Starting a new book is both an exciting and terrifying adventure. A blank screen with endless possibilities is our playground, and worlds await before bursting into creation on the page before you. Characters, people, and personalities come alive with a wave of your fingers.
It’s an opportunity to create and explore worlds of your choosing, but for every opportunity, there’s also a chance to get hung up or lost along the way. To help guide you, I’ve put together a “backpack” for writing a novel. Inside, you’ll find a few items that will guide you on your journey.
Here’s the packing list.
A roadmap that shows your path
As your story comes alive, it takes on a life of its own. Sometimes your creation becomes a literary juggernaut knocking down buildings and plowing headfirst into the wild yonder. Sometimes, inertia takes over and our characters, our world, becomes— well, dull.
You can recover from this, but one way to keep this from happening is by knowing how your story will end, or to at least have an idea of how your story will end.
It might seem intimidating, but I’ve found it’s easiest to write a book when you have at least a vague sense of the direction you’re going. You don’t need to have all the details of the ending mapped out, but you’ll have an easier time reaching your destination if you know where you’re headed.
Even with an outline to map your journey, novel writing is incredibly free-flowing and creative. Don’t be afraid of structure—it works for the haiku and sonnet, which are widely regarded as some of the most artful writing on the planet.
But knowing how your story will end shouldn’t be a limiting factor to your writing. Much like the haiku and the sonnet, when writing a novel one shouldn’t be afraid of a little structure. A house makes good use of it, so can you.
The easiest structure I’ve found comes from Stephen Covey who said, “keep the end in mind”. It’s a good philosophy for life, and also a good strategy for writing.
By keeping the end in mind when writing we can avoid a pitfall I’ve heard from many writers.
A compass for direction
After twenty thousand words or so, it’s easy to get lost.
Writers become so distracted by a minor character or subplot that they forget where they were headed in the first place. “Mission creep” steers the ambitious novelist away from the trail.
So what do you do?
Take a step back and pull out your trusty compass. Ask yourself where you’re headed — what story you’re trying to tell — and explore the purpose of your writing. Take a beat and look down the road. Then, once you can answer that question, reassess your direction and intent.
If you trust your “compass” you’ll be back on the right path in no time.
Snacks for the Trip
Finally, we all need snacks for the long journey. In the same way as you wouldn’t walk 100 miles without taking a snack break, you need to nourish your writing by breaking up the process with other activities.
Read. Read a lot. Spend time with family, and friends. Explore other hobbies. It’s easy to get so absorbed and focused on the journey of writing a book, but if you put too much effort into it, you’ll get winded and burn out.
Don’t do that. Take breaks to prioritize the other areas of your life that matter more.
Ready for the journey?
Remember, everyone creates differently. There’s no sure-fire right way to write a book. Just write it your way. I hope this packing list helps with your journey.
Once you get through the process of writing a book, it then becomes time to publish. While there are a lot of different routes to take, I recommend MindStir Media, where authors keep control of their work while partnering with the #1 rated self-publishing company in America. If you’re ready to bring your manuscript to life, visit www.mindstirmedia.com.