How John Piper Writes Books

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00:00:05.000 | Pastor John, you're coming off a six-week writing leave, and last time you talked to

00:00:09.360 | us about what you have learned about the writing process, especially at the conceptual and

00:00:14.720 | research levels in the early stages of the process.

00:00:19.040 | Now talk to us about writing itself.

00:00:21.380 | How does this work for you, and what lessons can you share with us writers from this recent

00:00:25.840 | six-week writing leave?

00:00:28.000 | Right, so I've got 15 things that I learned, and seven of them last time, and we didn't

00:00:34.960 | even get to the point of writing yet, but dealt with that really frustrating stage,

00:00:40.080 | for me anyway, of doodling and trying to conceptualize and trying to organize, and it is a very frustrating

00:00:48.760 | time.

00:00:50.380 | What gets the breakthrough for me, and it did this time, it has every time, is number

00:00:54.000 | eight, start writing.

00:00:56.920 | I said last time, pick one subtopic in the big topic of your book, and put down some

00:01:03.040 | general ideas underneath it that you might tackle, and now I'm saying, start writing

00:01:07.720 | on that subtopic.

00:01:10.520 | Under God and His guiding work by the Spirit, the actual process of writing is the most

00:01:20.140 | important guide to how you're going to conceive your book.

00:01:25.400 | I know that sounds backwards to people.

00:01:27.000 | They think, "God, I can say first."

00:01:30.000 | The actual process of writing is the most important key to the door of knowing what

00:01:37.840 | you think about this topic.

00:01:41.480 | People think they get that backwards.

00:01:43.600 | The actual process of writing is the most important portal by which new light shines

00:01:52.480 | into your mind on the topic.

00:01:55.880 | So you discover by writing, you see by writing, you understand by writing, you conceptualize

00:02:03.280 | by writing.

00:02:04.280 | I mean, conceptualize the structure of what you're going to do by writing.

00:02:08.760 | One of the biggest mistakes, I think, people make at every stage on this is they think

00:02:15.760 | that discovery, seeing, understanding, conceptualizing must come before the writing.

00:02:23.720 | That is paralyzing, and it fails to see that writing is a revelatory act.

00:02:31.920 | It doesn't just record what you've thought.

00:02:34.640 | It is thinking.

00:02:36.120 | It is, and it's the most effective way to think because there it is in front of you,

00:02:40.640 | and now you're not jumbled when you're three sentences into it.

00:02:45.160 | So that's number eight, maybe the most important thing I say.

00:02:48.120 | Number nine, since new ideas and issues and questions are always coming as you write,

00:02:56.040 | keep another file or sheet going to bullet those ideas.

00:03:00.880 | So I did that on the computer.

00:03:02.740 | As I'm writing, I've got underneath this Word document another document called Ideas,

00:03:08.720 | and I'm flipping back and forth all the time, jotting down ideas that later could be dealt

00:03:13.560 | with because when I write, my mind just becomes fertile, and until I write, it is one big

00:03:19.240 | mess.

00:03:20.960 | Number 10, as you write by hand or by computer, say out loud what you are writing.

00:03:29.140 | This will help you write for the ear.

00:03:32.400 | Even if readers don't read your book out loud, and most of them won't, I know that, most

00:03:37.600 | people, not everybody, but most people unconsciously hear your words in their head.

00:03:46.920 | That's the way most people read, and you're writing for most people.

00:03:50.360 | If those words that you have on paper flow with effective sound and rhythm and pacing

00:03:58.520 | and cadence and balance and parallels and images, then the act of reading will be clearer

00:04:06.280 | and much more enjoyable.

00:04:09.320 | I don't know any way to write like that without writing out loud.

00:04:14.000 | I talk to guys who are writing sermons all the time because when they give the sermons

00:04:18.200 | or read the sermons, I say, "You don't talk like that, and you don't even know what you're

00:04:22.800 | doing until you hear yourself doing it."

00:04:26.600 | That's number 10.

00:04:27.960 | Number 11, when you have said all you can on that first subtopic, stop and pick out

00:04:36.440 | another subtopic to write on.

00:04:38.360 | Make a few idea lists and then get going on that.

00:04:42.720 | Don't worry whether, "Well, is this going to be chapter 2 or 13?"

00:04:46.000 | It doesn't really matter where it's going to fit.

00:04:48.240 | Just write what you know next about this issue, and what will happen is over time, the ideas

00:04:53.560 | for how to put the pieces together will emerge.

