A while ago (summer of 2018), I started a non-fiction project titled Simple Ways to Write, Publish, Market a Debut Novel (+ Intimate Testimonials from Published Authors).
Because of various things going on in my life (working on several fiction books, health issues, turning my newest release — Whispers and Other Strange Stories — in audio book format, now available from Amazon, iTunes and Audible),
this particular non-fiction book is taking me longer to publish.
I have, therefore, decided to release extracts from my project here, on my website. In case something happens to me before I manage to publish the book, I want to make sure I'm sharing these awesome letters with you.
These extracts are from Part 4 of the Simple Ways book, titled Intimate Love Letters: From Published Authors to Aspiring Authors. They contain, as the name suggests, letters I have gathered from authors about their journey to, through, and after publication. These are the questions I have asked them to specifically write to me (and you) about:
How was the experience of writing your first / debut novel? What is some (brief) advice you would give to aspiring novelists now?
What are the essential things to do, and others to avoid, to make a good start as a writer and aspiring author?
How has writing the first novel influenced writing your second one, and/or your writing career in general?
What did you learn the most from this author journey you’ve been on so far?
What lessons have you learned about life from reading?
What book changed your life that you would also give to a friend’s child on their 18th birthday?
What would you tell your 16-year-old self if you could go back in time ‘disguised’ as a stranger?
What is one thing that always makes you smile?
‘The thing’ of your choice can be tangible or intangible and doesn’t have to be writing related. Can also be a pet, person, book, movie, poem, memory, etc. If you’d like to mention more than one ‘thing’, please do.
I will be releasing their 'letters' one by one, every week or so, in the order they got back to me.
I hope you enjoy them and find them useful. I love reading them and think are most enlightening, especially to aspiring authors, but also to seasoned ones. It is always great to learn from others.
This seventh letter is from L. A. Vockins.
L. A. Vockins is new to the writing world, but author of an upcoming series entitled The Hunter. He is the writer behind the fast growing blog lavockins.com. He is not just a writer of fiction, but also articles, game design and music. Fiction is his passion and his life force. He is the maker of worlds, destroyer of characters and conjurer of dreams and nightmares.
You can find and follow him here:
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Dear future best-selling author,
Thank you for reaching out to me for my advice on becoming an author. I will do my best to bestow some of my knowledge upon you. Knowledge that I have learned thus far in this journey of writing. But in truth, I haven’t been writing long. Not the type of work that you see me share anyway. I have always been a writer, in some form, but no form of writing has ever gripped more than writing fiction. I enjoy the challenge. The challenge of holding a readers attention and making them lose themselves in a world of my creation. To make a reader laugh, cry and feel that surge of adrenaline in times of need.
“To be a writer, you need to be a reader.” You may have seen this said a few times, and I have to say, in my opinion, it is very accurate. The reason for my passion for the written word comes from my obsession with reading. I grew up reading everything, from textbooks to biographies, to novels and comics. This ultimately aided with my written vocabulary, sentence structuring, and general focus. The first novel that I remember reading in its entirety Troy by Adele Geras. Despite never thinking that I’d be interested in a story that so closely resembled that of a romance novel, I found myself immediately gripped by the characters and setting. Reading this book taught me that versatility was important when it came to writing. It taught me that what I thought I wouldn’t like in a book, can still be made interesting. This, along with some brilliant writing, has kept Troy fresh in my mind for years.
But, it is not just reading and writing that makes a good writer. They are important elements, of course, but just as important is remembering to experience life around you. It is through life that we can draw real inspiration for our stories. One of my favorite things to do is to walk among nature. To feel the cold of a breeze or the warmth of the sun. To hear the wind whistling through trees as they dance. It is things that we experience in life that help to make our stories to be believable... or far from reality.
With that said, here’s how my writing journey began. After a lot of bad short story writing and novel plotting, I began writing my first book. I think that the first lesson here is to learn how to write badly. Don’t spend ten minutes writing the perfect sentence, when you could be potentially writing entire paragraphs. Editing comes later. Just get that story out of your head and onto paper. The process of my first book was a long one, filled with a wicked concoction of emotion. It’s a rollercoaster of excitement, confidence... self-doubt and dread. There were many times that I would look at a chapter and think “wow, I just wrote that,” then I’d read it again the next day and throw it away. These are things that we learn to endure, and it is inevitably this self-critique that makes our work worth reading.
