I’m Grayson Taylor, an author and filmmaker. In this post, I’m going to be answering all your questions—or most of them, at least.
So, I’ve sorted these questions into a few different areas. The first of these is about my creative process.
My Creative Process
What inspired you to start writing, and what are your favorite genres to read or write?
I read a lot of fantasy books when I was younger, so that’s mostly what influenced my early writing. My first several novels and a lot of the short stories I wrote when I was younger were fantasy or a blend of sci-fi and fantasy. My favorite genres to read or write sort of have shifted over time, so nowadays, I primarily enjoy writing mystery and sci-fi.
My first novel was inspired by this book, so I wrote my first novel, which was a fantasy book called The Magnet, when I was seven. I’d written several short stories and comic books and shorter chapter books when I was even younger, but when I was seven, I wrote my first full-length, 50,000-plus-word novel. But that book was primarily inspired by this image from this book, which is a series of black and white illustrations with just brief captions. This book was given to me by an author and publisher named Daniel Nayeri, so big thanks to him for quite possibly setting me on the path I’m on now.
I’m going to be making a longer video all about how I wrote my first novel in the near future.
What makes you motivated to do this work?
With my fiction writing, I think I write primarily to explore questions that matter to me and mysteries that fascinate me. Fiction is a powerful lens through which we can look at our own world. For me, writing has been a way to engage with and tackle these larger-than-life questions, questions of death and meaning and identity. These things can be sort of hard to wrap your head around in the abstract, so pulling those themes into the context of a story and trying to explore all the facets of these different issues through fictional characters and fictional worlds, I find that fulfilling in a sense. And I’m not necessarily writing to find an answer or come to a conclusion on a specific question. It’s more about the journey than anything else.
As for why I make videos, part of that is just because I want to share lessons I’ve learned and I’m still learning about writing and publishing. And it’s also a way to sort of express my passion for filmmaking. I’ve made short films in the past, but right now, I’m working more on applying those skills to making videos like these.
I’ve got a few more questions about motivation, like how do you keep yourself motivated to continue writing every day, and how not to lose motivation when you’re writing or editing? There’s also a related question of have you ever been burnt out from writing? So, I’m going to attempt to answer all of those in one fell swoop.
So, I don’t write fiction every day. I would love it if I did, but I’m still working on making it a habit. I do journal every day, so at least there’s some writing getting done. But what keeps me motivated when working on a project tends to be the same thing that got me excited to work on it in the first place. It’s exploring the central question at the heart of the story, or it’s the characters or the world that I just really enjoy writing about. There are times when I do sort of have to force myself to work on something, but more often than not, it just sort of comes naturally. And I don’t think I’ve ever been burnt out from writing because writing actually gives me energy and gives me the motivation to write more. What has happened is I’ll often take a break from writing, and that will just kill my momentum and make it way harder to continue writing. So, if anything, I tend to feel more burned out creatively when I’m not writing. There’s this weird thing about creativity, and I don’t know if this is true for everyone, but I found it to be pretty true for myself, that the more I create, the more energy I have to create. So, thankfully, I’ve never really experienced burnout from writing itself. Quite the opposite, in fact.
How long does it usually take to create a book?
There’s a big range in terms of how long it takes me to write a book. Typically, it’s around a year, and that’s just for writing the first draft. But depending on the length of the book or sometimes more importantly the content of the book, it can take a much shorter time or a much longer time. Back in 2018, I wrote my longest book ever up to that point. It was around 130,000 words, which is like 40,000 words longer than my previous longest. And that book only took four months to write. I think it really helped that that was the second book in a trilogy, so a lot of the setup had already been done. But the third book in that same trilogy took over a year to write. And Catalyst of Control, my ninth novel, I’ve been working on that for almost four years, which is insane. To be fair, I have written other books since I started working on that, but that’s definitely on the extreme end of the spectrum.
What was the hardest part of your writing process?
