How Do You Create A Book?
You could hunt for a needle in a haystack—or you could write a book
Penny Haw
How do you create a book? It’s a question authors are asked and, when I first encountered it, I responded at length and in detail. I described ideas and inspiration, and spoke of credible characters, conflict, tension, and the narrative arc. I explained how important it is to write a first draft and then edit, edit, and edit again until, as the author, you cannot imagine the manuscript shining anymore at your fingertips.
“Yes, yes, I know,” said the child who’d asked the question, with lightly feigned patience. “But what I want to know is, how do you get the pages to stick between the covers?”
Since then, I’ve become more circumspect in answering the question. I’ve also learned how varied the undertaking is for different authors and how it can change from book to book for each of us.
I was happily naïve when I wrote my first book. Nicko, The Tale of a Vervet Monkey on an African Farm is a children’s chapter book based on my grandmother’s life with a monkey and various other animals and the writing process was easy. I had grown up with the story and, as a journalist, understood that writing requires setting goals and deadlines, sitting down and typing words that tell the tale in the most engaging way possible. Writing is work and, fortunately for me, it’s work I love.
By the time I began writing what would become my debut women’s fiction, The Wilderness Between Us (released on July 31) things had changed. I had already completed another work of fiction, which was taken on by an agent and was on submission. The passes from editors, though mostly encouraging, were nonetheless . . . passes.
Rejection made me hungry for knowledge. I began consuming as much advice on novel writing as I could. My writing must, I thought, be missing a key element. If I could just put a finger on it, my manuscripts would sell.
The truth though, as almost everyone else already knew, is that there is no magic ingredient that guarantees the success of one’s writing. In fact, hunting for it makes finding a needle in a haystack seem plausible. So, frustrated by the endeavour, I set aside my search, sat down and typed words that told my story in the most engaging way I could.
I completed and edited the first draft of The Wilderness Between Us within three months. It helped that we were in hard lockdown in South Africa at the time and that my journalism gig was quiet. What’s more, it was winter, and a foot injury kept me from my hiking boots and running shoes.
What also sped up the process was my decision to not second guess every word and to avoid obsessively editing while I wrote. For the first time in my life, I allowed myself to (almost always) work forward while creating a first draft. It seemed tremendously rebellious and thrilled me no end. What surprised me most, when I finally typed “The End” and returned to page one to begin reading, was the coherence of the manuscript. It was okay!
Even so, typing “The End” simply signified the beginning of another phase of hard work, arguably more challenging than the first. Once I’d edited the draft and members of my writing group had given me feedback, I went through it again, fleshing out scenes, building characters and filling other gaps. Then it was time to take a deep breath and send it into the world.
The Wilderness Between Us will be/was published little over a year after it was first submitted to publishers. Of course, that’s quick in terms of getting a book published, particularly as part of a traditional deal, and given that there was more work to be done on it with the excellent publishing team at Köehler Books after the contract was signed. I am certain though, that I would not have achieved anything if I had continued to search for the Holy Grail of publication while writing.
That’s not to say that I don’t believe writers can hone their skills and continually improve by learning from others. In fact, one of the best things about being a writer is that you never stop learning. The problem arises when you hold off writing because you’re looking for a formula or recipe that you believe will assure you create the perfect, rejection-proof product. The only way to create a book is to sit down and write. If you don’t, there will never be any pages to stick between the covers.
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Longtime journalist, columnist, and latter-day author Penny Haw has written for many leading South African newspapers and magazines for more than three decades. Her children’s book, Nicko; The Tale of a Vervet Monkey on an African Farm, was published in 2017 and is now included in school curricula. The Wilderness Between Us is her debut novel for adults, again expounding her love for animals and the outdoors.
Find out more about her on her website https://pennyhaw.com/
Follow her on Twitter https://twitter.com/PennyHaw
The Wilderness Between Us by Penny Haw:
Faye Mackenzie and her friends’ anorexic daughter, Clare are thrown together when a flood separates them from their hiking group in the remote, mountainous Tsitsikamma region of South Africa. With Clare critically injured, Faye is compelled to overcome her self-doubt and fear of the wild to take care of the younger woman, who opens her heart to Faye.
As their new friendship takes the women on an unexpected journey of discovery, the rest of the group wrestles with the harrowing aftermath of their own near tragedy. When the hiking party is reunited, their number is reduced by one.
Juxtaposing physical and psychological intrigue, The Wilderness Between Us is a tale of two fragile women who unexpectedly find clarity, independence and renewed purpose as they fight to survive. It is a story of family, friendship, adventure and the healing power of nature and compassion.
Buy it here: https://amzn.to/3gqGDyF
Bio:
Long-time journalist and columnist, and latter-day author, Penny Haw has written for many leading South African newspapers and magazines for more than three decades. Her children’s book, Nicko, The Tale of a Vervet Monkey on an African Farm was published in 2017 and is now included in school curricula. The Wilderness Between Us is her debut novel for adults, which builds on her writing about interesting women and expounds her love for animals and the outdoors.
https://www.instagram.com/pennyhaw/
https://www.facebook.com/PennyHawAuthor
Category: Contemporary Women Writers, How To and Tips
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Thank you Penny. I found it such an inspiration to just get back to the keyboard and write. It is the perfect post too for those of us like myself, in that in between fog due to the stresses of covid and the forced reliant on social media for selling books, rather than author talks and fairs and reaching out to people face to face.You can spend so much time reading about writing and marketing that you lose site of the joy of the writing itself. This morning I have also read a post about September being a Mew Year; a time to plan to get on with all those goals set in January but not achieved yet. I feel energized!