Hello Harper.
Hello.
Can I call you Harp?
Um… no… I don’t think so.
Stick with Harper, then?
Yes, let’s do that.
Is this your first blog?
Yes, this is my first blog since I came up with the idea of #BlankPageToBookstore in 2024.
Sounds interesting. What else have you blogged about?
Ah… well… this is my first blog about anything at all, actually. I’m pretty excited. I have a lot to let out.
Perhaps you can start by sharing a little about your writing journey.
Sure, what would you like to know?
What are your writing credentials? Why are you writing this blog? What gives you the idea you can go from nothing to a published novel in 12 months? And, while you’re at it, can’t your garden variety AI write and publish a book before breakfast so the royalties are already flowing by lunchtime?
Okay… a fair bit to unpack there.
Firstly, I am a self-trained writer.
What does that mean?
I have learned to write by writing and reading and reading about writing and now, I suppose, writing about writing.
So, what have you written so far?
I have written a raft of short stories, a sprinkling of poetry and 23 books.
Sorry, how many books was that?
23.
Thanks, just checking I heard right.
That’s okay. I had to double check myself, but definitely 23.
Anything I might have heard of?
Not unless you’ve hacked into my Google Drive.
Sorry?
None of my books have ever been published.
Oh, that’s awkward.
(Laughs…) no, it’s okay. I love to write. I have no regrets.
So why haven’t you been published yet?
Getting published is quite hard.
I’ve heard that. How close have you come?
I had a publisher take 2 years to say ‘no’ to my first manuscript about 15 years ago, and I have had an agent for a different manuscript for nearly 6 years, but it is yet to be picked up by a publisher.
So, you’ve sort of been in the mix.
Yes, but nothing except a few short stories published so far. My highlight was probably winning a short story contest. That gave me some confidence that at least I could write. Though, that was 5 years ago now. That’s okay, though. I genuinely love writing, like I said. I love the process. I love creating abstract things. I love building worlds and breathing life into the people who live in those worlds. Love… love… love it.
So, why not just keep writing stuff on your Google Drive to fulfil your creative urges?
I see publishing as the logical conclusion to the creative-writing process. I want to experience the entire process end-to-end.
Many published authors say the hard work only really starts once you’ve been published. Marketing, selling, building your platform, staying relevant.
I would love to find out the truth of that for myself. Perhaps in a year or so from now, I can start a new blog series called #FromBeingPublishedToMarketingSellingBuildingMyPlatformAndStayingRelevant.’ For now, I’ll stay focused on crafting my next book and getting it published.
Why not blog about getting one of your existing 23 books published?
I considered that, but… I am pretty keen to document the entire end-to-end process from the blank page onward… unfiltered… every decision I make, every tool I use, every reference I draw upon… my whole process end-to-end. I think it will help me to plan and execute, and… who knows… it might be useful for someone else out there.
Yes, who knows?
Yes… who really does?
Not me, I don’t know.
(Laughs…) me neither. Ah… so… is that everything for today?
Not quite… you mentioned AI earlier. Can’t AI just write and publish everything… not to mention build your website and your social content and market everything while it auto-drives your car to your new condo?
I think it was you who mentioned AI earlier… but it’s a fair point either way. I think everyone is grappling with where AI fits into their lives.
For me, it’s very simple. AI can never replace my writing.
Isn’t AI going to replace everything and everyone? Aren’t we all just destined to ingest nutrient-dense slime in a coma while they decide when to turn off the life support?
That’s a little bleak.
That’s a best-case scenario.
(Laughs…) I don’t see the future quite so bleakly as all that. For me, it is very simple. No one has ever asked me to write anything. I have written 23 books because I love to write. I’m not going to stop loving writing just because someone or something can do it better. Otherwise, I would have stopped writing after reading Tolkien or Tolstoy or Martin or Rowling or… a thousand other master craftspeople. AI is just another writer I can feel threatened by, be inspired by, or just never really get to know all that much about. The choice is mine.
