What I Wish I Had Known About Writing A Book
**Editor’s Note: The following is a guest post by Glenn Packiam, author of “Butterfly in Brazil: How Your Life Can Make a World of Difference,” songwriter, and worship pastor at New Life Church. Glenn was also the best man at my wedding and someone I spend hours with solving the world’s problems. His awesome blog can be found here
Isn’t it an unfortunate truth that the knowledge required before an experience is only gained after the experience is over? Last summer, my first book was published by Tyndale House. It was a great experience and certainly marked a dream coming true. But, oh, if I could do it again! Rookie mistakes are inevitable in every field, and writing is no exception.
Here are a few thoughts on what I’ve learned through long meetings with my editors, patient advice from more seasoned writers, and the wonderful gift of hindsight.
1. Great ideas are not enough
Just as a good product is not enough to make it fly off the shelf, good ideas don’t automatically make a good book. Hard is it may seem to believe, it actually takes good writing. In my opinion, there are three reasons a publisher says yes to a book proposal: a compelling story or idea, a unique writing style/voice, or a ridiculously large platform that is just about guaranteed to translate to large sales numbers. Or you can, as was the case with me, be average on all three counts and have a great agent who talks up your game!
Pro athletes, celebrities, and conference circuit speakers tend to get book deals because of the large platform for promoting their materials…but their work is often an insufferable read. Speaking and writing are related but separate skills. (Acting, playing sports, or being in a rock band usually have nothing to do with writing—or reading for that matter. But I digress.)
If you want to simply be an author, then find the quickest way to become famous—be a pro athlete on steroids, or a minor criminal, or a slutty porn star—and sign a deal for your tell-all tale. But if you want to be a writer, learn from good writers. Work on finding new ways of saying things. If you’re inclined to non-fiction topics, then for the love of art, read some fiction to learn some new adverbs!
Chances are, most of us will never gain a large enough sphere of influence to demand a book deal. So we need to take our great ideas and bring them to life through great writing. Donald Miller is a great current example of a guy who began with a fresh writing style, a few good ideas, and not much of a platform, and has turned into an influential voice and a really great writer because he paid attention to the fine art of story-telling. Which leads me to the next thing.
2. Everybody loves a good story
I was terrible about including stories. I used to think they were a waste of time. Who cares about silly anecdotal bits about Bob and Susie’s marriage? As it turns out, everyone. Well, not about Bob and Susie, per se, but about stories—anyone’s story. Stories are the language of life. It is how we learn everything.
We hear Mom and Dad talking about how Uncle John lost a bunch of money by betting it all on a single stock, and we learn to be diversified investors. We read about companies that grow by taking care of their employees and we learn to be kinder to out most valuable resource. While there will always be those who insist on distilling every story down to a few bullet points, it is the story itself that draws us in. You can flash all the statistics about the plight of children in Africa or the 2 million kids forced into sex-trafficking, but people stop and listen—and moreover, they remember—when you tell them a story of a single child.
The best stories are the ones that involve you. These were the stories I was most reluctant to tell. Why does anyone care about me? Well, they don’t. But if someone is going to take to time to read something you wrote, they would at least like to know a bit about you. How did you come to these ideas? Why do you believe them so strongly? What’s your story?
3. End with a beginning in mind
The best books are the ones where a chapter ends and we can’t help but peer over the edge of the next page to find out what happens next. Of course, what happens next doesn’t happen until about 5 pages into the next chapter and by that point you almost finished with that chapter and then you’ve got to know what happens after that. Even in non-fiction writing, each idea should tease at the ones to come. It should make the reader have a conversation in their head along these lines: “Well, OK, that may be true, but what about….? Is he going to address that? Oh, wait, he is…but in the next chapter!”
In a sort of macro sense, the book should end with a beginning in mind. Not a beginning of your book—though often you might re-write your beginning once you have reached your ending—but a beginning of something on the part of your reader. What will they now do, how will they now live, in what ways will they think differently? What new beginning in them will be sparked by the end of their journey with you? I hear you say, “But those sorts of questions seem more fit to be asked by a traveler than a teacher.” Ah, good point. It is mine exactly.
4. Write like a tour guide not like a telegram
My biggest early writing tendency was to approach a subject like I did my senior paper: with loads of research, quotes, and references, and an obnoxiously argumentative tone. That simply won’t do. There is a reason so many who have spent their lives in academia find it impossibly hard to communicate to the common person. Conversely, all the best-selling books by Ph.D’s are usually scoffed at in academic corridors as cheap, anemic pop-culture redactions of a complex subject. Responsible research aside, if we are going to write in a way that people will read, we must take them on a journey.
In this sense, non-fiction writing ought to mirror its fiction counterparts. Where is the tension in the ideas? Where is the human struggle to live out these truths? Guide them from point to point like a great tour guide. Make them see each scene, smell each moment. Use stories to make abstractions actual. Don’t talk about how small actions can trigger enormous consequences. Tell them about Rosa Parks. (There’s a page—literally—out of my own book.) I read a book on Sabbath that was written as elegantly and delightfully as a day at a quiet lake. How appropriate. I might not remember all the points, especially since his writing was not very linear. But that was a journey I’ll never forget.