The hardest part of the writing process for me tends to be the middle of the book. There’s a lot of momentum when you’re starting to write a book, and it’s sort of the same with the ending, where the finish line is in sight. But the middle can just feel interminable. So that’s probably the hardest part.
What video editing software or app do you use to edit your videos?
I use Final Cut Pro. I got that back in 2019 for my film The Nature of Reality, which needed a lot of effects and fancy editing techniques that iMovie couldn’t provide. Prior to 2019, I edited everything in iMovie, but since then, everything is done in Final Cut. I also use Motion, which is sort of like a companion app to Final Cut; that’s for making more advanced titles and effects. Motion is what I used to create the intro title sequence to the Publishing Project series.
When was the point when you just said, “I need to write this”? When was when you truly knew you wanted to be a writer?
Both in terms of the desire to write a specific story and in terms of the desire to become a writer, they both happened pretty gradually. I mean, I’ve been writing for almost as long as I can remember. I’m not sure there was ever a specific point when I thought, “Aha, I want to be a writer.” It’s more like something that just happened naturally over time. And that tends to be the case with my book ideas as well. They often start out pretty small, like just one isolated concept, and then grow into something much bigger and more exciting.
Have you ever written or thought about writing a script for a story in order to play a character in it?
So, I’ve made quite a few short films, and I’ve acted in almost all of them. So I’ve written quite a few parts for myself before. In fact, I’ve made a few short film adaptations of some of my short stories and a couple of my novels, or at least attempted to. I didn’t finish all of them.
What are you doing to take care of yourself in the first stirrings of things taking off in your own creative practice?
I mean, honestly, not that much has changed. The only new change I’m trying to make is instituting some sort of office hours thing, where I only reply to comments or check analytics at certain hours of the day. Because if I’m not careful, I can end up checking those things sporadically, and that breaks up my work on my larger, more important projects.
Do you ever read one of your books, which you thought was great, and think, “Wow, this seriously sucks”?
I kind of used to do that more. Looking back at my old works critically, nowadays I just see them more as entertaining than anything else. I mean, of course, by almost any objective standard, most of what I wrote when I was younger does suck. But I think it’s important to look at the bright side of that and recognize how it shows how far you’ve come as a writer. I’d like to think that what I wrote when I was seven pales in comparison to what I can do now. And it definitely does.
What’s one phrase that you’ve written that you’ve always loved or are the most proud of?
Nothing particular comes to mind at the moment, but I do always love it when I’m reading back over something I’ve written and I just notice this particular phrase that I really love. I think I’ve definitely gotten better at that over the years, just adding quotable lines or more poetic descriptions. Of course, obviously, you can go overboard with that. But for every project I write nowadays, I have a document where I store little bits of dialogue or pieces of description that I want to use later in the story. So if a line just pops into my head, I’ll write it down there and use it later. I also do that with quotes from other people or other books that I might want to include in the story somehow.
How do you put together the structure of your story?
That depends on the complexity of the story. Like, if I’m writing a mystery, I’ll do a lot more outlining for that than I would for an action-adventure story. Nowadays, I primarily use the “Save the Cat” beat sheet when outlining my story. I often use that in conjunction with other kinds of story structures like the three-act story structure. For Catalyst of Control, I think I’ve plotted the story with like four or five different outlining structures. So find what story structure works for you or your specific story. You can combine different elements from different outlining methods or just use multiple outlines like I do to create a more comprehensive overview of your plot.
What are you working on right now writing-wise?
So right now, I’m working on revising a mystery novella called A Rogue Game. I originally wrote that in 2021, but I’m writing a new edition now, which will be published pretty soon. And then I’m writing Catalyst of Control, which is my ninth novel. That’s a dark sci-fi epic about the development of quantum mind control. If you want to learn more about either of those, there are links in the description.
When you were writing your very first book, did you think you could make it a full-time career?
When I was younger, I don’t think I really thought of writing as a potential career path. I was really just writing for fun, and in a sense, that’s still why I do it. The possibility of turning writing into a career is more of an ancillary benefit.
Why erase everything you’ve worked so hard for?
