of interesting faces. Sometimes it would be an ad or a photo that sparked an idea.

Tuck the problem away

Even now, three books in, if I’m having difficulty with a particular scene, I set it aside and move on to write something else.  Sometimes it’s a scene, sometimes it’s a new character, other times it’s a building or location description. The process often shakes loose that elusive idea.  It may take a few hours or even days, but eventually the perfect idea trots along.

The more I wallow in the story, the more ideas come to me.  Scenes that have no logical ending or segue magically sort themselves out while I’m gardening or vacuuming or peeling potatoes.

So though I don’t know where the ideas come from, as long as my imagination is fertile, I’ll keep sowing seeds and harvesting the ideas. I’ll leave it to my subconscious to figure out how the opposing thumb thing could improve my lot in life.

Leave a comment – I’d love to hear from you.

All of my books are available to purchase on the Bookstore Tab.

 

Photo by Jeffrey Eisen on Unsplash

How Did You Get Your Start?

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Dreary winter day

When I’m asked how I got my start as a writer, I think back to the winter I began writing. All west coast winters are long and wet, but that winter was the first I’d experienced after being away for four warm sunny winters in Tucson and the Baja. Cooped up inside on endless dark dreary days left me restless.

I filled my evenings reading. A lot. It was an escape. My favourite escapes were book series binge reads. Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander series. Lee Child’s Jack Reacher books.

I became curious.

What was it I liked about those particular books? The answer for me was that those books engaged me so thoroughly that I lost track of my surroundings and all sense of time. It also occurred to me the books I enjoyed most were written from just one person’s point of view.

Curious to know more, I read about the writers whose work I enjoyed and the writing process itself. One author’s process caught my attention. Stephenie Meyer, author of the successful Twilight books, explained that the series sprung from a single scene that she dreamed about.

It got me thinking.

Could a dream, a kernel of an idea, an edge of a thought, be the seed of a captivating story?

I immediately thought of a recurring dream I’ve had since my childhood.  It’s not an unusual or unique dream. (Many of the people who’ve read my first book tell me they’ve had similar dreams.) But was it enough for an interesting story?

All that winter I plunked away on my laptop. I fleshed out my tiny idea using the first person perspective. Writing from just one character’s point of view seemed the safest route for a novice writer. I dusted off my university Handbook for Writers, a five-pound Oxford dictionary, and bookmarked a good on-line thesaurus.

As chapter after chapter came together, I convinced myself that not only could I do it, but that it was a captivating story. I studied Strunk and White’s, The Elements of Style, Stephen Wilbers’ Keys to Great Writing, and Donald Maass’ Writing the Breakout Novel. But don’t let that fool you into thinking I’ve managed to incorporate all that collective wisdom. It is, however, a lofty goal.

Awakening Book CoverRevelation Book CoverRedemption Book Cover

I’m three books in now and still loving the process. There’s always something new to discover and no end of great books to read and learn from.  I feel very lucky to have found something so uplifting and interesting to do on dreary winter days.

Of course, nowadays, every day I’m not writing is a dreary day.