Reflections on Writing a Novel

This post will likely be more informal in nature than articles I’ve published to this site, as it’ll be more like a published entry from my journal (that I don’t have) than something with a defined structure and flow (assuming that the few other posts I have made have a defined structure and flow). 

As you likely know by now, Lord willing, I’ll be publishing my debut novel on September 4, 2024, a mere 11 days from the time I’m writing this post (Shameless plug: If you’re reading this before September 4, you can preorder yours now and have it shipped to you on release date, and if you’re reading this on or after September 4, you can order your copy now and have it shipped to you today. Click here to get you physical copy or here for your e-book copy.).

The journey to arrive at this point has been just that – a journey, one filled with many highs and lows, but I can honestly say that God has been so gracious and faithful every step of the way. After all, He is the Master Storyteller, and for those of us who are in Christ, He is our Father and Friend. It doesn’t get much better than having direct access to God Almighty, and the Lord has used the process of publishing this novel to teach me that truth (By the way, He’s still teaching it to me, as you’ll see below.). 

Allow me to share a bit of “behind the scenes” information about the book. 

Believe it or not, what sparked the entire process was a wedding. Someone I care deeply about was getting married, and in his wedding vows, he quoted Friedrich Nietzsche, saying that Nietzsche was his favorite philosopher. Probably out of jealousy that someone was quoting a renowned thinker whom I didn’t know anything about, I was struck by the use of Nietzsche’s quote. However, as with most things in my life, my interest in finding out more about the German philosopher was short-lived (for a time).

A year or more went by without any real consideration about this matter, but then the Lord convicted me about my need to share Christ with this person whom I claimed to love deeply (No, I’m not attributing his enjoyment of Nietzsche to his being an unbeliever; I’ve known he wasn’t following Christ for a while, yet for that time, I hadn’t shared the Gospel with him, foolishly excusing myself because he knew about Christ already and was raised in a Christian home.). 

While I was still not giving any thought to studying Nietzsche, the Lord gave me the idea for a scene in a story that involved an emotional priest (I can’t share too many details about the scene, as I intend to include a variation of it in a future book. Also, ironically, at the time, I would’ve considered myself a Reformed Baptist, which is a denomination that does not utilize the office of priests, whereas now, I’m an Anglican, and we do have priests. Honestly, I picked a priest because that office universally signifies a man of faith.). Only by God’s grace (and I don’t say that flippantly), I took the time to pen the scene in a notebook while I was waiting for a friend to meet me at a coffee shop. The scene I wrote that day involves two characters who became the blueprint for the protagonist and antagonist of Deconstruction, my novel that comes out in a little under two weeks. 

Again, as is quite characteristic of me, I didn’t revisit the scene or the characters for a while, but after some time, I did manage to write a little more than a chapter involving the two characters I discovered in the coffee shop – and some of what happened in that original chapter made it into the final book (and much of what happened didn’t). Still, though, I hadn’t given any significant thought to Nietzsche by this point (Bear with me, I keep bringing him up intentionally.). 

During the time when the Lord was convicting me to share the Gospel with the aforementioned person who quoted Nietzsche in his wedding vows, I decided to plan a trip to visit him and talk about religious matters. In my preparation for the trip, I (finally) began to look into Friedrich Nietzsche, listening to several lectures about his life and philosophies, as well as starting to read one of his most famous works, Thus Spoke Zarathustra.

My visit with this person went really well, and by God’s grace, we had a great discussion about the Lord and Nietzsche (Pairing those two side by side makes me chuckle, because I can only imagine what the latter would think about my using Christ and the truth of Scripture to counter his philosophies.). While things went well, my heart broke for this man with whom I spoke and his family. As Nietzsche did, he was only concerned with the tangible things of this world, ignoring the logical (and eternal) conclusions to which his postmodern philosophies led. 

God used this visit to spark the fire within me to write a book, one in which I would try my best to honestly present and deal with Nietzsche’s philosophies – a matter that, I think, is very timely, as, while many may not know Nietzsche’s name, they herald a form of his destructive philosophies, and it’s clearly seen on the rise in our world. 

I wish I could say I ran home and immediately started writing, but that wasn’t the case.

The fire was sparked, but I didn’t fan it into flame. 

The aforementioned visit took place in February or March 2023, and it wasn’t until around the end of November or December of the same year that I began to fan that fire into flame. 

As He often does, God graciously used one of my best friends to encourage me to not waste the gifts and ideas the Lord has given me – something I foolishly do too often because of insecurities and a deep-rooted fear of failure. 

However, after talking with my friend, I finally got serious about writing the book. 

