Writing a Book

Books that I Would Recommend

2012-10-27T11:53:00.002-07:00

I have compiled a list a Fantasy and Sci-Fi books that I thin you will enjoy studying Brandon Sanderson, Patrick Rothfuss, and Suzanne Collins are just a few of the authors that have greatly impacted my writing. You can even search for a few of your own favorite books here.

My Secret Books.com

I hope you enjoy!

Time to Start Writing your Book

2012-02-18T10:46:00.000-08:00

We have been planning, I feel, for long enough now it’s time to start getting our hands dirty. Are you ready for this? If not I suppose you can stay with the Kindergartners in the Planning stages of the writing process. I can hold you back for another week or so… No? Okay good let’s get started then. But before we do I’d like you to go back to the assignment where we wrote a one page history for the world you created, and I want you to count the words that you have on just one page.

Have you counted the words? Okay, now I can explain, the reason why I want you to count the number of words on a page is so that you can set realistic goals for yourself. This will help you be specific with the number of pages you need to write each day in order to achieve your goals of writing a novel in 30 days. The definition of a novel is actually around 50,000 words. So if I divide 50,000 words by 30 days you get a number like 1,667 words per day. So that is the number of words that you must write for each of your 30 days. Because everyone’s handwriting is different the number of pages that you must write will be different (Anywhere from 4-6 pages). And yes you must write everything out on paper. You thought you would be cleaver and just type up your story from the beginning didn’t you! Well, I suppose you can write it on the computer as well, but just keep in mind that you need to have your notes, that you took during planning, in front of your face the whole time… I don’t want you to suddenly get off topic because you forgot what was going to happen in your plot, or forget how you main character will finally defeat the evil villain.

Anyway, I write something like 300 words per page, and my writing is pretty consistent per page. That means that I must write 5 and a half page, each day for 30 days in order to reach my goal. Five pages aren’t too bad when you look at it that way now is it? Five written pages is practically nothing! Except for when you don’t know what to write, yet another reason why it is important to write out your timeline before you begin. If you do not have your time line with you or any other parts of your planning done by this point, I’m afraid that I must hold you back a grade before you can graduate to the writing stage!

Alright so that pretty much sums up the numbers. How many pages do you have to write per day in order to achieve your goals?

Now it’s time to start writing. Get your pens out, NOT your pencils, and begin writing for day one. Try to establish on day one your main setting, and your main characters, and make sure that everything you write is leading up to your climax!

For those of you writing your work on the computer, make sure once again to keep your notebook literally in front of your face the whole time you are writing. After you get done typing for the day, at night take your note book and check off what you managed to achieve in your Time Line so far. And also review for the next day, write phrases down that you might want to use for the next day, and keep developing your characters by writing about their personalities and short stories about what makes your characters who they are. Keep developing the setting.

The advantage of writing in a notebook is, that as you write your mind has time to think about and develop your setting and characters as you go, while as a person writing on a computer writes so quickly that his or her brain doesn’t have time to process all of the information. So, yes, I suppose there is such a thing as writing too quickly.

Keep Reading for more advice on Day Two.

How to make a Time Line for your Book

2012-02-11T10:54:00.000-08:00

Though the blog I started, called My Secret Biography Blog, is meant to be silly and fun, and is not to be taken as a brilliant example of what a novel should look like, I would like to use it as an example of how I made a Time Line. I define a Time Line as a list of items or events that will take place up to the climax of your story and after the climax. A Time Line will help you to stay focused on the objective of your writing so you don’t stray too far from what needs to happen in your Plot.

I originally wanted My Secret Biography to last for around 20 days. But because it was more popular than I had anticipated I decided to extend it. Your novels should take 30 days, because that is the goal that you promised yourself that you would finish. So the first thing you need to do is get your Note Book and on a separate piece of paper write the numbers 1-30, all the way down the left side of your paper. You might to do all of this with pencil so that you can easily erase and rewrite things as you desire. At the top of the page label this, Time Line. (You may add the title of your book as well if you have a title already.)

These numbers as you might have guessed represent every day that you plan to be writing. It gives you a clear objective of what point in time your characters need to accomplish such and such a thing.

Take a moment and consider your idea for your book. What is the life changing earth shattering event that will happen at the epicenter of your writing? What is your Climax? Go to number 15, the middle of your list of numbers, and write your climax there. I understand that your climax may take place much later in your book, but for now, we will imagine that it takes place in the exact middle of your writing. This list is flexible so don’t stress out about where you put things, you can change it in the future if you need to.

I will use the Time Line that I created for My Secret Biography Blog as an Example.

