Tips on Starting a Book - Part 2
Research: How much is enough? I’ll give you the standard answer. It depends. The basic advice is that if you include any element of detail in your story, make sure it is accurate. If it is wrong, it will throw your reader out of the story. I attended a presentation by another author earlier this year where he gave an example. In the draft version of his book, he had one of the characters getting in the rear door of a particular car. Or, at least he did until someone pointed out that the make/model of the car he described in his book was never available as a 4-door, only as a 2-door.
I had to do a lot of research for my book, The Legacy. It is a kidnapping story that takes place against the backdrop of the Rio Olympics. I did a lot of reading about the favelas in Rio, which are basically the slums of the city. I instantly knew that one of my main characters was going to come from there. I also did research about the security procedures used for the athletes during the games and the guns used in Brazil, both of which I incorporated into the plot of my book.
I also did a lot of research for The Second Shooter. I wrote the book back in 2014/2015 knowing that the JFK Records Act required the release of all evidence related to the JFK assassination by October 26, 2017. (In fact, President Trump still withheld the release of some of those documents). There has been a lot of new evidence come out over the years, but I didn’t want to just do an “information dump” on my readers. I wasn’t writing a documentary. My book is a fictional book which uses that event as its backdrop, so I decided to sprinkle little bits of the new evidence throughout the book.
Tip: Just because you did a lot of research, don’t feel like you have to fit every bit of the trivia you discovered into your book.
A common recommendation is to write what you know. However, you can’t know everything about everything so you have to balance it with the research you’ve done.
Outlining: Is it right for you and your story?
Some authors write detailed outlines of the entire story before they write a single word of their book. They also build and maintain comprehensive descriptions of every character in their book. Since my main career was in computer software, this made perfect sense to me. In the IT world, we gather and document all the requirements and do the system design before we start writing code.
However, I don’t write that way at all. I usually know how my story is going to start and how it’s going to end, but I have no idea how I’m going to get there. I let the characters tell me what happens next and I just write it down. Writers like me are called “pantsers”, or people who write by the seat of their pants.
For example, in my book The Second Shooter, I introduced a new character named “Bronx” who I initially thought would be a temporary love interest for one of my main characters. I thought she’d be in and out of the book within 2-3 chapters. However, I fell in love with that character and she suddenly grew before my eyes into a main character. She continues to be a main character in “The Third Option”, which is the third book in the Goliath series and the one I’m currently writing.
I used to think I was such an odd duck until another author recommended that I read Steven James’ book called Story Trumps Structure: How to Write Unforgettable Fiction by Breaking the Rules, a book I highly recommend you read. He calls it “Organic Writing”.
However, I’ve discovered there is a time and place for outlining. In The Legacy, the basic plot is that a busload of people are kidnapped and they are given seven days to pay the ransom or they will be killed. I knew that the ransom would be paid for some of them (the ones with kidnapping insurance), the ransom would not be paid for others, some would try to escape, etc. However, as I wrote, it quickly turned into a confusing mess with multiple plot holes and I discovered that I couldn’t fit everything in within the deadline of seven days. I ended up doing a detailed outline for this section of the book to make sure it all worked and then rewrote it.
Tip: Use outlining where it seems appropriate, but balance it with organic writing.
Point of View (POV): Who is telling the story?
One of the first things you should decide on is who is going to tell your story. If you’re writing your memoir, it should be written in the first person point of view. (e.g. I did, I saw, I felt, etc.) For example, Bruce Springsteen wrote his autobiography in the first person POV.
It can also be used in fiction. It makes the story quite personal and the reader is continually inside the author’s head. The restriction is that the reader only gets to see and know things that the main character does.
At first, I struggled to think of something written in the second person POV other than something like a cookbook. (First you add the flour, then you add the milk, etc.) but then I realized I had just read a book that is written in both first and second person. The book I am referring to is Life Reboot: An Inner Wisdom Guide to Finding Your Passion and Purpose by Vancouver author Sarah Wall. It is an excellent book that would fall into the self-help/inspirational genre. The following are a few passages from her book:
“In the summer of 2008, I was feeling tired, stressed out and irritable a lot of the time. I was working too much and had reached the level of management in my tech career that I’d set out to achieve when I first started after finishing university.”