Annually, in the author realm, there’s a challenge called NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) that takes place in November. Authors are challenged to write a 50,000-word novel in 30 days, which, if pursued daily, requires one to write roughly 1,600 words each day. I heard about this challenge around the time that I met with my friend, so I missed the opportunity to accept it alongside my fellow authors. However, I knew I needed something like this to help me stay motivated to write my novel. 

So, although it was sometime in December when I began the challenge, I did so, but I upped the requirement a bit. I said that, once I started, other than on Christmas Day, I would write at least 2,000 words for 30 days. 

Working a full-time job while completing the challenge was certainly difficult, but God was so gracious to strengthen me and give me ideas and creativity throughout the process. Truthfully, as I look back over that month and the book itself, there are things that came together so seamlessly that I am confident were by the Lord’s help (A quick thank you to all of my friends who prayed for me through this whole endeavor; I know the Lord heard you and answered your prayers, as there were so many days I simply did not want to write or think I could.). 

However, as I will keep saying, by God’s grace, I achieved my goal, writing at least 2,000 words each day, and by the end of the 30 days, I think the novel was around 62-63,000 words (During this time, I also read another of Nietzsche’s books, The Anti-Christ, which was a big help to getting into his mind.). By this point, if I remember correctly, it was toward the end of January (I don’t think I started the writing challenge until around December 18 or 19, 2023.), and I needed to take a break.

So, I did just that. 

That break, though, lasted until the end of February. I became really discouraged with the story and didn’t know how to progress it past a particular event. The month of February was quite discouraging overall, especially after finishing the NaNoWriMo challenge, through which I proved to myself that I could complete such a task, but I twisted that to be hard on myself with each passing day in February that I didn’t feel like I could write even a paragraph (Yes, I may have been a bit dramatic, but I am dedicated to being as authentic as I can be as I reflect – something, I hope, you’ll see if you read my book, too.). 

Other than the grace of God (once again), sometime toward the very end of February, or maybe even the beginning of March, I continued work on the book. I don’t remember exactly when I finished, but it was sometime around the middle of March, and I had reached around 93,000 words (The final manuscript totaled ~99,000 words.)

I took about a week off before beginning the editing process (It’s recommended taking off as much time as you can, so the story become less familiar to you before you dive into correcting mistakes; however, I just couldn’t wait.). 

Thankfully, editing the book wasn’t as painful as I had expected. This is likely a result of my perfectionist approach to the first draft. I know some authors can simply mind-dump their first draft on the page, and that works really well for them, and I’m happy for them. The thought of doing so makes me incredibly anxious. I can’t move on from a sentence or a paragraph (even during the first draft) without feeling that it’s fairly decent. This is a blessing a curse, as it definitely interrupts the creative flow of getting the raw story on the page, but it also allows the first draft to come out more refined and pass through several editing stages before it’s complete.

The Lord put me in contact with a very kind editor, and I sent the edited draft to her at the beginning of April. She started work on around April 15 and had a one-month deadline to complete her edits. 

During the month my editor worked on the manuscript, I was not very productive from a creative standpoint, but I needed the rest. 

When she sent me the edited manuscript, as I do with any feedback I receive, I sat on it for a few days, refusing to look at the file, as if my refusal to look at her comments would make them any less scary or real. However, I finally opened the file, and as I read through her remarks, I was incredibly humbled and encouraged. She certainly pointed out areas that needed improvement, and I’m so glad she did, as the final manuscript is far more refined than the original one, but she was overwhelmingly positive about the story and characters. 

As you’ll see if you read the book, the antagonist, Ramkast, has to work for the story to work. If his dialogue and mannerisms didn’t land like I had hoped they had, the story wouldn’t have a chance. One of the most encouraging comments my editor made was the following: “[Ramkast] is one of the creepiest characters I’ve read in a long time.” This was just the comment I needed to read. Ramkast has to be creepy – not in the Michael Myers or Jason kind of way, but in the way that he’s alluring and believable, yet you know you shouldn’t be drawn to him or believe him. I can’t say more, so I’ll just stop there and hope that that somewhat entices you to read the book. :) My editor also mentioned that it was one of the best books she had edited this year (I say this to glorify God, not to boast in myself – truthfully; I can’t explain how much I need encouragement to keep going, and He was so gracious to give it.). 

After I made the recommended changes to the book, I hired beta readers, which are professional readers who will read over a story and offer feedback (Generally, they’re essentially editors who don’t give as much feedback as an editor. Although, some of the ones to whom the Lord led me gave just as many comments as my editor. This isn’t a slight to my editor, because she was great, but it’s a shout-out to several of my beta readers who chose to go above and beyond what I had asked and hired them to do.).

