What It’s Like to Write a Book

Chapter 1… Just kidding!

But, to be serious, I preface that this is not a blanket piece that will cover the way every writer feels or behaves during the writing process. It is, however, my own personal journey as a writer and NaNoWriMoer (plus some advice) thus far. I hope it is insightful!

Writing a book is super fun and rewarding, but it can be a messy business, even when you plan and organize ‘til the cows come home. I’ve had Pinterest boards for nearly six years on what I want settings, buildings, clothing, and people to look like. I’ve done research online, rented books from the library, taken extensive notes on all sorts of things for months… But, I’ll tell you what. I’m still improv writing as I go.

Yep! I’m learning that my prepared, “Planner” self has turned into a “Plantser”, according to NaNoWriMo standards.

* To make a brief and educational aside, NaNoWriMo has three categories of preparedness badges it awards, and they are as follows (in my own words, of course):

Planner: Notes, notes, notes… and everything is plotted out. You’ve done so much work your novel could ALMOST write itself.
Plantser: You’ve got ideas! And… you’ve written some out. But, things are kind of uncertain…
Pantser: Woohoo! Starting from scratch!!!

Even after six years of thinking about this book, my ideas have evolved and changed so much. I’m tempted to say they’ve changed even more in the span of a few months. And, since I didn’t really have much of an outline beforehand, perhaps I cannot truly call myself a full-fledged “Planner”. Still debating that one.

Although I had some small sections and paragraphs written out before November’s NaNoWriMo event this past year, thus far, the majority of my writing has been contained within the months of November and December 2016 and I am amazed at how even that previously-mentioned book outline keeps evolving (May I also just say that having an outline is definitely a good way to go. I didn’t quite know where to start, but a friend sent me a link to this amazing outline (found here), which I used to create my own. I also recommend reading the other fun and helpful tips the blog’s author, Christine Frazier writes. It’s wonderful!).

Beginning the Beginning

After I had that outline filled in a bit, at least for the first few chapters, I got to writing. But, I didn’t start with what I thought would be the very beginning. I wrote a part that I felt most passionate about. Strangely enough, it did make it to the first chapter after I realized it was a good fit! But, I kept going with writing what I felt most drawn to, or what scenes I had previously visualized. It made writing consistently MUCH easier. And, as I’ve learned, more scenes and ideas pop into your head as you get those first ones down, so you just have to keep going, no matter how you feel.

It wasn’t but a few days in to NaNoWriMo that I realized something. Despite having an outline, I actually DIDN’T know where I was going! What ending was I working toward? What goals, struggles, and conflicts was I going to have to create and then wrap up in those last few chapters? So, I fixed my problem as best I knew how. I jumped to writing my ending.

This is where I realized my mind is a deeper, more unknown place than I could ever have imagined. I had no clue where all of these words and ideas were coming from. And, if any of you follow me on Twitter, you would have seen this post…

Twitter Post from NaNoWriMo by @ArtofChelleElle

Really, though, I was so sucked into my own, surprisingly spooky, imaginary world that I needed a break. It was a lot like the feeling you get when you read a suspenseful novel for hours and you have to pull yourself away for dinner, right at the climax. You know, where you are supposed to figure out who the villain is or whether or not the hero solves the mystery. Except… I was the one writing it and I still had no idea where my ideas were coming from. Do DOOO do…. That was just as frightening. But, cool. Definitely cool. God is mysterious… I hope He tells me how those ideas got in there some day.

Once I put on my brave pants (and probably had some comforting hot chocolate), I wrote on! And boy, did writing the ending at the beginning help so much! I could further outline my plot and think more deeply about my characters, their motivations, and what in the world they would be doing for several hundred pages. It’s only fair… it’s their lives after all.

Ch… Ch… Ch… Changes!

But, it didn’t take long into my writing for my pre-formed ideas and all those thousands of words I had gotten down to suddenly have the plot and my characters make a HUGE shift.

Twitter Post from NaNoWriMo (Love Interest) by @ArtofChelleElle

Yes, that was a day later, folks. Everything happened so fast. And you know what ended up happening? I split a character in two! Yep! I decided that one character was having waaaayy too much responsibility put upon him. I can tell you, though, it made things a little tricky when it came to going back and making sure there was continuity, ‘cause I really liked that character before they got all interested in my protagonist.

I’ll admit I fought this change. I remember chatting with a fellow writer friend a few days before about my plot and how my characters were going to develop. They said something like, “You should make that one character her love interest.” I was like, NOOOO! I had fallen in love with this character I created. The whole plot seemed to revolve around him… he held so many keys to so many things. He was one big, easy answer to many of the problems.

And as I wrote that day, November 4, my friend’s words hit me… and I realized they were right. And that one character shouldn’t carry the plot along so heavily and be an easy, tidy fix to all the problems in this imaginary world. I knew the novel would be so much more interesting if I allowed things to grow, to change, and become more complex. I just had to take really good notes as I went.

