Before you start
writing your story there are things that you need to do to prepare to write
it. These are things that will help keep your writing focused and on track
and that will help you have a better understanding of the story that you
will ultimately write.
1. Write a synopsis (a brief summary of the plot of a
novel). Before starting the story itself, write down a couple
paragraphs summarizing the story. This should be a general description of
the main story line. What is the story that you want to tell? If you're not
sure how to summarize the story that you want to write, practice by
summarizing some of your favorite books. A sample synopsis of Misfit McCabe
might be:
As summer comes to an end, Katie McCabe learns that
her father is ill and will not be able to care for her for awhile.
Motherless, she is sent to live with an uncle and cousins that she has never
met. Starting a new school in a new town is hard enough, but Katie makes an
enemy of the town bully her first day in town. She is angry with her father
for sending her away and sets out to make life as difficult as possible for
her uncle.
When her father passes away, her emotions spiral out of control and on top
of that, the battles with the town bully escalate until Katie finds herself
breaking the law to extract revenge. Caught red-handed, Katie is brought
home by a deputy sherrif, and is horrified to learn that her uncle feels
that he has failed her. Through one final act of revenge by the town bully,
Katie finds herself lost and alone, struggling to get back to the only
family she has left.
2. Write some character sketches. List each of your main characters and
write a few sentences about each one. You can include as much detail as
you'd like, even things that you don't plan to use in your final story. This
helps solidify your knowledge of your characters. Writing down information
about them that doesn't actually go into the story itself is an example of
background information. The more background information you have about your
characters, the more three dimensional they become. The reactions to the
events of the story are always colored by the background information of the
character. For example: In Misfit McCabe, Katie reacts very strongly to the
accusation that she cheated on a test and is extremely dismayed that no one
appears to believe that she has not cheated. Part of Katie's back story is
that she has been accused before, and no one believed her then except her
Daddy, who made sure the record was set straight. So, part of her reactions
are due to a part of her story that has never been told.
3. What does the setting of your book look like? Can you draw a picture of
it? Or can you find a picture that looks like the place you are writing
about? Having a firm grasp of the place you are setting your story in makes
a great deal of difference in the small details of the story.
4. Now that you have the synopsis, your character sketches and a firm idea
of the setting of your story, it's time to start writing the outline. Start
with your synopsis and start filling in the details, as much detail as you
can. It doesn't matter what the outline format is, just get down as many
details as you possibly can to provide the backbone for your story.
5. Now that you've done all of that, it's time to let the ideas simmer for
awhile. Take a few days off, and let your story really solidify in your
mind.
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