B.J. Cyprian
There are 5 major things I learned on this journey that I wish I knew going in:
Sometimes the manuscript you intend to produce will not be the one produced, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing.
When I decided to do this, I looked up methods of keeping myself focused and one I kept running into was the whole outline your plot thing. I tried that, but it did not work for me. There were themes I thought I would explore that I didn’t, and others that I didn’t even consider that showed up out of the blue.
If you write from your heart, you may learn some things about yourself.
I learned this and whew, did my therapist and I have some words! There were aspects of my inner psyche that I did not know existed. There were demons that I thought I slayed but came back to me as I wrote. I think sometimes its easy to just say this is just fiction. But if you listen hard enough, you could be helping yourself cope and heal.
This is a hard and emotional process.
It’s not for the faint of heart. Sitting down and writing is how I started, but when I decided that I may want to try to go to publishing, it became more difficult. Just like my previous attempts, I thought I wouldn’t finish this one. But having the awesome wife that I do, who gave me constant encouragement when I was ready to throw in the towel, I kept at it. I can honestly say that when you finish your first novel, it is a very emotional thing. It’s euphoric and sad at the same time. As you write, you start to grow attached to your characters and when you’re finished, you kind of get sad that they’re gone.
Thesaurus!
I did not realize how limited my vocabulary was until I began writing a full novel. Unless you have an English or Journalism degree, you will be surprised as well. There’s nothing wrong with having a Thesaurus handy.
You WILL second guess yourself. You WILL wonder if you should keep going. KEEP GOING! You never know what your book can be until you finish it!
Sometimes the manuscript you intend to produce will not be the one produced, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing.
When I decided to do this, I looked up methods of keeping myself focused and one I kept running into was the whole outline your plot thing. I tried that, but it did not work for me. There were themes I thought I would explore that I didn’t, and others that I didn’t even consider that showed up out of the blue.
If you write from your heart, you may learn some things about yourself.
I learned this and whew, did my therapist and I have some words! There were aspects of my inner psyche that I did not know existed. There were demons that I thought I slayed but came back to me as I wrote. I think sometimes its easy to just say this is just fiction. But if you listen hard enough, you could be helping yourself cope and heal.
This is a hard and emotional process.
It’s not for the faint of heart. Sitting down and writing is how I started, but when I decided that I may want to try to go to publishing, it became more difficult. Just like my previous attempts, I thought I wouldn’t finish this one. But having the awesome wife that I do, who gave me constant encouragement when I was ready to throw in the towel, I kept at it. I can honestly say that when you finish your first novel, it is a very emotional thing. It’s euphoric and sad at the same time. As you write, you start to grow attached to your characters and when you’re finished, you kind of get sad that they’re gone.
Thesaurus!
I did not realize how limited my vocabulary was until I began writing a full novel. Unless you have an English or Journalism degree, you will be surprised as well. There’s nothing wrong with having a Thesaurus handy.
You WILL second guess yourself. You WILL wonder if you should keep going. KEEP GOING! You never know what your book can be until you finish it!
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