Okay, I’ve finished the rough draft, all but the final scene. Should I write it? I’m tempted to leave it until after I’ve gone through the book one more time. This will leave a carrot dangling out in front of me, something left to do that keeps me working. If I write the last scene now, it will be like letting all the air out of my balloon. Or at least that’s my fear. I’m going to leave it. I’ll let you know if it works.

Okay, Christmas is over, the stockings are put away, the tree is out on the curb, and the parties are all behind me. It’s time to get back to my book. I tried to keep up by writing when I could. I wrote about 5,000 words in December. That kept my head in the book, but alas I’m way behind my writing goal. It felt like the project I was so passionate about just a few weeks ago is now a job, or something my teacher assigned and I have to do.

The hardest part about putting a book aside is picking it back up. What was the Main character’s father’s name? Where exactly did she go to school? Who was her coach in high school. What was that old boy friend’s name and why was it so important for her to reach that goal? The passion has waned and now I have to pick it all back up again. It’s like spilling your jewelry box across the floor and trying to pick everything up and match it again.

One way to do it, is to go back and reread the whole thing. Another is to reread your plot line (this is recommended by me. But you have to have one in order to do this). If you find the plot line feels a little old, add some new twists, heighten the tension by giving the character a stronger reason to reach her/his goal.

Set a new writing goal. Mine is 1,000 words/five days a week.

I’ll let you know how it goes. In the meantime, keep writing.

Write a treatment.

Okay, so now I’ve plotted my book out. What next? I rethink the whole thing. I ask myself the hard questions about whether or not my plot is believable. I make sure that the whole idea is compelling and worry constantly about what my character wants–is it strong enough to carry a reader to the end. I change this and add that, move this scene to here and discover a neat ending that I hadn’t even thought about at the beginning of this process. I made the father a nice guy, instead of a bad guy. When I am satisfied with my plot, I let it rest for a day or two.

Next I wrie a treatment. I take all of those scenes and write at least a paragraph about each one as I see them played out in the novel. They aren’t perfect (I’m sure my opening scene will change after I’m finished with the book.) I do this for chapters one through six, which is what will be equivalent to Act One–it takes us up to the point of no return in the first section. Something happens here that changes evrything for my heroine. It’s something so awful and so horrible, I don’t know if she can survive.

Having written this out, I read it over and think I’m ready to start writing my novel. The morning I’m ready to begin, I’m soaking in my bathtub when it comes to me–I have a major flas in my book.

Now if I had started to write and was now two thirds of the way through and came upon this flaw, I would be in crisis. Because I only have short scenes and a treatment written–I can change the problem easily.

I don’t have to commit literary suicide and throw the whole thing in the trash. I’m so grateful that I’m taking the time to work this process.

Next, I’ll talk about the actual writing of the novel and what happens during this process.

We have watched movies and TV show and read books since we were small. Our heads are full of plot ideas. When we go to write our own stories, it’s natural to pick the plot line that we’ve seen before. They can even be our favorite ideas. But don’t go there. Take a moment to think about your characters next move. Is that truly fesh? I just went back over my plot line for my newest book and realized that my opening scene has been done about a kazillion times. Yes, it’s exciting, yes, it would draw the read in–just like it has in all those other novels that started the same way. But is that what I want? No. I want something fresh and as nearly new as I can make it. The scene had to go. I hit the delelte key.

Painful? Not nearly as much as it would have been if I’d written the whole scene out in great detai, taken it to my writing group for their approval, rewritten it a couple of times, fallen in love with all the nuances of my clever sentences. What I cut was two sentences. Just the outline that I was making of what I forsaw my book to be.

That’s why I’m arguing for writing out an outline of your book before you start. I’ve written books the other way–a vague idea of where I wanted to go, a character who I loved, and then I turned my pen loose. Trouble was, I kept getting lost in my novel. I’d come to deadends or plot ideas would rise up in the middle that needed to be planted in the front of the book. The rewrite was painful and complicated.

This time I’m doing a detailed plot line. Some of you might want to use 3 x 5 notecards. I did it on a table in my computer. Each column was give then title: POV (point of view), Setting, Goal, Disaster, and Growth.

You may chose to tell you story from one point of view. That’s fine. Then you can eliminate the first column. Setting column is a way to make sure you’re not putting all of your action in one place–the kitchen, or the barn, or a car. You can study these and see if there is some place more interesting to place the action that you want to take place.

Goal is what the character hopes will happen in this scene. This is a way to make the scene character driven and not just character reacting.

Disaster is how you want the plot to thicken. The character goal may be to get a raise from her boss. The disaster would be he says yes, but only if she’ll work the late shift.

