good morning John remember how I wrote a
book this is all of the languages it's
been published in so far that's the
coolest thing I own that book will at
some point in the future have a sequel
and I've been working on that sequel so
I've been thinking about writing a lot
lately and this has made me realize that
there are a number of things that I wish
that I had known about writing when I
was writing my first boss of course
isn't going to be applicable to
everybody but I figured I'd share with
the help of some questions I got on
Twitter number one characters versus
plot I started with plot and I thought
that plot was gonna carry me through the
whole process
I was super raw I couldn't even really
get deep into the book until I cared
about the characters really deeply I had
to love them like friends in order to
have the motivation to finish telling
their story so like as far as writing
motivation goes my like biggest tip is
fall in love with your characters that's
all it's the only thing that kept me
going think number two writing schedules
are not a thing that I have sometimes
I'm pretty busy sometimes I'm not
sometimes I'm sick but if I do not write
at least a thousand words a week the
story leaves my brain I no longer think
about it in the shower when I'm taking a
walk and starting back up again becomes
a whole process for me a thousand words
just like one or two hours of writing
time and if I don't make that time I'm
not reading the book anymore and I might
not write again for months
number three also regarding the actual
physical process of writing not all
writing is writing thinking staring
researching stressing reading other
people's books reading your own book
again reading stuff that you've already
written all that stuff is right in if
you're super focused on word count
you'll have more words if you're super
focused on story you'll have more
stories think number four
relatedly nothing but time writes a book
I don't know how I didn't know this but
it takes hundreds of hours at least and
so if you don't spend the time it
doesn't get done think number five
plotting for me is a process of constant
retcon I don't know how other people do
it but I'm writing and then I realized
that something earlier in the story
doesn't make sense or isn't necessary or
is too loose and then the first book I
would go back and fix that which was
terrible one because like I might get
further into the story and then have to
go back and fix that exact same thing
again takes a thousand years to look it
up and fix it
you out of your flow so the second book
I just created a folder in my project
file and it's called things to chain and
it's just full of stuff I need to change
so that I don't miss it in revision
think number six the characters have to
be in control if I'm controlling them
then they aren't real and they're not
gonna feel real thing number seven oh my
god why didn't I know this you don't
have to write linearly time around if
I'm excited about a scene I'd go and I
write that scene and it doesn't matter
if it's gonna take place like at the
last quarter of the book and I'm in the
first quarter when I eventually fill in
all the gaps like there's definitely
gonna be things that I have to change
about that scene but also everything
that I've written up to that point is
gonna mesh better with that final
destination and even more importantly
sometimes a scene you're really excited
about their big scenes they're important
scenes they turn out that they don't
work and like then if you write up all
the way to that scene just to get to
that scene and it doesn't work it's a
disaster so for me it's been really good
to know if my important scenes are
actually gonna work before I get to them
and finally thing number eight I have
expertise 'iz and passions if things
that I love and that I care about and
that I know about
I've written like a thousand non-fiction
video essays I'm kind of an expert on
social media I don't know how I hadn't
figured this out but like using my
expertise and my passions has been
deeply enabling and all of my early
failed attempts at other books was
because I wasn't doing that so John
thank you for the years of practice here
and if I could give you any advice it's
apparently right a soccer novel I'll see
you on Tuesday
I don't have any news regarding the
sequel right now but I am working on it
if you want to hear me talk more about
writing I have a very long video over on
Hanks channel where I answer many more
questions that I was sent on Twitter and
also the book boxes from life's library
usually make more of those than we're
probably going to need just in case
anybody needs some replacements but
we're releasing a bunch of those on
discount at dftba.com if you want to
check that out