Taking Notes

May I note here that taking excellent notes is crucial? There’s no way around it. You’ve gotta keep track of your ideas, changes, noticeable plot holes… all of it. Especially in the moment you notice them.

I kid you not, there are pages in my Word Doc where the margins are mostly text. And the notes can be from various days. Since I go back and read through what I’ve written quite a bit, particularly when I change one part of the book that relates to another, I have notes scattered around from all different days and times of reading them. And, I always try to date them so that I know the progression of my ideas.

I also do this in the chapter outline I created. I date the changes I make, and cross out old ideas I no longer think I’ll use. But, I try not to delete them. You never know when you might use that information! It does make for a rather messy plot outline, but it’s just the way it is. Perhaps a better color coding system would do well for me. ‘Til then, I’m happy with the mess it is!

Organization and Backup

Your style of organization may be a bit of a mess, as mine can sometimes be. That’s okay, as long as you know where everything is AND have the information backed up. I have two different notebooks full of ideas, the margin notes on the actual Word Doc, the plot outline (also a Word Doc), and a few other documents into which I have taken out portions of my story. My important computer work is all backed up, but I’ll admit my handwritten stuff isn’t quite so secured. Which, is definitely not cool, because the research that isn’t in my head is in one of those notebooks. And it’s a fair amount of research. I even have my character bios in there. *Sigh* Looks like I need to take my own advice!

But, I will say, I rather like the way I keep track of things. Every time I write and take a break, I save what I have and send it through one, big email chain. It helps me know what I’ve written each day and how the document changes should I ever need to go back and reference an older version. It’s also encouraging to see the file grow bigger every time you send it!

It may also be worth saying to try to have things backed up to some kind of cloud drive as well, and maybe a hard drive or USB. Or two. Two USB copies can’t hurt. Multiple, variegated types of storage can’t hurt, either.

Further Thoughts & Helpful Tips

I have to admit I’ve become rather addicted to my book. I have this strange way of dealing with it, though. There’s this intense desire to leave it be and walk away, to gather my thoughts and do something other than write. But, at the same time, I just want to keep going, and going, and going… There are days where my whole world revolves around my book. Aside from meals and small breaks, there was a day I pretty much spent morning to morning on it (Sorry to my husband who apparently was waiting for me to go to bed at 12:30 am! :/).

I’ve seen people say that they have a love / hate relationship with their books. I get it now, but hate may be a bit strong. There are days where I feel overwhelmed by the amount of additions I’ve put into the plot, or the edits I’ll have to make, or even by simply having to just keep writing until I figure out what happens next. But, it’s a fun relationship and I really enjoy writing.

Something I recommend, if you haven’t already done it, is writing as a group. You don’t have to be in person, but you’ll definitely benefit from having a team support you. I LOVE NaNoWriMo as it brings people together at one time to get out that first draft. I dunno about you, but I do a whole lot better when I have others to work alongside, or maybe even compete with on word count a little… It’s especially nice to have people to bounce ideas off of. It’s pretty priceless, especially when you get stuck.

Read Other Writers

If you do get stuck, though, and even if you don’t, I highly recommend reading other books in the genre you’re writing! I believe this was a tip NaNoWriMo tip sent out in 2016. If two of us are saying it, it must be a thing! I’ve got a shelf of books I’ve loved since I was in elementary school and have since added to. I recently picked up quite a few, if not the majority of the fantasy books for a re-read. I have a really hard time re-reading books, so this is a big deal. I’ll tell you what, though… it helped me so much!

In fact, it helped me reconnect with another big idea. I pulled “Aurelia” by Anne Osterlund off of my shelf (Thanks for the great book, girl!) and got curious. What if she had a website… So, I did some research and found her site! She had lots of great tips on there, and apparently had released sequels to “Aurelia” (I need to get on that!). But, what I liked most is something she had written about her characters. She mentioned that during her writing, her villain slowly revealed itself… and changed!

This really hit me. In fact, I needed to hear it. I needed confirmation that it was okay to let my characters evolve and change, to not keep them in their little boxes. That another author I respected and had read had gone through this. That things reveal themselves to you as you write and that things can change for the better.

So, thank you Anne Osterlund for your continued inspiration in my life. I am happy to say that since reading about your experience, my characters have developed wings of their own and are flying happily around my mind and helping me figure out where they need to go to get to the end of those (hopefully) 21 chapters. And, maybe a sequel or two!

I love writing and sharing about my experiences and would love to help however I can. If you have any questions or fun stories of your own, let me know! You can share them with me on Tumblr, Twitter, Facebook, Google+, and Instagram. And if you really want to make sure you reach me, you can even email me at ArtofChelleElle@gmail.com. I really do love getting mail!

Chat with ya later!