Ready, Get Set, Go!
Although we still have many topics to talk about, like titles, ages, short stories and nonfiction for children, I think we’re ready to jump in and start writing. Let’s start with something really big – a book!
A Big Project Needs Little Steps
Wow! It sounded good when you woke up in the middle of the night with a great idea for a book, and it felt wonderful when you discussed it with your family, friends, and writing group. So now, here you are, ready to start. Have you written anything yet? What? You’re ready to quit? Why? You don’t know where to start? Please, don’t panic. Relax, you’re a great writer, and yes, you do know where to start. The first little step is just hidden in that big project. Let’s find it.
A Novel Idea for a Book Outline
For hypothetical purposes, let’s start with a rough story idea of a middle school girl who discovers a magic yellow number 2 pencil – so she thinks. The pencil seems to write notes on its own. It writes notes to her family, friends, math teacher and that cute boy in her English class. We’ll title our hypothetical book The Real Reason Pencils are Yellow.
Let’s start the outline with a blurb. Book jacket blurbs are great examples of a story in a nutshell – it forces you to write a short synopsis of your book in a concise space. Remember, we’re using the blurb method as a loose outline for our novel. It's fine if you need to make changes once you start writing – no one has to see this outline, it’s your personal writing guide. Our pencil story blurb might be something like this.
The Real Reason Pencils Are Yellow
Kara Kelleher collects pencils. Her pastel collection is still unsharpened in a flowered rose-pink case. A big math test almost makes Kara break into the collection until she spots a yellow pencil on the floor. Who knew the mayhem a lost pencil could start. Suddenly, pencil-written notes signed by Kara are appearing everywhere.
~Her mom gets a note that Kara would be more than glad to babysit the night of Emma’s big party.
~Her dad gets a note that Kara wants to wash the car during Saturday’s important football game.
~Emma gets a note that Kara would rather study than have a sleepover.
~The cute boy in Kara’s English class gets a note that Kara thinks he’s weird.
~The sort of cute boy in Kara’s social studies class gets a note that Kara wants to be his project partner.
But . . .
~The worst note goes to Kara’s math teacher. It says that Kara cheated on the test!
Pencils don’t write by themselves, but Kara is starting to have doubts. What other explanation is there for the mysterious notes?
What's Next?
Now we have our blurb and it gives us a general idea of where we want to go. The next small step I take is to break this blurb down into workable writing bites. I use the chapter method. I start with a list of chapter titles because I love using titles instead of numbers. They really help me plan as well as keep the plot and characters organized. Most of the middle school novels I’ve read have anywhere between 10 to 15 chapters. Here’s the chapter list I created for our pencil story.
1. Needed: One Sharpened Pencil
2. The First Note
3. A Cute Boy
4. The Second Note
5. A Sort of Cute Boy
6. Another Note
7. Emma Pouts
8. Two More Notes
9. The Worst Note of All
10. Wanted: One Ink Pen
I've found that using chapter titles to write makes it easier to edit, move things around, and the best part of all – CHANGE STUFF!!!
This is my book outline method. Tell me more about your method in our forum. I love to hear new styles and methods. Next week, we’ll start to fill in our main ideas under the chapter titles and talk about point of view.
Read, Write, Outline, Write, Change Stuff, and Write More!
Chel
*The pencil illustration was designed by Michelle Anne Cope ©2008.