00:04:57.360 | Number 12, you may be three weeks into the project, like me, writing every day before

00:05:05.000 | you have a clear sense of what the focus of the book is going to be.

00:05:09.360 | For me, it was longer than three weeks.

00:05:12.540 | It took me almost to the end of six weeks before I gave up on my initial conception.

00:05:19.760 | Gave it up and said, "Okay, that is the book I intended to write.

00:05:23.240 | It's not the book I'm going to write.

00:05:24.720 | I'm going to get rid of that idea and do what I'm really doing."

00:05:28.240 | That's number 12.

00:05:29.400 | Number 13, feel free to track down some sources or read a bit about something you're writing

00:05:36.440 | about, but beware of this.

00:05:38.680 | I'm talking about pausing in the writing to do some research.

00:05:41.560 | Beware of this.

00:05:42.560 | It's a great book killer.

00:05:44.080 | Perfectionists rarely write books.

00:05:47.720 | They're too busy reading everything.

00:05:50.440 | Realize that your book will be one small contribution.

00:05:55.640 | Humble yourself.

00:05:57.040 | You're not writing the final book, and that's a great liberator.

00:06:02.760 | No book says it all, so don't suspend your writing indefinitely while you research something

00:06:09.840 | to have the last word on it.

00:06:12.120 | Here, I really should put in a qualifier because I'm not talking about major scholarly books.

00:06:16.520 | I know that if you're writing a major scholarly book and you're bumping up to an issue that's

00:06:21.520 | just got to be dealt with, you may have to spend weeks researching that and figuring

00:06:26.120 | that out.

00:06:27.120 | I'm not talking about that kind of major scholarly work.

00:06:30.600 | Number 14, as your idea list grows from all that's coming into your head as you write,

00:06:39.040 | don't be paralyzed by focusing on it and saying, "No way will I ever be able to deal with all

00:06:44.360 | those issues that are coming to my mind."

00:06:46.840 | Stay focused on what you're writing and then do another topic.

00:06:52.320 | I love the image that a big, big, big tree will fall over with chop, chop, chop, chop,

00:07:01.840 | a thousand chops, and the focus is, "Can I sink the ax in this time just as good as I

00:07:07.560 | can sink it?

00:07:08.560 | And tomorrow, I'm sinking it again.

00:07:10.040 | And the next day, I'm sinking it again."

00:07:11.760 | That tree's going to fall if you have the discipline to keep doing what's in front of

00:07:16.680 | you.

00:07:17.680 | And lastly, number 15, expect divine serendipity in answer to your prayers.

00:07:25.280 | For example, I happened to be listening totally randomly to a podcast by Andrew Walls, a mission

00:07:34.440 | scholar at the University of Edinburgh, as I was writing the book about the Bible, and

00:07:40.840 | he was talking about how Christianity crosses cultures, and in doing so, more of Christ

00:07:49.120 | is seen in new cultures than the old cultures saw.

00:07:53.480 | Therefore, the very spread of Christianity is the revelation of more about Christ in

00:07:59.240 | the Word.

00:08:00.240 | That just blew me away, and it found its way immediately right into the thing I was writing

00:08:07.440 | because it was so relevant for how we know Christ through the Scriptures.

00:08:13.400 | So did I plan that?

00:08:15.560 | God planned that.

00:08:16.800 | And God has plans for people who are trying to honor His Word, stay true, be faithful,

00:08:25.880 | help the church, advance the mission.

00:08:27.440 | So that's what I learned, Tony.

00:08:29.320 | Those are my 15.

00:08:30.640 | Excellent.

00:08:31.640 | Those are very helpful, Pastor John.

00:08:32.640 | Good rhythm and pacing and cadence is certainly my greatest challenge, and it seems that

00:08:37.360 | the poets have an unfair advantage.

00:08:40.280 | Well, just say it out loud.

00:08:41.960 | You'll hear it.

00:08:42.960 | Wonderful.

00:08:43.960 | Thank you.

00:08:44.960 | But our listeners are asking, "We still have not talked about the book you just wrote."

00:08:48.760 | We need to do that, and we can and we will on Monday.

00:08:52.000 | Until then, be sure to check out the Ask Pastor John apps for the Apple and Android devices

00:08:55.480 | for our recent episodes that you may have missed, and you can also go to our landing

00:08:59.960 | page and get caught up there.

00:09:02.080 | Go to DesiringGod.org, click on "More," and click on "Ask Pastor John."

00:09:06.680 | Thanks for listening to the Ask Pastor John podcast.

00:09:09.520 | Have a wonderful weekend.

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How John Piper Writes Books

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