writing a novel tips for beginners – Read First Chapter.com

How to do a Double-Opt-In Email and Giveaway at MailerLite

Double-Opt-In-at-MailerLight

Above is a diagram of most of the moving parts involved in setting up a give away using a double opt-in email and automation at Mailerlite. Seeing it visually will help you understand all the bits and pieces I talk about in the video that goes along with this post.

The video below is a comprehensive tutorial about setting up a giveaway using a double-opt-in email, and sending an email containing a link to a download for an infographic.

For self-publishers, building a reader list, sometimes referred to as a newsletter list, it is important to find ways to build your readership. By offering occasional giveaways, you can build your list a little faster.

People love infographics that organize and simplify information, so that is what I decided to offer as a giveaway in the offer in the video.

WHAT IS A DOUBLE OPT IN EMAIL?

A double-opt in email is one where the person signs up but then they must go and retrieve the email in order to confirm it is a live email. It presents you from gathering made up emails. It keeps your reader list clean of fake emails.

WHAT WILL BE COVERED IN THE VIDEO?

Like the picture above, I will cover the entire process from uploading the giveaway to Google drive and getting the proper link for the ultimate email form.

Then we go to Mailerlight and I walk you through the system as I set up a give away using the double opt-in email.

At the end, I then show you how it works. I also give a secret tip at the end about what to do with all the links you have gathered in order to put something like this together.

VIDEO TIMELINE:

00:01 – What we will cover in the video
Outlining all the components and links we will need
07:57 – Uploading the document at Google Drive
11:17 – MailerLite – First Form, the Sign up form and Success Message
15:20 – Email Settings (I leave them all unchecked)
16:00 – Creating the automation, the workflow
17:50 – Create the Email that is launched when the form is filled out
18:40 – Selecting a Mailerlite Template
20:00 – Creating an Email Template
20:50 – Adding the Google Drive link to the Email Form
22:00 – How to save the finished Email as a reuseable Template
23:00 – Set up the double Opt in
24:00 – How to find the direct link to the Mailerlink Form
27:00 – How the form works

Here is the video for your review:

If anyone is interested in getting a copy of the Infographic about How to Create a Character Arc in a 4-Part Story Structure, you can sign up below!

How to Brainstorm A New Story

WHAT TO DO IF YOU NEED TO WRITE A STORY AND YOU’RE STUCK:

Mastering the art of writing captivating mysteries. Unleash your creativity and weave intricate tales of crime and suspense.

This worksheet is geared for those who want to write a mystery or crime novel. It helps with writer’s block too. It breaks down the process into small bite-sized pieces and it will get your motor going without any effort.

Just follow the suggestions, summed up easily below, and you will have at least the start of something within minutes. There is a link below to download the three-page instructional and checklist.

If you are an intermediate novel writer, here is a graphic of the overall process without the instructional questions:

THIS WORKSHEET HAS MULTIPLE PURPOSES:

If you are stumped for a main story, or if you are stumped for what happens now, or even if you have written yourself into a bit of a corner, this instructional will help, along with your own creativity and thinking, to bring about new possibilities.

Jump into the series of steps wherever you are in the writing process and it will help you restart your engine. Once you go through the process a time or two, I’m sure it will become your go-to procedure.

THE LISTS | CHOOSE FROM COLUMN A AND COLUMN B:

Below is a closer look at Page 3 of the Worksheet where it will give you a wide birth of choices for mysteries and/or crimes. It’s hard for one mind to think of all the possibilities without some kind of aid no matter how creative one is.

START THE WORKSHEET BY CHOOSING A CRIME OR MYSTERY:

Let’s talk about how to use this work sheet. Choose a crime or mystery from the list below and make up a potential perpetrator. Don’t waste time on what he or she looks like. Then start asking the following questions:

Why would this person want to commit this crime?
What could be going on in his/her life that would make him/her feel they needed to commit this crime?
How would he want to cover his tracks?
What specific knowledge would a character need to pull off a crime or swindle like this? In other words, is he/she an accountant and that makes it easier to commit a financial crime?
Then ask: Who would need to help him or give him/her cover? Add necessary characters and think about a connection. Is it a family connection? Is it a romantic connection?

