MONDAY MORNING MAILBAG

Question: What is it *really* like to write a book?

Answer: To me, writing a book is like doing an enormous jigsaw puzzle.

Each paragraph is a piece of the puzzle, but the paragraph/pieces are all in my mind, and I’m the only one who can see the colors and shape of the characters, story, and more. (At least until I actually type them in my word-processing program to share with other people.)

Not only is each paragraph a puzzle piece, but it’s also a building block. Each paragraph builds on the one before it until I have one chapter. Then two chapters. Three. Five. Ten … You get the idea.

In other words, writing a book is HARD, y’all. 😯 

Because I’m the only one who can see that mental jigsaw puzzle, I’m the only one who can write that story. So if I don’t write the stories/characters in my head, they don’t get written. That internal pressure/drive I have to keep working day after day, week after week, until a book is done can be really physically and mentally exhausting.

I am also a panster, which means that I don’t do a lot of outlining or pre-planning. Since I write in first person, I think about my heroine/hero, their magic/powers, and how they can use their magic and wits to defeat the villains. Then, when I feel like I have a good grasp on the overall story and characters, I sit down and start writing.

In more whimsical terms, I like to think of myself as a Rumpelstiltskin. Only instead of turning straw into gold, I am turning words into stories … and hopefully books into money since writing is my full-time job.

So that is what writing a book is like to me. Thank you for reading! 😎 

Authors – how would you describe what it’s like to write a book?

Tags: About Books, My Writing, On Writing