"Summy: My report on what information and advice I'd gathered from speaking with publisher insiders and successful authors. I explained what I did in response to their advice. As well, I talked about how important it is to get to know the rest of the characters I made for my first novel."
I'll be honest: both last month and this month have been hard. It felt as if a huge piano came crashing down from the sky out of nowhere and landed on my head just as I was trying to get that last happy adult meal before it was discontinued. But, hey, each passing day brings me much closer to my ultimate goal of getting my first book published someday. I made progress while I was gone—and I'm glad to share out today.
Publishers and successful writers gave me a lot of good advice!
During my progress, I talked with many successful writers and publishers that I knew and did phone meetings or zoom calls with them. Most of them worked at my university, where it was easy to meet successful writers who had written and published their own books or owned their own publishing companies. Having the chance to talk with them has helped me learn a lot about the publishing industry and writing, and for that, I am very grateful.
For undergraduates like myself who are interested in learning more about how to get a book published someday, the best place to learn that is at your university or community college, where you can easily rub shoulders with authors and publishing company insiders.
What did I learn from speaking with publishers and writers, you may ask?
David, who runs his own professional publishing company, told me that if I have too many characters in a novel, it will be hard for the reader to keep track of who is who and what is going on; it will confuse the reader. Down below is the family of Peter M. Reyna's main character.
Most of the characters in the book will be shown in this family tree. The yellow-highlighted characters have important roles, while the pink-highlighted characters have smaller roles. The other characters who are not highlighted are not relevant to the plot. There are additional characters who play important roles but are not related to the family tree.
I feel like I got to know the main character better this month because we have a lot in common. Because of this, the main character was easier to develop than the other characters in the story. Other than that, I'm excited to learn more about the book's other characters so that I may connect with them more deeply.
Another big piece of advice I got from David was to read the chapters over and over again. And I should get rid of a few sentences or even a whole scene in the book that doesn't go in the direction I wanted my story to go.
Diane, an English professor who runs a creative writing club on my campus and had published books before, told me it's okay to step away from writing if I felt like I needed to. This means I should never force myself to write when I don't feel like it. She told me that if I treat writing like a chore, I'll come to hate writing, something that I truly enjoy doing.
I used to think that if I wanted to be a successful writer, I had to write every day and not stop until my hands hurt from writing. Or I wouldn't stop writing until I got some writing done before bed, which meant I'd stay up late and be tired the next day at work or school. Diane debunked that claim. She told me that the idea that you need to write every day in order to become a successful writer is not true. The secret to succeeding as a writer is taking breaks from writing. Taking a break from writing for a few days, a few weeks, or even a month will help me get back in touch with my creativity and give me new story ideas when I return to writing again.
My business professor Carmen, who wrote and published a book about business, was the last person I asked for advice. She advised me to copyright my work before I ever sent it to a publishing company for consideration.
And I knew this piece of advice already. My great aunt, who is my grandfather's sister and majored in communication and got her bachelor's degree in that field, told me about this subject first that copyright is very important if I want to own all the rights to my work. Now, it's very rare for me to share my story ideas with other people or post them online. So, I'll talk about copyright in a separate post in the future to raise awareness of how important it is.
What did I do after taking their advice?
I did three things: I took a break from writing to get to know my characters in the book as their creator, I started to read more from a book, and I wrote more in my personal journal.
Getting to Know the Characters in the Book
As I said earlier, I got to know more about the main characters. But on the other hand, I need to spend more time with the rest of the book's characters to get to know them better before I can confidently edit or rewrite any of the scenes in it. It's just as challenging to get to know a fictional character as it is a real person. Because of this, I've taken a break from writing to think about how each character will be portrayed in the book and get to know them better as their creator.
Writing and Reading More in My Spear Time
In order to boost my productivity and creativity as a writer, I've been reading books by well-known authors to get ideas, learn more about how books are written, and get a sense of their writing styles. I also keep a private journal in which I record my ideas and use it as a writing exercise (haha, much like “Mr. Melero's Journal,” which will never see the light of day). Right now, I'm reading The Lincoln Lawyer by Michael Connelly, and so far, his book is interesting and engaging and has offered me thoughts about his writing techniques. Whenever I have free time at work, I grab my book or my diary and go to the break room to read or write.
I work at a place where phones aren't allowed, which means that no one can bring their phone into the building. I have to put in long hours of hard labor to make ends meet. And there was that time when I almost broke my back, lifting something heavy or felt like I was going to pass out from exhaustion or thirst. Horrifying, right? The part when we can't bring our phones.
I remember that one time when I first started eating in the break room. I'll come in the room with a book or pen in my hand to read or write while I eat. I realized that I was the only one in the room who was reading or writing. Sometimes, I'll get some stares as if I'm being watched like a zoo animal behind a glass since I'm the only one there who is reading or writing. It was interesting to see how their reaction, as if it blew their minds that writing and reading are still strong and alive today of age. That experience just makes me more determined to get my book published one day, hopefully soon. And I encourage everyone to write because everyone is a writer in their own way.
And if you've made it this far in the article—I really appreciate you reading it! Without your interest and time, this blog post would not exist—and I want to thank you for that again! I wish you and your loved ones a wonderful Christmas—and a happy New Year! And make each day count rather than counting the days in 2023. May happiness come your way! 🎉
P.S. Here is a video of me doing forty push-ups in a row without stopping; as a reward, I was given a desk Lamp: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JOhskzOS1wI
Signing off –
Michael David Melero
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