It’s a common mantra amongst writers that ‘ideas are easy; writing them is hard,’ and while I do stand by this, I am not a writer blessed with endless ideas.
I’m very self-critical, picky and easily distracted. For an idea to survive from my head to the page, it has to not only excite but also intrigue me. Much to my future self’s annoyance I also like every book I write to challenge me. Retreading old ground, therefore, feels boring and sort of pointless to me.
My debut, Voyage of the Damned, was by most measures, a success. The book sold well, made multiple bestseller lists and even won me a literary award. The obvious path when choosing what to write next would be to build on that success, to write another fantasy murder mystery. Really cement myself in the niche subgenre I had carved out for myself. Which is exactly why I did not do it. It would have been the easy choice, a clear career path. But it also would have made me ‘that fantasy murder mystery writer,’ which is not what I wanted.
I’ve always aimed to test and expand my skills with every book. I want every idea to be fresh and new and exciting. I didn’t want to be pigeonholed into writing certain books forever. That’s why instead of Voyage Part 2, I wrote The Bone Door.
I wanted a challenge, and The Bone Door delivered on all fronts.
I have always been a great lover of puzzles. Puzzle games, puzzle books, riddles and even real-life escape rooms. The Bone Door is a book that deals with multiple puzzles. And writing it was one of the hardest things I’ve ever faced in my life.
I had the concept: a boy wakes up in a mysterious labyrinth without his memories and must complete impossible tasks to survive. But the issue was… I also had no clue why he was there! Writing this book was like solving the most complicated puzzle ever. As the main character, Hop, works to put the pieces together, I am right alongside him. My notes when planning this book look like the ravings of a distressed time traveler. ‘But WHY is this the case?’ ‘What does THIS mean?’ ‘That makes NO SENSE!’
But it was also completely addictive. This book kept begging to be told, the puzzles demanding to be solved. It was fiendishly difficult (more than once I almost gave up) but also incredibly rewarding when the pieces started to fit into place. Like all good puzzles, the struggle made it all the more satisfying.
So yes, perhaps in years to come I’ll be cursing myself for not just writing the damn fantasy murder mystery. One of my author friends even called me ‘brave’ for not taking the easy path. But for me it’s far from bravery; it’s following my gut, it’s going where the ideas and the words lead me. It’s pursuing the exciting, intriguing route. This is what keeps my love of writing alive.
If I have learned anything from my debut, it is that all a writer can be is true to themselves and the stories they want to tell. Much like Hop, I never want to lose that sense of adventure, the excitement of following the unknown path. I may return a little battered, but I find more often than not, it is the journeys you don’t take that you regret.
