I Made It: AJ Jacobs"creative process" in creating bestsellers
Learn about AJ Jacobs' creative process for publishing his four New York Times bestsellers, including how he brainstorms as well as researches and composes his real-life quests.
There's an impressive list of actors who have a habit of staying as they are on- off-camera when filming.
Even though it appears a little over-dedicated to never clock out and never leave, hard work pays dividends in the form of salary as well as authenticity and awards at red-carpet shows.
The writings that is done by AJ Jacobs , an accomplished speaker, author, and editor at Esquire Magazine, is no the same.
AJ does take his job as well as his jobhighly seriously.
Actually, for every one of his six novels, AJ assumed the role as the subject matter took on a real-life quest when he was writing his book.
The character of the book has paid dividends for AJ and his fans, too. He's been awarded the title New York Times Best Seller for a total of 4 times in the past.
We had the pleasure of sitting down with AJ who shared with us his creative process for writing his notable books.
So, without further delay Let's get started.
What happens when AJ comes up with book ideas
The first way AJ begins the process of brainstorming is pulling ideas and inspiration directly from his life experience.
That's how he came up with the topic for his first book The Know-It-All: A Man's Humble Struggle to be the smartest person on the Planet .
He got the idea from his father who enjoyed reading and researching. AJ's dad tried to read his way through the family's encyclopedia collection and reached at the center of alphabet B. AJ decided to "finish his work and take this stale air from our family's past."
And it was there the first novel idea came to life the idea AJ attributes to his dad.
"I consider that to be an example of using your family and using what's all around you to inspire," he shares. "I could never thought of that idea by myself . . . This was something that my dad did."
Another approach AJ brainstorms novel ideas (pun meant) is to come up with as many ideas as is possible, and then employing the elimination process.
As an example, when he came up with the idea for his second book, the author sat down and brainstormed ideas, but they were eventually dropped.
"I thought of a number of book ideas, which I can't remember them, but none of them came through," he divulges. "Either I rejected them, or my publisher did, or even my wife decided to put a stop on it, because it'd be an unimaginable nightmare."
After he had landed on the concept of his book, "The Year to Live Biblically: A Man's Humble Struggle to Follow the Bible in the most literal way possible and to live a life that was literally a literal follower of the Bible for a year but it was difficult committing to the idea.
Because of the controversial nature of the topic, AJ had a difficult to decide whether to proceed with the project.
"It's extremely unpopular," he explains. "That was stressful and I wasn't sure if to go ahead and if I should."
AJ was thinking to himself "Do I really want to make this decision? There is a chance that I will be criticized from both parties. No one will be happy in the event that you combine the two."
Although it wasn't a simple choice, in the end the topic AJ chose proved to resonate with the audience.
However, he knew that already, because AJ is doing something every artist should do -- and very often, does.
He confirms the book's concept before going all-in. For AJ the way he validates his book concept is by speaking to as many people as possible regarding his newest book concept.
"One thing I do is to tell the most people I can about the idea," he explains. "I examine their eyes to see whether they are glowing . . . I can tell if they're asking additional questions, but there are times when they don't."
If their eyes don't "light up," AJ takes it as an opportunity to not to pursue the book idea.
In order to preserve his unique creativity, AJ changes the subject topic from book to, which allows him to repeat a identical creative processes across different books.
"If you can take on projects that you can think of as completely distinct from the subject, this gives you more flexibility to follow the same experience," AJ coaches.
In light of his repeatable method Let's take a look at the next step AJ is taking: conducting research.
What is the method by which AJ conducts his book research
AJ does his research for the book through a complete immersion into the subject matter. The author turns every book-writing session into a fresh personal journey and alters his routine to focus entirely on researching and documenting his experiences for his novel.
For instance, while writing "The Year to Live Biblically AJ adhered to his book's commitment to complete a full year of following the Bible as closely as possible.
To record the experiences he has had throughout his journey, AJ keeps two journals One for his own personal life and one to record his research projectan activity he continues today.
