I’ve always fancied writing a book. I’m told I write well and on the three occasions that I’ve got a book underway – written over 50 pages is the tester here – people have said it’s a good read.
I’ve got a theme for more than one story and here, I fear, lies the problem. One of the stories is a science fantasy thing, another is a contemporary detective story and the third is a big world story about spies and all that stuff. They’re all very different and they conflict in my head.
It seems the best writers stick to the knitting as they say. I love John Le Carre and all his books are spy novels, he never tries romance or scifi so maybe I need to do the same. But it’s not how my brain is wired. I know Iain Banks writes in two genres and I think Stephen King does too, but now I’m just proving my own point, my brain jumps about a lot.
For years I’ve written songs, many you’ll know, but that’s different. They’re short and the words normally come to me really fast – it’s the music that takes time. Writing a song is a process, there are rules and things that work; sorry if that bursts your bubble about song writing but it’s true, is that true of writing books too?
In wandering around the internet looking for articles on top writers I can’t see any pattern. They say you should have a beginning, a middle and an end but even that’s not set in stone.
Then there’s the typing and stuff…. John Le Carre writes long hand and claims that keeps his prose ‘honest’ whatever that means. Nobody can read my handwriting so that won’t work and my typing is crap. So I’m currently experimenting with voice to text system and it’s good to be able to tell you these are lousy too! I’ve now found somebody I know who is a full time carer and who types like stink, we’ve agreed a rate and she’s going to type for me. So we’re all set.
Of course the different genres will still be a problem but I can get underway faster and make headway into the book. I’m encouraged that this journey of discovery may now be ending and I’ve got the right system selected.
Now all I’ve got to do it write something people want to read. Could be tricky!
