8 Things I Wish I Knew When I was Writing my First Novel

2019-06-07 · list · Hank · 3:59 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Books & writing · mode: Advice & reviews · tags: self promotion

While writing the sequel to his first novel, Hank lists eight things he wishes he had known when writing it: love the characters, keep a weekly minimum, count thinking as writing, give it time, log changes instead of retconning, let characters lead, write out of order, and use one's own expertise.

What is said

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

00:00:00 — Translations of An Absolutely Remarkable Thing, work on the sequel, and the premise of the list

• ★★ Hank shows the editions of his book in all the languages it has been published in so far, calling them the coolest thing he owns. — 00:00:00 · An Absolutely Remarkable Thing
• ★★ Hank says his book will have a sequel he is working on, which led him to list, with Twitter questions, what he wishes he had known writing his first book. — 00:00:00 · A Beautifully Foolish Endeavor, An Absolutely Remarkable Thing, Twitter

00:00:29 — Eight things Hank wishes he had known when writing his first novel

• ★★★ Thing one: Hank started with plot and was wrong; he could only get deep into the book once he loved his characters like friends; his tip is to fall in love with them. — 00:00:29
• ★★★ Thing two: Hank has no writing schedule, but if he writes fewer than a thousand words a week the story leaves his brain and restarting becomes a whole process. — 00:00:51
• ★★ Thing three: not all writing is writing; thinking, researching, stressing and rereading count; focusing on word count yields words, focusing on story yields story. — 00:01:20
• ★★ Thing four: nothing but time writes a book; it takes at least hundreds of hours, and without spending them it does not get done. — 00:01:20
• ★★ Thing five: plotting is constant retcon; on the first book he went back to fix things at once, which broke his flow, so for the second he keeps a 'Things to Change' folder for revision. — 00:01:53
• ★★ Thing six: the characters have to be in control; if Hank controls them they are not real and will not feel real. — 00:02:22
• ★★ Thing seven: you don't have to write linearly; Hank now writes a scene he is excited about even if it comes late, and earlier writing then meshes better with it. — 00:02:22
• ★★ Hank says big scenes sometimes turn out not to work, so writing them early tells him whether his important scenes work before he reaches them. — 00:02:52
• ★★ Thing eight: use your expertise and passions; Hank, who has made about a thousand nonfiction video essays and knows social media, found that deeply enabling, unlike his earlier failed attempts at books. — 00:02:52

00:03:29 — Soccer-novel jab at John, sequel status, longer Q&A on Hank's channel, discounted Life's Library book boxes

• ★ Hank thanks John for the years of practice and jokes that his advice to John would be to write a soccer novel. (playful) — 00:03:29 · John Green
• ★ Hank has no news on the sequel but is working on it; a very long video on Hank's channel answers many more writing questions from Twitter. — 00:03:29 · A Beautifully Foolish Endeavor, hankschannel, Twitter
• ★ Hank says the book box is from Life's Library; extra boxes made for replacements are being released at a discount on DFTBA.com. — 00:03:29 · DFTBA Records

In the description and comments

• ★★ The description says the second book has been easier for Hank than the first, unusually, partly because its characters already existed. — video description · A Beautifully Foolish Endeavor

Threads in this video

• milestone · An Absolutely Remarkable Thing: announcement and publication of Hank's first novel (2017) — Hank shows the editions of his book in all the languages it has been published in so far, calling them the coolest thing he owns. (00:00:00)
• retold · Hank writes An Absolutely Remarkable Thing, his first novel (2014) — Hank says his book will have a sequel he is working on, which led him to list, with Twitter questions, what he wishes he had known writing his first book. (00:00:00)
• milestone · A Beautifully Foolish Endeavor: Hank's sequel to An Absolutely Remarkable Thing (2018) — Hank says his book will have a sequel he is working on, which led him to list, with Twitter questions, what he wishes he had known writing his first book. (00:00:00)

Where the stories that moved here went next

• An Absolutely Remarkable Thing: announcement and publication of Hank's first novel (2017) — completed; last: looked back, 2025-12-09
• A Beautifully Foolish Endeavor: Hank's sequel to An Absolutely Remarkable Thing (2018) — completed; last: milestone, 2021-07-16

Mentioned

Central: A Beautifully Foolish Endeavor

Also: An Absolutely Remarkable Thing · DFTBA Records · hankschannel · Life's Library · Twitter

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