This is in reference to unpublishing all 10 of my books from the internet, which I made a video about.
So, I explained some of my motivations for unpublishing those books in the video itself. But ultimately, I just wanted a fresh start. Those books are very much still around; you can get access to them by becoming a patron if you want. I’m very grateful that I wrote those books because I wouldn’t be the writer I am today without them. But they don’t quite meet my standards nowadays. And while I definitely do think there’s a lot of value in leaving up your older work so people can see how you got to where you are today—for instance, that’s why I’ve never taken down, nor do I think I ever will, any of my older videos on YouTube—these books were just kind of getting on my nerves. I just felt like those older books weren’t a great representation of what I can do as a writer. I still like them; I still love some of them, actually. But I didn’t feel they lived up to their potential. This was mostly because I rushed the publication process; I didn’t do enough editing or work on the presentation or marketing of the books. A few of those books I unpublished, I’m pretty sure, will get republished in the future.
After writing a particular thing, editing then reading it feels lackluster. I never find the vibe I wanted to give in that work, I guess. How do you tackle the dissatisfaction loop and avoid stashing pieces in the “to work on later” abyss?
I think the key here for me is just finishing things, and then moving on. There’s a famous quote along the lines of “a work of art is never finished, only abandoned.” So at a certain point, you just have to recognize, like, okay, maybe this can get marginally better if I work on it way more. But what’s going to help me a lot more as a writer is just finishing this project and then moving on to the next one. And sure, you might be dissatisfied with the end product, but I think finishing it and moving on to the next thing is essential because the more projects you produce, the greater likelihood one of them will be great.
All right, moving on to the personal section.
Personal
How old are you?
I’m 18, or 18 and a half, as of a few days ago.
How are you?
I’m doing pretty well, thanks. How are you?
When and why did you move to New York, and what is it like living there?
I was born and raised in New York, so I’ve been here my whole life. It’s a pretty cool place to grow up. I was homeschooled all through high school, so I’ve gotten to have classes at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the American Museum of Natural History. Not to mention Broadway and all the other cultural institutions here. There’s just so much going on, and I think it’s a really inspiring place to be as a creative person.
If you could go back and read one book for the first time again, what would it be?
My favorite books leave me with this sort of feeling where I just have to sit with it for a moment and process what just happened. That can be for a variety of reasons; maybe it goes to some really deep philosophical places or it resonates emotionally somehow. And while experiencing that in a book for the first time is sort of magical, I’m not sure I would want to go back in time or erase my memory so I could read it again for the first time. I think I’d rather read a book like that for a second time so I can understand it more deeply.
Have you read The Giver, or would you like to read it?
I have read The Giver, and I liked it a lot. I also read a spin-off book in the same universe, I think, which was also good.
What is your favorite book?
I don’t know. Some books I’ve read recently that I really liked were Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, which is the book that the Blade Runner films were based off of. Les Misérables is also a great book that I finally finished in the last year or two. But I’d say my writing is primarily influenced by films, Christopher Nolan films, things like that, although obviously, my prose and writing style have been influenced by books.
Do you enjoy the dystopian genre?
I enjoy it when it’s done well. I’ve read some dystopian books that I really like, like Fahrenheit 451 and the Hunger Games series. But I’ve also read some dystopian stories that I just did not like at all. I could say that for any genre, I suppose, but I think I’m especially selective with dystopian. I’ve written a trilogy of novels in the dystopian genre, and Catalyst of Control is sort of dystopian. It’s more sci-fi than dystopian, but I do enjoy all the thematic potential with writing a dystopian story. It’s a great genre to tackle big societal issues and questions about freedom and control.
What is the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow?
I believe that’s around 20.1 mph.
All right, moving on to some writing tips-related questions.
Writing Tips
So, I got a question about how to create immersion.
I think the key to creating immersion in a story is to give a sense of depth. Star Wars is a great example of this. There are all these background characters with their own lives and fascinating histories. There are creatures and worlds and pieces of technology that show up for only a moment, but they hint at a much larger, richer universe. So if you can drop little details like that throughout your story, that’ll help your reader sense that there’s a much larger world beyond your main character.
