The Easiest Part of a Book to Write

post by Michelle Griep

I’m rounding third base and nearing home on my latest manuscript. Just five more scenes to write and voila. Finished rough draft. It’s been a trip, I tell ya. Lots of tears. Some blood. A canker sore or two. But bruised and battered, I shall prevail. Want to know what the easiest part to write was? 

You may think it was the Beginning.

But nope, you’d be wrong. Way too much pressure. An author has about ten seconds to grab the reader by the throat and yank his soul into his created story world. Who needs that kind of stress? Not me. Great beginnings are super hard to write

So it must be the middle that's a breeze to pen, right?

No way. It takes a skilled hand to keep the story moving forward in the middle of Sloggsville. This is the most dangerous part for a writer to create because he’s got to keep the action going . . . but not too much.

The climax. It’s got to be the climax then, eh?

Unh-unh. This is the pinnacle. The heights to which you’ve lugged your reader and are now about to throw him off the edge. That takes careful wordsmithery, my friends. Evoking strong emotion without making the reader want to overdose and end it all is freakishly difficult.

Aha! So the end is the easiest to write.

In a word, no, this is not an easy portion to write. Why? Because of the looming cloud of doubt shadowing every word. Did you tie up all the loose ends? Is this a satisfying finish? You suddenly wonder why your story is in a handbasket and where it’s going.

That leaves only one little part that never—ever—breaks a sweat on an author’s brow. The easiest part of a book to write is . . .  drum roll please . . . the author’s name.