THE NEXT SET OF QUESTIONS TO ASK:

Once you have a perpetrator and the cast of necessary characters, then it’s time to answer the following questions:

What could go wrong in the commission of this crime that would create tension or mystery? (He drops a glove or a drop of blood.)
How will these clues ultimately lead to his/her exposure? (How will this clue be found?)
How can this end in a way that would let justice prevail? (How and who will find the clue?)
How will the culprit ultimately be caught? (Is he cornered by an accuser? Is he arrested? Does he confess?)
What is one clue that can be minimized in the beginning of the story but will turn out to be the one who catches the bad guy?

NEXT SET OF QUESTIONS:

List the things that could go right for the perpetrator — like a second, more-likely suspect pops up and suddenly all eyes are not on the real culprit anymore?
Could there be other likely suspects that would also have motivation to commit the crime?
As the story grows, add whatever crucial characters are needed (witnesses, husbands, wives, bosses, helpers, etc.) who you will need to make the crime and solving of the story happen.
If you get this far, it means that you have a viable storyline.

THE SKELETON OF THE CRIME:

Before you exert too much energy fleshing out any character or story details, be sure to check to make sure you can design a three-prong storyline out of this budding storyline. One prong will be a red herring storyline, someone who may look guilty, but is exonerated in the middle or end of the story. The second prong is a second suspect or a wrong suspect who will look guilty for a large segment of the storyline. And the final prong will be for the real culprit. In order to have a story that works, you will need a believable crime that can meld these three prongs into one suspenseful story.

As you use this worksheet and these techniques, a crime skeleton will emerge. Some attempts at this will go flat in the early stages for any number of reasons. But some storylines will begin to almost shape themselves.

I always make four believable storylines and then choose the best one. Then I know I have the best of my ability at that time in my life. Once you know you have a storyline and a lineup of stick figures and character roles that can technically pull off the mystery, so to speak, then you can begin to build real characters and an actual story.

THE CHARACTERS BUILD THEMSELVES:

Once you know what will be needed for the three-pronged storyline and what traits the lead characters will need to play out their parts, the characters will start building themselves into two-dimensional characters. You can take the characters up to deeper, three-dimensional characters as you flesh out your main story and subplots.

LIST OF MYSTERIES, CRIMES & GENRES

I hope this is helpful. Once you know you have a workable storyline, then it’s time to take a look at my Ultimate Character Development Worksheet. This will help you bring the stick figures to three-dimensional with a full character arc.

Learning to Write from Pulp Fiction

WHAT IS PULP FICTION?

Pulp Fiction become popular during the depression of the 1920s and 1930s. Publishers at the time used a very cheap “pulp” paper in order to produce these short stories and magazines that cost about a quarter. Yes, twenty-five cents!

During the depression, life was difficult and people didn’t want to struggle to make sense of what authors meant by long run on sentences. They didn’t have the stomach or patience for prose. During a depression, people are lucky they can concentrate at all. They wanted escape and the publishers gave it to them in the form of pulp fiction.

Pulp magazines were filled with adventurous stories with hard-boiled detectives, larger-than-life heroes, space travelers. There was no subtlety. It was all straight-talking dialogue. The plots were fantastical and melodramatic, but easy to follow and easy to read.

A QUICK HISTORY OF PULP FICTION:

In the late 1800s and early 1900s, classical literature was popular. I would even refer to it as high-brow fiction. Oscar Wilde, H G Wells, Jack London, Upton Sinclair, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, William Faulkner. These authors are known not only for their storytelling ability, but their prose, their wordsmithing. This is what I consider ‘high-brow’. Their books are not read-’em and toss-’em books. They are written to read and contemplate, maybe even read again and again.

Agatha Christie was also a part of this list of popular authors at the time, but she may have influenced the pulp fiction genre more than any of the other authors. Her multi-suspect mysteries were extremely popular

Pulp fiction’s prose was everyday tough talk. There were clever phrases to read and re-read. There was no deep concepts to contemplate. It was mostly action, reaction and romance. The plots were sensational, violent and maybe strange, but they were easy to read; perfect for people who are distracted and worried.

