How I wrote a book - Part 1: Finding an idea

A lot of people have ideas. They pop up when you walk down the street and enjoy the warmth of the sun, they come to you when you have lively chats with friends or when you least expect it. In my case the first time the idea of writing a book touched me when I was sailing with my dad in Croatia some years ago. Have you ever been to Croatia? It is a marvelous country and there is no better way of enjoying its beauty than spending your time on a sailing boat, shipping from bay to bay and from cove to cove. All those tiny little islands, the relaxing sound of the ocean and the absence of stress brought me the idea of writing a book.

It was clear from the beginning that it I will write fantasy. I have been a fantasy fan all my life. I still remember when my mum read out to me tales of the ancient Greeks when I was too little to read myself. When I was able to read I started with the fantasy classics and read almost every Wolfgang Hohlbein book that existed. I cannot tell you how many books I’ve read before I started writing myself but I know it was quite a lot.

I still remember the moment my muse kissed me. I was relaxing on the front of the boat, enjoying the sun warming my skin, listening to the waves breaking on the boat and watching the sea gulls on the close island. And suddenly there it was: I wanted to write a book about magic, playing in my own fantasy world and I saw the characters in front of me. The king’s son brought away as baby not knowing who he was saving the world from the necromancers (I admit not the most outstanding new idea in the fantasy book market going to change the world of fantasy writing but anyway it was a starting point).
Then I started writing my first storyline down with a pencil on a piece of paper being asked by dad what I was doing. I answered: “Starting to write a book”. Well, he looked at me quite skeptical not knowing that I was serious.
Back home I tried to decipher my handwriting and transferred it to the computer. There it was: the beginning of my first book. Redundant to say that the first storyline was rejected and changed totally during time. But I think that is a normal process and should not stop you from writing down the first idea you have. Here I quote Neil Gaiman, British fantasy and science fiction writer: “This is how you do it: you sit down at the keyboard and you put one word after another until its done. It’s that easy and that hard.”

So this is what I recommend to you: Whatever idea you have, don’t let it slip away. If you stick to it your idea will grow and evolve and one day something great will come out of it.
Stay tuned for the next part of my story.

Kisses,
C.J. Hunt