While working on poetry and the occasional blog post, I have been working on two different novels in my spare time… no, not writing two books simultaneously. Rather, I wrote one book, then started another while I began the editing and revising process on the first.

Writing books is a different beast compared to what I am used to, so I thought it would be fun to talk about my experience with the process of writing both of them.

Quick disclaimer: I won’t be mentioning anything specific about the books. Don’t want to accidentally spoil something in them! Also, I will be primarily focusing on the first book, as that one is way deeper into the process.

Finding Time to Write

I had the idea for my first book a little over a year ago, now. I spent a lot of that time thinking about what the book would look like but not really writing yet. This was mainly because I was working on a lot of other things in the meantime, so sitting down to write a book sounded impossible to me.

Then came the idea for JTLWrites (Yes, the website definitely helped). Blocking out time to work on blog posts, poems, and short stories really let me work my writing muscles. And my wife was gracious enough to offer me that time to clear my head, throw on some music, and just write.

After a while, the idea of the first book crept back into my mind. This was after I published “A Loud Bang” onto the website. One of my coworkers and my wife both encouraged me to think about writing something longer. This was the push I needed to really begin seriously considering the book. I was hesitant, because I didn’t believe in my writing ability to carry a 75,000+ word story. So, after the motivation, I sat down at my desk and started worldbuilding.

World and lore building: Making structure out of a chaotic mind.

If you have ever been misfortunate enough to spend more than 20 minutes around me, you probably know I can be a bit… scatter-brained. I knew with the story I wanted to write, I couldn’t just wing it. I had to be mindful at the beginning and organize what the world and rules were for my story. But how do you get an idea from your head onto paper to make sure you don’t break your own rules?

Two words: Design Document

Now I DREADED making a design document. My writing tends to be more free form, so I worried that I was going to block myself in so tight that I wouldn’t find enjoyment in the writing process. Begrudgingly, I created a word doc, made a bulleted list, and began plotting out the pieces of my world and lore.

I was so, so wrong about design documents. It actually had the opposite effect from what I was expecting. It took a lot of the plot anxiety out of writing. If I was worried an idea would break my rules, I could quickly refer to the document and decide if the addition made sense or not. I’m telling you: if you are thinking of writing a book, make a design document first. Your future self will thank you!

So after I wrote down the design of the book (Plot, Lore, Mechanics, Setting, Characters, etc.) I sat down and wrote the first few chapters of the book.

Drafting: Wow, I’m Actually Writing a Book!

I got through the first chapters pretty quick. When I sit down to write a book, my only rule is to get it on the page. I don’t care about spelling. I don’t care about grammar. I am not looking for the perfect way to write a sentence. Instead, I’m just trying to get the story on the paper. When I got them done, I had the same question I’m guessing a lot of aspiring authors have: Is this even readable???

That’s where beta readers come in. I had a few people who beta read this book, and I wanted to give them a shoutout in this paragraph. Thank you to all of you who read my book and gave me feedback!

I gave my first few chapters to my wife and a few coworkers. This was NERVE RACKING as this was the first time someone was reading the concept for something I was working on. I gave them some time to read and waited.

My wife was the first one to finish, and she said, “Its good!” I appreciated the response, but I was unsure if she enjoyed it or was just being polite (she has since then told me over and over again she loves the book, so I lean all the way towards honesty.)

The next one was one of my coworkers. This is where the confidence shot up. She LOVED it! She said the characters were great and that the words painted a clear picture in her head. This was the confidence boost I needed. I knew from there that this book had to be completed. I had the idea, and now I had momentum.

For the next few months, I continued the process of adding chapters and having people read them. Along the way, I added more beta readers to get a solid outlook of the book. I imagined my book would be about 85K-90K words, so I had that in my head. However, I wasn’t going to fluff chapters just to hit an arbitrary word count. I only wanted the words needed to tell my story. No more. No less. So, I wrote and wrote, until I hit the end of the story.

And saw that I had wrote 74,000 Words. A good amount, but not the amount I was hoping for. I thought the story and my writing would carry a higher word count, but I didn’t dwell on it for too long.

So, I had written a full novel, and didn’t know what to do next… now what?

Revising: Is what I wrote even that good????

I turned my attention away from the book and began to work on another story idea. This was a great idea, and I fully recommend doing this! It pulled my attention away from the first book and let me come back with a fresh set of eyes. Also, I continued to improve my writing while working on the second book, which helped the first one a lot more than I had planned.

After about a month of not touching the document, I finally swallowed my fears and opened it. I was nervous. Would the book still read well? Would I just quit as soon as I opened it? These thoughts crossed my mind as I began rereading my draft.

I was pleasantly happy to see that the story didn’t completely flatline. There was only one structural issue, which was the early middle of the book lagged a bit. I spent a few weeks rewriting this portion, then got into the main pain point of this part: editing.

Remember how I said I don’t care about spelling and grammar when drafting? This came back to bite me really quickly! It took a while to get through the first few chapters, and I quickly figured out I was going for perfection, not clean. So, I made myself a rule: 2 passes only. Edit what I find, stop, read and edit again, then move on to the next chapter. This really saved my bacon, because I don’t think I would have finished the book without this rule!

Also, my second book began to show my growth in the first book. I noticed that the newer scenes had a lot more dynamic dialogue and sentence choice, which made for a better read through the middle. This also added around 10K words to the center of my story, which got me to my word goal!

After another few weeks of reading and editing. I finally finished the last sentence in the book, leaned back, and took it in.

Wow… I wrote AND edited a book… Now what?

Querying: The Great Unknown

Querying has to be the most intimidating part of the process. I was going to read about the process, but social media dissuaded me from it. I saw a lot of bitter people who felt the process was unfair and had to be optimized.

I didn’t want this to paint the process in a negative light, so I found a place that explained exactly what I needed and went in blind.

You don’t realize how scared you are until you write a synopsis of your book and see the story laying bare. No character. No intrigue. Just plot. This was the first spiral for me. I began to doubt the book heavily through here. I was talking to my wife, and she said one thing that stuck with me.

“You didn’t write that many words for nothing. It deserves a chance. The worst they can say is no.”

This finally got me to calm down. I took a deep breath, made my agent list, and waited for submission day. The day finally came and I submitted to a couple agents and went right back to my second story.

And that’s where I am today. Im in the waiting part of the process. Everything here is out of my hands. Only time will tell if the book gets picked up. In the meantime, I plan on just writing.

Advice for you.

To close this out, I wanted to offer some advice for those out there reading this that are thinking of writing a book. Its pretty simple.

Just Write!!!

That’s it, get your lore and world on paper, then start writing the thing! You can easily talk yourself out of writing something if you overthink it. Instead, just start writing the first pages of the book and see where it goes. Don’t be afraid of the process. As a matter of fact, enjoy it! I found writing to be a very relaxing way to spend the evening when I get the chance. And I can also jump up and spend time with my wife and daughter when I need a second to breath.

So just write! The only way to start a book is to actually start.

And to the writers reading this, I would love to know what you are working on! Feel free to leave a comment here or on one of my social media channels. I check those consistently and I’ll leave a like if I read your comment!