Boo Walker's Drowning in Words

I have been known to go off about my commitment to and need for preparation. As a working novelist chasing deadlines, I hate when I accidentally go down the wrong direction for too long. I wrote my first book, Lowcountry Punch , in first person, then switched to third, then back again. In the early drafts, the second half of the story took place in Bolivia. Deciding to keep it in Charleston, I tra...

What are we creatives doing here? I often ponder this question, as I examine the balance between writing/creating for ourselves and for our audience. Quentin Tarantino and Taylor Sheridan are exceptional creators because they do it their way, unapologetically, and make movies and TV shows they themselves want to watch. I’m sure Stephen King is the same way. All of their work glows with authenticit...

To be a novelist is to live in a world of external and self-imposed deadlines, whether you’re under the gun with a seven-figure contract like Taylor Jenkins Reid or stabbing out your first attempt on a commute to the city. Deadlines are the difference between a published work and one that hides half-finished under the bed. They are what get the job done, so you better find a way to love them. Drow...

I’m cracking into my new project today, so it’s the perfect time to dive into how to grow your spiffy little story idea into a hundred-thousand-ish-word effort that might stand the test of time. This is my fave part of the process: watering the seeds of a novel, cranking tunes, drawing out mind maps, exploring a billion What-ifs?, free writing, having long conversations with ChatGPT, tearing throu...

Let’s back way up. What are we fiction writers doing here? (Okay, you nonfictionites can come along too.) Why are we here? Are we not cut from the same cloth as jesters in the king’s court, as storytellers standing around a fire, as bards traveling to far-off lands to share their latest tale? You’re damn right we are. We are entertainers! Drowning in Words is a reader-supported publication. To rec...

Beta readers are an essential part of my storytelling; they’re the oxygen of my editing process. I’ve had my team for almost a decade—only adding an additional member when the stars align—and they never fail to take my manuscript to the next level. Before I discuss how I work with them, the result of years of trial and error, let’s back up and discuss the basics. Drowning in Words is a reader-supp...

This is a short story of dazzling entanglement and evidence that the multiverse does indeed conspire to give us creators what we need. If you’re lucky, a story idea not only smacks you in the face, but it settles into you, grows till you have no choice but to bring it to life. That’s happening to me right now. Drowning in Words is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my...

Funny how life works... I was biking around Peaks Island here in Maine while chatting to my wife on the mainland. I told Mikella I wasn't feeling any new story ideas and might take some extended time off, that I needed to wait till something smacked me in the face. I didn't want to write until the words were wild beasts hurling themselves up against the bars of my cage. Drowning in Words is a read...

We might not know the color to paint our literary nursery yet, but we know we want a baby—er, I mean a new story. But forcing it can sometimes throw up blocks. I’m not trying to conjure up images of newly married couples with parental dreams getting a bit too desperate in their lovemaking, but I guess I just did. “Honey, take your pants off!” “But I just…we just—” The militant spouse fires a finge...

It’s been nearly two weeks since I hit my deadline, and I still feel like I’m shaking off a bit of PTSD, but a sense of being totally and utterly alive has come over me. It’s like I’m stripped naked and wandering, raw to the bone, a creative man without a thing he’s creating, my soul bared, the call of the unknown lighting my path. I just finished the new and brilliant documentary about Billy Joel...

I’m all wound up with no place to go. I turned in my W.I.P. (work-in-progress) this week, nailing my deadline despite an army of obstacles to get there. It’s been one of the most challenging books I’ve ever taken on, which means I’ve often had to grind harder than normal, pushing myself to hit my word count and stay on schedule. I can already hear some of you saying I should have stepped away. Sur...

The blank page of a new chapter stared at me like a grizzled gunslinger holding a hand over his six-shooter. My fingers trembled over the keyboard. Never had I wanted to help my in-laws with their printer issues more in my life. Or go to Costco. Anything but start my Pomodoro timer and leap into the unknown. Drowning in Words is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my w...

It’s hard to define which draft you’re working with once you’ve type “The End” for the first time while creating a novel. I’ll ram my head into the wall if you insist that it’s the first draft, because there are giant chunks of my manuscripts that I’ve deleted, changed, hacked, and re-worked ten times before I arrived at a completed draft. Does that make it the tenth? Drowning in Words is a reader...

Lots of monsters in my head earlier in the week. I had a proper breakdown. Just ask my wife. I told her that this was it, the book that would kill me. Nothing was making sense. I didn’t believe my characters’ actions, and even worse, the ending I’d planned for over two years now, the one gifted to me by my muse and a major reason I felt inspired to write the book in the first place, wasn’t making...