{"id":186,"date":"2025-11-14T12:39:03","date_gmt":"2025-11-14T12:39:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/curioustalesbooks.com\/?p=186"},"modified":"2025-11-14T12:39:11","modified_gmt":"2025-11-14T12:39:11","slug":"so-you-want-to-be-an-author","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/curioustalesbooks.com\/?p=186","title":{"rendered":"So You Want To Be An Author?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Hi all! Welcome to my first post about the author journey and how to improve your craft naturally using what I call The Step Up Method<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This post covers my journey as a writer and how I leveled up from short stories to a full novel. I\u2019ll talk about the publishing<\/em> side of things in a different article.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Step 1: Short Stories and Flash Fiction<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

When I started writing, the idea of a full novel felt impossible. I had so many ideas and no clue where to begin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So I started small.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I wrote a short story I couldn\u2019t get out of my head and posted it to Reddit. I got a single comment:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

\u201cWow, this is great!\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

That was it. Simple. Small. But it made me feel powerful\u2014like maybe I could<\/em> actually write.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A novel still felt out of reach, so I kept writing more short stories and flash pieces. They were bite-sized, doable, and each one helped me practice characters, pacing, and endings without the pressure of 80,000 words hanging over my head.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eventually, I decided to self-publish a collection of those stories on Amazon. From there, I talked with friends and family, read the (small but very helpful) Amazon reviews, and paid attention to three things:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  • Which stories other people connected with<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Which stories felt like they had more room to grow<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Which stories I genuinely enjoyed writing the most<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    That combination helped me figure out what to expand and what to leave as-is.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n\n\n\n

    Step 2: The Novella<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    I picked June Day<\/strong> first because it was my favorite story\u2014and generally other people\u2019s favorite too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    I gave myself a modest goal: around 30,000 words. That\u2019s a solid novella length. But I didn\u2019t treat it like a hard requirement. It was just a number in the back of my mind:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n

    If I hit it, awesome.
    If not, no big deal.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

    A novella felt smaller and more achievable than a full-length novel. When I finished and published it, I felt on top of the world. I had a complete, self-contained story in a book that I crafted from start to finish.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    It was glorious.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n\n\n\n

    Step 3: The Novel<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    Next, I stepped up again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    This time, I took another short story\u2014The Infinite Man<\/strong>\u2014and decided to expand it into a full novel. I didn\u2019t copy-paste the original story as a first chapter the way I did with June Day<\/em>, but it still gave me the groundwork and core concept for what I wanted to build.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Once again, it felt impossible at first.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    But by then I had already written flash fiction, short stories, and a novella. I\u2019d leveled up in stages. So I treated the novel as just one more step. I kept writing, one scene at a time, and ended up with over 40,000 words.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Could it have been longer? Sure. But I didn\u2019t want to pad it out just to hit a number. Keeping the focus on the core of the story was an artistic choice\u2014and it still counts as a novel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n\n\n\n

    The Step Up Method (Conclusion)<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    So what\u2019s the core idea here?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Step up your writing. Start small.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Flash fiction and short stories are an amazing sandbox. You can:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      \n
    • Test ideas quickly<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • Get feedback without a huge time investment<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • Learn which concepts actually resonate<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • Practice finishing things<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

      Not every story is worth expanding. Not every idea wants to be a novel. But most ideas can become a strong short story if you execute them well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      If you\u2019re just starting out\u2014or if novels feel overwhelming\u2014try this:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        \n
      1. Write flash fiction and short stories.<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n
      2. Expand your favorite one into a novella.<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n
      3. Take the next big idea and step up to a novel.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

        Don\u2019t stress about word counts. Don\u2019t obsess over \u201cperfect.\u201d Just keep growing, one small step at a time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        Keep writing, friends. \ud83d\udc9a\u270d\ufe0f<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

        Hi all! Welcome to my first post about the author journey and how to improve your craft naturally using what I call The Step Up Method. This post covers my journey as a writer and how I leveled up from short stories to a full novel. I\u2019ll talk about the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":187,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_themeisle_gutenberg_block_has_review":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-186","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-writing-tips"],"nelio_content":{"autoShareEndMode":"never","automationSources":{"useCustomSentences":false,"customSentences":[]},"efiAlt":"","efiUrl":"","followers":[2],"highlights":[],"isAutoShareEnabled":true,"networkImageIds":[],"permalinkQueryArgs":[],"series":[],"suggestedReferences":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/curioustalesbooks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/curioustalesbooks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/curioustalesbooks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/curioustalesbooks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/curioustalesbooks.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=186"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/curioustalesbooks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":188,"href":"https:\/\/curioustalesbooks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186\/revisions\/188"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/curioustalesbooks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/187"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/curioustalesbooks.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=186"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/curioustalesbooks.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=186"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/curioustalesbooks.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=186"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}