Writing A Book Knowing It’s Not The Best Sucks

But I’m continuing writing nevertheless because my story deserves a chance.

“Freida McFadden surely didn’t complete her story in a day.”

I’m working on a thriller. 

The underlying theme is rich people taking advantage of the poor, and the poor finally having enough and planning a full-blown revenge.

When I put it that way, you might think I’m doing an amazing job, and that my book’s going to turn out great.

But currently, I’m barely past the ideation and outlining stage. Some characters are showing potential, but mostly, it’s a mess.

The outline is in shambles and I’m not able to come up with convincing scenes or build enough drama to keep the reader hooked.

In other words, it’s so bad, that I want to quit.

The only thing keeping me going is the thought above — “Freida McFadden surely didn’t complete her story in a day.”

You see, aside from writing thrillers, I’m a huge fan of reading them too. And one of my biggest motivations is American author Freida McFadden, the name behind bestselling titles like The Handmaid’s Secret, The Teacher, The Perfect Son, and so on.

McFadden’s stories are simple, yet so hooking, they want you to keep reading more. The twist in the end is always layered in multiple secrets, and often better than anything I could’ve guessed. The characters have detailed backstories and their motivations for doing whatever the plot requires them to do sounds believable.

There are more reasons, but this sums up what makes every McFadden book click with the audiences.

She’s my inspiration and the reason I decided to dabble in the thriller genre. I’ve studied her books with a critical eye and tried to reverse engineer what works, so I can apply that to my stories as well.

So far, it’s going good, but bouts of despair like I mentioned at the start of this article are common. I get some brilliant idea, start fitting it with my story, give my characters some backstory detail, and bam, the voice inside my head starts telling me this is no good, and will never be worthy of publishing.

Then I tell myself even Freida McFadden’s first draft must suck. I haven’t read any of her interviews to confirm, but I’m sure she goes through the story multiple times in her head, adding more drama, detailing the backstories a bit more, and making it juicier for the readers to sink their teeth into. 

I’m sure she doesn’t come up with a bestselling story in a few days.