how to actually write books

[A. E. Lowan]

Starting from the Ground up. Writing is the Olympics of You do You. There is no one way to do it. Writers can change their processes over the course of their lives or sometimes the course of a week. The toolbox you come into the craft with is large and stuffed and ever changing. It's also not always what's going to work for you. Your process is your process. Learn how to feed it and it will do you in good stead.

Begin your story at the beginning, continue until you reach the end, and then stop. We quote Carroll a lot in our series, and he always delivers. That's how pretty much every story is told. It's really hard to do, too. But it's a skill we all have to master, whether our stories are large or small. You're going to think about your story, about the emotions and the character arcs as well as the order of events, and you're going to start writing. Write notes about your world building. About your characters. About the neat thing you saw today and how can you fit it in the story? All of it. You want to turn that little tingle words can give you to a torrent where you race to catch up with the figments of your own imagination, and they're just like, Come on, loser! We're going novelling!

 

[skip.knox]

This is a pretty common difficulty. As A.E. Lowan points out, there nothing like a single Official Way to approach this. The best you can do is to ask questions and realize that the replies are going to vary. Choose whatever resonates with you.

My own advice to myself is to get down into the scene with the characters. If it's describing something, imagine you're a camera shooting over the character's shoulder. You see what they see. If it's dialog or internal thoughts, get inside the character's head. Pay attention to what they're feeling, how they react. Put another way, it's not you the author telling me the reader what you think I should know, or even what you think will draw me in. It's the characters being themselves in that moment, in that place.

Lastly, if it's backstory and world-building, write what you think ought to be there. You can always edit later. Just keep in mind, everything you say, you're gonna have to live with, or else you're going to have to revise on edit. The more detailed you get, the more constrained you are.

 

[A. E. Lowan]

This is a pretty common difficulty. As A.E. Lowan points out, there nothing like a single Official Way to approach this. The best you can do is to ask questions and realize that the replies are going to vary. Choose whatever resonates with you.

My own advice to myself is to get down into the scene with the characters. If it's describing something, imagine you're a camera shooting over the character's shoulder. You see what they see. If it's dialog or internal thoughts, get inside the character's head. Pay attention to what they're feeling, how they react. Put another way, it's not you the author telling me the reader what you think I should know, or even what you think will draw me in. It's the characters being themselves in that moment, in that place.

Lastly, if it's backstory and world-building, write what you think ought to be there. You can always edit later. Just keep in mind, everything you say, you're gonna have to live with, or else you're going to have to revise on edit. The more detailed you get, the more constrained you are.

Our books are in 3rd Person Limited, and I absolutely write exactly like this. I call it method writing. It really is slipping into the character's skin and seeing the world through the lense of their experience. Perspective really does become everything. And with this POV we are given the tools to perform real gymnastics. Characters lie. They lie to others, they lie to themselves. And we as authors can also lie to the reader, but this one is advanced class and should only be attempted with a spotter and a net. Right now I have a character who has a small bit of information that's going to be crucial, later, but now isn't the time for the reveal. So instead he thinks in the spaces around it. This is a good sized chunk where we basically touch on each of these points, but especially the misdirection.

~~~
From Beneath a Stone Sky: The Third Book of Binding
~~~

Alerich let out a small sigh of relief and took it and the lighter. “Thanks.” He took a deep lungful of smoke, held it for several long seconds, took another one, and passed it to Fitz as a small shiver ran along his shoulders and his muscles unknotted.

Fitz stubbed out his cigarette in favor of the joint and took a deep breath, releasing it after a long moment into the night air. “So… are we staying or going, mon ami?”

Alerich slowly shook his head. “I can’t leave this for Winter.”

“You can’t leave this for Winter, or you can’t leave Winter?”

Alerich’s hands were still for a moment. “Both.”

Fitz smiled up at the faint stars. “Then I will stay right here and be just as screwed as you are. We’ll all go down in glorious flames together if tonight is any indication.”

Alerich gave Fitz’s jacket sleeve a light tug. “Fitz.”

“Yeah?”

“Go away.”

Fitz shook a finger at Alerich. “Don’t beat yourself up too much. There seems to be a fair line growing to do it for you in there.”

“Fitz.”

“Yeah?”

“Leave the joint.”

Fitz let out a laugh and passed the joint back, then clapped Alerich once on the shoulder and headed back inside, pulling his flask from his pocket as he walked and indulging in a swig.

Alerich conjured a small flame and relit the joint, taking another bitter lungful that made his head start to spin. The lamppost blotted out most of the stars, but Alerich fancied he could see some of the brighter ones. It was a cold, cloudless night.

“You have enough of that to share?”

Alerich let out a stream of smoke and looked up at Stephen. Surely, he wasn’t so stoned that he’d missed the street musician walk up from across the car park. “Are you here to yell at me, too?”

“Nope.” Stephen crouched beside Alerich and leaned back against the car, accepting the offered joint. “You look like hell.”

“It’s been a rough week.”

“So I’ve heard.”

Alerich watched him for a moment, trying to puzzle him out. “Do you know what happened here tonight?”

Stephen took a slow drag, his expression grim. “It’s been a long time coming. At least the kids survived.”

Alerich sighed. “I don’t suppose if I asked you how you know that you’d tell me?”

“Not tonight.” Stephen took another hit and passed the joint back. “How are you doing?”

Alerich thought that if he squinted just a bit, he could make out some more stars. “I am going to singlehandedly destroy this town by the weekend, I think.” He took another hit. His lips tingled.

Stephen shook his head, his long, curling hair falling over his shoulders. “No, you’re not Seahaven’s destruction, Alerich. You’re its salvation.”

A snort escaped from Alerich’s lips. “Mate, do you have me confused with someone else?”

Stephen smiled and it was as if the stars got just a little bit brighter. “Everyone stumbles at the beginning. You’re right where you’re supposed to be, doing exactly what you’re meant to do.”

Alerich turned and met the musician’s gaze in the dark. “I promised I would make things better.”

“And you will. You already are.”