I Made It: AJ Jacobs' creative process

Discover AJ Jacobs' creative process in releasing the four New York Times bestsellers, including how he brainstorms as well as researches and composes his real-life quests.

There's plenty of actors who have a habit of staying in character on- and off-camera during filming.

Although it may seem a little too devoted to not clocking out, the hard work pays dividends in the form of salary real, authentic, and the awards that are presented at shows for red carpets.

The writings of AJ Jacobs , popular speaker, author and editor of Esquire Magazine, is no different.

AJ does take his job -- and role -highly seriously.

Actually, for every one of his six published books, AJ assumed the role of his subject matter and took on a real-life quest when he was writing his book.

Being a character has been rewarded for AJ, too. The actor has been named a New York Times Best Seller more than four times to date.

We had the pleasure of having a chat with AJ when he discussed with us the process he used to come up with in writing his famous novels.

Without further ado, let's dive in.

What happens when AJ brainstorms book ideas

One of the ways AJ starts his brainstorming process is by drawing inspiration and ideas directly from his personal life.

That's what he thought of when he decided to choose the subject for his debut book The Know-It-All Book: One Man's Humble Quest to be the smartest person in the World .

He got the idea from his dad who always enjoyed reading and researching. The father of AJ was trying to read his ways through his family's encyclopedia collection and reached the middle of the letter B. AJ decided to "finish his work and take that steam from our family past."

And voila -- his initial book concept was born, a concept AJ is able to attribute to his father.

"I believe that it was an example of using your family and using what's around you as inspiration," he shares. "I would never have thought of that idea by myself . . . It was actually something my dad did."

Another method AJ comes up with new ideas (pun intended) is to come up with as many ideas as possible and utilizing the process of elimination.

As an example, when he drummed up the concept of his book's sequel, the author sat down and brainstormed concepts that eventually were dismissed.

"I thought of a number of book ideas, which I can't recall any of them. However, none of them worked," he divulges. "Either I didn't like them either through my publisher or myself, or my wife put the kibosh on it because it would be too difficult."

He was still deciding upon the idea of his second book, The Year of Living Biblically: A Man's Humble Struggle for a Year to Follow the Bible in the most literal way possible  that was to lead a lifestyle that practically followed the Bible throughout the year It was not easy for him to commit to the idea.

Due to the controversy of the subject, AJ had a difficult to decide whether to pursue the issue.

"It's highly unpopular," he explains. "That was stressful and I didn't know whether to do it or not."

AJ considered to himself "Do I really wish to commit this crime? There is a chance that I will be criticized from both sides. No one will be happy in the event that you combine the two."

While it wasn't an easy option, ultimately it was AJ's choice to be one that resonated with his viewers.

He kind of realized that by now, as AJ does something that every artist should do frequently do.

The author validates the concept of his book before committing to the whole thing. To be sure, for AJ He does this by speaking to as many people as possible on his newest novel idea.

"One thing I do is inform as many people as possible about this idea," he explains. "I look in their eyes to see whether they are glowing . . . I can tell if they're asking additional questions, but sometimes they don't."

If their eyes do not "light up" AJ takes it as a cue not to not explore the idea of a book.

To keep his creativity authentic, AJ changes the subject matter from book to book which lets him repeat the identical creative processes across different books.

"If you can take on projects creatively that are completely different subject matter, then it gives you more room to enjoy a similar process," AJ coaches.

In light of his repeatable method We'll take a closer look at AJ's next step -- doing study.

How AJ is able to conduct his book research

AJ conducts his book research by literally immersing himself in the subject. Each book writing session is transformed into a fresh personal journey and adapts his lifestyle to concentrate on research and documenting his experiences for his book.

In the case of "The Year to Live Biblically AJ adhered to his book's commitment to complete a full year of following the Bible in every way possible.

In order to record the experiences he has had throughout his journey, AJ keeps two journals that he uses for his private daily life, and another for his project research -which continues to this day.

"I always keep track about what's going on in my personal life, and things that are happening in my study," he shares.