“Just like me, you have experienced events that provided you with your strength and courage. You have your own unique stories, experiences and perspectives on life that will differ from mine.”
The first passage is written in first person and the second passage is written in the second person. This really works for this type of book because it feels like the author is having a personal one-on-one conversation with you.
The Third Person Omniscient POV is less personal. The characters are referred to by their names (e.g. David said, Susan saw, Joyce felt, etc.) and the story is told by a narrator. The narrator knows the thoughts and feelings of all of the characters so the story is usually easy to follow, but doesn’t have the intimate feeling of something written in the first person POV. It reminds me of the old Walt Disney show where Walt Disney himself would narrate what was being shown on the screen.
Third Person Limited is my favourite POV and the one I use in my books. When you use this POV, you can write from multiple perspectives, but only one at a time. You can’t switch from one person’s POV in one sentence and then to another person’s POV in the next sentence or you will create something called “head hopping” which is confusing to the reader.
However, you can write one chapter or scene from one character’s POV and then switch to a different character’s POV in the next scene. I used this technique in my book, The Legacy, which is a kidnapping story. Some of the scenes are written from the prisoners’ POV. They don’t know what’s going on outside the tent in the jungle they are being held in. They don’t know if anyone is going to pay their ransom or if anyone is trying to rescue them. The next scene is written from the POV of the FBI who are trying to locate where the prisoners are being held and rescue them. And some scenes are written from the parents and families of the kidnap victims who are receiving updates and advice from the FBI. By switching between these different points of view, you get to experience the fear and emotions of each group.
It is important that you decide early on what POV you’re going to use. I made that mistake when I wrote the romantic comedy Women 101: A Father's Humorous Guide To His Son. I started off writing entirely in the first person from the father’s perspective and it was working quite well. However, after I was well into the book, I decided I needed an important scene where it was just the mother and the son present. I wrote that scene in the third person POV but it was jarring to switch at that point in the book. If it was jarring to me, imagine how jarring it would have been to the reader. I decided to bite the bullet and rewrite the whole book in the third person limited POV.
In part 3 of this series, I'll be addressing the following topics:
Introducing and Describing Characters
Setting and Scenes
Thanks for reading.
I had to do a lot of research for my book, The Legacy. It is a kidnapping story that takes place against the backdrop of the Rio Olympics. I did a lot of reading about the favelas in Rio, which are basically the slums of the city. I instantly knew that one of my main characters was going to come from there. I also did research about the security procedures used for the athletes during the games and the guns used in Brazil, both of which I incorporated into the plot of my book.
I also did a lot of research for The Second Shooter. I wrote the book back in 2014/2015 knowing that the JFK Records Act required the release of all evidence related to the JFK assassination by October 26, 2017. (In fact, President Trump still withheld the release of some of those documents). There has been a lot of new evidence come out over the years, but I didn’t want to just do an “information dump” on my readers. I wasn’t writing a documentary. My book is a fictional book which uses that event as its backdrop, so I decided to sprinkle little bits of the new evidence throughout the book.
Tip: Just because you did a lot of research, don’t feel like you have to fit every bit of the trivia you discovered into your book.
A common recommendation is to write what you know. However, you can’t know everything about everything so you have to balance it with the research you’ve done.
Outlining: Is it right for you and your story?
Some authors write detailed outlines of the entire story before they write a single word of their book. They also build and maintain comprehensive descriptions of every character in their book. Since my main career was in computer software, this made perfect sense to me. In the IT world, we gather and document all the requirements and do the system design before we start writing code.
However, I don’t write that way at all. I usually know how my story is going to start and how it’s going to end, but I have no idea how I’m going to get there. I let the characters tell me what happens next and I just write it down. Writers like me are called “pantsers”, or people who write by the seat of their pants.
For example, in my book The Second Shooter, I introduced a new character named “Bronx” who I initially thought would be a temporary love interest for one of my main characters. I thought she’d be in and out of the book within 2-3 chapters. However, I fell in love with that character and she suddenly grew before my eyes into a main character. She continues to be a main character in “The Third Option”, which is the third book in the Goliath series and the one I’m currently writing.
