Hello! Last month, I briefly mentioned the kinds of editing that stories go through. Today, I will cover the important question of: why do I write?
I write because I want to read a specific story.
I write because I was inspired and saw an opportunity.
Originally, my fantasy novel, Tales of the Myths, was not going to be published. I had written it for myself just to see if I could do it. Could I write a complete story? Was fantasy the genre I wanted to write?
Yes, and yes.
The first draft and the published book are two completely different stories with very few things staying the same. But one thing remained constant: the passion to write a story with Armenian mythology. I had read books upon books with all sorts of fascinating mythologies placed in the modern world with young characters completing quests and interacting with the myths.
Eventually, once I came across Armenian mythology, I wanted to read a story like the middle-grade fantasy-mythology books I had read but Armenian. I could not find one which led me to write my own.
Now there was a story with Armenian characters from original to mythological. I rewrote the story over and over again until I had arrived at the draft where I knew that this was the end. I didn't want to rewrite it again. I liked it. Off it went to the editor and the rest is history.
Sometimes I never thought that I'd ever be able to send it to an editor because that seemed so distant. It took me around 3 years of writing to reach a draft I was satisfied with to send to be edited and an extra half a year of edits before publication. (From first draft to published book = about 3.5 years.)
In the beginning, I wasn't writing as often as I did later in the process, such as within the first few months of deciding to write this novel seriously. But then I began writing nearly every day for at least an hour or more. I never timed my writing or set serious writing goals. I just wanted to write the story I wanted to read. I wrote on the weekends. I wrote before and after school. I wrote over the summers, hunched over my laptop.
There was never a point where I didn't want to write. I'd take occasional breaks because I learned that during those points, my brain would think about what I had just written, and I'd come up with new ideas or find mistakes I'd go back and fix that I may not otherwise have caught as quickly. (Especially for plot holes.)
I'd also begin to read books in a different light. I saw how authors wrote and what choices they made in the stories. I'd research Armenian heroes and watch movies for inspiration. I would occasionally do a little research on how to write, but that learning process was more organic for me. I learned mainly from experience.
Some things cannot be taught but only learned through a long period of experience. Now, when I read the first draft of my writing, I won't cringe as badly as I cringe when reading a first draft from three years ago. Even my first drafts improved because I began to understand how to write naturally. I now know how sentence structure matters and how things can be worded in different ways.
I made the time to write because it was something I was passionate about seeing to the end. Many times, I wondered what would happen if I just stopped writing during the process. Did I want to continue this?
I'd ponder over that and in the end, the answer was always yes. It was something I wanted to see to the very end and hold the published book in my hands.
If there is something you are passionate about, don't wait for motivation to strike to begin. Take the first small steps. See what you can do. For writers, as they say, a blank page can't be edited.
Happy Holidays and Happy New Year!
Nara E.