Doing the Impossible
A long, long time ago, when I was a senior in high school, I remember being assigned Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness[1]. While I don’t recall being awestruck by the required reading itself, I was astounded to learn that Conrad’s native language was Polish. “How could anyone be able to write an entire book in a language other than their native tongue?”, I asked myself.
My native language is English, but I was an intermediate Spanish speaker by the time I was reading Conrad. My Spanish acquisition journey started when I was 14. My high school Spanish teacher (to whom I owe much) used stories as the anchor for instruction, typically in three-week cycles. First, we studied a list of vocabulary pulled from the story. As a class, we would tie meaning to personalized TPR gestures that we helped invent. Over the course of several days, our teacher would tell us the story, breaking it down into manageable chunks. Then we would read and study the story at home to prepare for an in-class written retell of the story. At the end of the cycle, we would retell the story out loud in small groups using only hand-drawn pictures for notes. By the time I was a senior, this steady *drip, drip, drip* of comprehensible input helped me acquire a lot of Spanish. Yet, I sensed that the distance between writing a summary of a familiar story and writing a novel in Spanish might as well have been the Columbia River Gorge.
Unlikely as it was to accomplish such a feat, I kept my nose to the grindstone. I took Spanish in college and studied abroad in Quito, Ecuador, where my Spanish improved markedly. When I returned, I finished my degree in Spanish and entered a graduate program where I found myself surrounded by people from across the Spanish-speaking world. Influenced by my dear friends and the high-level input I received in that program, my Spanish-speaking abilities soared. Like Conrad, I had unlocked the ability to write a book in another language. As I graduated, I was unaware that inspiration was about to grip me. I wrote my first novel in Spanish about a year later.
Purpose, Inspiration, and Humble Beginnings
Upon leaving graduate school, I got a job teaching Spanish at two local colleges[2]. I drew from my experiences learning Spanish in high school and used storytelling in the classes I taught. By this time, I had been trained in TPRS and was off co-creating stories with learners and having a blast doing it.
Soon, however, I started noticing a troubling pattern emerge each quarter. I would experience the early signs of burnout, and my delivery of comprehensible input (CI) suffered as a result. I wanted an easy way to give students CI, even during the predictable times of exhaustion throughout the term. In my mind, a level-appropriate novel was the natural way to accomplish this. While not a new or earthshattering concept, it was an epiphany for me. The idea for my first novel sprouted shortly after.
In the fall of 2013, inspiration came from a familiar source. I used to teach night classes to groups of mostly adult learners. One fall night before class, I overheard a group of students talking about different classes they were taking that quarter. I no longer remember all the details, but there was talk of a calculus class and an economics class and their respective professors. The idea for writing a novel for language learners was like a fire ready to be lit, and it was this conversation (on which I was dropping eaves) that struck the spark.
My first novel, La vida loca de Marta, was a labor of love. I wrote it feverishly in a matter of weeks, and it is an ode to this group of extremely-busy-yet-dedicated language learners. It’s not exactly a novel, but more of a sequential collection of stories about the same character with some of the events rooted in real life. While my first foray into novel writing did not win any awards, it delighted the students for whom it was written.
You Have a Story to Tell: An Emergent Strategy for Writing Books for Langauge Learners
I just finished writing my fifth novel in Spanish for language learners, but I don’t believe that I’m special in this way. Anyone proficient enough to teach a language can write a novel for their students. It’s never easy, but some guidance along the way may lighten the burden significantly. Having gone down this path numerous times I've developed an (ever-) emerging process for writing such novels. If you are ready to start your journey, please let me share with you how I navigate the sometimes-rocky terrain.
Inspiration, Distraction, and Achieving Flow
The most important element of my writing process is the simplest: you have to sit down and write. Putting words down on blank paper is often the hardest part, but the clichéd journey of a thousand steps starts with sitting down and putting the black or blue pen on the yellow legal pad.
Inspiration often strikes only after I’ve spent a good amount of time scribbling on paper in a flow state. Steven Pressfield calls this source of inspiration The Muse, a catch-all term for whatever you might call your source of creativity. Sitting down daily to wrestle with The Muse sounds easy, but it is incredibly arduous in practice. Pressfield notes that Resistance, the force that “keeps us from living out our authentic lives”, is always ready to distract us from our “calling”. How many people set out to write a novel in March of 2020, only to abandon it shortly after? Indeed, there is a high cost to entry to writing a novel, even one that uses simple language intended for learners. Just know that if you decide to accept the call, you can be sure to face Resistance.
But once you have committed to your writing journey (i.e., to wrestle with The Muse often and to keep Resistance at bay), you can trust that the novel will reveal itself to you as you consistently enter the flow.
1. Pre-writing Phase A – Audience and First Steps
It’s much easier to write if you know whom you are writing for. For all five of my novels, my target audience has been the language learners in my classes. Practically, this means that I limit the amount of new vocabulary I use. I’ve gotten better at it with each novel, as my feel for what words learners typically acquire and when they acquire them has also improved each time. I don’t, however, shelter grammar from learners, as this is unnatural in the real world[3]. In the case of my audience, the limiting of vocabulary is the only real difference between writing a novel for the general population and writing one specifically for language learners. Students need simple language, but still want (and deserve) a compelling story.
