How do you plan/start a book?!

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Lotus flower mind
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Re: How do you plan/start a book?!

Post by Lotus flower mind »

Hey guys! I'm new here but I wanted to add some tips that I have been taught in a writer's online workshop. The class was taught by Eva Shaw, Ph.D. is a full-time working writer of 1000 articles, essays and short stories. She’s the ghost or author of 70 books. She let us know that sometimes the best way to START a writing project is to use the tried and true ways of the popular writers we read.

The Bubble Method.... yes it may be considered out dated and in some ways a traditional way to produce something you may consider non-traditional but she says it is one way she is able to put together and complete her projects; for her own writing and those she's been hired to co-author and ghost write for.

Characters....She says sometimes when she is out and about the town, at dinner or wherever she may be she listens to other people around her. This allows her to build a character based on how someone speaks, or what drama they are talking about, how someone is dressed and so on. She even uses the day or settings of real life to get started on creating the settings for her work.

I agree the pre-writing stage is a valuable way to begin your writing projects. It allows your mind to run free and then become organized later. Pre- writing maybe the most fun of the writing process because there is much freedom there. The rest is making sure the piece is good enough to be remembered.

Hope this helps the next person that reads it...

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mydarlingbeloved
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Post by mydarlingbeloved »

I don't plan it.
I start writing and the story comes after, i love writing like this.
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Jen319164
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Post by Jen319164 »

Oh the beginning of a book is soooooo hardcore but i just collect my favorite books and read the beginning to see how these best selling authors start their books but that is always the part i dress most about writing because the middle is so easy to add action ideas but its hard to think well where do i start
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Post by WriterBLAlley »

What is the story you want to tell?

Who will it focus on?

How will it end?

Within the story, what would you like to see happen? To the characters, to the location, to the plot.

Set the puzzle pieces out, flip them over so you can see the individual images, then start putting it together until you have a solid image.
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Post by moderntimes »

The discussion is twofold. We're asked how do we start a book, and then we're asked to help those who can't seem to get started.

So... Let me first say that I'm writing a series of modern American private detective novels. The first two were sold & published (both e-book & trade paperback) and I'm now working on the 3rd in the series. I've got a modest publishing history otherwise, having once worked for a newspaper and strung for the AP, and have sold quite a few articles, reviews, and short stories.

Right now I have zero problems starting a new novel. I've got about 6-8 potential outlines for new novels in the series, rough notes and even a few startup chapters, all tucked away for future endeavors. In fact, for my new book, I actually started two divergent story lines, wrote a couple chapters back and forth until I decided which theme I'd pursue, then put the other chapters away for maybe the 4th book

First things first, however, and the first task is finishing the 70k to 80k word length book, rewriting till it's as good as I can make it, then shopping it to my previous publisher as well as new ones (now that I've got a decent set of reviews on the first 2 novels, I can build on that, hopefully).

So I have no problems at all with starting a new book. In fact the ideas for new books compete with each other in my fevered brain until I choose one path.

Now, as to the second part -- those who have problems getting started.

Sometimes it's inertia, just getting those words on the page. Some say plan ahead, "prewrite" if you will. Or create an outline. Both are good, and both work. My advice on that is to not get too bound up in technique, such as creating a formal outline like you had to do in school, with Roman numerals for the primary items, Arabic numbers for the second, letters for the 3rd, and so on. Dump that like a hot potato. Create your own outline format and don't sweat the arrangement.

I outline but very roughly. I start w. "Ch 1" and jot down a few notes on how the book begins. Then "Ch 2" and what happens there, for maybe a half dozen chapters, just to get started. I don't really worry about setting this in stone, I am just blue-skying, using this very rough outline format to jot down ideas on the plot. Few of these items will survive unchanged, as I eventually juggle chapters and so on.

Real example... My story deals with my private detective protagonist being guilt ridden about what happened last year (in the 2nd novel) and he's been boozing it up. He is wakened by the phone ringing and it's early. His pal, Homicide Capt. Joe Duggan is coming by to pick him up, take him to a murder scene where my private eye's name was involved -- he's not a suspect but he's involved in the case. Anyway they get to the murder scene and it's gruesome.

Well, I thought that the book starts too tamely. So.. I took the murder scene and moved it to the beginning of the book, and started Chapter 1 in medias res. This really helps the impact of the book. My point is, be very flexible at the beginning and juggle things as you find them needed.

Another hint... if you're "stuck" with getting started, here's my tactic... When I'm writing along, and I'm at, say, chapter 12, and chapter 13 is naggy and I'm having trouble getting this going, I simply skip ahead (as with Monty Python & Holy Grail). As you know, a novel's chapters alway form a plot arc. Chapters 1-4 are an arc, then ch 5-7 a new arc, and ch 8-12 the next arc, etc. One arc might be expository, the next arc is action-driven, the next investigatory, and so on, to vary the rhythm of the book.

Well, if you're stuck at the beginning, just skip to "chapter 4" and start at the point at which you want to write about most. Maybe 1/3 through your unwritten book you want to have two people meet and fall in love. Just start writing there, and keep going. Later, you can go back and write chapters 1 or 2 or 3 and fill in the gaps.

