“How do you write a book?”
An amazing number of the conversations that I’m involved in start with this question. And, based on the amount of money that is spent on writing books, computer programs, plot generators, and the like, many more people out there are struggling with it. Now, not to vilify those tools – for that’s all they are, tools, and they can be a lot of fun – most beginning writers will succeed faster by starting with the basics instead of wasting their hard-earned money on get published quick promises.
And so beginith Nom de Plume’s 2018 Writing a Novel Blog Series…
Every book begins with a story. On the most basic level, every story begins with the same five components, and you already know them. They are the elements in a news report, the particulars of a wedding invitation, the juicy details in the gossip that your best friend just whispered behind a cupped hand. They are the building blocks of our societal lives. I’m referring, of course, to the simultaneously acclaimed and bemoaned when, where, who, what, why, and, for the purpose of plot, how.
I know, I know. Half of you just rolled your eyes. The remainder groaned. It seems like the most basic of information. Still, take a moment to think back to the last book you read. Were there holes in the plot? Characters that you never received the most basic back story for? At the end of the book, could you have explained the location or described the setting that the story took place in? Surely you knew what happened, but why did the conflict become an issue for the characters? How did they move past it to reach the conclusion?
Not only would I suggest using this specific list for beginning writers, I strongly advise answering the questions in the order listed. A surprising number of authors begin by sketching out the main character who has been lurking in the shrouded safety of their deepest thoughts. Then they make glaring errors when they plop him into the setting.
Imagine, if you will..
“Viago skulked in the dank, dimly lit alley behind the Bow Street Runners headquarters of London’s Bow Street Number 4, as it was known through the seedy underbelly of the city. He’d been crouched in the same spot for what seemed like hours, waiting for the flood of thieves and pickpockets that he knew would be coming. The air around him was wet. The mist that would become the morning dew already thick in the air. It clung to his wavy, shoulder-length hair and dripped down the back of his neck to saturate the thin t-shirt inside his cheap fake-leather coat, making him wish he’d thought to grab the thick woolen scarf he’d received for Christmas.
He bounced on the balls of his feet, his toes barely cushioned against the stone roadway by the worn rubber soles of his shoes, trying to increase his body temperature as he waited for his mark. He was still alone – of that he was certain – unless one considered the occasional clop-clop of the horse’s hooves as the delivery men made their early rounds through the city streets or the even less-common backfire from a horseless carriage.”
Wait..what?
Unless our friend Viago is a time traveler – and he isn’t – how can he be wearing rubber-soled shoes, a thin t-shirt, and a fake leather coat? None of those items existed yet in London when the Bow Street Runners were laying down the law. This is one of the most obvious examples that comes to mind of an author who created a character first and then wrote the scene around him. You can see it didn’t mesh well.
The intricacies of a period can vary widely in only a few months or years. In our example above, we know that the story must be set between the years of 1749 and 1839 because the Bow Street Runners only operated between those years. This raises another issue. The first motorized vehicles didn’t arrive on London streets until at least sixty years after the Bow Street Runners disbanded in 1839. By failing to properly research the period that the story was set in, the author created a number of issues that had to be revised.
Everything takes place somewhere, and the location of that somewhere is going to impact the descriptions of your characters. If your story takes place in historic London, as our sample did, you’re unlikely to find American cowboys, Italian mob bosses, reality television stars, or low-dollar private dicks in fake leather coats and cheap running shoes. Once you know where your story takes place, crafting your characters becomes a much more fluid process.
Who:
Who are the characters? What is their motivation? Within the first twenty percent of a book, we should be able to identify the main factors that contribute to each character’s persona. We should know their strengths, their weaknesses, and be able to get a feel for how their past resulted in both.
Many authors get caught up in the who of the moment – in crafting deliciously complex characters that leave us emotionally invested in every aspect of their existence – but neglect to tell us why they are complex or how they became the characters that they are.
(In fairness to Viago’s creator, it is impossible to show in the two paragraphs I used, but Viago is actually an incredibly complex character. He is an attractive young vampire who has spurned others of his own kind, only preys on criminals, and continues his human life’s work as a private detective solving crimes for the forgotten citizens of London.)
What:
The what is the meat of your story sandwich, but some authors get so caught up in other aspects of their writing that they inadvertently neglect it. The what should be more than what happened. It should also include what did each character do or contribute (or not) to the situation(s) at hand. What was said? What was meant? What was felt? This doesn’t mean that you need to write a hundred different what questions for each event, but you should understand the causes, feelings, reactions, and implications for the main characters even if you don’t specifically spell each and every one out.
Why:
Ahh…the why! The intertwining motivations of your characters. The history behind the choices they have made in the past. The reasons for the decisions that they are making now and those that they will make in the future.
This is your opportunity to weave all of the details that have been dancing through your subconscious into a story tapestry, and plotting them out ensures that you won’t miss any!
(Why does a down-on-his-luck vampire private investigator struggle to remain on the straight and narrow? Why does he remain a fringe member of law enforcement instead of surrendering to the demon inside him and killing his way through the innocent patrons of a London theatre? Why does he only feed on the criminal element? Hmmm…. I think one of our most popular NDP authors will be telling us more soon…)
How:
The nuts and bolts of your plot. The minutia and details of how the characters reached the climax. The blind psychic describing to the police the way the knife plunged into the victim that thrashed on the floor in the cheerful kitchen. The tiny Welsh pony struggling up a mountain-side with the rider’s legs dragging the ground on each side. The spurned boyfriend smirking in the light of his cell phone as he catfishes his ex on a dating site, determined to draw his lover back. How it all came together!
Starting next week, I will cover each of these in greater detail in a weekly blog post and I look forward to your feedback and questions!
Every life has a story, and yours is worth telling!
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