I wish there was a secret to writing. A secret formula where you just input your characters, what you want to happen and BOOM a book just writes itself. But alas, there is no secret formula. You just have to sit in front of a laptop/desktop and just write your soul out.
Don’t write for the people out in the world. Don’t write for your parents. Don’t write for your friends. Don’t write for anyone but yourself. Write for you. The you that wasn’t found in any of the pages you read growing up. I am a headbanging, Latina, who loves cerebral movies, and gets lost thinking about the universe. Have I ever read about someone like me as a main character in a book? FUCK NO.
That’s why I write. My secret to writing is knowing I could reach another girl or person like me and have them feel seen for once. We need more diversity in books written by diverse people. If you think you don’t have anything new to say or that your idea isn’t as original as you thought, you are right. HOWEVER. We don’t have your point of view on that idea. Look at how many Cinderella remakes there are. All valid. All different. What’s your point of view?
There is no secret or piece of advice I could ever give you to sit and write your novel. None.
You just have to sit down and do it. Type out every word. Cry as you do it. Listen to music. Don’t forget to hydrate. Just write. You just have to write! Stop worrying about editing. Stop worrying about getting an agent. Stop worrying about self-publishing marketing strategies. Stop worrying about building up your fanbase as you write. Stop worrying.
You can’t get an agent on an idea you want to write about. You can’t get a publishing house to want your book if you haven’t written it yet. You cannot market a book that doesn’t exist yet. You cannot market a genre if you haven’t written a word. You could have started writing a science fiction and ended up writing a fantasy fiction.
Write the book. Write it out long hand in a spiral notebook. Type it out in various word processor apps they have out there. Just do the work. You can do it. You can do all of it. But you have to sit down and write “Chapter One” and go.
xoxo
Erin Elyse
erinelysebooks.com 