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SEAN: Dad, how do you come up with an idea for a book?

JOSH: The most important thing is to be in tune with culture. By “culture” I mean the church, your faith, and the wider secular society. And then anticipate needs for ministry. For example, a number of years ago I saw the percentages of date rape really starting to escalate, both in the church and out the church. But it wasn’t too well known yet. I thought this might become a big issue down the road and so I wrote a book on date rape. The very day it came out USA Today had on the front page “Date Rape Explodes” and the book really took off. It was due to seeing the cultural shift and reading the stats, which usually don’t lie. Also, listen to people, young people, parents, and when you start to see the same questions starting to surface, that’s usually a trend. I’ve always tried to catch a trend before it crests. If you look for anything else you’re going to miss the boat. You might think you have the greatest idea in the world, but if there’s not a need out there, it’s going to be tough to sell…except for sex. Anything on sex will sell.

SEAN: How do you write a book? What’s the process you work through in coming up with a manuscript?

JOSH: Typically I take an 8 ½ x 11 pad of paper, get alone, and just start writing everything I can think about that subject. I write down every quote, biblical story, secular data, and experience from my own personal life and family. I write as fast as I can. Sometimes I fill up one legal pad, and other times it’s been 8 or 9 pads. Then I draw a line down on the little bar to the right where I can put any questions I might have that will be important to address. This process really makes it feel like it’s my book. Then I read everything I can in the Scriptures about that subject and document it. And then I go to scholarly journals from all sorts of disciplines and study them. And when I get through it, I’ve probably got enough for two books. The next phase is to outline the book. And once I have the outline, I fill it in with my stories, thoughts, Scripture, and examples to develop the body of the book. Finally, I write the conclusion and introductions at the end. And at this point, I already have a bunch of ideas for them that I have collected while writing the book.

SEAN: What mistakes have you made in writing a book?

JOSH: Seeing that I had a need for the book but others didn’t. Take, for example, the book Daniel in the Critics Den. I spent so much time on that book, and it was so intellectually challenging. And when I got through it was a good book, but nobody was interested in it. I often joke that the book is one I wrote to myself!

SEAN: What advice do you have for young aspiring authors?

JOSH: Read, read, read, read, read, and read. Read everything you can. Never stop researching and always write down what you find. When you divide your research up, have little notations of what subject to file it under. Then add your material to those subjects. Topics might be family, children, marriage, or the historical accuracy of the Bible. I probably spend $200,000 a year in research, which is largely funded by the success of my other books.

Also, be careful with the Internet. Make sure the site is trustworthy and the author has character. Probably half of what you see on the Internet is not true, and yet we often cite it as truth. Always track down footnotes. I call them rabbit trails. Take every rabbit trail there is. 70% of the time you might not get anything valuable. But that 30% you may get some incredible gems.

Always think of personal stories that apply to the issue. One time I was speaking on Maximum Sex at Colorado State University and the staff member of another Christian organization that works for the university (not Cru) sent me this letter and told me I was pathetic for making up stories. The person copied two pages from a book and included it with the letter. When I showed it to all my staff we honestly laughed because I have got enough stories for fifty books, let alone one talk on sex. The person never signed his or her name.

Sean McDowell, Ph.D. is an assistant professor of Christian Apologetics at Biola University, a best-selling author of over 15 books, an internationally recognized speaker, and a part-time high school teacher. Follow him on Twitter: @sean_mcdowell and his blog at seanmcdowell.org.