Comment by CPLX | Hacker News Reader

Comment by CPLX | Hacker News Reader

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It's actually possible almost everyone, or at least a great many people, have a good book in them. The hard part I would think is getting it out of them. It takes work and practice.

I've been a professional writer for much of my life, in the sense that for periods of time I've actually been able to eat and pay NYC rent by virtue of people paying me to write things.

But I don't know if I have a book in me. Because every time I try to write things that could possibly turn into a book I read them and they don't sound very good. I know what I'd have to do to change that, namely write a lot every day for a few years until it clicked. But I don't.

But so far I haven't made that a priority, so whatever book might be in me is still there. I think there's a lot of people like that. Many people just can't write and tell stories at all, of course. But many many people can, and would in fact be able to do so compellingly, but they haven't and won't put in the work.

> But I don't know if I have a book in me. Because every time I try to write things that could possibly turn into a book I read them and they don't sound very good. I know what I'd have to do to change that, namely write a lot every day for a few years until it clicked. But I don't.

Could you expand on what you mean by this?

problem: you write down something, but it doesn't sound very good

solution: write a lot every day for a few years until it clicked

How is the problem solved by the solution you presented?

The problem is a lack of skill.

The solution is lots of practice.

It seems to me that you are already a good writer.

Consider it from an engineering perspective:

Problem: I write some code, but it doesn't work very well.

Solution: Write a lot of code every day for a few years.

The implication is that you learn what kinds of things are good and bad through practical experience, rather than simply re-writing the same implementation/prose every day.

But in the case of the commenter I was responding to, they had already gathered a lot of experience through work. This isn't a matter of learning (as they "know" what they have to do), but apparently the solution simply requires such expenditure of time, even for someone who is a professional writer.

Sort of. I have done a lot of nonfiction writing and reporting, including stuff for newspapers and magazines and so on. So I know the general ability to write at a reasonably high level is there. So I know a book is "in me" in a general sense.

But to write a book would still require a lot of practice and trial and error and a serious committment. Which is likely where many others trip up as well.

Because to get good at anything, you need to do a whole lot of it.

You probably have to write a few bad books before writing a good one.

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