Thoughts on a New Beginning

By Don Vaughan, http://www.donaldvaughan.com/
 
I have written professionally for 43 years, almost all of it nonfiction. Though I love fiction and dreamed of trying my hand at it, I learned early in my career that nonfiction was easier to sell and more lucrative than fiction, so that became my path. And I loved every minute of it.

Through it all, though, the desire to write fiction continued to nag at my soul. In 2012, I was inspired to write a horror novel. The title and general premise came to me immediately, and over the ensuing months, aspects of the story continued to develop in my mind. I talked about it with friends and colleagues, but was too busy with my nonfiction work to attempt anything more.

That was the excuse I told myself, but the real reason was that I was afraid. After decades of writing nonfiction, I was afraid that I wouldn’t be able to make the mental pivot to fiction, afraid I didn’t have the discipline to sit down every day and put words on paper. Most significantly, I was afraid that I simply wouldn’t be any good at it.

After eight years of procrastination, I made the decision to go for it. With my wife’s encouragement and support, I began declining assignments in an effort to free up time to write fiction. It was extremely difficult saying no to paying assignments, but I knew that if I didn’t, I would never write my novel. Finally, the day came when I had no nonfiction work on my schedule. I was free to pursue a new beginning.

Writing fiction is decidedly different from nonfiction, so to reset my brain I wrote a short story first. It’s not great, and I don’t know if I’ll ever do anything with it, but I enjoyed the process immensely and realized I was actually developing an individual writing style. Maybe I could do this after all.

I started my novel on March 12. My intent is to write the beginning part, which has been gestating in my brain for months, then stop to develop my characters, establish my story beats, and make sure all the miscellaneous parts were coming together properly.

There are two different kinds of writers: pantsers and outliners. Pantsers write by the seat of their pants, meaning they rarely outline, preferring instead to see where the story and characters take them. Outliners typically create a very detailed outline that tells them exactly where the story is going, with little deviation. It is essentially a road map.

I’m an outliner. I commonly outlined my more complicated nonfiction articles, and I believe outlining will help me with my first novel. I know how it starts, how it ends, and I have a general idea of everything in between. I believe that having an outline will keep me on the right path, though I’m not averse to any changes in story or character that might occur along the way.

At this point I have just dipped my toe into the fiction waters, but I’m not afraid anymore. I’m confident in my story, confident in my ability to tell it well, and eager to make it a reality. I wake up in the morning genuinely excited at the prospect of writing.

There are, of course, still issues of concern. Will I be able to sell the book after I write it? Should I self-publish it? What if it is not as well received as I hope? But these are concerns for another day. Right now, I’m having great fun trying my hand at something I’ve wanted to do since the beginning of my writing career.

Will I succeed? Stay tuned to find out. I’ll be updating you on my process on a regular basis. In the meantime, I encourage you to take up that special project you’ve been longing to do. A book delayed is a book unwritten. I’ve taken the plunge, and I encourage you to do so too. Believe me, it’s not as scary as it may seem.

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Don Vaughan has made his living with words for more than 40 years. During that time he has published more than 2,500 articles and columns in an eclectic array of publications, and has written or contributed to more than 30 books. Don is the founder of Triangle Association of Freelancers.