Although it might seem a bit overwhelming taking on all of his duties during the course of his research, AJ does it for the right reason. The term he uses is "steelmanning," a way to present an opposing perspective -- the one you disagree with -- more effectively than anyone else will.

"I love the idea of steelmanning, because I believe it makes our world an even better place," He thinks. "That's the best way to advance."

and "move ahead" He does this by creating multiple bestselling works. We'll take a look at AJ's complete creative procedure.

AJ's creative process

AJ is a fan of the two primary elements of his creative process the most, which have already been covered such as brainstorming and study.

"Coming up with ideas is one of my favourite things," he pronounces. "Brainstorming . . . 100 books, where 99 percent of them are bound be a disaster, however one will hopefully be a success."

"I am fascinated by the subjects," AJ continues as he reminisces on researching the most recent project, Thanks A Thousand: A Gratitude Journey . "Interviewing the creator of the lid for a coffee cup and traveling on a trip to Colombia, South America to meet the farmers. This was fantastic."

The last stage of this creative process -- actual writing process -which is the least preferred because it's isolating and comes with a delayed audience reaction. "A big part of it is merely . . . being alone and not getting feedback immediately," AJ reflects.

"When I am talking in public, I simply love . . . being able to see in people's eyes, or in their laughter in their faces that they're engaged," he adds. "And when you're working on that's not going to be released for the next year, it's very frustrating."

On top of that frustration Sometimes, the writing process gets derailed simply because of the subject matter, as it did with his book, The Relatives: Journeys in and Down the Family Tree of the World .

"Partly it took so long because the book was about this campaign to establish a world family tree which will connect all people on Earth into one large family tree." AJ explains. "So, you, me, Barack Obama, Nicolas Cage, everyone."

In terms of creating his story, AJ starts writing with an idea of where he's headed, but, for the most part his style of writing is made up.

"When I'm writing, I have an outline that sort of tells me where I'm going to end with," he shares. "But much of it is made up. When I'm writing, my eyes go on these little paths, and I do try to know the direction I'll end up."

Before he presents his finished product, there's one major step to take care of that is editing.

Though it's an overwhelming task to undertake, AJ's editing process is easy. When editing, he simply seeks out feedback from friends and takes the average of their replies as a signal on where to make edits.

"I'll send it to 10 people, and I'll ask: What components do you think are the amusing, and which parts do you find most boring?" AJ divulges. "I'll use the median of this, and then take out the boring parts, and make sure to keep the interesting parts."

Seems straightforward enough -- similar to his perspective on luck and hard work.

How AJ considers the importance of hard work and the luck of the draw

In the case of success, AJ says that "hard perseverance and hard work are essential."

"You won't succeed without them," he warns. "But they are not sufficient."

AJ believes you also need luck in order to complement your hard work and that's what he (luckily) experienced in his latest book published.

"You are also dependent on luck and I do believe that . . . in the same week my first bestseller came out and there was probably fifty books out, which were just as excellent, and perhaps even more so than mine." He acknowledges.

"But I did get breaks" AJ gives credit. "I met the person who was who was in charge of publicity for the publishing house. I knew the person who runs the program Good Morning America and I joined that. You need both, I believe."

But that's not the only tips AJ gives our readers in the present. The author has a few additional words of wisdom to share.

Aj's tips for fellow creators

AJ offers us gems of wisdom that contain a theme that is encapsulated in the two words "be experimental.

Why? Some reasons. First, you break from being stuck in a mind.

"The more adventurous you get more adventurous, the better" AJ advises. "I consider that we all are prone to doing exactly the same thing, then we carve these . . . neural tracks, neuronal pathways that get us thinking the same way."

Which will give you greater variety in your life and, ultimately, bring you more joy.

"The more that you are able to experiment -even if it's only a tiny thing in your life, like testing a new toothpaste, or going to work differently -- the more beneficial it will be in terms of creativity and happiness," AJ urges.

If AJ didn't have heeded himself as a guideline, he might not be able to write such brilliant imaginative works and research -- in the form of a book.

And that, I think we can all agree, is a shame.