(or, my organization and book development secrets!) Write a book in 3 months? In three hours a day? And have a family life, too? Bah! You laugh, but seriously, it can be done. Now, I’m not saying it’s easy. But the fact is, with a little “nose to the grindstone” as my father used to say, it’s possible. Here’s how: First, we talked yesterday about the four keys to a successful writer’s life. If you’ve committed to the task, found your writing space, wheedled out time from your schedule and determined to keep a running game plan, then it’s time to talk strategy. Let’s assume you have 12 weeks to write a 30 chapter book, with approximately 3000 words per chapter. That’s 1500 words per scene. That’s 6 pages per […]
Read the RestArchive | January, 2008
Book Therapy topics 2008!
Embark with us on the Heroes Journey! We’ll be studying the structure of an Epic Novel, taking it apart step by step to uncover the secrets of a best-selling novel! Get your subscription to My Book Therapy today and don’t miss an of the exciting chapters! Here’s a syllabus of the pit stops we’ll be making along the way: The Writer’s World and Discipline Premise 3 Steps to a great hero 3 Steps to a great heroine Using the GREATEST devices: Great Fear/Greatest Dream Competing Values StoryWorld Inciting Incident Hook Building a Scene Stakes Goals Backstory Secondary Characters Dialogue POV Inner Monologue Writing Tension in a Scene Weaving in Spiritual Threads Romance – Love me Tender Villains Writing Suspense – Structure Emotional Layering Subplots – how they affect the heroes […]
Read the RestFour Keys to a Writer’s Life
You’re back! *grin* Okay, fellow writers, then let’s get busy. Today, as we prep for our journey, I want you to start exercising! We’re going to get in shape! Work off the dust of our minds, and tighten the flab of our daily schedules so we can utilize the writing time we have our days. Writing is much like every other discipline. There are four keys to a successful writer’s life: It takes commitment, (after all, as much as we’d like it to happen, those books don’t just download from our brains automatically!), it takes nurturing (did you know that your brain has a well of words for each day, and you need to replenish those words after you use them?), it takes time, (something we’re going to figure out […]
Read the RestLearn to Write a Novel in 2008!
We all have goals, right? Dreams, desires, things that have been niggling at us for years. For writers, it’s the dream of writing a novel. You’re a writer if every time you hear an interesting job description, read a compelling story in the newspaper, you think, hey, that would make an interesting premise for a novel. Well, this is the year to make that happen. Every week on Book Therapy we’ll be studying another aspect in storytelling – taking the “Heroes Journey” and breaking it down into bite-sized pieces for you to chew on and put in your Heroes Journey notebook. When we’re done, you should have the elements of how to write a great novel. Every Friday, we’re going to put those lessons into action by offering exercises—and asking […]
Read the Rest