"I continue to keep a record of what's happening within my own life as well as how it's affecting the project research," he shares.
While it may seem intense taking on all of his duties during the course of his research, AJ does it for a good motive. The term he uses is "steelmanning," a way to show a different perspective -- the one you don't agree with better than the other side can.
"I love the idea of steelmanning because I think that it will make the world a better one," he muses. "That's the best way to move forward."
Then "move ahead" he does by making numerous bestsellers. Let's dive into AJ's full creative procedure.
The process of creating AJ's work
AJ enjoys the first two aspects of his method the most. have already been covered the brainstorming process and researching.
"Coming up with ideas is one of my favourite things," he pronounces. "Brainstorming . . . 100 books where 99 of those ideas are going to fail, but one will hopefully be good."
"I enjoy researching topics," AJ continues as the author reflects on his research for his most recent work, Thanks for a Thousand: A Journey of Gratitude . "Interviewing the designer of a coffee lid and going on a trip to Colombia, South America to meet the farmers. That was awesome."
The final stage of the creative process -- actual writing process -- is his least favorite due to its isolation and with a delayed audience reaction. "A significant portion is simply . . . Being alone, and not receiving feedback right away," AJ reflects.
"When I talk in public, I simply love . . . being able to see in people's eyes and laugh in their faces that they're engaged," he adds. "And in the case of a book that you're working on that's not going to release for more than a year, it's very frustrating."
To add to that the stress In some cases, the process of writing a book can be halted due to the nature of the subject like it was with his book, "It's all Relative: A Journey in and Down the Family Tree of the World .
"Partly the reason that this book was so lengthy because the book was about this idea of creating a global family tree, which would link everyone on Earth into one large family tree," AJ explains. "So, you, me, Barack Obama, Nicolas Cage, everyone."
As far as shaping his book, AJ starts writing with an idea of where he's headed However, for the most part his style of writing is improvised.
"When I'm writing, I have a plan that kind of tells me what I'm planning to write in," he shares. "But a lot of it is made up. While I write, I go on these little paths, and I do try to know the direction I'll end up."
When a writer presents the final product, there's one major procedure to be covered -- editing.
While it's a big project to undertake, AJ's editing process is straightforward. When editing, he simply asks his friends for feedback and then uses the sum of their answers as an indication for where to edit.
"I'll send it to 10 people, and I'll ask: What parts do you find fascinating, and what parts do you find most boring?" AJ divulges. "I'll use the median of this, and then take off the dull parts and ensure that I keep the parts that you find interesting."
Looks simple enough just like his outlook on hard work and luck.
How AJ regards hard work and the luck of the draw
When it comes to success, AJ says that "hard perseverance and hard work are necessary."
"You won't be successful without those," he warns. "But they are not sufficient."
AJ believes that you may also require a stroke of luck in addition to your hard work and that's what he (luckily) had in his latest book published.
"You are also dependent on luck and I'm sure that . . . the same week that my debut bestseller was released, there were probably fifty other books out that were as great, if not better than mine," the author admits.
"But I got breaks" AJ gives credit. "I got the person in charge of the publicity at the publisher. I had a connection with the man who writes Good Morning America and I got on that. I think you need both."
But that's not the only tips AJ gives our readers today. He imparts a few more tips to pass on.
The advice of AJ's fellow creators
AJ offers us gems of wisdom that have a theme nestled in the two words "be open to experimentation.
Why? A few reasons. The first being, you get out of a mental rut.
"The more creative you can be and the more you experiment, the better" AJ advises. "I think we have a tendency to do exactly the same thing, then that is why we create these . . . neural ruts, neural pathways that get us thinking similar ways."
This will provide you with more variety in life and eventually lead to more happiness.
"The more possibilities you have to play -- even if it's an insignificant thing that you do that you do, such as testing a new toothpaste, or working in a new way, the more beneficial it will be to be creative and also for joy," AJ urges.
If AJ didn't have heeded himself as a guideline, he would not have contributed such great work of art -- or research -- in writing.
And that, I think everyone can agree on, is a shame.