Tips on Starting a Book - Part 1
I gave a presentation to our local writers' group on November 22nd that was titled "Tips on Starting a Book". I thought I would share some of those tips here on my blog. I now realize I tried to fit too much information into the time I had and I apologize for that. Today I'm going to post the first part of the presentation and will follow up with additional tips from the presentation over the next few days and weeks. So lets get started...
There are lots of people who like to write, but some struggle coming up with new things to write about. Other people have lots of good ideas for books, but can’t seem to get out of the starting blocks. My seminar was targeted at both types of people.
I’d like to start off with a bit of a disclaimer. I don’t really believe in books/seminars with titles like “Ten Things to Do to Write a Best Selling Novel” because I think everyone is unique in their creativity. Having said that, there are some tricks of the trade that may help you improve in the craft of writing. Take all of the following tips with a grain of salt. If they work for you, use them. If they don’t make sense to you, ignore them.
Where do story ideas come from? For many people in our writing group, their ideas for stories come from dreams. Sometimes a writing prompt from one of our meetings will trigger an idea for a story. For myself, my best ideas seem to come early in the morning when I’m not fully awake, but not in a dead sleep either.
A few others want to write non-fiction. They, or their family, have led interesting lives and they want to write it down so it can be shared with future generations. They don’t know if anyone outside of their family members will be interested in their stories or not, but sometimes those stories are more compelling than the latest episode of a TV drama.
For myself, many of my stories come from real life situations, or contain a mixture of real life and fiction. For example, my first book Goliath is a story about a man who has a brother who is bipolar. One day, the brother, in one of his manic states, says that Goliath didn’t really die as told in the Biblical story, and that he is Goliath. That actually happened to me in real life. When one of my brothers was in a manic state, he would make up these incredible stories about things he’d seen or done. In real life, the doctor adjusted my brother’s medication and life went back to normal. But in the fictional novel, it turned out that one of these stories was actually true.
When do these story ideas come? They rarely seem to come when you’re sitting at the keyboard facing writer’s block. If that happens, I suggest going for a walk. I find the ideas come when I’m in a relaxed state and not really thinking about anything. Suddenly, an idea just magically appears.
Tip: Make notes about these ideas or you will forget them. Sometimes, it will just be an idea for a scene or a bit of dialog. Don’t throw those notes away. Sometimes it will take years for them to gel into something useful.
Making and Keeping a Promise: When someone decides to read your book, they are committing to give you several hours of their time. They are doing this based on the title of your book, the cover design and the blurb on the back cover saying what the book is about. In essence, you have made them a promise that you will keep them engaged and entertained during that time period.
If you have written a mystery, you had better deliver a plot twist that they don’t see coming, but which makes perfect sense when it is revealed. If you’re writing a self-help/inspirational book, the reader should feel better about themselves after they’ve read it. If you’re writing your memoir, you better provide some new information or insight into you or your family that they didn’t already know.
For example, I recently read Bruce Springsteen’s autobiography called Born to Run. I have seen him perform live in concert, perform multiple times on television, and even seen him interviewed a few times. But to make his book worth reading, he would have to tell me something about himself that I didn’t already know. He delivered. He reveals what was going on behind the scenes and more importantly, what was going on in his head during all those years.
In addition to making a promise to the reader, you are also making a promise to yourself. There is a reason you’re writing the book. There is something you want to tell the world, something you want to get off your chest.
One thing that I’ve discovered is that you might not know yourself why you’re writing the book when you start, or that reason will change as you write it. I discovered this when I wrote my fourth novel titled The Back Nine. Yes, it’s about golf, but it’s mostly about life after fifty. I created a bunch of fictional characters who live in a fifty-plus golf community. But as I wrote the book, I realized it was really about my own fears of growing old. I now refer to it as my mid-life crisis book.
Writing the First Chapter (or the first sentence): Okay, you’ve now got a great idea for a book and you’re committed to writing it. How do you actually get started?
Many so-called experts have said readers will decide if they’re going to like your book by reading the blurb and the first few pages of your book. Many will do that while they’re still in the book store or library. For those who are into eBooks, they’ll use Amazon’s “Look Inside” feature to scan the first few pages. If you don’t capture their interest immediately, they’ll simply pass it on by. The same is true of editors trying to decide which books they’re going to publish each year.
Talk about pressure!!! There’s no way you’re going to be able to get started if you think the first few lines of your book have to be absolutely perfect.
Tip: Although the first chapter (or sentence) is the first one they’re going to read, it does not have to be the first one you write.
Just start writing. You may write quite a bit until you’re really “into” the story. That happened to me with my book, The Legacy. The early beta readers said they really didn’t get into the story until about the fifth chapter. Guess what. Now I knew where my story really started. I didn’t throw away everything I’d written in those first four chapters. I just moved them until later in the book and they became the supporting material explaining how my main characters got themselves into this mess.
Sometimes a great opening line will magically appear. For example, one person in our local writers’ group read something at one of our meetings that had us immediately hooked. It was “Christmas didn’t come every year at our house.” What a great opening line. I’m jealous. I usually have to write quite a bit until I discover where my story really starts.
