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I Wrote a Book. I WROTE A BOOK. How did I do that?

2018-01-26 · letter vlog · Hank · 3:47 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Books & writing · mode: Personal essay · tags: self promotion

From an independent booksellers' event in Memphis, Hank says what he really wanted was for people to read a book he wrote, and explains what finally got his novel finished: a character he cared about, scenes he needed people to know, and things to say about the internet, fame and power that wouldn't fit a four-minute video.

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — Hotel-room floor in Memphis at an event for independent booksellers; the book has a release date

  • ★★ Hank is sitting on a hotel-room floor in Memphis, Tennessee, at an event for people who run and own independent bookstores; it has been fascinating. — 00:00:01
  • ★★★ Hank is there basically to get booksellers to like his book, which they cannot read yet but which now has a release date: September 25th. (hedged) — 00:00:12 · An Absolutely Remarkable Thing

00:00:21 — Wanting people to read his book rather than wanting to write one; the character, the scenes and the things to say that got the novel finished; sign-off

  • ★★★ Hank says 'I've always wanted to write a book' is a lie: more accurately, for a long time he has wanted people to read a book he wrote. — 00:00:21

    “I, for a long time, have wanted people to read a book that I wrote”

  • ★★★ Hank thinks this is because books have an outsized impact on him: other media do too, but most creations that deeply changed how he sees the world were books. (hedged) — 00:00:30

  • ★★ Losing yourself in a book is a cliché but profound: Hank knows the world disappearing and the words turning into a virtual-reality experience in his mind. — 00:00:45
  • ★★ Imagining he could do that to someone else was mostly the hubris of youth: you see something amazing and want to have had it happen, not to do the work. — 00:01:03
  • ★★ Hank has written a lot, mostly nonfiction: hundreds of thousands of words of essays turned into video blogs and probably over 100,000 words of tweets. (hedged) — 00:01:16
  • ★★ Hank started and abandoned fiction projects several times, until things fit together and he knew this one would get finished, like a moment in songwriting. — 00:01:28
  • ★★★ First, he found a character, then others, he cared about deeply and needed to know her story; there was no way to finish reading it without writing it. — 00:01:48
  • ★★ Second, he found scenes, moments in her life so bizarre and wrenching that he needed other people to know about them. — 00:02:04
  • ★★★ The book kept stalling until a third thing pushed him to the end: things he wanted to say and was qualified to talk about that wouldn't fit in a four-minute video. — 00:02:19
  • ★★★ One of those things is how the internet radicalizes us. — 00:02:39
  • ★★★ Another is how destructive and dehumanizing fame is. — 00:02:41 · celebrity
  • ★★★ Another is how intense, overwhelming and crippling the responsibility that comes with power can be. — 00:02:45
  • ★★★ And having power makes you want to use your power to get more power. — 00:02:53
  • ★★ That, plus knowing agents and publishers would read the book because he is John Green's brother (thanks, John), is how he wrote it over and over until it was done. (playful, hedged) — 00:02:56 · John Green
  • ★★ Hank is pleased, honored and proud to have the book in the real world, feels very lucky, and thanks John for his support and kind words about it. — 00:03:09 · John Green

00:03:21 — Quick answers: pre-orders, countries, languages, signed copies, audiobook

In the description and comments

  • ★★ In the description Hank says the video is less about how to write a book than about finding motivation, which for him mattered more. (hedged) — video description
  • ★★ Hank fully recognizes that writing a book is much easier when you needn't worry whether a publisher or agent will read it and have published-author friends to help revise and vouch for you; he thanks Patrick Rothfuss for that. — video description
  • ★★ Hank says things are easier to do if you see the path and understand where you might fit in. — video description

Threads in this video

Where the stories that moved here went next

Mentioned

Central: An Absolutely Remarkable Thing

Also: Concepts: celebrity · independent bookstore · literary agent · radicalization · virtual reality

Places: Australia · Canada · Memphis, Tennessee · United Kingdom · United States

Only in the description or credits: Patrick Rothfuss

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