How I Became a Debut Novelist

Villy Lindfelt
My debut thriller How it Feels to Kill was published in Finnish in 2020 by Siltala Publishing.

A story that I just had to write

When I was in my forties, I got an idea for a story that I just had to write. This was my own starting point for becoming an author. So I didn’t shout out loud in kindergarten that one day I will become a famous writer. But as a teenager, I drew a lot of cartoons, used to hang out at a local small town movie theater, and was a fan of everything that had the name Stephen King or Sam Raimi on it. When I entered the university, I dreamed of having a career as a film producer. My first employer was an advertising agency. Stories in all their forms have always been a passion and a big part of my life. Now when I look back, it feels like this was exactly what was meant to be.

It all started with the name of the book. How It Feels to Kill. I thought it was awesome. I don’t know where it really came from, but it hit me right away. Shortly afterwards, I got an idea of ​​the story’s special initial setup, which eventually became the main theme of the book. For my own amusement, I wondered what kind of film or book I would make from these starting points. However, everything was supposed to remain in my private thoughts only. But when I had developed the story for a couple of years in my mind, it felt like this story must be told and written.

Revealing my secret desire

When the idea of ​​writing a novel arose, I kept it first secret. I didn't tell anyone anything. The first time I shared my writing dreams with to wife, it was one Friday or Saturday night at the kitchen when the kids were already asleep. I think I had first a glass or two of something with alcohol for an encouragement. Admitting the fact that I wanted to write a novel felt really difficult. I was embarrassed and ashamed, I don’t know why. I actually thought my wife would laugh. But she didn’t and it was a great relief. It was the first big step towards writing a novel that my wife didn’t laugh at my writing dreams.

In fact, all the while I was writing the novel, I didn’t tell anyone about the project except my wife and two daughters. Why? I have always done so that if I am unsure about something (i.e. myself), I will not tell my doings or my goals before I feel that no one can “shake” me. Therefore, I revealed my novel writing project actually only after the publishing agreement was signed.

Making preparations and starting to write

The story idea for the thriller novel came about maybe about a few years before I wrote even a word of manuscript, I guess it was about five to six years before I handed over the final version of the manuscript to the publisher in March 2020 for the last (but laborious) round of editing. The actual writing phase took just over a couple of years. This was preceded by yet about half a year-long planning phase. So writing the script itself was a project of just over two years.

At first I just made some notes of the story. I wrote all sorts of things I wanted to include in my book. Scenes, characters, key events from the plot, atmosphere. On a rough level, I outlined the story as a whole before I started writing the script. However, I didn’t make an engineer-detailed scene plan before I started writing. I knew how the book would start and end and what was essential in between, and I felt this was enough in addition to the notes. At some point I just had to have courage to start writing.

Big milestone

One notable milestone was when I had written first ten pages of the novel. I gave the text to my wife to read and thought that if she laughs at it this time then this was it. But she didn’t laugh this time either, but actually encouraged to continue. So I kept writing.

A few words about my working methods

During the writing process, I read a lot of novels, but I read them also purposefully, i.e. I read works that I thought would be useful for my project. I also read a lot of literature on creative writing. I looked at what is being read at university courses and read the same books. I also took a few online courses related to writing. I read online interviews of writers (I recommend this to anyone interested in writing). I went to a book fair to listen to panel discussions related to writing. All these tools helped me in gaining confidence to write.

When I started writing, I wrote the main opening scene and then the ending scene. Between these, I wrote the scenes in a linear order, that is, in the order in which the reader reads them. The way that worked for me was to think the scenes in detail first, just in my head, and only then “document” them on paper. So before I started writing, I already knew how I wanted to start a scene, what had to happen in it, where it had to end. What happens after that. I wrote on a laptop, iPad and cell phone. At home, in a cafe, in a parking lot, anytime anywhere. At the same time, I also made and modified the notes on the story.

The published novel is perhaps the thirteenth version of the manuscript. Some of the scenes and paragraphs I have rewritten certainly a hundred times. While many things changed, the story remained essentially the same all the time. But now I have learned that the book, the finished product, is really made in the editing phase.

Sending the manuscript to a publisher

After editing the script for a few rounds by myself, I sent it to the publisher. I wanted to get feedback on which direction the text should be developed and I didn’t really know any other solution to it than to offer the script to a publisher. (In hindsight, I certainly sent it far too early, but I don't know if I could have done anything differently in that situation.)

I also sent the manuscript to a review service, whose feedback (eight-page analysis) was not only valuable for writing, but also encouraging. It is only at this point that I googled for the first time what it means to provide a script to a publisher. I was shocked to find out how small the likelihood of even getting feedback on the script from publishers is, not to mention getting a publishing agreement. Luckily, I didn’t google these things earlier, because I don’t know if it would have had an impact on the writing project if I had known about these things before. On the other hand, when a person is passionate about something, he/she often tries despite the poor odds.

While waiting for an answer, I also realized that I was not writing this for myself. This was not therapy, not a desk drawer project, I wrote a book for others to read. The desire to have the book published grew. Pretty quickly, Siltala Publishing responded to me, e-mail correspondence began, and the fall of 2019 I used for editing the text based on the feedback I received. In January 2020, I signed a publishing agreement with Siltala, it was a wonderful and emotional moment. The script continued to be edited. When the book came out in August 2020, about a year had passed since I sent the manuscript to the publisher. Thinking now, I think it’s a pretty short time, even though the wait at the time seemed almost unbearable.

Happy faces at the Siltala office on January 31, 2020. This was the day I signed the publishing agreement. On the left is Touko Siltala (founder and publisher) and behind the camera is Sari Rainio, who was the editor for my book.

The role of the publishing company

There is usually only one name on the cover of a novel. It gives a false impression that the book is the result of the work of only one person. I am grateful to the publisher that they saw potential in the manuscript, took the risk and made the publishing decision. But I am particularly grateful for the fact that I have received a lot of time from an extremely skilled editor. With the help of the editor I think that the final end product is the best possible version of the story.

My thoughts around the publishing date

The writing a novel has been one of the most rewarding, but also intellectually challenging things I've done. That is one of the reasons why my appreciation for writers has risen tremendously. Especially debut novelists, because I now realize what probabilities they are fighting against in the realization of their own dreams. They give their all, as I also did, without b-plans or guarantees of success.

-Villy Lindfelt, author of the novel How It Feels to Kill

Photo: Laura Malmivaara