My beta reader team was comprised of a mixed group of individuals: four of them were Christians (one of whom was born and raised in Africa), while one was an agnostic, and another, an atheist, if I understood correctly. I wanted to get a wide range of perspectives, both from a cultural standpoint and a religious one. 

Again, God was so incredibly gracious to me. While my beta readers gave critical feedback, much of which I implemented into the novel, it was, again, overwhelmingly positive, even from those who are non-believers. One mentioned that she thought I would become a best-selling novelist, and another said that she primarily reads young-adult fiction and that one of the children in my book was one of the best child characters she’s ever read. (Again, all glory to the Lord – both for the creativity and for the encouragement!).

After I finished going through the beta readers’ feedback, it was time to begin my final proofreading. 

Amazon allows authors to order “proof copies”, which are physical copies of what the book will look like when published, with the exception of an ugly “Not for Resale” bar that Amazon puts on all of their “proof copies”. 

It was such a surreal moment to hold the physical book in my hand for the first time. 

The excitement quickly wore off, as I began the proofreading process. Ask any author, and they’ll likely tell you the same thing: no matter how many times you edit something and how many people you get to read the book and offer feedback, you’ll always find things that need to be changed. I certainly found that to be the case, losing track of how many hours I spent proofreading the physical copy I ordered from Amazon. Again, though, I am confident the final product is much better as a result, and the excitement that had waned returned upon completion and seeing the improvements that had been made.

With the completion of the final proofread, I had to settle on a release date, and that, too, came from the Lord. I’m not a cessasionist, someone who believes the more so-called supernatural gifts of the Spirit (e.g., prophecy, speaking in tongues, healings, etc.) ceased in the first century. I’ll be happy to write more on that topic someday, explaining how I see absolutely zero biblical evidence that these gifts have ceased, but for now, I’ll simply say that, I believe, the Lord gave me the release date of September 4, 2024. 

Currently, I’m in the marketing stages of the book, and while I’ve certainly striven to rely on the Lord throughout the entire writing, editing, and publication process, I don’t think I’ve been more keenly aware of how much I must rely on Him than during my attempts to get the word out about the book.

This process goes against everything about my personality. If you know me, you know I’m extremely introverted, terrible at small-talk, and whether right or not, prefer to be left alone. Also, I don’t have that many connections with people who have large followings. I have faithful family and friends who have been super supportive in posting on social media, and I’m so grateful to God for each of them, but I don’t know many people who have a large number of followers. 

However, the Lord did graciously bring someone into my life who has a substantial following on Instagram. A few months ago, the person who runs the account posted an Instagram Story, asking if anyone had any editing experience and would be willing to help with an editing project (Please check out her book here. It’s a study of women of faith throughout the Bible. The author has done an excellent job with remaining Christ-focused and always pointing the reader to Him!). I reached out and offered to help, and the account’s admin agreed to help promote my to-be-released book in exchange for my editing. Also, a friend from a college and a former student of mine have a decent following on YouTube and/or TikTok and have agreed to help me get the word out. Continuing, a Christian friend who owns a local coffee shop has agreed to allow me to sell and advertise my book in his store. Further, another friend who has a podcast has agreed to discuss my book there. So, while I have been stressed about getting the word out to people, God has been so kind to allow me to make these connections – and others through my friends and family’s sharing on social media. Further, I’m working to be more active on social media, making posts on Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok and “going live” on the platforms I can. 

Through all of this, though, I’m reminded of the glorious truth of Psalm 127:1a, which says that, unless the LORD builds the house, those who build it do so in vain. He has helped me (and is helping me) get to the point where I’m able to fight (and it is a fight) through my anxiety about the book not reaching many people by remembering that it’s all in His loving hands and that whatever He ordains is for His glory and for the good of making me more like Christ (c.f., Romans 8: 28-29).

I could write more about God’s faithfulness through this process, including discussing His help through my changing the cover art at the last minute, His assistance in giving ideas for various scenes in the book, and various influences in my life that helped me get the book written. However, for the sake of space (and my energy levels), I’m going to wind down now. 

I pray that God has been glorified through this entire process, and I hope that, as you have read these ramblings, you are reminded that He is faithful and kind and good. I’m trusting that the Lord will get the book out there to the extent that will be the utmost for His glory, my good, and the good of His people – and that truth takes a tremendous load off of my shoulders, and I pray it will for you, too, as you embrace it in the projects He’s called you to complete in His Name. 

“Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen.”

- Ephesians 3:20-21