Birth of a Book

Writing a new book is like having a baby. It doesn’t matter what genre of book, whether it is fact or fiction, it goes through the same process.

        First there is the conception. That spark that ignites an idea, a need to tell.

        This is followed by the gestation period. Unlike a human pregnancy this time can vary from weeks, months or even years. This is the time when your book is formed, shaped and grows from that initial idea into a full blown work. Checked, edited, every word in the right place; every comma, full stop and speech mark.

        Typing ‘The End’ is like giving birth. Your baby is fully formed and ready to meet the world. Like taking a baby out for the first time you tentatively ask someone else to read it and hope they will give you an honest opinion.

        Then, like taking your small child for its first day at school, it’s out there for people to buy. Your baby. Out there all alone in the world trying to smile enticingly so that people will pick it up, download it, read it. Maybe, just maybe, someone will review it, like a teacher giving an end of year report.

        Complications can arise when authors suffer from multiple births; two or three stories demanding attention at the same time. Some can deal with this, like parents of triplets, but they need to be very strict with their children, giving each an allotted time and sticking to it.

        I have just typed ‘The End’ on my latest book Shattered Dreams and already a new baby is growing. How long it will take I don’t know. Less than nine months I hope!