WRITING FROM BEHIND THE CURVE—Which of my story ideas should I write first? Blog #5

Episode Title: Which of my story ideas should I write first?

If you’ve thought of writing for many years, it may be that you have more than one story idea that you have given considerable thought to. So how does one decide upon what is to be written first, to pick from the litter, so to speak. When I first began to write what eventually became Serpent at the Well,  I was in my mid forties, had already left what was a lengthy career in banking, and mostly wanted a challenge to fulfill my longtime desire to write. At the time, my wife and I had recently moved to Mammoth Lakes, California, which is located in the eastern Sierra Nevada and not far from Mono Lake. The more that I learned about that ancient lake’s history and the decades-long water fight that it was the focus of, I sensed a story. I put my other story ideas aside and pursued that story, full out. In Serpent at the Well, Mono Lake’s alter ego is Lake Clarity. And although the characters and plots are unique to the storyline, many of the book’s legal arguments and outcomes closely follow the actual history of Mono Lake.

Image by Clker Free Vector 

Since telling Serpent’s story was my singular focus, I paid little attention to the many-armed octopus  that I was about to create. As the story progressed, I realized that I was ill equipped  to write a novel that would eventually be nearly 700 pages in length, have ten important characters, have several retrospectives over a fifty-year period, and have seven or eight subplots that support and propel the main story. I mentioned in Blog #3 that I did many rewrites of Serpent, which in no small part was due to my taking on more than I should have for a first effort. Years literally went by while I learned the craft of writing, over which, I continually updated my novel with the new knowledge gained. The point in telling you all of this is to urge you to make your first writing one that will have few principal characters, have a forward looking storyline with few or no retrospectives, and have a main plot without two many side puzzle pieces. Said another way, why not get your sea legs first? By staying with a simple story construction, you can juggle less and concentrate on the depth and quality of your story. You will, however, have actually completed your first short story or novel, and prepared yourself for more complicated writings that you may choose in the future. I’m happy to say that writing my latest novel, MOLTO GRANDE, was far less stressful than Serpent, even though it is an epic story, based in 17th century Europe, and, at 260,000 words, is nearly twice Serpent’s length. Imagine if I had started with MOLTO GRANDE!

Photo by Ian Schneider

Now that you have entered the world of writing, it is sometimes fun to learn about the publishing industries related statistics. An analysis done by “In the Book” comes to me through the newsletter of writing consultant Molli Nickell. It pertains to the average ages at which best-selling authors first become best selling. Here are the stats by genre:

• Horror: 41

•  Science Fiction: 45

• Other: 46

• Romance: 46

• Literary Fiction: 47

• Fantasy: 47

• Historical Fiction: 50

• Mystery/Crime: 51

• Thriller: 52

• Average Age for all genres combined: 48.8 (men and women)

• Number of yearly first time, best-selling authors: Around 60

Keep in mind that some of these authors may have multiple best sellers, but this is the average age at which that first best seller was published by genre. Also, while there are examples like Margaret Mitchell (Gone with the Wind) and Harper Lee (To Kill a Mockingbird), whose first novels were smashing successes and best sellers, these are indeed rare. More likely, when considering the writers who comprise the above numbers, many toiled long and hard, over many years, before writing a best seller. That superior achievement waited on the development of their technique and storytelling. One other point of interest comes from the study: While, as indicated, the average age for all genres is 48.8 years, there are some striking differences in some categories for men and women. For example, in the Science Fiction genre, the average age for first-time, best-selling women is 35 versus 46 for men. On the other hand, in the Horror genre, average ages are 44 for women and 38 for men. In most categories, though, the age differentials are much closer. (Please retweet this blog—thanks!)

All the best,

Dick Franklin

richardsfranklin100@gmail.com

Note: Dick is author of novels Joshua Rye, Serpent at the Well, and MOLTO GRANDE. Go to: amazon.com/author/dickfranklin