I used to think I was such an odd duck until another author recommended that I read Steven James’ book called Story Trumps Structure: How to Write Unforgettable Fiction by Breaking the Rules, a book I highly recommend you read. He calls it “Organic Writing”.
However, I’ve discovered there is a time and place for outlining. In The Legacy, the basic plot is that a busload of people are kidnapped and they are given seven days to pay the ransom or they will be killed. I knew that the ransom would be paid for some of them (the ones with kidnapping insurance), the ransom would not be paid for others, some would try to escape, etc. However, as I wrote, it quickly turned into a confusing mess with multiple plot holes and I discovered that I couldn’t fit everything in within the deadline of seven days. I ended up doing a detailed outline for this section of the book to make sure it all worked and then rewrote it.
Tip: Use outlining where it seems appropriate, but balance it with organic writing.
Point of View (POV): Who is telling the story?
One of the first things you should decide on is who is going to tell your story. If you’re writing your memoir, it should be written in the first person point of view. (e.g. I did, I saw, I felt, etc.) For example, Bruce Springsteen wrote his autobiography in the first person POV.
It can also be used in fiction. It makes the story quite personal and the reader is continually inside the author’s head. The restriction is that the reader only gets to see and know things that the main character does.
At first, I struggled to think of something written in the second person POV other than something like a cookbook. (First you add the flour, then you add the milk, etc.) but then I realized I had just read a book that is written in both first and second person. The book I am referring to is Life Reboot: An Inner Wisdom Guide to Finding Your Passion and Purpose by Vancouver author Sarah Wall. It is an excellent book that would fall into the self-help/inspirational genre. The following are a few passages from her book:
“In the summer of 2008, I was feeling tired, stressed out and irritable a lot of the time. I was working too much and had reached the level of management in my tech career that I’d set out to achieve when I first started after finishing university.”
“Just like me, you have experienced events that provided you with your strength and courage. You have your own unique stories, experiences and perspectives on life that will differ from mine.”
The first passage is written in first person and the second passage is written in the second person. This really works for this type of book because it feels like the author is having a personal one-on-one conversation with you.
The Third Person Omniscient POV is less personal. The characters are referred to by their names (e.g. David said, Susan saw, Joyce felt, etc.) and the story is told by a narrator. The narrator knows the thoughts and feelings of all of the characters so the story is usually easy to follow, but doesn’t have the intimate feeling of something written in the first person POV. It reminds me of the old Walt Disney show where Walt Disney himself would narrate what was being shown on the screen.
Third Person Limited is my favourite POV and the one I use in my books. When you use this POV, you can write from multiple perspectives, but only one at a time. You can’t switch from one person’s POV in one sentence and then to another person’s POV in the next sentence or you will create something called “head hopping” which is confusing to the reader.
However, you can write one chapter or scene from one character’s POV and then switch to a different character’s POV in the next scene. I used this technique in my book, The Legacy, which is a kidnapping story. Some of the scenes are written from the prisoners’ POV. They don’t know what’s going on outside the tent in the jungle they are being held in. They don’t know if anyone is going to pay their ransom or if anyone is trying to rescue them. The next scene is written from the POV of the FBI who are trying to locate where the prisoners are being held and rescue them. And some scenes are written from the parents and families of the kidnap victims who are receiving updates and advice from the FBI. By switching between these different points of view, you get to experience the fear and emotions of each group.
It is important that you decide early on what POV you’re going to use. I made that mistake when I wrote the romantic comedy Women 101: A Father's Humorous Guide To His Son. I started off writing entirely in the first person from the father’s perspective and it was working quite well. However, after I was well into the book, I decided I needed an important scene where it was just the mother and the son present. I wrote that scene in the third person POV but it was jarring to switch at that point in the book. If it was jarring to me, imagine how jarring it would have been to the reader. I decided to bite the bullet and rewrite the whole book in the third person limited POV.
In part 3 of this series, I'll be addressing the following topics:
Introducing and Describing Characters
Setting and Scenes
Thanks for reading.
No comments have been added yet.
