The Groundwork for a Book-Length Story
An introduction to the World's Best* tools to get started or unstuck.
* This distinction is just my humble opinion, not some grand title bestowed upon. (But if you are in the business of bestowing upon, let me know!)
For the past two and a half decades, I’ve been working with writers. Some of them were elementary students. Some of them were teachers working to understand how to teach writing effectively.
Most of them, however, were writing a novel or memoir for the first time. They are brilliant, kind, motivated, intuitive individuals who have been successful in many different areas of life, who come from all walks of life. Despite the differences between them, they all came to me with one of these two problems:
“I have an idea, but I don’t know where to start.”
“I have started writing, but I’ve hit a wall and I don’t know where to go from here.”
The problem with being in this situation as fully-grown adults is that we are afraid of making mistakes, of failing to accomplish our goals. We are afraid of doing it the wrong way.
Writing is a beautiful way to get to know ourselves, to explore our own thoughts and feelings about life and the world around us. It is also an essential way to communicate those thoughts and feelings in a way that can impact a reader, to help them both feel seen and to see things in a different light.
This is the entire reason we write. An idea for a story may originate with a funny anecdote or an interesting character or a dream we had, but at the end of the day, we are writing to communicate with our fellow humans.
There is no wrong way.
That said, writing a novel or memoir is like carrying a giant vat of water, full to the brim, and trying to pour it into a small glass without spilling a drop and without being able to see what we’re aiming for. Not impossible, because miracles do happen! But certain things would make it a lot easier. Like a funnel.
So, my friend, here is your funnel. Regardless of whether you like to plan out your entire story or write it by the seat of your pants, whether you are writing a contemporary romance or an autobiographical historical novel, this work will be the foundation of your story.
It will help you get started. It will help you get unstuck. And later, it will help you revise. It will help you sell your book.
Spend the time figuring out these three things, whether you are just starting or stuck.
It is worth it.
The Groundwork for Your Story:
MESSAGE: what you want to say to your reader, and why
CHARACTER ARC: how the main character is going to change internally
TURNING POINTS: some key plot points that will affect this change
In the coming weeks I’m going to be going into each of these in depth, exploring different ways to approach them, looking at how published novels are built upon them and, most importantly, connecting them with each other.
But for today, let me just say this:
The deeper you understand your story, the more your reader will be impacted by it.
And at the end of the day, that’s what we want: to help our readers feel seen and see things in a new way.
This is work I believe in so deeply I want to scream it from the rooftops. (I won’t though. You’re welcome.)
Let’s dive in.
What is a novel or memoir that made you feel seen and/or see things in a different light? Please share in the comments!
P.S. I’ll be here when you’re ready. 🌻
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