In a guest post on Chuck Wendig’s blog, Johann Thorsson shares what he learned writing his supernatural crime novel Whitesands.
- Writing is all in the revisions. “In its first draft, Whitesands was a different book. The main character, Detective John Dark, wasn’t even in it,” Thorsson says. “The fifth draft, which I wrote SEVEN years after the first one, was written in one week in Exeter in the U.K., when I was invited to be a Writer-in-Residence.”
- It’s ok to show your influences. “A lot of writers avoid being too influenced by other books as they write, so they will read only non-fiction while they work or…will read nothing at all,” Thorsson writes. In contrast, Thorsson kept his influences – including Raymond Chandler and Silence of the Lambs – close at hand.
- Appreciate critiques. “The points reviewers have for you are points readers will trip over as well,” he explains. “Fix them and learn from them, as painful as it may be.”
- Story is more important than details. In Whitesands, the main characters are detectives, but Thorsson knows little about police procedures. So far, only one reader has mentioned his handling of police methods.
- Be patient. From first draft to acceptance, Whitesands took Thorsson ten years to create.
