I know it’s
the New Year, and the temptation to start completely fresh is huge.
But hear me
now. That does not apply to writing books.
If you're
in the middle of a book, you DO NOT WANT to stop to run after a shiny new idea.
That is a great way not to ever get published.
I am pretty
sure that what most aspiring authors need to be doing for the New Year—or
wherever you are in the year, is to finish an old book.
I recently
did a Zoom session with a writing group, and I started it as I always start a
workshop, with these questions:
1. The genre of your WIP (Work in Progress)
2. The premise of your book - the story in one or two
sentences.
3. A list of ten films (a few books, but at least
five films) in your genre that are somewhat similar to your book
structurally.
Just that
bit of information on my audience or students helps me focus the session or
class so that everyone gets the most out of our time together. And you know
what I find over and over?
Very few
people can tell me about their ONE book.
Because
most of the participants have five, six, seven, even eight (I’m dying here…)
book or story projects going at once.
Oh. My.
God.
Over the
years I have been astonished at how many people in my workshops have multiple
projects in various stages of completion. Now, as a professional writer, I
often have to work on multiple projects, but that’s the job. I’m talking about
unpublished writers. It's not astonishing at all that most of these people
remain unpublished.
Because
published authors are writers who suck it up and FINISH their books.
They
COMMIT. They deal with the reality of what they have written instead of the
fantasy of what they thought they were writing. They develop the Teflon skin
that allows them to put their work out there to be criticized—and yes,
rejected. Lots of rejection.
Some of these
unfinished projects will never be good enough to be published. The unfortunate
truth of writing is that you won't know that until you finish. But you have to
become a writer who finishes what you start, even if you then have to throw a
whole completed project away once in a while. That is part of the process of
becoming a professional writer. You must figure out how to FINISH every book
you write.
So here’s
the takeaway.
DON’T start a new book. FINISH the old one.
Part of the
writing process is picking the right premise to begin with, which we'll get
into soon. But another critical part of that process is ramming your head into
a concrete wall (metaphorically speaking) until you're battered and bloody but
you finally figure out how to make that particular book work. Some books are
just harder than others, but you must demonstrate to the Universe that you are
willing to do whatever it takes to make ANY book work. It's a trust thing. Your
books must trust you to fully commit to them.
And that
time is never wasted, even if you never make money off that book. It is
professional—and more importantly, creative—development.
I have a
book hidden in my files in the Cloud that I could be making quite a lot of
money on if I just self-published it, or even had my agent go for a traditional
publishing deal on it. People would buy it and a lot of readers would enjoy it.
One of my trusted Beta readers says it’s her favorite of all my books.
I know all
that.
But for me—it's
not as good as the rest of my books and I don't want it out there. It just
doesn’t have the theme, the meaning I want in my books.
I finished
it, evaluated it—and then put it away and wrote another.
That was a
big gap in my publishing schedule, let me tell you. Good thing I had some savings.
BUT—my next
book was Huntress Moon, a real breakthrough in my writing. It was the book and series I
was meant to write. The Huntress series combines my political and social
activism, my rage at the abuse of children and women and the plain fact that we
are not yet as a society committed to ENDING that abuse, and my skill at
working those issues into highly readable thrillers. Because I’ve written this
series, I honestly could die right now and feel that I’d fulfilled one crucial
thing I was meant to do on this planet.
The series
has made me a mint. It was nominated for a Thriller Award and won an Audie
Awared (Best Audiobook, Crime & Thriller). And, oh yeah - it was bought for
television, too.
So my
putting that other book away? I don't think that's a coincidence. I think my
creative mind and the Universe understood that I was finally ready to do more,
mean more, with my writing.
So I beg
you all, just as I am begging my workshop students. If you haven't finished the
book you're on, DON'T start a new book for the New Year (or Nanowrimo, or
Junowrimo) just because.
Commit to
the book you're already writing, in whatever stage of the process you're at,
and finish THAT one.
And then go
get published.
- Alex
(This week
I heard from a good friend, a fabulous director and writing professor, who says
she passed an earlier post of mine like this on to a student of hers - who took
the advice, FINISHED her book, and just landed an agent! Just saying....)
Write a Book in the New Year - online workshop