I hope this helps.
"Ineluctable modality of the visible..."
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Aubinelizabeth
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Post by Aubinelizabeth »

This is a great forum topic. It makes me want to start writing instead of just reading
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Post by hopeingod »

I write short stories, period/time specific pieces, spend my first words detailing the setting prior to an event, introduce to the scene characters, and add the discussion which eventually leads to a point, sometimes ironical, sometimes merely a matter in the normal course of life. Transitioning the stories is where the greatest part of my effort takes place. My stories always carry autographical ingredients, as I work best with truth. I've attempted to change the characters and events into fiction, but it doesn't seem to hold as much power, so what you envision is more like a Rembrandt than a Cezzane.
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Post by CrescentMoon »

A lot of my writing is very emotional. There are certain feelings that I have that I want to express through words. So I start with writing down my feelings and then working the story from there.
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Post by SharisseEM »

When I have an idea, I write it down and then begin to flesh it out by thinking of how everything leads up to the scene that I thought about to what happens after that. I start to expand on my characters (their life, personalities, looks, etc.) then I work on plotting. It really gets you thinking a lot and that's a good thing because you feel more motivated to write and you have lots of thoughts and ideas on it.
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Post by moderntimes »

Last time I contributed to this thread, I was involved in my 3rd novel. Now it's finished and I'm starting on my 4th novel. Time flies.

Okay, what I'm doing... my series of novels are modern American private detective, but not the Mike Hammer-ish tough guy. My PI is highly educated and intelligent, and he works similarly to a "real" PI in his cases. I try to take him through a personal evolution and in the 3rd novel he was undergoing a traumatic time and a huge change occurred to him. There was lots of nasty stuff, blood galore, violence and such.

So this time I'm looking for a bit more sedate story line, a more traditional crime solving mystery theme.

Anyway, how do I plan and start? Okay, I've got a file (I do everything on my laptop, zero handwritten) that is simply named "story ideas" and in it I stuff a bunch of plotlines, all very sketchy and brief, regarding my protagonist and what sort of crimes he might come up against.

One of these is a priest being blackmailed, he being gay and in the closet and there are threats to reveal his homosexuality, so my detective is asked, as a personal favor, to see if he can halt the blackmail and at the same time not let out the secret. If of course the police are brought into the case, the blackmailer will be caught but then the priest will also be "outed" -- not good.

So for the past month or so, I've been kicking that idea around, with various plot tweaks and sidebar stuff that happens, and so on.

I also am interested in a brother-brother dispute, both of them tech whizzes who started their own technology enterprise, millionaires now, and not they're fighting about an invention each claims is his idea.

So I may have two separate plotlines and see whether I can intertwine them. Thematically of course they are "together" in that priests are "brothers" and we also have the 2 biological brothers, but in the plot sense, I may have to keep them separate -- I don't want to use a false-sounding tactic that seems contrived.

So, here are 2 general themes and plot sequences, very sketchy.

Next, I do NOT start "chapter 1" but instead simply start jotting down "events" in the stories, for example "brothers fistfight at a computer show" or "my PI helps carry a totally drunk priest -- the one who's being blackmailed -- secretly from his lover's apartment at 3am" and "the computer invention has international implications and big offshore money is pushing the people around".

Also, in the last novel, my PI found the "love of his life" -- a feisty New Zealand trauma surgeon -- and their love grows, so we've got some "personal" chapters that change the book's pace and allow humanity to come into the novel. I'll maybe have a pal of the PI get married and a comic wedding disaster, cop-oriented, and so on...

The thing is, do NOT think that you have to rigidly start with Chapter 1 and then do Chapter 2 and so on. If that works for you, fine. But it may hamper or crimp your creativity. So I recommend just writing (or sketching in casual terms) a particular sequence or important "scene" in your book. It may be "the aliens land on Earth" or "Karla falls in love" or "Kent realized he's a vampire" or whatever, matters not. Thing is, jump around in your new book and only write the chapters that pique your interest first --- this technique helps erase any writer's block and also spurs your creativity. Then, as you go forward, write the "connecting" chapters and develop a story arc.
"Ineluctable modality of the visible..."
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Post by rssllue »

Just write! Get it down and get going. Let the ideas flow.
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I will both lay me down in peace, and sleep: for Thou, LORD, only makest me dwell in safety. ~ Psalms 4:8
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Post by jgreen11 »

My prof gave me the best advice yet - just start writing. If you're at a loss for words, write about that. If you're stuck between two topics or angles, write about that! Even if it feels like a journal at first, the best way to begin writing is by writing. Then you can edit after you've written for a while. Who knows, maybe writing about writing will solve all of the problems that have been mentally blocking you.
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Post by Nickole Davidson »

Hi. I have recently taken up writing as a pas time, and when i got stuck with to many ideas clogging my mind i asked a published author what to do. That author wrote the Divinecus Nex series A&E Kirk. She told me to play the what if game. For example, What if the main character has super powers? And what if she can't control them? And what if they get out of control in public? What if the government thinks shes to high risk? What if they send a hitman to eliminate the risk? What if the hitman falls in love with her?... and then you just write it all down and go from there. I'm not sure if it will help but i felt i should share the advice.
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Post by firestarian »

Generally I get a good idea in my head from something I've seen or played (I play video games often) and think of how they could have done it much better. I often add ideas of my own into it, and make it into my own creation, it's great fun!
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Post by pygmy_ghost1982 »

I think the most important step is to not freak out about your first words because you're the only one who will see them. This means you can change any and all of it. Give yourself permission to write both the best and worst content ever and run with it. If you get stuck, keep going because no one sees the first version but you and you are allowed to forgive yourself and congratulate yourself. If you feel like you need to be very organized, then make an outline and then start flushing out details. Consider reading Natalie Goldberg's book Writing Down the Bones. It is short and a friendly book used in crafting workshops to liberate a writer's creative flow.
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