But won’t AI kill the writing industry?
Maybe. Who knows? Supermarket bread looked like killing bakeries, but artisan bakeries have flourished. I think artisan writers – real people, writing about real people – will have a place for a long time to come.
So, are you against using AI in the writing process?
I am against being lazy and just getting AI to churn out derivative sludge, but I am not against using AI as part of the creative process. I have been fascinated by AI potential for a long time. I believe AI will change all our lives. I just hope that humanity can cling onto our humanity in at least some meaningful form along the way.
To be more pointed, will you use AI in your writing process?
More pointedly… yes. I wrote my first book on a notepad (made of paper) with a pencil (made of burned wood).
Then I discovered word processors and spell checkers and grammar checkers and apps on my phone and cloud storage and… I embraced all of those things because it made writing easier and made my writing better.
So, will you get AI to write your stuff or not?
No. Not as such. I see AI as a new baseline the same way word processors and spell checkers set a new baseline in their day. No one expects to read a manuscript hand inscribed on parchment anymore. Though, that might have a niche market again one day. Readers expect at least a word-processed, spell-checked, grammar-checked book. As AI improves, readers will increase their expectations of the baseline, and writers will need to be more imaginative and surprising and connected to the human condition.
So, you will or you won’t write your new book with AI?
Correct. (Smiles…) I will always start with my own creative design, my own ideas, my own words, my inherent human creativity.
But… I will also collaborate with AI to help flesh out characters and settings and challenge myself to be more ingenious, more creative, more unique, more artisan, more… human.
So… a sort of brainstorming tool?
Sort of. I see AI as a very compliant, patient, often irritating, know-it-all friend who has read pretty much everything and is happy to chat about it. Though, they have less creativity and foresight than my dog, Ollie.
I will happily chat with that ‘friend’ in general about the past, but I will not waste my time asking them to create new things or predict the future. I will save those conversations for Ollie.
I think that’s cleared that up. So, what is this blog all about again?
(Cough laughs…) this blog is about starting from nothing… a truly blank slate. I genuinely have no clue about what genre I will be writing in, let alone any idea about the premise or storyline or characters or anything at all about the book I am about to write, let alone the process of publication. Here… today… 1st of February 2024… I literally am starting from scratch but, by the 1st of January 2025, I will have a published book.
I thought you said you had an agent. That’s a huge leg-up over most people.
I won’t be using my agent for this book. He does not represent anything by literary and YA literary fiction, and they are two genres I am ruling out from the start. I have not even spoken with him about this and won’t use him as a resource. I will be genuinely starting the entire writing and publication process for #BlankPageToBookstore from scratch.
Okay, but a year from nothing to published? Without an agent? How can you possibly commit to that when you’ve been at this for decades without publishing a book?
A fair challenge. I will be following 2 parallel pathways to ensure my goal.
1. I will write a book and submit it to traditional publishers.
2. If I have not secured a traditional publisher in time, I will self-publish.
But you said yourself that the traditional publishing machine moves very slowly. A year doesn’t seem anywhere near long enough.
I admit it will be challenging. I plan to submit to a broad range of publishers around mid-year with a reasonably well-crafted manuscript. Then, I will polish and ready that same manuscript for self-publishing in the second half of the year. If a traditional publisher picks it up in time, great… otherwise I will self-publish.
So what’s next?
Next… I will be developing a plan (Blog 2), then standing up a website and blog (Blog 3) to share all 3 blogs up until then and to start a weekly cadence of documenting every step of my journey, and then maybe I need to set up some social media tools (Blog 4 or something). Then I need to choose a book genre and write a premise and a synopsis and an outline and build character profiles and… about a million other things. And I need to drink a whole lot more coffee.
That sounds like a lot of work… and maybe quite a bit of coffee.
(Laughs…) doesn’t it, though? I couldn’t be more excited.
Each to their own. Perhaps I will check in with you again when you’re ready for Blog 2 in a week.
Perhaps you will.