Beginning to Write a Book

The blank screen stares at me, its emptiness issuing a challenge. “Fill me with words if you dare!”

I stare back. Of course, I can’t retreat. But the question remains: How on Earth do I start to write this book?

With two novels under my belt, you’d think moving onto my third would be easy. But coming to the end of one book and beginning to write another is (unfortunately) a rare event in my life. So I don’t exactly have a modus operandi for this kind of thing.

What I do have are lessons learned from my mistakes. Reflecting on past experience, I know what I would have liked to have done differently at the start of my first two books.

So for this book, I’ve laid out the plan on how I’m going to do things differently.

(I realize my steps might not work for everyone, but if you want to start writing your book and don’t know where to begin, you might find these steps helpful.)

Here’s the plan:

Step 1. Give myself deadlines

My last book was written in three years. My first book, ten years.

That’s way too long. And the reason it took me forever to complete them was my lack of urgency. They suffered from my I’ll-get-to-them-when syndrome. When I was in the middle of writing book two, I knew something had to change.

One of my friends in my writing group gave himself deadlines and was producing stories like hotcakes. Seeing his success, I decided to put a date on the calendar for when I’d finish my book. Just to try it out. I wasn’t dissapointed.

You might be thinking, “But wait! Wouldn’t working under a time crunch produce less-than-great material? Shouldn’t you let creativity flow naturally and on its own timing?”

I used to think so. But after I put myself under a deadline, I came to realize these worries were unfounded. The deadline forced me to push through writer’s block and cut back on procrastination. For each writing session, after exerting a bit of effort to get into the writing mood, I usually found my muse.

As William Falkner aptly put it, “I only write when inspiration strikes. Fortunately, it strikes at nine every morning.”

For my last book, I didn’t end up hitting my deadline. (I’ll blame it on COVID.) But I was more productive in my writing than I have ever been, and the book was only a month behind schedule.

For this next book, I’m going to break the process into smaller tasks and give each task its own deadline. For example:

• Finish character profiles by date A
• Finish novel outline by date B
• Finish chapter one by date C
• Finish chapter two by date D
• and so on…

My hope is to finish the book in one year. But multiple deadlines will help me adjust my plan in case any hiccups happen along the way.

Step 2. Develop my characters and understand who they are

One of the biggest mistakes I made in my last book was focusing too much on plot and not enough on character. When I started writing chapter one, I had this great idea of where the story would go but very little idea who my protagonist was. This led to problems later on.

When I was about a quarter of the way into the book, my writing group graciously (yet painfully) pointed out how flat and uninteresting my protagonist came across. After a lot of pondering, I figured out who she was and how she was going to fit in the story—which meant rewriting much of what I had written.

To prevent this setback from happening again, I’m going to start developing my main characters before I develop my story.

(I’ve been using this character profile template to do just that.)

Step 3. Outline my novel

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I’m a plotter, not a pantser. Just like my last two books, I’ll outline the whole story of this next novel before I pen the words of chapter one.

The only difference this go-around is that I’ll be using Save the Cat! Writes a Novel by Jessica Brody as a guide. It lays out the underlying code within the great novels (and movies).

If you’re a novelist, even one who thinks “code” is another way of saying “formula,” I would recommend you check it out.

It has been getting great reviews from novelists, and I personally found it to be informative and helpful.

If you’re interested, you can check out this Save the Cat! beat sheet to learn more. (And, of course, there’s also my five steps on how to outline your novel.)

For this next book of mine, I’ll not only shape my outline around my characters’ choices but also according to the Save the Cat! guide.

Step 4. Start writing…and reject perfectionism

Once my writing roadmap is ready (my character profiles and outline), I’ll open a blank document and start writing the beginning of the story.

And I’ll allow myself to write crap.

This has always been a huge obstacle for me. I have the bad habit of approaching the blank page with the expectation of immediately producing a draft fit for readers’ eyes.

Like many writers, it’s hard for me to let my first draft be something less than perfect. But common advice teaches that it’s OK to write mediocre material on the first go. It’s even OK to write crap. As long as you’re writing and get that draft done. Save perfection for when you edit.

As the old adage goes. “Write drunk (metaphorically speaking) and edit sober.”

I have found that attempting perfection on the first draft is too frustrating and too time-consuming. All I end up doing is hemming and hawing as I wait for the perfect word or sentence to float into my mind. As a result, I spend more time staring at the screen than writing.

So for this novel, I plan on punching the keys and just getting the words out. Even if that means I write crap.

Remember: it can/will get fixed in the editing phase.

 

So that’s how I plan to start writing my next novel.

What about you? What steps do you take when beginning to write a book?

Please share in the comments below. Happy writing!