How Writing a Fiction Book is Helping Me as a Creative Strategist
I finished writing a fiction book. Phew, it’s so easy to say that right now. It took me 5 years to finish the first draft and wasn’t an easy process. After all, everyone would be an author if it’d be that easy, right? Writing is my passion. I wrote articles for marketing and technology magazines in addition to my professional blog posts about advertising, digital marketing and social media. But, writing a (fiction) novel isn’t an easy process and naturally, it’s not like writing a blog post or magazine article.
I worked on the main story for 1.5 years and learned how to create a process from the hard way. I said I finished writing it but even if I say that, I still keep working on it. Sometimes it’s about a prequel story, sometimes about the fine-tuning the existing copy, sometimes just taking a walk on the streets of cities under the rain and sometimes watching the characters having beer and wine at the Great Inn. I’m not done with it and I don’t know why but part of me doesn’t want to be done with it. I believe it’s because it’s helping me a lot in my day job. By the way, if you don’t know how to create a strategy, you can read my previous post about it. It’s a really simple method yet very effective.
The whole story takes place in an imaginary world. I don’t want to call it a fantasy genre since we don’t have magic, dragons, advanced weapons and flying ladies. But it’s a fantasy and adventure story due to its nature. It has its own kingdom, cities, characters, history and setting with some references from the real world. I won’t spoil anything here and will call it Project Light.
Project Light is still helping me as a strategist to make my professional and private lives easier and better. Thanks to the discipline it provides me, I feel more confident while working on briefs and brand strategies, etc. It also helps me be a better person in terms of time management and staying organized. Let’s talk more about how it helps me.
1. It helps me think more, better and clearly
Creating a story with an imaginary world and history needs a lot of thinking, of course. It all started with an idea as usual and my very first mistake was starting to draft something out without creating the actual setting and thinking more about it. In that very first moment, I remember that I only knew the lead character’s name, his appearance and his profession. I also knew that my book would start with an assassination. I started writing stuff without thinking more and when I was on page 3, I got stuck. I knew something wasn’t right and that wasn’t the way to do it. With the excitement of that moment, I didn’t realize that. Then, I started thinking more, better and clearly on the plot, setting and characters. I knew there’d be a conflict inside the story and between the characters. Then I created a timeline and started working on it. One day I was thinking about the king’s city and the other day I was watching the farmers. Another day I was visiting the temple city and hearing the prayers. Then I was going back to the harbor city to see the ships. Elite guards were wandering around and children were playing next to the marketplace. Meanwhile, my lead character was having fun inside the Great Inn by having wine after a few days of riding through the Iron Forest. The more I thought about it, the more things started to be clear and easier to solve. After seeing the whole picture, I was able to add a few twists and had to make some decisions to let some people live or die. As a creative strategist, I also think about the brief, client, market, competitors just like the setting and the characters. My lead character is the client and of course, there are other characters to deal with. Market and the industry are that imaginary world to create your story strategy-wise. The story is what you want to write in it.
2. It makes me ask more questions and fill in the gaps
When I was stuck on page 3 in the first chapter, I realized that I had to ask more questions and fill in the gaps. What just happened? What’s the conflict? How will the story unfold? Why did that guy kill the most influential person in the kingdom? Which cities does this kingdom have? Who are the characters? Why is she doing that while he acts like a child? What are the elements of surprise? What’s the religious belief of this kingdom? Do they have their own Bible? Who manages each city? What are the names? How can he solve the assassination? What real-world references will I use? The more questions I started to ask, the more gaps I had to fill. That’s the same thing for the briefs. Don’t be afraid of asking questions. Otherwise, you’ll think that you know everything but you won’t. Instead, ask questions and get answers about the brief, client, competitors, market and case studies. You’ll see what you’re missing and fill the gaps easily.
3. It gives me more angles to look from
Being the owner of the story gives you the freedom to play with everything as you wish. I had to make some decisions to proceed with the story and these decisions were good and bad depending on the angle and the situation. When one character was thinking about it that way, the other one was thinking the other way. I was able to look at events from different angles. To create a strategy, you have to see the other angles. Otherwise, you may not create a difference with the output and strategic imperatives. Being in the shoes of the character or a client will provide you different angles if you know where to look from.
4. It makes me a more organized and confident person
I spent 5 years of my life for a story. After finishing the first draft, I felt relieved and had more confidence as the owner of that story. I had something to tell and finally, I was able to finish it (in a way). Now was the time to talk to the editors and publishers for the next steps. But before that step, I was more organized because I knew that my characters were waiting for me there. In my private and professional lives, I hate to make people wait and try not to get late to anywhere (Sometimes Manhattan’s traffic and MTA may not be that helpful though). Knowing that I was trying to meet with my characters in their own worlds to complete the story. I was working long hours back then and sometimes it was really a pain in the neck to go back to that state of mind but I had to do it. Then I did it. By doing it, I was also trying to be very careful with my deadlines and to-do lists. I was checking boxes both in my private and professional lives and getting things done thanks to that state of mind. After a while, I gained more confidence and was doing great in terms of time management and being organized.
5. It helps me be a better storyteller
Literally, I was being a storyteller by creating my own world. Knowing what to put where, making up characters and events and checking what’ll happen next really helped me about that. With that flow, plot, twists and the setting, I’m still learning to be a better storyteller. I don’t call myself a “Storyteller” title-wise but this is what we do in our day job as well. It’s really important to tell a story during a meeting and presentation and impress people in the room or Zoom. Working on that story is still helping me improve my storytelling skills.
Conclusion
Even working on a story, plot, blog post or a book idea can help you hone your skills as a creative strategist or professional. Thanks to my fiction book, I’m really happy to see how it helps me to improve my skills and sharpen my view as a creative strategist. I shared my very own experience and believe it may be helpful to give you more insights, a different point of view and new reasons to ask questions. Please share your thoughts if you have a similar experience.
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