Formula of Book Writing

The cover of Winter Break, a book published by Aaria Newatia

Writing a book seems like an impossible task, sitting there for endless hours, making sure all pieces of a story blend together perfectly. When I wrote my first book it took me one whole summer, which doesn’t seem like a lot of time, but here is why. The perfect formula to completing a book in a short period of time is:

 (time+imagination) * drive. 

Everyone has 24 hours in a day. The most successful people don’t have more than that, so why does it seem like we don’t have enough time? We feel like this because we are not able to manage our time efficiently. The way you plan your day and structure your daily activities is the first step to success. If you plan strategically then you can get more done than you think. Like instead of coming home from school and looking at the same instagram posts, or tik toks, spend that time on a goal you have set for yourself. This applies to book writing because if you spend an hour each day writing a couple of pages, it all adds up. We add imagination to this equation because without imagination those pages don’t matter. Without the ability to write your way into a new world, it will be hard for you to draw the reader's attention. There is a reason that we restrain from reading a history book, but are more drawn to reading a fictional story. This is because in the fictional one we are amused by twists and turns, unlike a historical text. 

The last thing you need to do is multiply drive to all of that. I say this because having a lot of time and imagination means absolutely nothing if you don’t have the motivation to follow through. When you multiply drive to both time and imagination you can do almost anything. I am not saying this in an unrealistic way, I am saying this because we test it in our everyday lives. For example, if you have an hour after school to finish your homework, and you have three assignments due, you have an idea what you want to do for the assignments, but then you sit on your phone scrolling through tik tok. You had the time, you had the image of what you wanted to do to complete those assignments, but you didn’t have enough drive to finish them. This same thing applies to writing a book. If you have an idea and the time, but you don’t have the drive and grit to follow through then you will go nowhere. 

SAYVA has been a big component of the drive aspect for me. Being surrounded by other accomplished people in my community has made me driven to achieve goals of my own. I am able to be in an environment with kids and adults who have experience in many fields that have to do with publishing books, and are always open to help. This formula is not only applied to the art of book writing, but also to life. If you can use this in your daily life, you are guaranteed success.