A new client is writing her first book. It will be fiction for her, this time, bringing people and a story into the pages of a novel. Together we’re starting with a notebook organizer and a bedrock writing craft book for story structure. The former is from a small press that specializes in journals. The latter, Wired for Story, is written by a script expert who’s worked in Hollywood.
Inspiration comes from countless places, and keeping them all in order and at the ready is your first task, after you’ve dreamed up things. The journal-organizer Novel from Nothing first came into my life at the Greater Austin Book Festival, the annual show and marketplace at the Austin library’s Main Branch. The biggest meeting room in the building is turned over to sales of books from dozens of authors, many of whom publish their own books. The librarians chose Novel from Nothing to sell, right at the checkout. It was worth every penny of my $13.
Above is a sample of a couple of pages from my Novel from Nothing journal I used for my fresh start on a novel. My breakthrough, after a lot of years of not outlining, was to state my answers as fragments instead of sentences. I could get more answers onto the page. I’d been thinking of the subject a while before I started writing. I’m 20,000 words along after four months of drafting in a group.
Let paper lead the way
On all of my books, I found writing on paper to be the best start for me. There’s a freedom there in that form. It kept me from being too precise at the beginning. Remember to focus on the unresolved problems as you decide what your book will say. It might be too early to start on pinning down a theme. First-person telling, from your primary narrator, can be a good beginning.
I filled up the book with people and what happens to them. Writing longhand worked for me to get a good start. I’m not a natural outliner. Oh, the pantsing I’ve enjoyed. Writing by the seat of your pants has a cost, though. You over-write and take much longer to finish, since every sentence requires time. Better to have a place to refer back your map of your plot — which rides on the abilities, dreams, and fears of people in the story.
One new trick worked well for me. I wrote my character sketches in fragments instead of sentences. Wilson’s problems: A dog who won’t listen. Clients who are slow to revise their books after their debut. His mom, expecting a part in his new play.
Get things down on paper
I used to buy Novel in a Month journals like this, but I didn’t want to write in them. Marking a book with a pen felt like marring it, even if it was a journal-organizer. I got over it with Novel From Nothing. Something about writing later in life has propelled me this time.
Before you start, get a copy of Wired For Story by Lisa Cron. If you only read the opening page of each chapter, it will be a great help to your novel planning.
There are many of these organizers available to you. (All links below are affiliate, this time, which costs us nothing and lets us help out one another as we refer books.)
Novel from Nothing is the winner for my tastes, among the four that I’ve tried. The journal makes it clear that the people in a story are the essential drivers. That aligns with my theatre training and time on the stage. You derive a story from the characters’ Problems, Wants, Hopes, Fears — plus what makes them unique. Give yourself a gift of a launchpad notebook.
