Getting to The Finish Line: How to Write a Book
It’s National Novel Writing Month. Basically, a bunch of people will to start writing November 1 and continue for 50,000 words / 175-pages until November 30. It probably sounds harder than it is because, believe it or not, quite a few people have done it. How to Knit a Love Song, Flying Changes: A Novel, Wish You Were Here and other books are reportedly successful NaNoWriMo projects. I’m not participating this year because I’m smack at the tail end of my finishing up my memoir and I don’t want to get distracted by starting another project. And, since, we’re on the topic of writing in general, here’s the latest update about the book … I’ve written 79,609 words. I have three chapters to finish re-editing. For now, I aim to wrap it up by late December / early January. On Twitter, Affable Alpha asked me, “Is it preferable to write the entire novel before submitting it? I feel like doing so would be a waste of time [...] I was thinking of writing a synopsis for every chapter of the novel and then submit it to the literary agent or publisher.” Ah, the ongoing “proposal” vs “full manuscript” debate. I chose the latter route to:
- Follow advice. One of my writing mentors successfully wrote and sold 7 books in the past 7 years. Each time, she handed in a full manuscript instead of a proposal. It worked for her, and she suggests her students do the same.
- Reduce stress. I’ve written articles, penned columns and contributed chapters to others’ anthologies. But, this is my first full memoir. As I mentioned in my last update, it’s nice to take as long as I need to grow, learn and finish it — without the added stress of looming deadlines from editors. That will come later :)
- Get it out of the way. As more than one published authors reminded me: “It’s not like finishing the proposal means you don’t have to write the book. You’ve gotta write it anyway, so may as well do it now.”
- Understand the Project. For me, the biggest benefit of writing the full thing is that I’ve come to understand my project MUCH better. When I started, I didn’t have a clear sense of what I was doing with it. I knew I was writing a memoir, but the outline was pretty vague. I’m much more focused now that I’ve written the first full draft.
That said, quite frankly, I don’t think there’s one “right” way to write a book. Jean-Dominique Bauby supposedly finished The Diving Bell and the Butterfly by blinking the whole thing out one letter at a time over the course of a year or so. NaNoWriMo are sprinting through it all in a month. Cliff Chase, one of my favorite people from my time spent working as a peon at Newsweek, told me he dedicated many many years to finishing Winkie. (The book Writing a book is like completing marathon. Both require a tremendous amount of motivation, effort and time. But, the purpose isn’t to “win.” It’s about finishing it at your own pace to accomplish whatever personal goal(s) you’ve set for yourself. So, I guess the question: “How should I write a book?” is: Follow whichever way works for you and stick with it the best you can until you finish.
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Credit paid: Marathon image is by Randy Lemoine
November 3rd, 2009 at 7:28 pm
i m down for the full manuscript..that takes away a lot of preassure already..:-)
November 4th, 2009 at 11:45 am
I think if you’ve never written an entire book before, it’s good to try it to see if you can do it. I did a NaNo for that reason. Now if I were to try to sell a book without having written it, I’d be confident that I can write an entire book.
November 5th, 2009 at 4:56 am
am hoping that your first will be a stone gas….. am in the process of finishing a foto/poetry
book that has been in the works for 4 years…. some of the work I shared here with your post
over the past few years….. and when I started …. my hair was stone black and perfect….
lamesabassman…. it’s now grey …and gone…smile…. but am having a ball… as you will 2
November 8th, 2009 at 7:18 pm
I’ve been advised by veterans in the publishing industry NOT to write the entire book first and then shop it around. Rather, they advise that you write a portion of it first–a chapter or two–and write a book proposal and shop that around. That way, your editor can help you shape the book as it comes along. Once the book is a finished product, it’s easier for people to just say, “Nah, that’s not what we do.” However, as an artist, creating what is essentially a business plan for a book might be a big turn off. Since I’m an MBA student and a writer, the book proposal is the best way for me to go. It helps me see the economic prospects of the book as well as think through my vision for it. I wish NaNoWriMo wasn’t focused so much on novels. I write self-help, and I’d love to see a similar initiative for non-fiction writers.
November 9th, 2009 at 8:37 am
danielle: That’s the route I’m going :)
A: Sounds like NaNoWriMo was a good experience for you. So far, I’ve heard a lot of positive stuff about it.
lamesabassman: Good luck with your photo / poetry book.
CrazyGirl: I agree that it’d be nice to see even more initiatives encouraging nonfiction writing. :) I disagree that proposals are the only way to sell books. Sue, Abiola, Rachel, Anna, Funky Brown Chick reader Mahlena-Rae Johnson and other friends and acquaintences have successfully written and published titles; they each went about it in their own way. Some sold on proposals. Some sold via full manuscripts. Sounds like you’ve chosen the proposal route, and I wish you success with the book.