Samuel Goldwyn once remarked, “If you want to send a message, use Western Union.” If you want to write, you’ll have to learn to become more patient. People don’t change by convincing arguments. They are changed by a compelling journey. That is why you write.
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16 comments
Being new to the blogging world, I am slowly learning how to improve my writing. But after long dreaming of writing a book someday, these pointers are invaluable, thanks.
Shawn,
Glad you liked it, Glenn is an incredible writer so it was great to have him share some of his wisdom. Please submit this to Stumble and delicious if you think your friends might like it as well. I’ll look forward to seeing your book on the shelf at the bookstore someday!
Cameron
All great points! Good guest post.
One thing I would add: make sure you figure out a marketing plan for your book with your publisher and get their full support — before the book is published. Many publishers are notorious for leaving you to market your book on your own. So do your due diligence and go with a publisher that will help you promote your book too – assign a PR agent to you, set up a book tour, etc.
I am quite the inexperienced novice, but I would say these are excellent pointers on both writing and getting published. Great How to blog!!
Hi I’m new to blogging and plan on writing an eBook in the near future and you have giving me some great pointers that will help me with it.
This is a great post. Wise words.But a quick thought: A year after your next work is penned and published you will want to write another post about things I wish I learned before writing my second book. Because this is the nature of writing. It’s like a time capsule of who we were when we wrote it.
But it could be worse.
You could only have one great story/idea and keep trying to duplicate over and over. I’m looking in your direction M. Night.
Wow Cameron and Glenn,
This is a really great post. I’ve been wondering myself what it takes to become a best selling author. Guess it all boils down to telling your UNIQUE story and being able to connect with the crowd through it!
Much thanks,
Evelyn
@Ankesh,
Great point, I would imagine that scenario happens quite often so it’s good to be prepared beforehand. Sometimes if you want to do something right you have to do it yourself.
@Ruth and Garry,
So glad that both of you enjoyed the post and got something out of it. Glenn has a great way of taking complex ideas and making them manageable. Hope these tips help you in your writing journeys.
@Rob,
Excellent point about the nature of writing. Even in the short time I’ve been writing for this blog I’ve noticed that my style, methods, etc. have constantly been evolving, shifting and growing. It’s what makes writing such a ferocious animal.
@ Evelyn,
Your unique story is what connects you with readers. That is something I’m constantly struggling with when I write for this blog. It’s easy to list a bunch of pithy comments and points…much harder to share a story that captivates the reader and actually takes them on a journey.
-Cameron
Nice distillation Glenn!
I particularly like your point on slowing down and telling stories. When I joined my current group some years ago, I had to learn to be brief, be bright, be gone. I learned to compress information and strip out any stories to “just the facts.”
This was effective for technical information, but not for presentations or motivating change. Win the heart, the mind follows. You win the heart through emotional picture words, metaphores, stories, … etc. This is true for presenting, writing and everyday dialogue.
The other key lesson I learned was how to factor reference information from action. This helps turn insights into actions. I wrote some of the lessons I learned building books at http://blogs.msdn.com/jmeier/archive/2007/12/24/building-books-in-patterns-amp-practices.aspx.
I have read Glenn’s book and he has done what he explains here very well.
Being in academe, I have come to realize that there are two kinds of academic writing – the hard core research stuff for research and professional journals, and the more accessible, practitioner based information. Both are necessary, but if you want to spread your knowledge to the widest audience possible, stories are essential. Even we dry academics love stories!
Great post!
Very insightful and straight to the point post for anyone who wants to write a book, including experienced writers. Thanks for sharing these ideas.
Great post Cameron. I was thinking about that old saying, “Inside everyone, there lies a best-seller.” Or something like that.
As bloggers (and marketers) I think it is important to remember that people love a good story and this is the best way to capture that all-too precious commodity – ATTENTION!
Really a great article. Thanks for sharing this. I have a dream on writing a book, I believe this will be very very useful…
Robert
Excellent article. I can relate to the trials of doing a book for a major publisher and the learning curve involved, although my book on how to paint flowers in acrylics is very different from the form of writing he discussed. Some things are learned by leaping in over your head and treading water.
@ Catharine,
Great point, there really are two types of writing…well, there are lots of types, but those two seem to summarize most. Stories are indeed key…amazing how timeless the art of storytelling really is.
@ Ephrem and Robert,
So glad you liked the post and got something out of it. Appreciate your support and know Glenn does as well!
@ Mark,
A good story is always a sure fire way to capture someone’s attention. I agree, it’s a precious commodity with how much “noise” there is in all of our lives.
@ Lexi,
That’s awesome that you got a book published. It is quite an accomplishment. Seems like leaping in is standard for people who want to really live life fully.
Cameron
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