Writing A Book

You know, I'll tell you guys that I'm writing a book, and then you don't hear from me about it for a while; then I'll tell you I'm writing another one.

But it's not that easy.

Books are hard work.

First the idea you have to come up with. You have to come up with an idea that you've never seen before anywhere; and that's never easy. Or have to rework an idea that's been done before in such a way people don't see it coming.

Then you have your own style of writing it. Not everyone has the same writing style - no matter how many times a publisher will say to you that 'this is has been done before' they can't dictate to you exactly how it's been done. They can't tell you that your idea has been written exactly like Stephen King's or Peter Straub's or F. Scott Fitzgerald's. That idea may be similar to any one of them, but it's written in your style and that's what makes the difference.

Then - and here's the hard part - you have to leave your book alone for about a year. Don't touch it, go near it to edit or read it again. Once you have done that, go and read it and see where you've screwed up. Go and see where you can either save it or toss it. 
Yes this is a lot of work for probably nothing, but it's all about your work, your time and your style. If you don't want to be a writer, don't put in the time to write a book (or a series of books). This is how long it takes to write a book - and this is before it goes into the agent or the publisher; before you start spending money on getting it put through proofreaders, editors and other people who have never seen your work... people who will help you sound like you but more refined; these are people you pay to get you published.

This is where you start rewriting. Your first book will take between ten to twenty rewrites - because it's your first book and you'll screw up a lot. I know I did. My first book, 'Angie', never saw the publishers because it wasn't worth it. The idea was great, but the story, characters, the world ... it was all cardboard and when I went back to it to fix it? Well, it was too far gone to be salvageable. So, I left it alone and started on my next book. My next book took me fifteen years to write... I had to do some serious research to get it right. I had to travel overseas, read some sci-fi fantasy and get in and collect some books on sword-play and recipe books on what people ate, wore and customs of the Dark Ages (this was a world I never studied at high school because I never studied Modern History; instead I studied Ancient History - silly really). But I loved what I got into. I ended up at Medieval Fairs and enjoyed writing my world. 
However, when I finally went to finish the first book, I found my book wasn't finished; and it turned over into a second book - which never saw through to the end of Part One. The reason behind this was because I started writing a sci-fi action thriller right as the sci-fi fantasy one finished... I amazed myself. I went right from the Dark Ages straight into a world of Philip K Dick, where there wasn't a suit of armour to be seen anywhere!

Writing is a great outlet for anything you want to show others. You can take them on your own magic carpet ride anywhere you wish. You're the God of the Worlds you build, the King of your Kingdoms and the very person who can say who lives, who dies, who gets married, who can fly who doesn't and what happens right on these pages.

And if you do it right? Well, that's when the real magic happens.

Anyone can write a book... but it's a matter of knowing how to keep your reader interested in your book, along with yourself, that really matters. The idea is the first hook - it doesn't have to be original. What reels in your audience is how you make that idea fly.

Currently Reading

Now, I was going to start off this post with 'Killing Willis' by Todd Bridges... but I didn't want it look bad with the first word being 'Killing' on Google. So, I thought to make it a 'Currently Reading' post instead.

Here in Australia, on one of the free-to-air cable channels, we have 'Diff'rent Strokes' tv show from the 1980's. It was a standard show to watch in my family as it was a rag-to-riches kind of thing and my folks insisted my brother and I watched something of a broad range of shows when they were on offer. And when 'Diff'rent Strokes' came out, it was new, interesting and - well - different. It was about two African-American brothers - Arnold and Willis Jackson - from Harlem in New York City who had lost their parents in an accident who were adopted by a rich, white family uptown. Now, the white family weren't without their own problems. It was just a father and daughter and they wanted to have more to their family than just those two; and chose Arnold and Willis. This half-hour show turned into something of a weekly ritual for us to sit down and watch. I don't remember how many seasons there were or how long we watched into those seasons, but I do remember loving that show and having a huge crush on Todd Bridges - hey, I was young. And I still think he's not bad-looking.

Anyway, I was perusing a bookstore over the last year and found a book written by Todd Bridges called 'Killing Willis'. It was all about his life after 'Diff'rent Strokes' and what happened to him, how he felt when he was seen out in public and how fame affected not only him, but Dana Plato and Gary Coleman. Being child-stars affected each one of them in a different way. Gary had a major medical condition that caused him to stay pretty much the same size he was in the show for his whole life; and caused him to become a very bitter and angry person. Dana Plato turned to drugs and never came out of that downward spiral in the same way Todd did. He knew there was a way out of that and worked hard to be the person he is now. And this caused him to write this book about his life. 

But it wasn't until I picked up the book recently that I found it was a new edition with an afterward that Todd penned about Gary Coleman - about how misunderstood he was; and how the media turned Gary's life into something it really wasn't. I haven't read the whole book (I'm only two chapters into it) but from how far I'm into it now, I can say it's a very revealing, candid and honest story about somebody's life. I don't know if I've read anything like this before where the hurt, depression and need to be heard is so evident that I don't want to put this autobiography down. I haven't read a book like this since Danny Sugarman's book 'Wonderland Avenue'. I look forward to reading the rest of it.

Tidy, Tidy!

I've been going through a huge decluttering phase in my life over the past 4 - 5 years; now that's huge! 

But it's been a great thing for me.

I have given away some of my books that I have zero interest in, have found books I thought I had lost and have started reading some books I thought I never thought I would. I have also begun writing a book about my books and what piqued my interest in books, writing and how it all began in the first place... now, this has interested my family the most. My Mum thought it was weird to start with, until she read the first few pages of 'The Red Ledger' (working title) and found it fascinating of how the inside of my mind worked.

However, she also found that when she came to my house she spotted a lot of books sitting around the corners of my house in places where they weren't supposed to be. For example: I have an autobiography of a famous book critic and another book about vampire stories in amongst my gardening books and journals in my living room. Exactly how they came to be there is still a mystery to me, and I didn't know they were there until Mum pointed them out to me; and I pulled them out of the collection there and brought up to the main book collection to place them where they were supposed to be. 

This was when a lot of other books kind of fell into view from all kinds of places. Yep, part of the tidying up in my house started with how many books I could find in my living room... it was kind of like playing 'Hide and Go See' book-style; and it was funny how many books I found! I filled a Green Bag with them all; and I'm still finding books around the place to bring up to the collection.

Yes, it looks like they've multiplied on me somehow. Oh well, I guess that's how books become collections, right? Until my next post, happy reading.