Now, my main advice to you... be true to who you are as a writer and stay true to what you are aiming to write. There are too many times that you will feel the need to sway or change, just because of critique or what is trending or mainstream. This will often lead to self-doubt, or even the production of something that you’re not happy with. Always write something that you, yourself, would enjoy reading. This way, regardless of the outcome of publication, you have created a story that is part of you, and therefore a success in its own right.
But how do you create this story that is true to what you want to create? How do you find the voice and style with which to convey your story? Unfortunately, there is no magic spell or arcane potion with which to grant us this knowledge or ability... but here a few tips, from one writer to another:
Write: Here’s the most obvious one... write! How are you going to find the voice of your writing without writing?
Write some more!: This one is self-explanatory... keep writing. The only way that you are going to find your writing style is to keep trying. You may write countless pages that you deem unworthy and swiftly scrap, but everything you write is practice for your ultimate goal.
Write aloud: Read everything that you write out loud. Sometimes, the things that we put to paper sound amazing in our own minds. Unfortunately, these things do not always read back the same to our readers. The best way to ensure that this doesn’t happen is to read our work aloud. I often do this by myself, but of course, having someone else there to hear it may help! You’ll be surprised how much this helps improve fluidity of sentencing.
Create an inspiration board: This one isn’t for everyone, but it is something that I personally love to do. When it comes to creating vivid imagery within a piece of writing, there’s nothing better than having something in front of you for inspiration. As my series of books is of the dark fantasy genre set in a highly gothic world, my board is currently full of imagery of macabre creatures lurking in the night and blood moons bathing skies in red. Find the world that you want people to see within your writing, then gather a collection of images that remind you of that world.
The final part of wisdom that I wish to bestow upon you is a simple but often overlooked one. That wisdom is... back up your work. Believe me when I say that every writer's worst nightmare is to suddenly lose that manuscript or article that they have put so much time and effort into. I know this well as it happened to me not so long ago. Two years worth of articles, short stories and story ideas were gone in an instant, due to a broken laptop. But that wasn’t the worst of it. My main work in progress, the first novel in a series that was over halfway completed, was gone. Devastation was the first emotion that swept over me when I released the amount of work that I had just lost.
But, there was one last hope... I had backed up everything onto a portable hard drive. However, plugging it in to check that my backups were safe, I discovered that device too was faulty. It was pure bad luck that I lost my work, but also, partly my own fault. You see, what I should have done is back-up my back-up, then back-up the back-up of my back-up... you get the idea. The more copies that you make of your work, the better. Save your work in multiple places and in multiple forms. For example, after my mistake, I now save my work to a flash drive (that works), a cloud storage (I use OneDrive, but there are many available) and, most importantly, I print out my work on a regular basis. I am now completely confident that my work will never completely phase from existence again.
This experience was by far the worst moment in my writing journey so far. It left me entirely demoralized to a point that I almost made the decision to give up. Don’t worry, I didn’t give up. The first moments of deciding what to do were the hardest. Trying to rewrite everything, exactly how it had been, was impossible. After a week of stirring within my mind and failing to put words onto paper, I ultimately came to a conclusion; I would rewrite everything. It wouldn’t be as it was... it would be better. I began to realize that all of the work that I had produced and lost, wasn’t a waste of time. It was practice. It was the practice that made me the writer that I am today. And so, with a fresh attitude and the ability to turn the negative to positive, I set about re-working the first novel in The Hunter series. I think that from this we can learn, at the end of it all, the thing that makes a writer is practice, determination and focus. There will be mistakes and misshapes, but the will to move past it is what will one day make us successful.
The rework of my new novel has turned out to be something that I am so much happier with. It was almost as if fate intervened to change the direction that I was headed. I’ve never been a believer in everything happens for a reason, but perhaps, in this case... it did.
And with that story, brings me to the end of this. In summary; write, write more and back up that writing. Always aim to be that writer that you want to be, not the writer that everyone else wants you to be. Remain focused and smash through any metaphorical barrier that is placed before you. You got this. Believe in yourself and you can achieve anything.
L. A. Vockins.