How to write a book

I used to dread writing with a passion only matched by my desire to write something beautiful. I had to drag myself to the computer and then I would flee as soon as I had written a paragraph. I suffered from what a lot of beginning fiction writers suffer from; perfectionism. I had this twisted idea that every story I wrote should be marvelous, publishable prose. If it wasn’t, then I wasn’t a good writer. So the best way to avoid my inability to write the next great American novel was to avoid writing.

Then I read something in a writing guide that completely changed how I wrote. It said that for most writers, even many of the keystones of literature, five to ten years lapsed between when they first started writing seriously and when they became great writers. I think I read that sentence five times. It was the most liberating thing I had ever seen in print. And once I had read it, I realized how silly my prior notions of writing had been. It takes years for doctors, carpenters and engineers to learn their crafts, yet somehow I had the idea that I could learn to write like Milan Kundera in a few weeks.

The hard truth is that if you want to be a truly good writer you need to be willing to put in years of effort. The good thing is if you view this time as your apprenticeship, you can take a lot of pressure off of yourself. Each story you write doesn’t need to be publishable; each novel doesn’t need to be a best-seller. Let yourself learn and make mistakes and try different methods and techniques. Experiment, write horrible stories and even worse novels. It’s ok, because with each mediocre story you write, you will grow as a writer. Go softly on yourself and have faith that if you keep on it is certain; you will become a good writer.

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