Stages of a Book by Lynne Benton

 This is a blog I first posted here several years ago.  However, since I'll be away next week when this month's blog is due, I thought it was worth repeating.  It's still just as pertinent today as it was when I first wrote it.

When it comes to writing a book, I’ve always remembered something Betsy Byars said about the process.  She divided the progress of the book into five stages, according to the thoughts that are going through her head as she writes:

1.         This is terrible.

2.         This is still terrible.

3.         This is not quite as terrible as it was.

4.         This is getting better.

5.         You know, this isn’t half bad!

            I have found myself reminding myself of this every time I’m writing a book – especially when I’m at stage 2 – “This is still terrible.”  I have to believe that if I keep plugging away at it, I may get to stage 3, and even, hopefully, eventually, to stage 5.

            I also remember hearing Margaret Drabble saying something rather similar: she’d got to about a third of the way through one of her books when she began to despair.  She stormed round the house saying, “This is hopeless, it’s never going to work,” etc etc.  It was only when her daughter said, “But Mum, you always say that when you get to that stage in a book” that she stopped in her tracks and asked in astonishment, “Do I?”  “Yes you do,” said her daughter firmly.  So Margaret went back to the book and finished it, and of course it wasn’t hopeless at all.

            But then these are both famous writers, whose work is always likely to be good, so it comes as quite a surprise that they both have doubts about their work.  If I’ve learnt anything from being among other published writers, it’s that most of us are not filled with super-confidence.  Many of us are worried that nobody will like our next book, especially if it’s in a different genre.  So how can we tell if it’s “just that stage” that we will get through and then all will turn out well, or if it really is a turkey that should be strangled before it gets any bigger? 

         Should I scrap what I’ve written so far and start again, or is what I’ve already done worth working on?

            Or should I put it away for a few months/years and write something else?

             I never really want to show it to anyone else until I’m reasonably happy with it, even if I'm still open to suggestions for changing things, but would I have the nerve to show it to someone else when it’s at the “This is terrible” stage?  I always want to sort it out myself first, before letting anyone else see it.

                But maybe I’m wrong.  What do others think?

website:  lynnebenton.com