Biography of Elliot

1. History of Elliot’s Life, Short description of Aunt and Uncle, Setting

2. Escape from the Circus

3. Goes to Wendy’s sees monkeys, Learns that El Stinko is behind the Monkey Abuse

4. Learns what El Stinko is planning to do with Chile, Meets El Stinko face to face!

5. Must find a tutor. Mr. Thumb

6. Works on developing Powers

7. People from the circus joins forces with evil Aunt and Uncle

8. Discover plot to medicate the world through fast food outlets

9. Elliot an Chris need to defeat this evil plot alone

10. Using powers Elliot finds an important item to destroy Lord El Stinko once and for all

11. They are about to use the item

12. Fight ensues between El Stinko and Elliot

13. Defeats Lord El Stinko

14. Plot Twist

15. Elliot discovers more about his parents

16. Finds out that his parents are still alive

17. Searches for more concerning parents

18. Finds family in Prison Run by Lord El Stinko

19. Helps them Escape

20. Reunited with Family, Resolution.

Some of you are probably thinking: ‘I don’t understand this list at all! These snapshot phrases don’t mean anything to me.’ But that really isn’t important, as long as you understand what the phrases mean for your own Time Line and what is going to happen during that time period you are all right. There might be some of you also who have actually read My Secret Biography and know that this Time Line isn’t what happened at all in the actual story. And that’s alright as well, like I said you can change what happens in your actual book, but just make sure that you don’t stray too far from the general idea that your climax no longer is valid for your story.

Now that you have an example of a Time Line and you have written your own climax on number fifteen. You can start writing your own phrases, that possibly only make sense to you, on each number before and after the climax.

Hold on just one second! I want you to use a rule that I call The Rule of Halves. This means that you can’t just start at number one and work your way down, no! You have to half 15 and go to number 8 and write what event happens between the beginning, or number 1, of your story and the climax. It should have something to do with or that helps bring about the Climax. This can be a lot more challenging to actually think about what is going to happen in the middle of things but it helps you to get a clearer picture of everything that needs to happen in your book before the climax and then before the end or resolution of your fabulous book.

Next you half 8 and write in number 4, what happen between number 8 and the beginning?

Then half 4 and fill in number 2, what happens between number 1 and 4?

Then after all of that write in what happens at the beginning, or number one. The beginning should be something exciting or original that grabs the attention of your audience. It can also contain parts of your setting descriptions that you want to establish.

Then you repeat this process for all of the spaces that remain. And repeat the process for all of the numbers after the climax as well.

Review your list of events, and rearrange them how you like. If necessary put the climax of the story later in Time Line or however you like. Are you happy now?!

Congratulations you have successfully planed out more or less what will happen in your novel.

Keep reading to finally start writing!

Creating Main Characters and Villains in Your Book

2012-02-04T12:29:00.000-08:00

Creating characters how exciting! I cannot stress enough the importance of making good characters. Characters that have real feelings, that remain consistent through the duration of a book, and that are just plain awesome. Before you begin writing it’s not important that you plan out all of the characters that you are going to ever have in the book, in fact it’s probable that you will create some of the less important characters on the journey as you go along. However, some planning is required on your part to establish at least five of the main characters before you start. So get your notebooks, out its time to start developing characters.

1-) the first character who you need to create is the main, main, main character. Now I realize that in a book or novel there may be more than one main character but this character is the most important of them all, because the story will be told through his or her eyes. Even if you write in third person omniscient, where the narrator of the story is more aloof from all characters, you still need to have a character through whom you are telling the story, or who drives the story onward. Some good things to establish about your main character are the following:

The name of the character.
Physical appearance and gender.
What is the thing that drives him or her most? What is the thing that is going to keep him or her going during the entire duration of the hideous horrible most depressing things that you, as the author of the book, are going to put him through? Is it revenge? Does he have a girlfriend who he loves? Is he or her trying to prove something to themself or others? This driving force will probably come out later in the book, so it is important to establish it right now so that you can plan to show your readers by the things that your character does or says, rather than telling them the driving force of your characters. Also, when planning the main conflict of your storyline often times the conflict will be in direct opposition to the driving force of the character. For example, if the driving force of a character is hope, then a lot of the times the main conflict of the story could be something that destroys or threatens to destroy the character’s hope. Or, if a character has a girlfriend, sometimes a conflict of the story can be that the girlfriend gets kidnapped!
You need to establish likes and dislikes that have to do psychologically with the character’s driving force. For example, maybe the reason why your character hates pickles is because in the past a man killed his mother who smelled like rotten dill pickles. The event naturally scared him for life, it also explains why the character has a huge driving force to get revenge. It is very probable that your main character doesn’t even remember the reason why he hates pickles so much, you may only ever mention that he hates pickles once in the book and not even explain why to your readers, but it is important that you understand your own character at the deepest levels of his mind.
What is the favorite music of your character? Hobby’s pastimes of your character and why does he like to do those things so much. These things can also be psychologically linked to the past in some way.
Keep in mind that there is no such thing as a person in this world who is pure good or pure evil it’s important to know, what are the biggest flaws of your character’s character? If your character is portrayed as either pure good or pure evil, your readers will find it horribly unrealistic, unoriginal, stereotypical, and your character will tend to be outrageously melodramatic. Yuck, just remember that some flaws in even your main character go a long way to make him feel more like a real person.
Establish a short past for your character that explains his or her driving force; that explains psychologically his likes his dislikes his hobbies and his favorite music. Be as detailed as you need to be. Dig up all the dirt of your main character.
Ta da! You have successfully created a realistic awesome character. Give him super powers now if you desire. J (Superpowers are like garnish on top of delicious food not a main attribute of your character!)

