Getting into Writing

From what I have been told, I had a very unique entry into the writing world. I was attending classes for my master's degree in accounting, working full time doing financial analytics, and working through starting my own company. Because I didn't have enough on my plate, I took on the task of writing my first book.

I was commuting to school, about an hour and fifteen minutes each way, and was trying to figure out how to fill a three-hour gap between classes. While having a coffee, I heard two gentlemen at the table next to me complaining about how they had been working on a novel for three years and were only ten pages in. As an avid sci-fi reader, I could only sit in bewilderment.

"How the hell have they been working on a book that long and are only ten pages in?" I mused to myself. "I wonder if I could do better. Do I have the discipline? Do I have the imagination?"

The questions kept coming, and I knew I had to see if I could take on the challenge. So I slept on it for a couple of days before I decided to jump into my first novel. At this point, it is essential to point out that I had never done anything in the writing field. My undergrad was in engineering, my master's was in accounting, and I hated writing papers for both.

Along with wanting to challenge myself, I remembered someone during my transition out of the army suggesting that writing was a great way to clear your head and help people focus. It took me a little over a week to build up the outline for Stowaway, and before I knew it, I was several chapters in.

I had no intentions of ever publishing the book; I simply wanted to see if I could complete it. The desire to publish the book didn't come until after I had opened the brewery. As I worked, I would print out sections of the book to review, and throughout the day, curious customers would pick it up and read it themselves. Before I knew it, people were coming to the shop to see if I had finished the next chapter and if I had a copy they could read. Several even suggested that I publish it.

"These guys are just being polite. What the hell do I know about writing a good story?" I would think regularly.

Finally, they broke me down enough to entertain the idea of publishing my work. Now, where to begin with that whole process? Traditional publishers cost far more than I was willing to spend on my boondoggle, so I turned to kindle for self-publishing. The price was right, free, and I could do the work myself. I had no idea what I was getting myself into.

I first had to get some cover art done, so I turned to fivver. Next, I had to edit my work. Editors are stupid expensive, so I turned to the same people who had talked me into publishing in the first place. After scanning through word and getting rid of all the red and blue squiggly lines, I printed manuscripts and handed them out to the three people who were most interested in the book.

"If you see anything wrong, redline it for me, and I will fix it," was my only instruction to them.

After a couple of weeks, they had finished their reviews, and I made changes and corrections. Then, with the book already laid out in KDP, I uploaded the manuscript and went live. Much to my surprise, the book started selling almost immediately. To magnify my surprise, it was getting good reviews. From then on, I was hooked. I loved the practice of writing, and it was fun to see how my work affected people.

Since the release of book three, I have met so many people that wish they could get their work out in front of a crowd. Many are held back in their own mind. Two of the biggest hurdles I have heard while talking to people about writing are; that I don't think my stuff is good enough, or I don't even know where to start. So, here is my two cents.

I DON'T THINK MY STUFF IS GOOD ENOUGH

I have to say a little confidence goes a long way in getting over that hurdle for this crowd. Writing novels is about telling a story that captures people. It is about painting mental pictures that help transport readers into your story. If you are genuinely passionate about what you are writing, there are people out there that will appreciate your work.

A Facebook group that I joined to get some advice on publishing was full of kindle writers. They were, however, broken into two distinct groups. The first loved what they were doing and were passionate about their work. Even if they weren't making millions of dollars, they saw some success. The second group wanted to write to make money. They would do the analytics work to find the most profitable genre, the most profitable story arch, etc. Then they would try to write and include all of these factors. They seemed to be seeing less success than the writers who were just having fun telling stories.

I have been lucky enough to always have a 9-5 to fall back on for bills, so writing for me has been about having fun telling the best story I could. As the series has grown, I've even noticed that putting pressure on myself to get books done has really reduced the quality of work or given me massive writer's block. I had set a deadline for myself to get Resurgence out, mostly because I was afraid people would get tired of waiting and move away from the Redleg series. Because of the pressure, it took me seven months to just finish the last two chapters.

Bottom line, tell the best story you can about a topic you love for the sake of telling the story. Then, when the dust settles, you will have a work that someone will enjoy reading. I have noticed that you need a bit of a thick skin to be a writer. With the way technology is, anyone can spew their opinions under cover of anonymity. There will always be people out just to tear others down; check out the reviews on any of my works. But, if you genuinely believe in your work, you can ignore those people and enjoy the ride that comes with being published.

I DON'T KNOW WHERE TO START

Start by getting your work on paper. In my opinion, the writing and actually telling the story is the most fun part of being an author. Sitting down with a nice drink or cigar and letting my imagination just run and fill in details about the story is an absolute blast. From there, you can work through the post-writing phase of publishing your work.

Whatever you write, figure out some way to get it edited. I never expected anything to come of the Redleg in Space series, so I released the first book with very little in this department. The vast majority of the negative reviews I got on the first book, reviews that dragged the book's average down, were about the poor editing. If you are going to release something, don't let this mistake detract from your story.

After completing the post-writing work, find a medium where your writing will fit. If you are into short stories or poetry, places like vocal.com are great to get your work in front of a crowd. If you have full-length works, KDP did really well for me. As I grow, I will probably always throw things up on KDP. Traditional routes cost money, sometimes significant amounts of money, and I don't really feel comfortable dropping that on unproven work.

Like I said above, love telling a story about something you love. 

Hopefully, this helps anyone who has had these issues.

Z.D. Dean