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UK - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Editing-Your-Novels-Structure-Checklists-ebook/dp/B08PSP82ZQ
US - https://www.amazon.com/Editing-Your-Novels-Structure-Checklists-ebook/dp/B08PSP82ZQ
Intro and Excerpt
Part
of learning how to write a book is like hearing about a monolith in the
wilderness and deciding to go find it for oneself. It’s this goal in the middle of a vast land, no roads, no
paths. Many plot with compass and coordinates to reach the monolith. Without a
marked out path, they make their way through the landscape, knowing the
direction but not the terrain. They approach from every angle, each making
their own path, maybe getting stuck at a fissure in the earth, or having to
make a detour around an outcropping of rock they can’t scale.
This is literally the verbal image described by a photographer who hiked out in the fall of 2020 to the monolith discovered in Utah, U.S.A. Trackless wilderness filled with people, crawling like ants towards one point, excited to reach the new discovery. Which, ironically, disappeared within days, reportedly removed by a group who appears to have been protecting the environment. “Leave no trace,” the men are reported to have said to witnesses as they took the pieces away.
Writing a book, though, need not destroy any wilderness. We can make our own tracks as we wish, finding our own voice and methods as we travel towards that monolith of a goal, holding our own work, our story in our hands and having others read it.
Each journey is unique, as I explore in the following extract from an early section in my book, Editing Your Novel’s Structure: Tips, Tricks and Checklists to Get Your from Start to Finish.
Extract:
Most
of us start writing a book by sitting down and writing “Chapter 1.” Maybe we have some plans
and notes but writing is writing and we start there, putting creative prose on
the page.
This
is called Discovery Writing. It’s
also known as Pantsing, the verb form of “Writing by the Seat of Your Pants.” This
is how I started and how most writers I’ve come across write early on. Some very well-established
and successful writers, including Stephen King, continue to do this for their
entire careers.
On the opposite end of the writer spectrum are Planners. They create beats or outlines, have character sheets fully filled out, and know their world inside and out before they start writing.
From
personal experience, I’d
say most of us fall somewhere in between. My first five or so books were pure
discovery writing. As I wrote longer books and fleshed out my worlds more
thoroughly, I morphed into a planner with discovery tendencies. I’ve
tried pure plotting and it doesn’t
work for me. As you spend more time writing and finishing books, you’ll
find what allows you to create your best world and, most importantly, finish
your stories.
Among authors who publish regularly, most seem to lean toward being plotters. As you go through this handbook, you may have a few “aha” moments that let you figure out why. I’ll try to answer the question, albeit indirectly, but there’s no replacement for feeling it in your bones and really knowing for yourself.
When we start, most of us don’t really know where we are going. We haven’t swallowed dozens of craft books and manuals on three or five act structures yet. We’re still feeling our way toward our voice and figuring out what rings true for us. This is part of the journey. It requires space. Let yourself have it.
When you’ve written yourself to the end, apply everything in this handbook. Discovery writing often takes us on small, interesting side roads, skips over entire important events, and repeats problems that aren’t needed. What you find to be in need of attention in your first draft will be unique to you.
Discovery writing can lead to a lack of solid plot and cohesive arcs in the first draft. That’s not something to be worried about. If it annoys you, remember that discovery writers with years of experience will find themselves naturally writing with more and more structure baked into their first drafts as their skills develop. It’s instinct mixed with knowledge and takes time to develop. Stay with it and it will come. Personally, I’ve been writing for over twenty years. Growth never ends and mastery requires years of practice.
Until you’ve reached a high level of experience, the questions and considerations placed at the end of each section of this handbook will be important. Use them liberally and let yourself ponder the answers as necessary. Not all questions posed in the following pages can be answered quickly.
For those of you who already use plotting, you may need less of what follows, but your first draft will still need a structural pass during the editing process. Each step remains relevant. I have over fifteen full books, published and unpublished, under my belt, and I always step back after plotting and writing the first draft to make sure that the structure I baked into the outline survived contact with the prose.
Author Bio
Bethany Tucker is an author and editor located near
Seattle, U.S.A. Story has always been a part of her life. With over twenty
years of writing and teaching experience, she’s more than ready to take your
hand and pull back the curtain on writing craft and mindset. Last year she
edited over a million words for aspiring authors. Her YA fantasy series
Adelaide is published wide under the pen name Mustang Rabbit and her dark epic
fantasy is releasing in 2021 under Ciara Darren. You can find more about her
services for authors at TheArtandScienceofWords.com.
Social
Media Links – theartandscienceofwords.com, mustangrabbit.com
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