WHAT MAKES PULP FICTION DIFFERENT?

WHAT CAN NEW AUTHORS LEARN FROM READING PULP FICTION?

Reading pulp fiction can help new authors know the difference between believable action and over-the-top action.
It can help an author know the difference between writing emotions and over-the-top melodrama.
It can help an author know how to quickly introduce a character.
It can show a new writer how to quickly get to the point of a story and keep it lean and tight.
It can help an author learn how to handle the passage of time, and much more.

Because most of the pulp fiction is short, it can help an author to easily see how the pulp fiction writer handled foreshadowing, passage of time, action scene descriptions, fight scenes, how much and how little back story is needed in a short story. There is much more for a new author to learn from reading pulp fiction.

Microsoft Fonts for Books and Book Covers

Which font should you use when self-publishing? The more choices we have, the harder it gets to choose.

I always chose Times New Roman as that was the font default in journalism, for books and newspapers for my entire life. However, since Microsoft added hundreds of fonts, I now see any number of fonts show up.

Below are the most common fonts in my opinion:

As you can see from the picture above, even fonts of the same size are heavier and lighter than each other and even the numbers are larger and smaller. My favorites are Times New Roman and Trebuchet MS.

BOOK COVER FONTS – Pretty Fonts:

When it comes to Book Cover fonts, that’s another story. You want something that is attention capturing. I have gone through all of the fonts in Microsoft Word and below I have created a large list of the ones that would be appropriate for book covers.

Often you may want to also have fonts that are heavy and bold. I again went through all the fonts and made a table with those fonts too. I also added some old fashioned and vampire-like fonts.

I remember being new and overwhelmed while planning my first book cover. There were too many choices and I was trying to find the best fonts to “fit in” with other authors. In the beginning, this was very important to me.

I hope this helps.

You can print out this page or you can screen shot and save on your computer. But if you want to download copies of these lists in one download, click below:

MYSTERY NOVEL BRAINSTORMING FOR BEGINNERS

THE BEST TIP I CAN PASS ON TO BEGINNER WRITERS:

Writing a novel is a huge undertaking. There are many things that go into the writing of a fiction story. The best tip I can pass on is this: Break everything down into little bite-sized pieces. By doing this, you can reduce a huge project down to do-able portions that can be done whether you have 2 hours a week to write or two full days! It only requires a little planning and organization.

ALL NOVELS REQUIRE SOME SUSPENSE:

Regardless of what type of novel you choose to write, all stories require at least a semblance of suspense. Suspense is what hooks the reader into the story, and it is what pulls the reader along the story and keeps them reading. Suspense creates a question the reader desires an answer to. The greater the suspense, the more hooked the reader will be.

READING OTHER AUTHORS:

It’s important to keep reading as your own journey as a writer continues. Each author has a different style and uses different storytelling techniques. The stories don’t even have to be great. You can learn from the good, the bad and the bland. Just analyzing what made a book bland is a great lesson in itself. Did the story need more action? Did the story get stuck somewhere?

When I read novels now, I can usually tell whether the author is a pantser or a plotter. If the story sags in the third section, I can tell the author got caught in part two of the three-act structure.

The books I read now are twice as enjoyable because I experience them as a reader but as an author too. I get to enjoy the story itself but also watch and learn the author’s storytelling techniques too.

WATCHING MOVIES FOR INSPIRATION:

When I am in the process of writing my own novels, I tend to read less because I’m reading and proofreading my own pages. During these times, I like to vegetate by getting lost in a movie. I watch movies specifically to learn from them. Believe me, you can learn a lot about the actual storytelling craft from watching movies. They can also be a source of inspiration for your own stories.

It took me almost a year to come up with my first story for a novel. One full year. I didn’t know where to start. I had ideas, but didn’t know how to brainstorm them into a potential story.

WHERE CAN DO YOU GET IDEAS FOR A FICTION STORY FROM?

