Cover by Alison Hunt

This book has been out for a little over a year.  So, I don’t think this is going to be much of a looking back.  Making the situation even more difficult, this book plagued me for a while due to lack of confidence.  I’ll dive right into that.

Do I Need to Use a Dragon? is a collection of blog-style entries about writing fantasy stories.  The information can be shifted to other genres as well, but fantasy was the main target.  I wrote this because some people said I give good advice on my blog and should put out a ‘how to write’ book.  So, I spent about a year making topics and then writing them with the confidence of a person walking across a rickety bridge.  Lots of backtracking and rewriting on the spot, which I guess helped since it meant I didn’t have to worry about doing a bunch of editing runs.  Still, it look a long time for me to get the nerve to actually publish this collection.

Part of the reason was that I had so much trouble is that I couldn’t shake the belief that I had no right to make this book.  Prior to choosing topics, I took a look at other ‘how to’ books from fantasy authors.  All of them had awards, praise, and real publishing contracts while I was an indie author who could no longer sell books.  Some people told me that my situation meant I had a unique perspective since I had nothing to lose by putting out a book like this.  Still, one really needs to be sure of oneself when declaring that they have advice to share.  This issue caused me to wrack my brain for a good week in regards to how to make this book both stand out and feel like my voice.

The first choice I made was to make this a blog-style book.  Do I Need to Use a Dragon? needed to sound like me and I didn’t want to use formal jargon.  I figured that writing this like I give advice on my blog would make it easier for people to understand and accept.  That meant throwing in the same humor and quirks that I do when I try to explain things here.  Lists were a big addition too.  A few beta readers said this made it appear unprofessional, but that was kind of what I was going for.  I wanted this advice to be something that any person could understand and not feel like they were being talked down too.  After all, I remember starting out and being bombarded by jargon-filled advice, which made me feel like I wasn’t smart enough to be an author.  These types of books should help and not harm.

The second problem that stemmed from my confidence was that I kept being afraid that someone would take my advice and it wouldn’t work.  Then, they would be upset and talk as if I gave them a sure thing.  My advice is never given thinking it will work 100% of the time and I try to get that point across.  This time, I was more blunt and flat out stated that what works for me might not work for another person.  It could require some adjustment since every story is different.  I peppered the story with this reminder and stories about when I took similar advice to what I was given and failed.  This ended up giving Do I Need to Use a Dragon? a more human, experienced feel to some people.

Considering I’m still harboring some doubts in me being allowed to do a fantasy tip book, I don’t think I would change anything.  Whatever I altered would probably make a mess of what I completed.  Is it perfect?  No, but that goes along with me saying what works for one author won’t always work for another.  This book was never made to be perfect.  It was just me reaching out and maybe helping out a few other authors who are having trouble with their stories.  Book didn’t sell, but I think I’m more okay with this one just being out there without action than my fantasy stories.  At least, there’s always a chance someone might stumble onto it in their time of need.

Questions time!

1. How do you feel about ‘how to write’ books?
2. How do you prefer to receive advice?
3. What would you write an advice book on if you had to?

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