Dane Richter was lovely enough to write a guest post for us here and it's absolutely brilliant so if you have some time read it here
Working at a school, I am in a unique position to see young minds develop and more importantly how young people perceive themselves in what they are able to do and achieve. Earlier this year, a young Muslim girl originally from Somalia had heard from another teacher that I had written a book and wanted to see it, as she had an interest in journalism as a potential career pathway. I showed her my debut novel: Hunt for the Star to which she immediately cried out, “I could never write something like that!” This was due to the tome’s hefty 170k word length and yes, to write something that size is a daunting undertaking. I am not a fan of people who use words like “can’t” or “never” or “won’t” especially when those words are used in conjunction with “I”. I told her how I wrote my book.
After having the desire to write a book, I sat down and came up with some character names, plot ideas and a map. At the end of 6 months I had about 9 pages written - a back story which set up the plot for the current timeline. After 18 months, I had about 57 pages (I guess it’s worth saying I was doing a BA Commerce Degree at the time and most of my writing was getting done during the semester breaks). During the next year, I committed a couple of hours a night going over the work. Sometimes I would write a page, sometimes half a page, sometimes just 1 or 2 sentences, and sometimes I’d delete a sentence. It was frustrating at times especially when I had less words at the end of the session than when I started. However, for whatever reason, I judged the book to be better without that sentence and so even when deleting, my work was progressing forward. That’s the beauty of writing; you will always move forward and the old adage applies - just keep at it. In the end, those first 9 pages I wrote over 6 months were scrapped during editing, but the overall story is better for it.
2 and a half years in and I had 150 pages. I deferred my education for a year and added another 140 pages or so and could see the finish line. It took me 4 years to write the first draft and the most beneficial advice I could give her was make it routine. A little bit each day is all you need. After hearing my story, the young Muslim girl who had come into my office with “I could never write something like that” went out thinking “maybe I can write a book” and I know that was a big step for her because from her country there are certain expectations for women, and education, career and ambition aren’t any of them.
For anyone aspiring to write a book all you need to pencil in a little time each day. Once it becomes routine, there will be fewer days when you only write 1 or 2 sentences and more days when you produce 1 or 2 pages.
A little bit about Dane
GOODREADS
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