When, despite my best efforts, people find out I’m a writer, many of them tell me that they have a good idea for a book they’d like to write one day. I’m always polite, and ask them what the book would be about, and honestly, most of the time it sounds like it would be a pretty good book — if it existed.
But the overwhelming majority of people who say that they have an idea for a book, or might like to write a book, never write a book.
I think there’s a lot of reasons for that. Perhaps the chief one is that it can be pretty hard and time consuming to write a book, and the idea of writing a book is a lot more fun than the actual writing of a book. I’ve written about 15 books and published eight, but I probably have another 30 books I’ve thought about writing.
Those unwritten books are my absolute favorites. The risk of writing a book is that it won’t turn out as good as you imagined.
Another issue is that once the book is written, there is the problem of publishing and finding an audience. This is often what discourages me from executing the books I’ve thought about writing. Is it worth the time if you don’t know if it’s going to be published or read?
I worry that some measure of my own doubt leaks into my responses when people tell me about their hypothetical books, and that I’m discouraging them from doing something they may find deeply fulfilling.
This is why, from now on, I’m going to do my best to channel the spirit of 8-year-old Dillon Helbig of Boise, Idaho. As reported in the New York Times, young Dillon wrote an 81-page illustrated book titled “The Adventures of Dillon Helbig’s Crismis” over Christmas break.
So far, so good, but it gets better. Wanting an audience for his book, Dillon took it to his local library and put it on the shelves alongside other fiction. When his parents called to retrieve the book, the librarians were so charmed that they kept the book and entered it into the catalog. As word got out, the book became in-demand.
What I love about Dillon is that he did not let all the reasons you shouldn’t do something — such as a limited knowledge of correct spelling — stop him from doing something he wanted to do. It almost seems like life in 21st century America is designed to bleed that spirit from your body.
I could (and have) talked myself out of writing a book because I didn’t think anyone would want to read it.
But in reality there is an infinite variety of readers. If you write a book, there is likely to be at least one other person who may appreciate it. Doesn’t that make it worth following the urge if you think you have a book inside you?
And kudos to the librarians in Boise who understood what it means to be able to share a part of yourself with the world.
Imagine a library 100% dedicated to books like “The Adventures of Dillon Helbig’s Crismis.” There is only one copy of each book, and each book is exactly as the original author intended, incorrect spelling and all.
In this library, in order to be able to check out books, you must contribute a book and every book will be exclusive to the library in perpetuity.
I don’t know if these would be “good” books by critical standards, but this pure collection of human creativity would be a very great thing indeed.
John Warner is the author of “Why They Can’t Write: Killing the Five-Paragraph Essay and Other Necessities.”
Twitter @biblioracle
Book recommendations from the Biblioracle:
John Warner tells you what to read based on the last five books you’ve read.
1. “Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents” by Isabel Wilkerson
2. “The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois” by Honorée Fanonne Jeffers
3. “Crossroads” by Jonathan Franzen
4. “Intimacies” by Katie Kitamura
5. “On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous” by Ocean Vuong
— Lila P., Chicago
For Lila, I’m recommending one of my own recent reads, a book with a character where you desperately wish he’d do the right thing for his own happiness, but you worry he’s never going to come around, “Last Resort” by Andrew Lipstein.
1. “The Final Case” by David Guterson
2. “Brooklyn Supreme” by Robert Reuland
3. “Bugsy Siegel: The Dark Side of the American Dream” by Michael Shnayerson
4. “April in Spain” by John Banville
5. “Cloud Cuckoo Land” by Anthony Doerr
— Stuart S., Springfield
For Stuart, I’m recommending a book that’s stuck with me for the 20-plus years since it was published that I think deserves to keep finding new readers. It’s an involving fictional history of a great magician, “Carter Beats the Devil” by Glen David Gold.
1. “What Alice Forgot” by Liane Moriarty
2. “All Adults Here” by Emma Straub
3. “Motherless Brooklyn” by Jonathan Lethem
4. “Klara and the Sun” by Kazuo Ishiguro
5. “Never Let Me Go” by Kazuo Ishiguro
— Bea M., Glenview
There’s a bit of a divide between the top two books and the last three here, but I’m going to lean in on the parts of Bea that are drawn to futuristic concepts, mysteries and unpredictable outcomes and recommend “The Body Scout” by Lincoln Michel.
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2022-02-26 11:00:00Z
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