Once my audience is clear, the first thing I do is invent a character. I sit down with my yellow legal pad and a cup of coffee and make the most basic decisions about the character. Let’s say I know that the character is a man. I ask myself questions and let The Muse answer. What’s his name? How old is he? Where is he from? What does want? What does he have that might help him in his quest?
In this phase, I don’t know what will happen with this nascent character. Furthermore, none of the traits I’ve written down are set in stone. That’s not the point. The key with this phase is to put as much “flow state” material down on paper as I possibly can. It’s easy to cut out irrelevant passages later. Since I’m writing for language learners, I like to add footnotes of “likely unfamiliar” vocabulary as I go alone. Again, I can always edit or remove these footnotes during a later draft.
I do the same with one or two more characters. Once they are somewhat developed, I put them in different situations to explore. They can even have conversations. Over time, one of them reveals himself to be the protagonist, the hero in most cases. While not a requirement, I usually identify with this character for one reason or another. With a little more play, the other two also fall in line as either a supporting character or an antagonist.
2. Pre-writing Phase B
I don’t want to write something if it doesn’t have the potential to change my life. That’s where good storytelling comes in. The next phase is where I start to give some more structure to the actual story. I come up with a premise: one or two sentences that give shape to the story. It would look something like this:
In a world devoid of magic, a teenager named Camilo discovers an ancient text that unlocks his supernatural powers. Now he must grapple with his newfound powers and defeat those who would try to use this magic for evil.
This premise will guide the rest of the story. There are many unanswered questions, and I will answer them as I write my drafts.
Two such important questions are the psychological and moral dilemmas. That is, there should be a psychological question and corresponding moral question that the protagonist must answer. The protagonist may or may not change as they work through their answers these questions. In Star Wars, Luke Skywalker is offered the chance to join the Dark Side and rule the galaxy by the emperor’s side. All he has to do is kill his father. In the end, he chooses light and rejects fear, hate, and suffering. In terms of storytelling, the important thing is that he was presented the choice. The antagonist must also answer these questions but remains mostly unchanged. The emperor has the same choice between Good and Evil[4] but chooses Evil every time.
Related to the psychological and moral dilemmas, the protagonist should want something. In the Lord of the Rings, Frodo wants to destroy the One Ring of power. Sauron, the dark lord and antagonist, wants the ring for himself. The parallel desires create tension as the story progresses and the character arcs begin to intersect.
3. Writing Drafts
The next phase is to write the story while keeping in mind that it is a rough draft. It is 1000 times easier to edit and re-write than it is to pull new writing from thin air. I will iterate on a novel 10-30 times before it starts to become recognizable. I edit and edit and edit, cleaning up inconsistencies and making sure everything lines up with the premise and serves to answer the psychological and moral questions. Those are my North Star, and I aim to cut anything that doesn’t help answer those questions or move the characters in that direction. While difficult to “kill my darlings”, I find it’s better to rid myself of anything that doesn’t serve the heart of the story.
After I am satisfied with the story[5], I move on to the finalization stage.
4. Finishing
As the title of this section implies, this stage is for putting the finishing touches on the book. The story is complete at this point, which means it’s too late to change anything big. It can be really, really tempting, but it’s a trap. This is Resistance rearing its ugly head. Only start his phase if you’re completely satisfied[6] with the story.
I will make 10-15 additional passes through the text for various purposes at this point. During each editing passthrough, I look for vocabulary that may be too difficult/unfamiliar for learners. I ask myself: Is there another way to phrase this? Do I need to gloss more vocabulary? Should I use cognate for that word instead?
It’s a balance between glossing unfamiliar vocabulary, letting learners parse the language on their own, and using the right vocabulary for the level of the learner. To be sure, this balance is different for each individual reader. For that reason, I lean heavily on experience and go with my gut.
It helps to have a singular focus for each passthrough. Here are a few more examples of what that singular focus might be:
Proof reading
Look for spelling/grammar mistakes. They are there/their/they’re, so you’ll need to proofread alot(!).
Formatting
Does the book have a layout that looks nice? Is it appropriate for printing/Kindle/PDF/whatever? Are the margins and gutters consistent? Templates can help with this, but you still should double-check everything.
Page numbers consistency
This can be surprisingly tricky. Make sure each page is numbered appropriately. Check for duplicate page numbers, out of order pages, etc.
Header consistency
Do the chapter headers all use the same font? Are they all the same distance from the top of the page?
Design Cover
I enjoy designing my own cover and do so when I’ve completed most of the work. I feel like I’ve improved at this a lot with experience. However, I understand that it might be much easier to have someone else design your cover, even if it costs a bit. Learning photoshop is a non-trivial task.
Honorable mention: The Glossary
For my past two novels, I have made an exhaustive glossary of every word that appears in the text. I hate this part. I spent at least 10 hours over five days making the last one. I’m not sure that it’s worth the effort, especially considering that most people have phones they can use to look up any word or even translate entire pages with the snap of a camera. Make a complete glossary at your own peril.
Gratitude
I want to end with a word of gratitude. I’m thankful for my readers, especially my students that are brave enough to learn a new language. I’m also thankful for you. Thank you for reading what I had to say, however imperfectly I said it.
Writing a novel for learners is within reach for anyone proficient enough to teach the language. Though the road is long and winding, The Muse will guide those who consistently meet her in the flow state. Feel free to drop me a line if you want to chat about writing novels, teaching languages, or, in the infamous words of my late father, if you have the winning numbers to any state lottery.