So say I’m struggling to write emotional dialogue. What would be the best way to hit the mark with it?
I find it helpful to just put myself in the shoes of the character I’m writing about. Part of that may have to do with the fact that I was an actor for over a decade, I don’t know. Of course, you have to be careful not to impose your own thoughts and perspective too much. You’re just trying to find the emotional core of that character and what they would authentically say in that moment. Especially in emotional scenes, less is more. A lot of my earlier works got really melodramatic when it came to the emotional stuff. It would have been better if I’d been a little sparer with the dialogue.
If I write four stories interconnected based in the same world, can they have the same undertone, or would that be repetitive?
So I suppose this can be interpreted either as undertone in terms of theme or in terms of the style and tone. I try to make every book in a series I write distinct, so I want it to have its own unique feel and atmosphere and even color scheme. But that’s not necessary in all cases. I do think it can be beneficial to try to make each story distinct from the last. And you can have a thematic core that runs through all the stories, but maybe each story takes a different perspective on that theme. Maybe you introduce new characters or world-building elements that set each story apart from the last. And generally, books in a series should be escalating in tension and stakes. So obviously, there should be some consistency in books in a series, but I think it can be helpful to have some factors that differentiate each one.
So, I got a question here about having multiple story ideas and whether it’s important to focus on and finish one story at a time.
I’d say finishing a project is the most important part of the creative process. I think finishing a single project will teach you a lot more than starting and never finishing 10 different projects. In terms of how you can narrow down your ideas, I’d say just figure out which one excites you most. You can often tell which one this is by how many other ideas that sparks. So if you’ve got an idea for a story and you keep on getting new ideas for that same story, that’s probably the one you should focus on writing.
Got any advice for poetry writing?
I have written some poetry, but it’s been quite a while, so I don’t really have any writing advice for poetry specifically. But I might be making a video about poetry from a more exploratory angle in the near future.
Can you tell me what I should add to bring my character to life to make him likable?
I think one thing that can help is adding specific traits and quirks that humanize them. You know, a cardboard cutout isn’t very likable. So the more you can flesh out your character and give them likes and dislikes and habits and mannerisms, the more realistic—and hopefully likable—they’ll be. And if you really want to make sure your readers are on your character’s side, you can use a “Save the Cat” story beat.
I’m still writing my first draft, but somehow I feel like the genre I’m writing in is not my type. Can you suggest some ways one can choose a genre they really want to write?
The genre you’ll most enjoy writing is probably the genre you most enjoy consuming. So, think about your favorite books and films and TV shows. What genres are those? Or are there specific elements, perhaps across different genres, that you’re really drawn to?
Got a question here about world-building and how to find a balance between sharing a lot of details about your world and avoiding too much unnecessary information.
I think when it comes to sharing details about your world, a lot of that comes down to personal style. So, think about your favorite books and how they build their worlds. Do you like it when an author goes on a tangent about a specific detail from their world? If you do, great—you can write that sort of thing. If you prefer a more minimalistic style of writing where only the necessary details are revealed as they become relevant, then write that way.
Is it better to have a plan when writing or to just write and let the story go where it goes?
Like I mentioned earlier, I think it’s sort of story-dependent. I would never write a murder mystery without heavily planning it out beforehand, but some stories are a lot looser and probably shouldn’t stick to such a strict outline. I’d suggest you experiment and find whether you prefer heavily planning or not planning at all. You might find that some sort of middle ground works best.
How do you find reliable data for your research that is at least mostly accurate?
I treat research for books much like I would research for a paper. So, you find reputable sources. Ideally, you can find more than one source to back up a specific piece of information. You can look up the best online resources for your area of research. Wikipedia is a fine place to start, but you’re probably going to want to go in a little more depth. Books, of course—if you can get books from your local library, that can be helpful. You don’t have to cite your sources at the end of a book like you would with a paper, but it is helpful to keep a record of your research just for yourself.
