I wrote my first novel accidentally.
Well, I started writing it accidentally. I hadn’t set out to pen an entire 95,000 word novel, yet that’s what happened.
My second novel was one hundred percent intentional. I knew I was going to write another book and I had a pretty good idea what I was doing when I got started.
In both cases, there were some strong signs that told me I needed to write a book.
Of course, it’s not a scientific process that can be determined with a little check-list, but here are five pretty solid signs that you should write a book.
1. You Can’t Stop Thinking About A Story/Image/Character
With my first novel, I couldn’t shake this one particular image that I wrote during a writing exercise. I kept seeing it in my mind for days after I first wrote those couple of sentences.
I not only kept thinking about it, but I was desperately curious to know more. Who were those people I’d envisioned? What were they doing?
I just kept freewriting until more information revealed itself. It didn’t feel like I was making it up, but rather that I was discovering it.
When I wrote my second novel, I couldn’t shake the image of four adult women who had been friends since they were teenagers together on Block Island. I kept thinking about their dynamic, their bond, their issues with each other. Again, I was so curious to know more that I just started to write and let the story reveal itself through the process.
If there’s something you can’t stop thinking about, whether it’s a scene you’ve already written, a line of dialogue, a character, a specific image, a concept… try writing on that specific thing every day for a couple of weeks and see what comes up.
In my case, I thought I was writing a short story with my first novel, but I soon realized there was too much story there to contain it in a few thousand words.
With that said, the next sign you should write a book is…
2. You Tried Making It A Short Story, But Couldn’t Cut The Length
If I try writing something as a short story and I can feel there are many thousands of words more to put down, I commit to making the piece longer.
How can you tell, though?
As someone who’s written both short stories and novels, I can say it’s not always a cut-and-dry answer. Sometimes you can just get a sense that the story you’re trying to tell in twenty pages needs two-hundred to actually work.
Other times, you might think you’re writing a novel and realize at the end of the first chapter that you’re trying to draw out something that’s much more contained.
A good way to test if a piece should be book-length is to write scenes consistently for a few weeks and see if you’re still feeling energy from the story. In both of my novels, I kept feeling like I was being pulled forward to new scenes every time I saw down to write.
But if I had started to feel like I was simply out of energy and scenes, I would’ve regrouped and let it be a short story.
3. You’re Terrified Of The Process, But So Eager To Try It
So many writers say they have a book in them, but so many writers never give it a try. If you’re terrified of the process, that’s valid.
It’s scary to try something new that could take up years of your life and which has no guarantee of success.
Why do any of us write books in that case?!
Well, it’s because we’re eager to try it. It may be scary, but it’s also exciting. No one really knows what they’re doing when it comes to writing a book, but the act of trying something new that you’re genuinely eager to try… that’s worth it.
4. You Read A Lot And Always Think, “I Could Do That”
Do you find yourself thinking, I could totally do this when you finish a book?
If you’re an avid reader, chances are you can write a book. The more you read, the more you intrinsically understand what makes a good story.
Beyond this, though, if you feel a creeping sense of envy about other people publishing books, you’re probably ready to try writing one of your own. Not only do you know that you could do it, but you have a desire for what another writer has accomplished. If that’s the case, that’s a pretty strong signal.
5. You Keep Thinking About Writing A Book
Sorry to state the obvious, but if you’ve been thinking about writing a book, you should probably just try writing a book.
I think some people stop themselves from trying because of any number of excuses:
- I’m not ready
- No one wants to hear what I have to say
- The story I want to write isn’t interesting enough
- I’m not a good enough writer
- I’ve never written anything before
- I’ll probably fail at this like I fail at everything else
- I’m too embarrassed to admit I want to write a book
- I have no idea how to write a book
- I don’t have time to write a book
- I need to make an outline first, but I don’t know what I’d even put on it
Etc, etc, etc.
You need to let this truth settle into your bones.
You can start writing a book today with zero planning and zero prior experience writing a book. All you need to do is start.
No one has to see what you’re writing until you’re ready to share it. You can edit everything later on. There’s no one waiting for you to finish by a certain deadline.
Truly, the only thing stopping you is you. If you want to write a book… why not give it a try?