Werhunter
asked
Jan Stryvant:
how did you start on your first book? did you check with people if it was any good before publishing it? do you have any advice for someone just starting out or trying to write a book? PS love the valens legacy looking forward to the next audio bundle on audible :)
Jan Stryvant
I had been trying to write a book for ages. It was something that I literally tried to do for several years and kept failing at. Mind you I never showed it to anyone else, because I knew it was bad.
Then I bought 'How to Write Science Fiction and Fantasy' by Orson Scott Card. I had my 'a-ha' moment and I started my first novel. Which took me about a year to write. That one I showed to people and everyone liked it, though I did rewrite it a few times to make it better. I couldn't get it published (long story) and I never tried all that hard, because I had a good job and it took up a lot of my time. I did keep writing and eventually in 2011 I published that book on Amazon, then the others. I was surprised to find out that people liked them.
Between the time I wrote that and put it up on Amazon I wrote a lot of stuff, and some of it (short stories) I had put up in a 'fan fiction' 'zine. I learned a fair deal from doing that, as it was a pretty high level 'zine and they had editors.
So, after I put my stuff up on Amazon I continued to write (on the side) and learn from doing it what people liked. The Valens Legacy series is just the latest in a long series of novels and other stories I've written, some of which I'll never publish because they're not good enough.
The best advice I can give is to keep writing. The more you write, the better you get at it. If you can find people to read it and give you advice, that's great, but avoid people who do nothing but tear you down. My biggest problem was finding people to read my stuff before putting it out there. Now I have beta readers, but for many years I had no idea if people would like it or not until I put it up for sale. I did a lot of 'trial by fire' when I was starting out.
Good luck!
Then I bought 'How to Write Science Fiction and Fantasy' by Orson Scott Card. I had my 'a-ha' moment and I started my first novel. Which took me about a year to write. That one I showed to people and everyone liked it, though I did rewrite it a few times to make it better. I couldn't get it published (long story) and I never tried all that hard, because I had a good job and it took up a lot of my time. I did keep writing and eventually in 2011 I published that book on Amazon, then the others. I was surprised to find out that people liked them.
Between the time I wrote that and put it up on Amazon I wrote a lot of stuff, and some of it (short stories) I had put up in a 'fan fiction' 'zine. I learned a fair deal from doing that, as it was a pretty high level 'zine and they had editors.
So, after I put my stuff up on Amazon I continued to write (on the side) and learn from doing it what people liked. The Valens Legacy series is just the latest in a long series of novels and other stories I've written, some of which I'll never publish because they're not good enough.
The best advice I can give is to keep writing. The more you write, the better you get at it. If you can find people to read it and give you advice, that's great, but avoid people who do nothing but tear you down. My biggest problem was finding people to read my stuff before putting it out there. Now I have beta readers, but for many years I had no idea if people would like it or not until I put it up for sale. I did a lot of 'trial by fire' when I was starting out.
Good luck!
More Answered Questions
About Goodreads Q&A
Ask and answer questions about books!
You can pose questions to the Goodreads community with Reader Q&A, or ask your favorite author a question with Ask the Author.
See Featured Authors Answering Questions
Learn more