All right, now moving on to some questions about publishing and career advice.
Publishing and Career Advice
As a career, does publishing books return a sufficient salary, or should I get an extra job?
There’s another question along the same lines: In this modern age, is writing a suitable career option?
There are a lot of ways to make a career out of writing or publishing, but there are probably just as many, if not more, ways to fail at making a career out of it. I’m probably not the best person to give career advice since I’m 18 years old and haven’t had much of a traditional career, but I’d say the most important principles overall are perseverance and always keeping an eye out for opportunities. If you want a predictable salary, you should probably try getting a job in the publishing industry or as a writer somewhere. Of course, you can make a living as a freelance writer or a self-publisher—that’s more difficult in some ways and less financially stable. So, it sort of depends on where you’re at in life and how much risk you can afford to take. If you want to be a full-time writer, it’s probably going to take a while to get to that point. I’ve recently been reading a book called Scratch. It’s a collection of essays by a lot of different authors about how they got to where they are in their publishing and writing journeys. It’s interesting to see how many different routes these authors took to get to where they are now. I’d say it’s also good to develop skills outside of writing. Like, I’m an author, but I’m also a filmmaker and a publisher, and I’ve made videos and music and a podcast—all sorts of things. Branching out and getting experience in different areas can even help your writing. It gives you more material to work with in your stories, and it also makes you a more skilled, multifaceted, and interesting person.
Can AI be a threat to writers? Should I really continue my path in that way, or will I get replaced by AI?
So, I’ve made a couple of videos about AI, and in short, I think it’ll pose some interesting challenges to the publishing industry, but my hope is that it will have an overall positive impact on what human artists are able to do. It’s kind of too early to say with any certainty what exactly will happen with AI and writing, but I laid out four potential possibilities for the future and also my thoughts on how to best respond to AI in a recent video that I’ll link down below.
What’s your best advice for a first-time writer who’s looking into publishing? Is it better to self-publish? How do you find a publisher when you have zero experience?
And there’s a similar question here: Since you got self-published, can you tell me about how you managed to make that happen? And is self-publishing better than approaching a publisher?
There are pros and cons to both publishing traditionally and self-publishing. I haven’t had much experience with traditional publishing—I’ve never submitted to a publisher. Which route you go with depends on your own personal preferences. If you want more creative control, self-publishing is definitely the way to go. If you want to just write the book and let other people handle the rest of the process, then traditional publishing is probably what you’ll want. And while you can, in theory, reach more readers and make more money with traditional publishing, you might actually be able to make a lot more money with self-publishing. It just depends on how much you’re willing to invest in learning the skills necessary to do that process, or whether you can outsource some of that stuff to other people who are more skilled at it. If you want to go down the traditional publishing route, you’ll probably need an agent. That agent can hopefully find an editor at a publishing company who’s interested in your book. But the choice between the two—I mean, I can make a whole video about that.
How the heck do you publish and edit a book?
There’s so much that goes into it. If you want a rather comprehensive guide, I would recommend The Essential Guide to Getting Your Book Published. This sort of covers the entire process of publishing, whether you’re going the traditional route or self-publishing. I mean, honestly, especially with self-publishing, there can be even more that goes into it than what’s in this book. It can be overwhelming, but breaking it into smaller, more manageable chunks helps. Just focus on editing one chapter at a time, and eventually, you’ll get to the end. With publishing, there’s a whole range of how much effort you can put into it. How much time you invest in that depends on what kind of results you’re hoping to see. But I often find myself asking that question too: How the heck do I publish and edit a book?
All right, those are all the questions I can answer for now. Thanks for all the questions, and thank you very much for helping me pass 1,000 subscribers on YouTube and nearly 10,000 on Instagram, which is kind of insane. But this is just the beginning, so thanks for being here, and there’s much more to come.
If you want to watch the video versions of these blog posts, head over to my YouTube channel here, and subscribe for more videos on writing and publishing.
– Grayson Taylor
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