Ideas for stories in the beginning will come from TV movies, Cinema movies or other books you read. Reading other authors is crucial no matter where you are on the writing spectrum. However, when you’re new, you can learn a lot from watching mystery or crime noir movies. I like movies from the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s. The movies in these decades didn’t have CGI and the directors had to use the stage to tell the story. They used wider shots and props to assist the storytelling. By watching these older movies, you can learn a lot regarding writing.

The movies of today show the location scenes once and then do close up shots of one character talking and then follow it up with another close-up shot of a character talking. There’s not that much to learn about storytelling from these movies. It’s a shame because the sets are absolutely gorgeous, especially in the fantasy movies.

To the left (or above) is a screenshot of the Wikipedia page that comes up when you search “1940 in film”. This will give you all of the films and a tiny synopsis of what the films are about. You can pick whatever decade appeals to you.

READ THE SYNOPSIS FOR THE MOVIE FIRST:

It’s a good idea to read the synopsis before you view the movie. Knowing at least a basic outline of the story will allow you to absorb more as an author. If you go into the movie blindly, you will be “experiencing the movie” as a viewer only. By knowing ahead of time what story will be unfolding, it will allow you to watch specifically for certain scenes to unfold. You can watch what tools are used to move the story along.

For example: Notice in the scenes how much information is passing to the viewer by the setting. Besides the timeline of when the story is taking place, it often will give you shots of recognizable icons from certain cities. There are so many techniques you can learn from watching these older movies about all of the tools used to lay out the facts of the story and how suspense is created. Below is a list of things to watch for in stories:

How does the movie show the location of the story? Do they use icons, or text on the screen? Do they use snippets of dialogue? Each movie you will learn different tricks for showing time and location.
How does the story show either poverty or opulence?
How does the movie present the premise? There will be at least dialogue about what the main character wants or needs. Notice how this is done.
Notice where the suspense of the story starts. Even in non-mystery stories, there will be at least a thread of suspense. It might be suggested by a vision that one character and the viewer see and no one else does. Or it may be a little gossip that passes in a short conversation.
Notice how the passage of time is handled. Is the passage of a few years spoken in dialogue or is it projected in some other way?
Notice how the writers show the character’s weakness or fallen nature.
Notice the change in locations in the story. This is often how the story is kept moving forward.
Notice when the suspense gets stronger.
Watch for how the writers will use lies to create a sense of worry or dread.
For any twists in the story, notice how abrupt it happens. Also take the time to notice if this was foreshadowed in the beginning of the story. Readers love foreshadowing.

MY SUGGESTION FOR A MOVIE:

If you are looking for a suggestion, I would suggest Rebecca for the first movie. This movie was directed by Alfred Hitchcock and it has a lot of gothic atmosphere. There is also a psychological plotline in this story so it is a goldmine for learning storytelling tools.

Most of the synopses on Wikipedia give you an outline of the story but they don’t have spoilers in them. Sometimes I only read about six paragraphs on the really long ones because the purpose is only to know a little bit about what the story will be about so you can watch for how things are handled on film. You can easily translate any of these tools to novel writing.

GOTHIC MOVIES: Gothic movies are great at showing how to introduce fear and suspense into a story. They are also a great place to learn how to use the atmosphere and the location and backdrops to add to the suspense.

FILM NOIR: These movies are great to learn character development. Film Noir is usually about all fallen characters. In other words, they are all sinners, but some characters are bigger sinners than others. This is a great way to learn how to craft a fallen

LONG SERIES: These are great to learn about how the location and things in the room or backdrop help to relay the story. You can learn a lot about the passage of time, how flashbacks are handled, how to introduce new characters in preparation to take the story in a new direction. Miniseries like Downton Abbey and other miniseries are a great place to learn about what is going on.

MELODRAMA: Melodrama has fallen out of favor in recent times, but I personally think it needs a comeback. You can learn about melodrama from old world soap operas. I think the only one I can think of is Dallas. It’s on either Amazon Prime or somewhere else you can watch it. These types of shows are good for showing how to blend romance, cheating, and other emotional scenes into the story.

You don’t have to commit to watching the entire soap opera. You can learn a lot about storytelling tools by watching only a few shows.

