For those of you who want to write a book, you might be interested in the process. It begins with the idea. Something triggers your imagination. Write it down. In my case it was something I saw on Oprah a couple of years ago. A story about a man who was shot in the face. He’s a police officer who was on a domestic abuse call. The abuser, instead of shooting his wife, shot the officer. Since that day, this young man has been unable to work. His story was compelling. I thought about writing something similar and I mulled it over in my mind for a few days. Then I forgot it. Recently I saw another story about someone else shot in the face and that triggered all of those thoughts again.

But an idea for a novel isn’t necessarily that idea. It’s a jumping off place. After mulling it over for several days, I went deeper than this. If I’m going to write a novel, the idea has to be way more than this.

If you want to write a novel too, then I urge you to avoid writing the first thing that comes into your mind. Those stories have already been written. Go deeper. For every plot line you choose, make a list of at least ten ways to go and pick the one that intrigues you the most.

If you follow this advice, you’ll be more likely to write something new and fresh and something an editor will want to look at. In my next installment, we’ll look at what to do with the idea to develop it into a novel.