Listen to the the interview on Apple Podcast Part 1. & Part 2. or on Spotify Part 1. & Part 2.
Lene Dybdahl is a danish author of high fantasy novels (Creating the hole universe the story is told in) and an online business coach.
Her three words that describe her best are:
- Writing: She enjoys writing and it helps her to thing and to get her head straight
- Great imagination: She gets many great ideas for her fantasy books about dragons and magic, as well for her online business and how to create in general
- Kind: She gives her best to be kind and friendly and to laugh as much as she can. It is important to be compassionate in life for her
The colour she would be: Is a blue & green gradient. Blue for the sky and ocean and green for the forests, grass and nature. Lene is fascinated by the ocean and has the ocean in many of her books.
Her fun facts or secrets not many know are:
One that she was hiding from the world that she was writing a book at the age of 18.
Two as a kid Lene enjoyed to make up stories that felt true and that people believed. She didn’t intent to lie but wanted to have a good prank once in a while and share a good story.
Her story to become an author:
Lene enjoyed reading and writing from a young age and got encouraged by a teacher to send her stories to a publisher when she was about 11-12 years old. She never thought that she will be a full-time author as she thought that one needs to have special gifts to do so. At the age of 18 she then wrote a book in deepest secretly as she didn’t want anyone to know. Yet she greatly enjoyed doing it. A few years later when she had her babies she then took part in a Facebook contest to write one chapter a day as part of an advent calendar. Through that contest a publisher got interested in her work and asked to get a manuscript. This then became published under the trilogy “Nøglens Vogtere”, “The keeper of the key”. This series is now freshly translated to English and will come soon to the shops in 2021. The first book took her 4 years to write; The next ones 4-6 months.
Method to write a book:
You need to prepare your story, the plot before starting writing. This is how she was able to reduce the writing time from 4 years to 4 months per book.
With all the other work and obligations Lene has currently she calculates with one year to plan, write and edit a book.
Lene’s suggested work flow to plan and write a book:
- Ask your brain questions: It will try to find answers.
- Create a Mind-map.
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- A map of the world
- The people living there
- Their relationships to each other
- The differences between the regions, and
- Other facts
- Plot out the story: What happens in the:
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- Beginning (ca 25% for Introduction)
- Middle (50% main story)
- End (25% bringing it to an end)
- Go into each chapter and find the point of no return
- Now get the story out in whatever way you can. Don’t overthink it.
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- The 1st draft doesn’t have to be perfect. Edit when you are done writing.
- Don’t go back too much before finishing the book. You could risk that you feel that you are not a good writer and feel that your story is bull shit.
- If you are blocked in your flow go back to the mind-map and your plot. Find out what your are missing.
Creativity:
In order to be creative you need to have some base knowledge, skills in the field you want to be creative in. You need to know how to write to be able to write a book. Then you need something to build on. This can be an idea, knowledge, skills, or other insight from within you.
Any author is writing on top of what they have read, seen or heard before. In combination with the desire to tell fascinating stories. The new story might have a new twist, different way of telling it, a changed plot or ending.
Lene gest her inspiration from reading books, watching movies and traveling; Especially to historical places, castles, colosseums and similar spark her imagination. The ideas are usually coming when she is not searching for it. This has happened for example during her choir practice when she is totally absorbed by the practice, the technique and music and can’t think of her problem.
There are also situations were the solution doesn’t come, then you need to push through the blockage by just writing something and get over the hill. Later on you might have an idea how to improve that first fix in a better nicer way.
Obstacles to be creative:
Mostly because of the lack of confidence in your skills and the resulting self sabotage.
How to avoid self sabotage and have fun being creative:
- Just do the work and be happy with the outcome. You can always come back later and improve/ edit the work
- Have an extra paper, canvas or note book next to your “real” project. Before you start on your project have fun for 20min by experimenting with drawing styles, colours, or strange story you write down. Then change to the “real” project with the joy and relaxed mindset.
- Create a real comfy, relaxed, inviting atmosphere for your creative work to be in a good state of mind, and joy
Lene’s biggest obstacle she overcame and how:
- She herself gets once in a while into the self sabotaging thoughts. For her latest book she couldn’t figure out how to end the story. Nothing seemed to fit the character.
- She was able to solve the problem by talking to others about it. By articulating the issue and voicing it to others she was able to see the issue in a new light. Combined with the feedback from other she was then able to find a good ending.
Common misconception from making a living being creative:
- You must be rich (all authors are rich)
- Because you are creative and that is a free skill from the inside. Can’t you offer your service for free. Speaking, coaching, counsel.
Biggest mistake for writing a book:
- To write to create a best seller and become rich.
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- First your readers can feel that you don’t write with passion
- Secondly the whole process of writing the book will be hard work
More things we talked about:
- Her writing process
- Writers block happens when she lacks knowledge on her story
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- Where does the plot go
- What is the story about
- How she writes
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- Computer
- Neo 2 Writing machine
- Handwriting, paper
- She writes fastest on a computer but can easily get distracted on it
- Better to use the Neo 2 as it can “only” write text which can then be transferred to the computer
- Handwriting is like magic. The mind and writing seem more connected. But it is slower.
- She prefers paper books to ebooks and e-readers for the analogue feeling
- The FB advent calendar challenge. Write one chapter a day for 24 days
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- 6 Chapters winning and receiving bookstore coupons for them
- Difference between High-Fantasy and other forms of Fantasy literature/ stories
- Her joy creating a complete universe for her books. Like playing in a sand box
- Her goal of creating a story that is believable, feels like it might actually have happened
- She enjoys reading a well written book
- If she feels that she needs to correct the grammar or plot of a book she’ll stop reading
- Why people are not following a “creative” career
Her Advice:
- Just do it. It is fulfilling to dig into the creative world. Painting, photography, writing, dancing …
- Find out what made you happy as a kid. You most likely still enjoy it as adult
Call to action:
- Go to her webpage and subscribe to her newsletter if you are understanding danish
- Use her free content (plot planen) or get a membership with weekly writing classes
People, books that were mentioned:
- Ronda Douglas
- André Chaperon & Shawn Twing (Tinylittlebusiness.com)
- Dennis Jürgensen - One of the most popular Danish writers for kids and young adults
- Allan Kardec - “The Spirits Book”
- Robert Jordan - “The Wheel of Time”
Book recommendation:
- Jan Kjær - “Det Gode Plot”
Reach out:
- Facebook: Lene Dybdahl Holm (www.facebook.com/lenedybdahlholm www.facebook.com/lenedybdahl.forfatter)
- YouTube: Lene Dybdahl Forfatter (www.youtube.com/c/LeneDybdahlForfatter/)
- Webpage: www.lenedybdahl.com
Lene Dybdahl’s Books:
- De blodrøde julemænd
- Nøglens Vogtere (Fantasytriologie)
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- Den Gyldne Nøgle #1
- Visigotens Hjelm #2
- Kongens Krucifix #3
- Ovanienprofetierne
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- Skyriel #1
- Blodbæst #2
- Ildstorm #3
- Den Sorte Paraply (Lene was so nice to gift this book to me ;-) Thank you again, I loved the reading)
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