So Brock, how has your entrepreneurial activities been going? You have a very interesting story. I purchase - and read - your first book and I will probably soon be purchasing your next endeavor. But I am more interested in hearing about how you got through the publishing process. Do you have any tips for the may wannabe writers out there?
Escape from Paradise: a new book by Brock Talon
by Brock Talon 22 Replies latest social entertainment
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Truthexplorer
Hi Brock, yes absolutely. I am about quarter of the way through escape from paradise just past the bit about where you had heat stroke after one of those marathon conventions. As I read about your childhood, I think about my young daughter. I think balance is the key in my situation as my wife is full on in. Your last book brought things to life for me. In fact, I brought up a couple of videos on you tube on bethel, to picture what your book mentioned. Lo and behold, a video pops up by someone from China filming this very tall young man ' pressing shirts'. He looked so out of place. He looked the kind of guy you would see walking out of a building in wall street! yet here he was pressing shirts most likely all day every day. It just backed up what you mentioned in your book how much of the work at bethel is simply soul destroying. Anyway I'm off to read the rest of your latest book :-). TE -
Brock Talon
NewYork44M,
Sorry I missed your message until now... I just didn't see it. It's a fair question, so I'll try to answer it.
First, understand that I am fairly new to writing myself, so I'm no expert on all this, but my wife is a published author and has been for many years, so I have seen some things that seem to work for her. I'm also assuming that you are not just talking about writing ex-JW memoirs like I have, which is a pretty narrow genre and has a limited audience. So, that said, my advice would probably be considered fairly generic, but I'll give it a go here anyway:
1. Pick a subject you are passionate about or have some emotional connection with. You would probably have to be exceptionally good to connect with readers with something you didn't have any connection with yourself. So, don't try to write a murder mystery if you are not a crazy fan of that genre yourself and don't know it inside and out. Write what you know and write what you feel strongly about. That's the only real way the average person can have a chance at connecting with readers.
2. Pick a basic outline of what you are going to write. Have a beginning, middle and end idea, so that it is a complete book before you write it. It only has to be an idea and it could change while you write it, but don't just start writing without some plan of what you are going to accomplish. If you don't know where you are going with your writing, that's probably where you will end up.
3. Write a little every day, even if it's not very good at first. Get used to thinking about things before and after you write. When you go to sleep at night, stuff will come to you by itself because the mind is an amazing thing that works in background while you do other things, even sleep. So, don't try to force it if it is not coming to you. My wife calls it her "muse," and I didn't understand that until I starting writing myself. Sometimes I would wake up at 3 AM with an idea and I would dictate it to my phone so as to not forget it. If it was an especially strong idea, I'd actually get out of bed and put it all on paper so I wouldn't lose it.
3. If one part of your book is not taking shape, write another part. Write in "snippets." You can always weave them together later, or throw out stuff that doesn't work. There are many stories, ideas and other snippets of writing that never made it into either of my books. Think of it as a film maker who leaves extra footage on the cutting room floor.
4. After you think you are done and you want to congratulate yourself because you now have your final book, take a break from it for a week or so. Re-read it again. You should be surprised to find that you are not done at all. Fix the stuff that is broken or isn't working. Tighten it up. If you can say the same thing with less words, do it.
5. When you are done with all that and think you are NOW done. Taken another break and do it again. All through these steps do your due diligence with spell check and grammar check and cutting out more extra stuff. Also, check to see if you use the same words or phrases over and over again and find some other way to say those things. Don't be repeating yourself unless you MEANT to repeat yourself.
6. Now have at least one other person read it that you trust. This person should be able to tell you honestly what works and what doesn't. Don't argue with them, or get defensive. You don't have to change what they think isn't working, but you should seriously consider it. Do it with more than one person if you can. The more feedback you get, the better.
7. When you are done with all that, get a free "natural reader" software and have it read the entire book back to you while you listen for potential problems or issues. Fix what you find because you will still find things.
8. Now have your book edited by a professional editor or a person with those skills. They will mark up your book all over the place and hurt your feelings because you thought your book was done and was perfect as-is. But of course, they found tons of stuff that they think needs fixing. SERIOUSLY consider fixing those things. Don't involve an editor if you can't take the criticism from somebody who does that kind of thing. Trust me, they will mark up your book A LOT. So, fix everything you think they are correct about. One word of caution here: Don't let the editor take away your "voice." Every author has their own voice, so don't let them edit it into a neutered version of yourself. Stay true to your voice, but fix the things that you know they are correct about.
You are now most likely ready to publish, which is another odyssey entirely, one that I can cover later. But, you have to get through what I just suggested first before you can get to that stage.
Good luck.
Brock