In part 2 of this series, I'll be addressing the following topics:
Research: How much is enough?
Outlining: Is it right for you and your story?
Point of View
Thanks for reading.
There are lots of people who like to write, but some struggle coming up with new things to write about. Other people have lots of good ideas for books, but can’t seem to get out of the starting blocks. My seminar was targeted at both types of people.
I’d like to start off with a bit of a disclaimer. I don’t really believe in books/seminars with titles like “Ten Things to Do to Write a Best Selling Novel” because I think everyone is unique in their creativity. Having said that, there are some tricks of the trade that may help you improve in the craft of writing. Take all of the following tips with a grain of salt. If they work for you, use them. If they don’t make sense to you, ignore them.
Where do story ideas come from? For many people in our writing group, their ideas for stories come from dreams. Sometimes a writing prompt from one of our meetings will trigger an idea for a story. For myself, my best ideas seem to come early in the morning when I’m not fully awake, but not in a dead sleep either.
A few others want to write non-fiction. They, or their family, have led interesting lives and they want to write it down so it can be shared with future generations. They don’t know if anyone outside of their family members will be interested in their stories or not, but sometimes those stories are more compelling than the latest episode of a TV drama.
For myself, many of my stories come from real life situations, or contain a mixture of real life and fiction. For example, my first book Goliath is a story about a man who has a brother who is bipolar. One day, the brother, in one of his manic states, says that Goliath didn’t really die as told in the Biblical story, and that he is Goliath. That actually happened to me in real life. When one of my brothers was in a manic state, he would make up these incredible stories about things he’d seen or done. In real life, the doctor adjusted my brother’s medication and life went back to normal. But in the fictional novel, it turned out that one of these stories was actually true.
When do these story ideas come? They rarely seem to come when you’re sitting at the keyboard facing writer’s block. If that happens, I suggest going for a walk. I find the ideas come when I’m in a relaxed state and not really thinking about anything. Suddenly, an idea just magically appears.
Tip: Make notes about these ideas or you will forget them. Sometimes, it will just be an idea for a scene or a bit of dialog. Don’t throw those notes away. Sometimes it will take years for them to gel into something useful.
Making and Keeping a Promise: When someone decides to read your book, they are committing to give you several hours of their time. They are doing this based on the title of your book, the cover design and the blurb on the back cover saying what the book is about. In essence, you have made them a promise that you will keep them engaged and entertained during that time period.
If you have written a mystery, you had better deliver a plot twist that they don’t see coming, but which makes perfect sense when it is revealed. If you’re writing a self-help/inspirational book, the reader should feel better about themselves after they’ve read it. If you’re writing your memoir, you better provide some new information or insight into you or your family that they didn’t already know.
For example, I recently read Bruce Springsteen’s autobiography called Born to Run. I have seen him perform live in concert, perform multiple times on television, and even seen him interviewed a few times. But to make his book worth reading, he would have to tell me something about himself that I didn’t already know. He delivered. He reveals what was going on behind the scenes and more importantly, what was going on in his head during all those years.
In addition to making a promise to the reader, you are also making a promise to yourself. There is a reason you’re writing the book. There is something you want to tell the world, something you want to get off your chest.
One thing that I’ve discovered is that you might not know yourself why you’re writing the book when you start, or that reason will change as you write it. I discovered this when I wrote my fourth novel titled The Back Nine. Yes, it’s about golf, but it’s mostly about life after fifty. I created a bunch of fictional characters who live in a fifty-plus golf community. But as I wrote the book, I realized it was really about my own fears of growing old. I now refer to it as my mid-life crisis book.
Writing the First Chapter (or the first sentence): Okay, you’ve now got a great idea for a book and you’re committed to writing it. How do you actually get started?
Many so-called experts have said readers will decide if they’re going to like your book by reading the blurb and the first few pages of your book. Many will do that while they’re still in the book store or library. For those who are into eBooks, they’ll use Amazon’s “Look Inside” feature to scan the first few pages. If you don’t capture their interest immediately, they’ll simply pass it on by. The same is true of editors trying to decide which books they’re going to publish each year.
Talk about pressure!!! There’s no way you’re going to be able to get started if you think the first few lines of your book have to be absolutely perfect.
Tip: Although the first chapter (or sentence) is the first one they’re going to read, it does not have to be the first one you write.
Just start writing. You may write quite a bit until you’re really “into” the story. That happened to me with my book, The Legacy. The early beta readers said they really didn’t get into the story until about the fifth chapter. Guess what. Now I knew where my story really started. I didn’t throw away everything I’d written in those first four chapters. I just moved them until later in the book and they became the supporting material explaining how my main characters got themselves into this mess.
Sometimes a great opening line will magically appear. For example, one person in our local writers’ group read something at one of our meetings that had us immediately hooked. It was “Christmas didn’t come every year at our house.” What a great opening line. I’m jealous. I usually have to write quite a bit until I discover where my story really starts.
In part 2 of this series, I'll be addressing the following topics:
Research: How much is enough?
Outlining: Is it right for you and your story?
Point of View
Thanks for reading.
No comments have been added yet.