2-) Next I want you to establish your villain. Your villain though you may not know it, is actually the second most important character in your story. Don’t make the same mistake I did when I was young and foolish. I once tried writing a novel before I had established what my main villain was going to be like. I was something like 120 pages into my writing and my main characters hadn’t even met the villain yet nor, coincidentally, the driving conflict of the story. The result was just a big blah! I found my characters just wandering about doing nothing of real importance to the story line and by that point there was nothing I could do. So please learn from my mistakes plan your villain right now before you even start. Be sure that you remember especially that your villain is not pure evil, and that there is good in him. List specifically those good qualities about him or her. Just repeat the process that you did for your main character with the bullet points above.

3-) Now that you have established your main character you can repeat the process for other main characters that you feel need to be established before you begin writing you may do so now. Admittedly, you can probably be a little less detailed now that you have your main, main, main characters established, your main character and your villain.

That’s all for today. Next time we are going to be discussing plot and story line making. Fun Fun!

New Blog Alert Writing a Book

2012-01-31T10:03:00.000-08:00

Due to the amount of content that will be required to explain how to write a book, I have decided to open up a new Blog exclusively dedicated to the cause. Both Elliot’s Biography Blog and Writing a Book Blog will be linked together to ease the transition. I hope that you will enjoy both blogs equally. Though admittedly one is more ridiculous than the other, while the other is mostly for your personal edification.

Cordially,

Silver Quill

Link: Elliot's Biography Blog

Creating Your World Writing a Book

2012-01-31T09:46:00.000-08:00

People have many different ways of thinking and processing information in their brains. When writing your book or novel you may think: well I can just write one day at a time and eventually get the story to how I like it. And that very well may be true; however, most people do not have the mental capacity to think so far ahead, before they write their novel, that they can anticipate small changes that need to occur before certain important events can happen. A general rule of thumb is that before something new is introduced into your book it should be mentioned at least three different times in subtle ways and in different contexts so that the reader subconsciously transitions from one idea to the next. For example, if Lord Prestwitch is going to betray Aunt Tilly, the subject of betrayal should be mentioned three times before Lord Prestwitch actually does, but not in a way that the reader can guess that Lord Prestwitch will betray Aunt Tilly. Writing like this requires a lot of practice and a lot of planning as well.

Yes that’s right I said the ‘P’ Word. Planning is one of your most helpful tools. It will help you to develop your ideas so much as you write, and will allow you to make necessary changes in the plot before certain events ever happen, eliminating the need to go back and add them in later.

Do you remember that awesome dream that you had last week? It was so incredible that as soon as you woke up you wanted to tell all of your family and later your best friends, but when the time came to actually tell them, the idea didn’t sound half as good as it did while you were actually dreaming. In fact as you try to explain that dream to your family you realize that it was actually really not that cool at all… It didn’t even make much sense really.

You may have fantastic ideas, or ideas that seem wonderful to you, but right now you have to realize that those ideas are jut fragments of something much, much larger. Many times when I start writing a new idea, I have just brief segments of really cool fight scenes, or concepts. Yet when I start to write without planning I realize that they are really half-baked they need to go back into the oven to be cooked for a bit longer before I can actually serve the idea to my family and friends and hopefully future customers of my published books.

So let’s start at the beginning a very good place to start, and we will use your notebook and your favorite pen to do some exercises that will help you to develop your ideas and turn them into something incredible.

Find a clean sheet of paper and write on the top: My World/ Universe.

This is an exercise that will help you to first develop your setting. It will probably take a lot a time. The more time you take during your planning the less time you will need to take fixing your overall plot later.

1) First you have to establish what time your World takes place in. So write time:______ and then whatever you want for your world. Is this in the Past, Present, or Future. Is this a Past where there is awesome technology, is it an alternate Present where they live as they did in the past, or maybe even a future that has been destroyed by an apocalyptic zombie attack. The possibilities are endless. Is there a numbered year even, such as 2012AD, for your world?