Character growth, makes sure that your characters are growing throughout the action of the story. From selfish to giving, from bitter to hopeful, from depressed to happy.

Now that I have these colums filled out, I think about them and work them over and change them. It’s so much easier than working with a 90,000 word novel.

I highly recommend this. Next, I’ll tell you about writing a treatment.

Now that you have an idea for your novel, think about these three things. Who will bring this idea to fruition–charater? How will they do it–plot line? And where will they do it–setting.

Every novel that has made a mark in the publishing world has had one character that has stood out from the rest. This is the main character. Before you chose who this person is spend a lot of time thinking about them. They may come to you quickly, or they may come to you slowly. However they are created by you (I don’t advise basing characters on real people) they should be bigger than life. Think about the characters that stand out in your mind, either from movies or books. For me they are Scarlett O’Hara, Luke Skywalker, James Bond, Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz, David from the Bible, Nancy Drew from my childhood, etc. What makes them memorable? They are bigger than life.

This doesn’t mean they aren’t real people, athough James Bond comes closer than the others to being unrealistic. They had faults and strengths; they grew throughout their stories; some of them were even unlikeable. They achieved impossible goals. They lived life wholly. They were strong. They were not victims–and if they were, they faced their tragedy with courage and vowed to change things. They were courageous. Develop your character along the lines of the ones you remember. Spend time brainstorming about their background, their parents, their childhood. Write out defining moments in their lives. Develop a need in them, something that throbs within their very being. Define their core beliefs about life.

If you do, I promise the next step–putting them in the plot line, will be much easier.

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.

I’m in the middle of rewriting a nonfiction book for republication. I’d been working on it for a couple of weeks when I was interupted by my son’s wedding. A weekend affair ended up taking two weeks out of my writing life. Today I’m trying to pick up the pieces and I feel very much like the proverbial woman who spread a pillow case full of feathers around the countryside. So many ideas and thoughts and half-formed suggestions have to be picked back up and put into my brain. I have to juggle what the editor said in his rewrite letter, what I want to do to make the book better than it was orginally, the new research I’ve done, and a list of things I have to cut, add, and rewrite. I have to remember to delete the footnotes, add the questions at the end of the chapters, and not tell the same story twice.

It seems impossible, like picking up those feathers. I put it off all morning and finally began after lunch. A tentative start, but a start nontheless.

Will I make the deadline? Right now it seems unlikely.

I don’t have daughters and so I don’t know what it feels like to watch one marry, but I’ve now had two sons marry (the last one just a week ago). I looked forward to each occassion with happiness and expectation, for I wasn’t losing a son (as I’d been warned), but gaining two cohorts in this male-filled world of mine. They’re not romantic, they’re both practical, but they like feminine things. I’ve been up to my ears in G.I. Joe, Star Wars, baseball, football, creepy crawlie things, motors, and tools. Now I get to buy pretty clothes, flowered centerpieces, scented candles, and pretty knitted things. Perhaps one day we’ll even talk babies. Do I dare dream?

In three days my youngest son is getting married. It’s been hectic, getting the house ready for out-of-town guests. My husband has been an incredible help. He shampooed all my carpets and is outside right now working in the yard.

This evening my oldest son and his bride of one year will be flying in from Tennessee and staying with us for one week. My husband and I are as excited about this as the wedding for we haven’t seen them in over a year.

Weddings are a celebration of love, but they also bring two families together, who just a short while ago were total strangers. Now we’re linked forever by a simple “I do.”

My prayers is that God will be present in every aspect of the ceremony and the days leading up to the big event. May the newly weds understand that he wants to be part of their relationship and that if they invite him in, he will help them have a fuller, richer relationship.

Tonight the two immediate families are meeting at our home for dinner. Friday night is the rehearsal dinner and then a cruise on Lake Washington for all invited guests. Saturday is the wedding, at the Seattle Tennis Club. The couple want Mt. Rainier in the background as they exchange their vows. Reception to follow.

You all can come to the brunch the next morning at our house and watch them open their presents. It will be an informal affair.

I’ve just received the rewrite letter for my book What’s in the Bible for Mothers. It’s nine pages long. Yikes! I have two months to make the changes and get it back to my editor. I’m filled with dread at the possibility of missing this deadline. I have an editing job, my son’s wedding, a trip to Idaho, and other assorted responsibilities cluttering up my life. Will I make it? Can I do it?

Janet Lee Carey, author of numerous children’s books including her latest The Beast of Noor, has given me this great piece of advice. Take in one step at a time. Do the little things first.

She should know. I’ve watched her over the years make major changes in her novels. If she can do it, so can I. Thanks, Janet, for showing me the way.

I’ll keep you posted on my progress.