Month: January 2024

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Fulfilling Your Dream of Writing – Step 4

Where are we? You’ve chosen a writing place, you’re probably still thinking about a writing routine, and a theme might be puzzling you. But that’s okay, you’ll get it.

Today let’s briefly discuss the idea of Designing Your Three Basic Sections.

In this blog, we’re not addressing front and back matter. They are what comes before and after the story the author wrote. All that comes later.

Why do many, if not most, people recommend three sections of the book? Why not 2 or 4 … or even 5 sections? Well, you can have 5 sections. Read Freytag Pyramid to learn more about it. But normally a novel has 3 sections: the setup, the confrontation, and the resolution.

In the setup, you will create an idea for the beginning, middle, and end to the story. You want the beginning to give the reader background information related to the characters and the plot of the story. You introduce, through various means, the reader to the people in the book and to the dangers. And, of course, you add mystery that you do not explain. The intrigue needs to grab the reader’s curiosity so he won’t put the book down.

The middle, most of the book, will develop the main theme. This is where the tension grows, the bulk of the action takes place. The hero is almost overcome by the challenges and obstacles. It seems that disaster waits for him or her at every turn.

The third section will provide a resolution of the plot. Again, you might want to look at Freytag’s Pyramid or Matthew Luhn’s book, The Best Story Wins for helpful ideas.

What is considered the most important part of the book?

The most important part of a book can vary depending on the book itself, the author’s intent, and the reader’s perspective. However, generally speaking, the most important part of a book can be considered as … well, I suppose the most important is the story itself. Write it with excitement, adventure, intrigue.

I’ll see you tomorrow.

Write Creatively

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For information about P&L Publishing and Literary Services, please check out our web site. https://plpubandlit.org/

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Fulfilling Your Dream of Writing – Step 3

You established your place to write, and are working on developing your writing routine. Today let’s talk about Deciding on a Theme.

Have you ever heard the phrase, “flying by the seat of his pants?” That refers to an airplane pilot who doesn’t file flight plans. He just flies his plane in the direction he thinks he needs to go, and expects to get there. But events outside his control such as inclement weather and physical problems with the plane can generate life-threatening situations. A flight plan can save his life, or at least get him back on track.

There are actually 2 parts of the flight plan: 1) where he wants to go, and 2) how he’s going to get there.

Some people “write by the seat of their pants.” Some of them thrive in it, but some writers flail in confusion because of it. They don’t have a direction, or a theme.

Now, to understand what a theme is, let’s look at that flight plan.

1) Where the pilot wants to go would be the theme (the underlying message the author is trying to convey to the reader), and 2) how he’s going to get there is the plot (the structure that the storyteller uses to show how the events are connected).

Let’s turn it around.

If someone asks you what’s your story about, and you say, “It’s a story about an angry man who robs banks, is arrested, but is befriended by the policeman who arrested him,” that’s the plot of the story. But if you say, “It’s about love overcoming hate,” that’s the theme.

The theme is the central message behind the story. It connects all the major ideas in the book together.

While the plot tells what happens in the story, the theme explains why it happens. It gives meaning to the story. Without a theme, your story is a recording of actions and events, but it doesn’t explain why these actions happen. Most likely you have a plot in mind, but deciding on a theme will help keep you on track.

I’ll see you tomorrow.

Write Creatively

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Fulfilling Your Dream of Writing – Step 2

You’ve thought about Choosing a Comfortable Place to Write, so today let’s talk about Developing a Writing Routine.

How do you decide when to write … or even if you are going to write? Do you have a plan about when to write, or does the mere thought of writing drain your energy?

Those questions reveal the big problem for many people: they don’t have a plan. Well, this blog will help you jump a major hurdle.

Answer this: How do you eat a 72-ounce steak at The Big Texan restaurant in Amarillo, Texas? You certainly do NOT put the whole thing in you mouth and start chewing. You take one bite at a time.

So, how do we develop our plan? Let’s break it down into bite-size chunks.

Some folks write best in the morning while others prefer evenings or late at night. Some spend a week or two in a cabin in the hills to get away, or even go on an ocean cruise in a room of their own. Some writers set a word count, such as 500 or 1,000 words at a setting. Others prefer a page or chapter count, and yet others devote a certain number of hours a day to writing. (Up to this point in this blog, you’ve read 224 words.)

The average word count for a novel is 70,000-100,000. So, if you can write 1,000 words in a setting (that’s about 4 double-spaced, 8.5” x 11” pages with 1-inch margins), you can write your book in 70-100 writing days. One of my clients wrote his second novel in a month. (It had about 65,670 words.)

So, how do I decide when to write? My office is always ready for me, and my most productive time to write is in the evening and at night. (I call my office my Time Travel Machine because while in it I mentally go anywhere in the world or in the universe, and to any historical time period I choose.) And I don’t decide to write a book; I decide how many hours I will devote to writing each day.

  1. Find the time and place that best suits you. 2. Develop your writing routine.

I’ll see you tomorrow.

Write Creatively

(There are 386 words in this blog.)

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Fulfilling Your Dream of Writing – Step 1

Some folks can write anywhere, anytime, and in any situation. I applaud them, and somewhat envy them, but that doesn’t work for everyone. Most of us need a place where we can shut out the noise of the world and think. And since humans are creatures of habit – subconscious as well as conscious – we should develop that place.

Choose a Comfortable Place to Write. It will be a place where you can go and quickly enter your world of writing. Turn off attention-demanding electronics, including the phone. Give yourself 10 to 15 minutes to enter the correct frame of mind. Keep distractions to a minimum.

The world-renown Paul Harvey was a radio broadcaster for ABC News for many years. He had a world-wide audience that included US presidents and other leaders. His morning reports were titled News and Comment, and his afternoon program was called, The Rest of the Story. 

His morning routine hardly ever changed: brush teeth, clean up, get dressed as though going to meet important people – including wearing his ever-present bow tie – eat breakfast, and go into his study which was in his house. His wife, Lynne, didn’t let anyone bother Paul during his writing time. Since his writing routine didn’t change, he was able to quickly immerse himself into the topic at hand, and became efficient in his work.

So, create your writing space. I’ll see you tomorrow.

Write Creatively

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Fulfilling Your Dream of Writing

Have you found it difficult to write a book? I understand, because in the past I had a hard time writing a simple blog. But listening to and reading from professional writers has set me free.

Writing is an expression of who you are and what you believe. Writing a Sunday School lesson, a blog, a letter to a friend, or a book is a series of word-pictures. If you write your story well, the readers should be able to see the action in their mind. They should almost see Moses standing in front of the Pharaoh, feel the tug of fish on the line, hear the sound of the gun, smell the perfume in the air or the smoke from the fire. But you, the author, must spell it out so the reader can enter the story.

Therefore, you need to create the atmosphere for yourself so that YOU can enter the story as you write it. And that’s a major key to good writing – enter and live the story as you write it.

Come back tomorrow and start learning these 8 ideas that have made my writing life a lot easier. And please feel free to copy them.

Write Creatively.