Every writer is asked, sooner or later, what happens when the words dry up. People put the question gently, the way you might ask a friend how the diet is going. I always want to answer honestly, which is to say: badly, thanks for asking. I have run into the wall more times than I care to recall, and I have learned there's no switch you can flick to remedy the issue. There are only tricks and small habits, and sometimes an internal pep talk while you wait for the kettle to boil. None of it … continue reading
Behind the Author’s Curtain
The unglamorous truth about writing for a living. Keith A Pearson pulls back the curtain on the daily reality of being a full-time novelist.
Novels Written in a Matter of Weeks
People assume a novel takes years. It sounds respectable, the sort of timeline that justifies the faraway look authors adopt whenever someone asks what they do for a living. The truth is less flattering. Some of the most celebrated books in the language landed on the page in the time it takes most of us to research a summer holiday. I find this equal parts inspiring and mildly insulting. I have spent hours deciding whether a character prefers tea or coffee. So, in the interest of feeling … continue reading
Do Authors Base Their Characters on Real People?
There is a question every novelist fields sooner or later, usually from someone leaning in slightly too close over a cup of tea. "Am I in one of your books?" They ask it hoping the answer is yes. They want to hear that the charismatic hero is a lightly fictionalised tribute to them, and not, say, the convicted paedophile referenced in chapter fourteen. The honest answer is more slippery than either of us would like. Yes, authors borrow from real people constantly. No, it almost never works … continue reading
Why Do Authors Use Pen Names?
My name, when it appears on the cover of a book, contains my middle initial. The 'A' is there purely so readers don't confuse me with the other Keith Pearsons cluttering up the internet, one of whom, I'm reliably informed, plays bluegrass banjo. I have nothing against banjos. I just want to avoid being accidentally hired to play at a folk festival. So I've paddled at the very shallow end of the pen-name pool. A single letter. Other authors have waded in considerably deeper, inventing entire … continue reading
The Longest Anyone Ever Took to Write a Single Novel
Somewhere out there sits a writer who has spent longer on their manuscript than most marriages last. Not longer than a mobile phone contract. Longer than an actual human relationship. They will tell you, with a perfectly straight face, that the book is "nearly there." It has been nearly there since the Berlin Wall tumbled. People assume novels arrive in a neat twelve-month fever of inspiration. Some do. Plenty crawl out over a span so long the author needs a fresh pair of reading glasses to … continue reading
How Long Does It Take To Write a Book?
You have time to write a book. You just have to be honest about it. I built the little calculator below so you can run your own numbers. Tell it how many words you can realistically write in a day and how many days a week you'll genuinely show up, and it'll tell you when your 80,000-word book will be finished. Be honest with it and it'll be honest with you. My first novel started with a drunken wager. A few Christmas drinks, a rash declaration that I'd write a book, and a bet I … continue reading
Do Authors Choose Their Own Book Titles?
I'm an indie author, so every decision relating to my novels is mine and mine alone. However, in the traditional publishing world, when an author signs a contract, they're giving up more than just a chunk of their royalties. You'd think that a novelist, having wrung ninety thousand words out of thin air, surely earns the right to slap whatever name they fancy on the cover. It seems only fair. You built the house, so you should be the one hanging the sign over the door. The truth, like most … continue reading
How Many Drafts Does a Novel Really Go Through? (And Why the First One Belongs in a Drawer)
Readers tend to assume a novel arrives the way they find it: tidy, finished, sitting on the shelf looking rather pleased with itself. I wish. The version you buy is the well-behaved child, scrubbed up and presentable for company. You never meet its earlier siblings, the ones locked in a folder on my hard drive labelled, with total accuracy, "DRAFT SHITE". The honest answer to how many drafts a novel goes through is: more than the author will happily admit to over a coffee. But since you've … continue reading
What Does a Writer’s Working Day Actually Look Like? (Mostly, I Stare at a Wall)
People imagine the writing life involves a leather armchair, a glass of something amber, and sentences arriving like Amazon packages. The reality, in my sleepy corner of Surrey, leans rather more towards a man in jogging bottoms refilling the same coffee mug for the fourth time before ten and frowning at a screen. Whenever someone discovers I write novels for a living, the follow-up question never varies: "So what do you actually do all day?" It's a fair question. The honest answer would … continue reading
Where Do Authors Get Their Ideas?
Ask any novelist what readers most want to know at a book signing, and the answer never varies. Not "how do you structure a plot," not "how do you find an agent," and certainly not "would you mind signing this to my mum, her name's Sandra." No. The question, asked with the hopeful air of someone expecting a treasure map, is always the same: where do you get your ideas? I understand the impulse. There's a lovely assumption buried inside it, the notion that somewhere out there sits a secret … continue reading
How Much Do Authors Really Earn?
Of all the questions people ask when they discover what I do for a living, the one they actually want answered is rarely the one they say out loud. They ask where my ideas come from, or whether I've met anyone famous. What they mean is: how much money do you make? Most people are far too polite to ask directly. The bloke who cuts my hair is not most people. So, in the spirit of saving him the trouble next month, here's the honest answer about author earnings. Not the Instagram version. The … continue reading
How Long Does It Take to Write a Novel? (And Why “It Depends” Is the Only Honest Answer)
It is the question every novelist fields more than any other, usually from someone you half-remember from school who has resurfaced on Facebook after decades of total silence. "Saw you write books now! How long does it take?" And there it sits, waiting, as though I might reply with a figure as tidy as a boiler service interval. The truthful reply disappoints everyone. It depends. It depends on the book, the year, the writer, and the unpredictable nature of life. "It depends" makes for a … continue reading