How to write a book
A couple people have asked me how to write a book. I'm typing up this quick post so I can just send them a link instead of repeating it over and over. First, there's no one way to do it, and different people have achieved success using wildly different methods. I've read that Stephen King just starts writing with no idea of what's going to happen next in the plot, he just comes up with new ideas as he’s going and has no idea how it’s going to end when he starts (I’m sort of skeptical of that, but it’s what he says). Philip K. Dick says he used the I Ching to write The Man In The High Castle, letting the random drawings guide the plot twists. What i’m describing here is just what I do, and I might do something different in the future. I came up with my technique from writing screenplays, and it's based loosely off David Lynch's statement that “If you want to make a feature film, you get ideas for 70 scenes. Put them on 3-by-5 cards. As soon as you have 70, yo...