The bible states ‘in the beginning was the word’ but that’s not quite how it is for authors. If you’re going to write a book you need to make some decisions and do a bit of ground work. First, is it fiction or non-fiction? If the latter, you have a pile of organizing to do. While writers of fiction might, sometimes, get away with jumping in and hoping the story will simply carry them to the end, you can’t. You need to decide on what topics and subtopics to cover. This will eventually become your table of contents.

Likewise you need to decide what is extraneous and can be omitted, or at least, covered in some other work. If you’re not already an expert on the topic you need to do a pile of research, not the least of which is finding out whether someone’s already put out a better book than you can ever hope for.

If you’ve decided on fiction, then early in the process you should face the question, am I writing for the money? If you are, market research is your friend. Check the best-seller lists. Find out what people are reading. Consider up-front the possibility of an eventual movie. You don’t have to write a film script but you want something from which a film script can be generated without too much being lost.

If you happen to know someone in publishing or an agent, ask what they would like you to produce. They know the market very well. Once you understand what people are buying, figure out a niche you can fill. Let’s suppose you learn romance novels are selling very well. Read a few. From those you can garner some idea of the content. Do readers want explicit or subtle eroticism? Should your characters come together by chance or by design? What sort of characters do readers like? Intense? High-strung? Abrasive? Assertive? You need to know these things.

There are a great many sub-genres you might make use of. You might start with the contemporary genre as it’s pretty common but you might add just a touch of fantasy or even horror. The trick is to make your book stand out from the others without deviating so far from the formula as to turn readers off.

If you don’t need, or expect a great deal of financial remuneration from your work, you can write in any genre and sub-genre you want. Personally, I’m a big fan of humour within detective novels or fantasy but you will likely have your own preferences. Having selected a genre, the next item on the agenda is to either flesh out your characters or the plot.

These do not have to be, and likely should not be, mutually exclusive. You could define a few characters and then decide on a very rudimentary plot with which they might interact. These days most authors, and most readers, prioritize character development over plot. They want strong arcs in which characters are faced with adversity forcing them to look inward, find or develop some inner resources and grow as a person as they triumph or fail as the case may be.

 

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Personally, I much prefer plot-driven books, but I know I’m in the minority. Nevertheless, if you want to start with plot, it’s best to use a broad brush to begin with. For example, a widely known generic plot is the hero’s journey. Here, an individual starts from obscurity, and overcoming a number of obstacles, achieves a prize which might be wealth, power, true love, something equally valuable or a combination of things.

Whatever you chose, jot down a series of notes providing you with some idea where your plot will go. Eventually, plot-driven authors need characters and character-driven authors need plots. However one will generally be subordinate to the other.

Every main character needs a backstory. Secondary characters may have one, but often you can omit or simplify it to a considerable extent. For main characters you’ll need a pretty detailed list of attributes, particularly if you prioritize character development. In the latter case, note weaknesses as well as strengths.

From where will you acquire ideas for a plot? The easy answer is everywhere. A plot may come from your own experience, experiences of friends and relative, news media, social media, or even other authors. You can copy write a book, but you can’t copy write a plot idea.

For example, if you want a young struggling magician being educated in a private school dedicated to magical arts, who has to face an evil foe terrorizing the population at large you can use it. You would be best to select original names and very cautious not to get too close to the original, but the plot idea can certainly be used.

Once you have an idea, break it down into pieces. They can still be fairly broad because you’re going to continue to refine each item until you have a fairly comprehensive outline of scenes. For each scene, you’ll need a setting but you don’t need to start with those. You can apply the necessary setting detail as you develop the scene when writing.

In summary, decide what you want to produce, what you want your finished product to accomplish, perform market research as necessary, develop characters and plot – usually iteratively – develop a plot outline (yes, I know, some like to skip that step but I still recommend it), determine how your characters will interact with plot points and with each other, and then jump in and start writing.   

 

 

Doug Lewars is not necessarily over the hill but he’s certainly approaching the summit. He enjoys writing, reading, fishing and sweets of all sorts. He has published sixteen books on Smashwords.com.