2) City, or Rural, or none of the above. Depending on where they live your characters will speak and act differently based upon location, that is why it is important to establish where they live before you start to write. A Potato farmer is likely to speak differently than a rich city kid. Write notes about what colors you see in this landscape what kinds of buildings or rocks or trees there are in the area where you are going to start your book. Is this a snowy tundra? or the African plains? Is this Japan, China, Russia? So many different possibilities. Maybe in your world there is nothing but Green Jell-O for oceans.

3) Atmosphere can be used to describe many things, the weather and even the overall mood of your book. Maybe in your world, due to an old mages curse, fire and brimstone rain constantly from the heavens. The sky is grey with heavy clouds that scrape the tops of buildings with their wispy tendrils. Everyone in this city walks with eyes downcast and their faces somber. Of course, a good witch could just as easily make sunshine turn into gumdrops and ice-cream making everyone joyfully dance through the street lithely, like merry jesters. If there were a song that went along with the mood of your book, what song would it be? In a book there is no such thing as normal weather, because although the weather may change from day to day the mood will be the same or different depending on what you want to do. That is the difference between sunshine that is sultry and oppressive, and sunshine that is merry and light upon your face. Rain that is mysterious, scary, or playful.

4) This is about all of the setting development that you will need for now. Take a look at all of the notes you have written and be sure that they represent the world that you envisioned in your head. Is this the world that you want? If not keep add details to your notes until you have something that you are pleased with.

5) Now, after all of that, a useful exercise that you can do, is write a one page history of your world. Write about how people first came to be in this world why things the way they are. How did the zombies manage to take over New York City? Why is it raining Fire and Brimstone from the heavens? I think that this is an essential part of you book, it puts an explanation behind everything that is happening in your world. Even if your readers don’t know why gumdrops are falling from the sunshine it is important that you, as the creator of this world, understands why. Who knows it might come in handy later, if you choose to reveal some interesting information later in your book.

This is your assignment for now. Next we will be talking about character development; you definitely won’t want to miss that.

Elliot's Secret Biography Blog

Writing a Book

2012-01-31T09:43:00.000-08:00

Let me guess… you’ve been sort of toying with the idea of writing a book. An idea that you’ve been fiddling with and playing with in your mind for some years but can’t quite think of exactly how to go about putting it all on paper.

Many people sit and wring their hands together and they think: Oh dear, what if no one likes how I write. Oh deary me, I can’t think of how to start my book. Or even, what if I get bored to death of what I’m writing and don’t like it myself. Or countless other doubts that frankly you have fabricated for yourself to excuse yourself from actually writing.

Many people out there have always dreamed of writing their very own book. They’ve perhaps had ideas that they want to get out on paper for years but for some reason or another just haven’t gotten around to doing it yet. Well I’m telling you now, that if you keep making silly excuses you will never do it.

I’m here to say what are you waiting for, fool?! If you want to do this thing, do it! (I’m trying to sound like your personal trainer being all mean to try and motivate you to actually write your book, I hope you are not offended. Is it working?) That’s right I called you a fool! What are you going to do about it?

This blog is not for the faint of heart. This blog will be about getting result from yourself and most importantly feeling pleased about what you have written afterward. This will be a blog on how to train yourself to write without shame and vigorously meet self set deadlines to successfully write your book in only 30 days.

Can you imagine, finally getting that idea out on paper, that golden idea that has been festering within your mind for ages now? If you die with this idea still in your head I promise you that you will never find peace in the afterlife. So are you going to do it?

Good let’s get started then…

The first step begins with you and your determination to actually do this thing. So with that said. I want you to get your 5 subject notebook college ruled right now in your favorite color. Do you have it in front of you? I can wait. Good, now get your favorite pen, not a pencil an actual pen that will not blur or skip when you write. Do you have that? Good, now I want you to write this on the first page of your notebook in ink word for word:

I, put your name here, solemnly swear before myself upon my, put something special to you here, that I will finally write my book; that I will not complain or make excuses; and that I will finish this book in the 30 day time period that I have established as my goal.

Put your signature here along with the date

There, it is done you have made the unbreakable vow, and you must therefore follow through or the fleas of one thousand camels will infest your armpits for all eternity.

If you don’t have a 5 subject notebook you need to go get one at the store immediately and write the unbreakable vow with your favorite pen, don’t forget that you have to do this in paper and pen first.

All right this is your assignment for today. Do this with real intent. That means that you are going to take this seriously, and I promise that you will get the result from yourself that you have always dreamed of and it should only take you 30 days…

Elliot's Secret Biography Blog

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