There is one question that I have clients ask me again and again as a book coach: where should I start writing a book? They are looking for easy answers that move them from the blank page to the finished product, but there are no surefire solutions that will work in every situation. Instead, creative writing is a journey and a process. Every person is going to handle it in a new and different way.
Are you ready to dive into book writing and actually hit the end of your first novel?
Here are some fun and easy places to start thinking about your own writing process so that you can jump headfirst into the next great book idea that comes your way.
1. Third Time’s a Charm
I love the Author Accelerator framework for setting people up for success with their story. At the conclusion of Jennie Nash’s Blueprint for a Book method, she recommends that you spend some focused time playing around with your story’s beginning and ending. In particular, she recommends that you write your introduction three separate times.
The idea here is that it gives space for you to experiment with how you introduce the story to readers, what you choose to share, and where the story starts. We’ll dive deeper into this in a couple of weeks, but for now, think about it this way: what would you do differently if you had to write your introduction multiple times?
Play around with point-of-view changes, the opening image of your story, and even who your characters are at the start.
You can do the same thing with the ending so that you have bookends as you move back to flesh out the middle. This is a great way to get an eagle-eye view of how your main character is going to change and where you need to land. Even if the ending changes as you write, it’s still a powerful tool.
2. Main Character Interviews
Unless you happen to be writing a nonfiction book, you likely have some idea in mind of who you want to write about. They say snappy dialogue in your head, have a favorite snack, and listen to a certain kind of music. You want to write your book about them, but you are having a hard time pinning them down on paper. They are so alive and real to you, but they appear flat and two-dimensional in your story.
Maybe it’s time to get to know them a little bit more.
Switch from your writing software to something simple like Microsoft Word. Type up some interview questions that will help you get to know your main character on a deeper level. Ask yourself questions like:
- What do they want most in this world?
- What’s at stake if they don’t get what they want?
- Who can they rely on to get to where they want to go?
- What do they love more than anything?
- What do they hate more than anything?
Of course, you can also ask questions about their likes and dislikes. If you are curious about why a character does something or what they would choose, you can interview them. Play a game of Would You Rather with your characters and let them say what they came here to say!
3. Pixar Storytelling Method
Ever wonder what kind of writing tip you could glean from the movies? Pixar might be one of the best models for you to look at to get started. They break down every single one of their movies into a simple story structure that you can copy. It can get you out of a state of writers block and pin down a story idea that moves fluidly through every beat you need it to hit.
Fellow Author Accelerator coach Stephanie Dethlefs wrote a post on DIYMFA about this very thing. Read more here to get a good idea of where to take this exercise.
To give you a quick glimpse at how your writing craft can benefit, here are the five story beats Pixar follows:
- Once upon a time…
- One day…
- Because of that…
- Until finally…
- And ever since that day…
Fill in the blanks with your story structure and make sure that your world makes sense for the silver screen.
4. Vonnegut’s Chart Your Story
Are you a visual learner? Before you get a significant word count on your story, it might be helpful to follow Vonnegut’s advice and chart your story. Pull out a plain blank piece of paper and draw an X and Y axis. Then, you chart the major plot points for the reader, creating a graph that shows you where your story is headed and how it got there.
This is a great way to ensure that you are layering in enough tension and drama to hook the reader.
To give you an example of how this works, here is Vonnegut himself on the shape of stories:
5. Create a Mood Board
Are you still getting into the general vibe of your story? Not everything on your writing journey is going to look like putting more words on the page. One excellent writing tool is actually social media. Not Facebook and Instagram, but Pinterest. A successful writer can use the image search engine to create a mood board for their story. In turn, this can serve as a spring board for their next writing session.
Pin ideas of what your protagonist looks like, the kind of clothes she wears, the house he lives in, or the city they call home. With pictures that represent your world, it may make you into a better writer with a greater grasp on setting detail and even character development.
Novel writing isn’t always about sitting down and hitting your word count goals. It could look like making a vision board for the entire book so that you can get your great idea in gear and make headway later on down the road for your writing goal.
Bonus: Just Get Started
Brian Tracy recommends that you do the hard thing as soon as you can each day. Whether you are dragging your feet on book marketing or honing your writing skill, you should “eat the frog” first thing when you sit down to work.
Clear your writing space, prepare your writing prompts, get your interviews done for character development – whatever is the hardest for you, make sure to do it first. And sometimes, that just means that you need to sit down in the chair, let your hands rest on the keyboard, close your eyes, and start to type.
The only path to becoming a published author is simply to get started.