How Do You Write a Book?

by Lynn H. Blackburn @LynnHBlackburn

Sometimes this question is asked by someone who simply cannot get their mind around it. Sometimes it comes from someone who writes and is curious about my process. 

Sometimes, the person asking the question is me! *I forget every time!*

I’m always looking for the best way to answer this, for myself and for others. And this summer, I found a new way to describe the process in an unexpected place.

My basement. 

When we moved into our home thirteen years ago, the basement had a floor, a few windows, a door, a couple of framed out walls and, believe it or not, a fireplace. 

We didn’t feel the need to finish the basement…until we did. Our boys are teenagers, and it was time to make that part of our home into a space where they and their friends could hang out. 

It should come as no surprise to you that there were limitations. We couldn’t just do anything we wanted. We had walls that couldn’t be moved, a few load-bearing beams that weren’t optional, and a footprint that wasn’t flexible. We could let our imagination run wild…as long as what it generated would work within those boundaries. 

We spent time brainstorming. We walked around the rooms with measuring tapes and paper, sketching out possibilities. Sometimes we had ideas that had to be abandoned. Sometimes we had multiple options, and it was a matter of choosing what felt right to us. 

We had a few specific goals for our project that required extra work, such as specialized plumbing for the bathroom and tons of electrical wiring to accommodate flexible lighting options. 

Even with all the thought that went into the preparation stage, it was still hard to picture what it would look like when it was done. We began the process, trusting that it would all come together as we moved along. 

In the beginning, there were many days when, even after a full day’s work, it didn’t look like we’d made any progress at all. There were days when we made so many messes, I wasn’t sure if we would ever get them cleaned up. There were moments when we had to reassess and change direction, and times when we doubled down and did whatever we had to do to make what we wanted work. There were days when we were laser-focused on one area and days when we were working all over the space. 

And when the construction was done, we still weren’t done, because then it was time to clean up and decorate. Our construction has been complete for a month at this point, but we’re still choosing art for the walls and figuring out how we’re truly going to live and use the space. 

With this in mind, the next time someone asks me how I write a book, I think this is what I’ll say:

First, some stories simmer for a long time. They live in the back of my mind until they reach a point where they will not be ignored. When they continue to push into my consciousness, I know it’s time to get to work. 

Second, you have to understand that while we like to think the sky’s the limit, that’s not true for me. I write in a genre that has reader expectations. There are boundaries, guidelines, and limitations that I have to create within. 

Third, within those boundaries, my goal is to maximize my creativity, and I spend a lot of time thinking about my story before I ever write the first word. There are parts of the story where I can let my imagination run wild, but there are things that are already locked in. I’m writing my third book in a series. There are plotlines and previously established character traits that aren’t flexible. 

Fourth, even though I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about the story, and I have a few things that are locked in before I begin, I still don’t know for sure what the final product will look like. I have to start and see what happens, then adjust as I go. Sometimes, I spend days on one scene. Sometimes I churn out three chapters in one day. And sometimes, I try something, and once I see it, I realize it doesn’t work. 

Finally, even when I reach then end, I’m not really done. There’s so much clean up needed to make the story shine. Editing, revising, tightening, rearranging, and then stepping back to look at it and see if it works. It will take six to nine months of tweaking the story before we land on the version that readers see. 

What do you think of this description? What would you add? Do you have a concrete way to explain what is a mostly mental experience? I’d love to hear about it in the comments. 

Grace and peace,

Lynn

TWEETABLE

How Do You Write a Book? from author @LynnHBlackburn on @EdieMelson (Click to Tweet)

Lynn H. Blackburn is the award-winning author of Unknown Threat, Malicious Intent, and Under Fire, as well as the Dive Team Investigations series. She loves writing swoon-worthy southern suspense because her childhood fantasy was to become a spy, but her grown-up reality is that she's a huge chicken and would have been caught on her first mission. She prefers to live vicariously through her characters by putting them into terrifying situations while she's sitting at home in her pajamas! She lives in Simpsonville, South Carolina, with her true love, Brian, and their three children. Learn more at www.lynnhblackburn.com.