The Truth Behind Writing a Book

​The Truth Behind Writing a Book

I’m just getting started here, and I’ve got to say, writing a book is a demanding effort. It’s also the most fulfilling work I’ve ever done. I can’t imagine what the differences are for a self-published author vs. a traditionally published author, but I can give you a little behind-the-scenes point of view of what it’s like for me.

In the beginning, it was all about defining the meat of the story. What is my story? Who are my characters? What are their struggles? What are the accomplishments? What is my protagonist’s angst (teens have a lot of that—I remember!) all about?

Once the outline was put together it didn’t take me long to actually sit down and write the book. I was surprised. But then again, when my fingers were flying across the keyboard, living every moment of my character’s adventures, I wasn’t too worried about the details or continuity. I allowed my story to unfold, and attempted to stick to my outline. What happened? My story meandered off course and eventually ended up in an entirely different backyard. But that’s okay.

When I was “done” writing the first draft of The Summer Solstice, it was 290 pages long (in word), which translates to roughly 320 book pages. But when I started my editing process I realized that the story was all wrong. The characters weren’t developed enough, there were too many cases of pointless dialogue, the action was lackluster, and it was all love story. Thank goodness for endless editing sessions to help scrap the unessential and keep the story flowing. In doing this, the pages of my book were also cut, and now it's roughly 182 pages of awesomeness. 

What I ended up with is a product that I am proud of—one that stays true to the point of the series. Really, Enchanted became an Introduction to the rest of the books in the series. Some may love it! Some may think it's too short. Eh, is what I say. Those who enjoy it will be rewarded with much more enchantment to come!

Moral of the story: edit the stuffing out of your books so 

Thank you!

K.K. Allen