Dear Reader,
Writing a book is difficult; everyone knows that. However, that difficulty falls within a completely different scope for those who do write than for those who don’t. I’ve known (and still know) many who wanted to write and had amazing ideas, but never got to start their journey. My Uncle Carl led a rich and incredible life that only he will ever know. I have fragments of what he said happened to him in ‘Nam, his incredible encounters and memories of his time in Key West— but the world will never know what truly happened to him before he passed away from cancer. He wanted to write a book; however, too many obstacles prevented him from doing so. I thought he could overcome them (or at least, I could help)… but life got in the way.
Years later, I met an elderly woman through my sister. We were helping her get rid of a few things in her house. While there, I sensed she was like me: a creative person with a burning passion. We talked about how she wanted to write a book, but like many others, she was stuck in the plotting phase. She needed to know every detail before starting. A month-or-so after, she passed away. Another tragic loss for this world! To never know what words she could have shared, who she might have inspired, or helped… It’s a true tragedy.
Those are two people who always stay with me when I think of my writing. I needed to write this book, and what’s more: I needed to publish it and share it with as many people as I could. Agony is just the beginning; it was always meant to be only the beginning. However, it was written as a one-off. Just in case destiny decided I, too, couldn’t share my dreams with everyone.
I wrote this book in a year (all drafts included), but I had planned everything for much longer than that. Originally, Agony had been written in 1st person/present tense. Anyone who writes (or avid book readers) might recognize that’s not a popular style… and for very good reason! It feels alien, despite the fact that it’s exactly how we live. I wanted to write it this way because I felt it was the best way for people to experience Claire’s struggle with depression. Everything would be in the moment, and all her thoughts were on every page. However, once I got to the third draft, I said, “Nah, I’m good.”
The biggest problem for me with the first two drafts was describing, well, everything. I do not like 1st person POV stories, I REALLY don’t like them. They feel limiting to me in the scope of how a story can be told. Ironic, then, that I thought it was the best way to tell her story. So once I got to the third draft, I rewrote all of Claire’s scenes because she was the only character with a 1st person POV. Everyone else was in 3rd.
Experienced writers would say that right there was also a problem, but I— ever the nonconformist— felt I could do what others couldn’t (or wouldn’t).
Anyway, that was the biggest hurdle I had to get over in writing the book. As for publishing, well, it’s gonna be a bit before I have an answer for that. What I can say is this: If you want to write, then just do it.
Get over yourself. Find whatever is stopping you and fight back. If you don’t have time, make time. If you need to plot everything out first, then at least write something— anything! I guarantee you will find more answers to your problems by actually writing than just thinking about it. In fact, I find more problems on top of the ones I already have just by writing… BUT, those same fresh problems provide answers for the old ones. Just as in everything else, you need to practice.
Don’t let your dreams wither away with you! Share them, please, so that the world can be a better place.
Yours in Inking and Thinking,
Clay Tarlton-Hensley