You walk with a story in your head. Even a real-life story. You share snippets of it with your loved ones.
“You have to write that story down and publish it,” they say.
You really want to, but is it just one of thousands of other great stories out there? Is there a deeper meaning and is it worth sharing with someone you don’t know?
I struggled with similar questions for many years.
Instead, I wrote non-fiction books. In English. It was a huge success and made my small consulting business flourish.
And the story rumbled on. In my head.
(Click here if you want to read about how my non-fiction books are created.)
Professional biographies
I am fascinated by reality. It always proves to beat the imagination on all fronts. Brutal. Beautiful. Gripping. Sad. Happy. Unpredictable. Human. Inhumane.
When I got the opportunity to write a business biography about the IT company Damgaard Data, I jumped at it. The goal was to tell the story of the time, the industry and the business, and let the characters fade into the background. It’s a difficult balance because it’s people who run businesses.
However, if you look at it from above, you realize that something is also playing tricks on them. Something they don’t see coming and they can’t control. Mighty waves they can surf gracefully or tear them down.
This is especially true in the global IT industry, where technological development can, in just a few years, remove the foundations of even large and well-established companies, while making room for brand new ones.
Are the good ones doing well? Or is it the lucky ones? Or a mixture? And in what mixing ratio?
I don’t have the answer, but the business biography 5,460 Miles from Silicon Valley suggests that it’s mostly the latter, a mixture. Perhaps with a tendency that luck always trumps skill. Double luck is something that really rocks. Throw in a little skill and diligence, and you’ll get a kick out of anything and everything.
To date, over 3,000 Damgaard books have been sold and every week bookstores order more copies. Apparently, I’m not the only one who finds reality fascinating.
Autofiction and business novels
Meanwhile, the story in my head grew bigger and bigger. Like a kind of pregnancy. At some point, there’s no turning back and you want to have that baby too. Even if it’s painful, inconvenient and knowing that you might be the only one in the world who will love the baby.
And now it’s there. Almost.
Manuscript version M2 has just been sent to the editor. Ready to be ripped apart. I have to expect that. That’s the editor’s job. Even if it’s going to hurt.
If you’re curious about how book publishing works in the 21st century and would like to read this and future articles about the making of the book, it should be emphasized that I write business novels on an autofictional foundation.
A business novel has the protagonist’s working life as its main plot. Everything else is also part of the story, but it’s the work-related stuff that drives the plot.
Auto-fiction means that the author is based on their own experiences. It’s a well-known trick that saves hours of research. What you experience has the detail that allows it to be conveyed in nuanced and realistic images.
But autofiction is not autobiography.
I had a blast writing the story about Damgaard and Navision, but I can’t imagine having a blast writing my own. Even though I’m living the life I want, I see no point in telling others how I got there. However, I’d like to reflect on my experiences and highlight some issues that I think receive far too little attention in the portrayal of success and the good life that characterizes the media image in the West. Here it’s the celebrities, the con artists, the bankrupts and the multi-billionaires who get all the attention. And they usually don’t deserve it.
I want my books to celebrate the waterberries. All those who do good for their loved ones. The helpful, caring and faithful. Those who realize that the good life is right here and now and essentially consists of following your intuition, seizing opportunities while behaving properly and looking out for others.
Arts and crafts
Writing and publishing a book is not just turning thoughts into words. It’s 1/4 art (or creative expression) and 3/4 craft. In a series of articles, of which the one you’re reading right now is the first, I’ll share what my process looks like. It’s far more comprehensive than most people imagine when they hold the finished book in their hands.
Next article: How to write a good book