Blow is a copy of the entire Brainwashing Sheet I referred to above. You can read the blog post about how to use it here.

And you can sign in to download your copy of the sheets below:

How to Write a Book Series

I ACCIDENTALLY WROTE MY FIRST BOOK SERIES:

AllBookSeries I didn’t set off to write a book series. How did it happen? My first novel turned out to be way too long and there was way too much going on. So I broke it down and wrote two separate stories.

Once I finished the first two novels, I realized that because my main character was a private investigator, it was possible to continue to solve crimes in new books, so that’s what I did. The series is now four books, but I could easily add more in the future.

During the process of writing my first, second and third series, I learned a lot of tips to make it easier. There were so many things I didn’t know I didn’t know in the beginning. My purpose in this blog post is to pass on my best tips in writing a book series.

I found out later that more experienced authors even suggested that newer authors consider writing in series because it’s easier to market the books. But my venture into writing book series was a happy accident.

TIP NUMBER 1: KEEP A LONG RUNNING INFORMATION LIST

Keep a long running names list. I call mine an Information Sheet. I put down every character I ever name. I learned the hard way to only trust my memory. It doesn’t work!

By having a long list of every character, street names, crime locations, neighbor names, job titles, etc., you will have all of this information at your fingertips.

Example Number 1: In my first novel in the Jack Nolan Detective Series, I needed an immediate boss’ name. So I chose Lieutenant Duane White. But then when I needed to refer to him in Book 3 but I forgot what I named him! I had to hunt him down in the manuscript of the first book. This can take hours, especially if you don’t have any clue what you may have called him.

Now I keep the all proper names and other information that I may need again on a long list that travels with me through each book. No matter how insignificant the character seems, I write it down on my information list.

Example Number 2: I referred to Jack Nolan’s wife, one of the characters, as having left him eight month’s previous to the start of the series. By having this information recorded, I was able to track how many months passed and how this time increased over the time of the series.

Example Number 3: Town names, Plaza names, Mall names, etc. All of these seem insignificant when you are pulling the names out of the air during the drafting of the book. But with cops working in the same town, you may need to reference that same mall again.

Special Note to Fantasy Writers: They use what they sometimes call a World Bible, and this is a more extended information list. It’s important to keep track of everything I’ve just mentioned, as well as the world rules and the rules regarding whatever supernatural power you may write about.

TIP NUMBER 2: KEEP A SHARED MARKETING LIST FOR THE ENTIRE SERIES:

Keep all of information about the books on one shared marketing sheet. I keep the names, publication dates, book links, categories, and keywords for the books all on one page.

Once you begin to market the books, you will need to use this information over and over again.

You may also want to keep a few short blurbs because when uploading to advertise on Bookfunnel, Bookbub, FussyLibrarian, or Freebooksy, you will need all of this information handy.

At the time of the writing of this blog post, Amazon only allow an author to put their book in 3 genres. If you have 4 books in a series, you can put the last three books in different genres thereby extending your marketing reach.

It goes without saying that you should have a link in the back of each eBook so the reader can click on the link and go to purchase the next book inthe series.

Amazon only allows seven keywords for each book. Use the best keywords for the first book or two. Then use longer-tail keywords and different keywords to broaden your reach for new readers. By having them handy, especially if you do keyword research, it will make all of this much easier.

Let me give you an example: In my Jack Nolan Detective Series, I put the first book into Police Procedurals, Mystery Romance, and Mystery Suspense. But Books 2 to 5, I can add into general mystery categories and women’s fiction, literature and fiction, etc. You can imagine how much broader your reach for new readers will be.

TIP NUMBER 3: USE A BROAD STROKE CHARACTER ARC OVER THE ENTIRE SERIES:

character arc graphic I use broad-stroke character arc for the main characters that extends over all the books in the series. Each individual book, however, the character grows and changes a little bit. So each book contains its own arc, but there is a longer series arc for the main characters. It helps to know this before you start writing the series.

Each book has a crime or mystery that plays out and is solved. The characters grow during the subplot of each book. Once the mystery is solved, a new normal is shown with the characters embracing their new-found growth. In the next book, the same template will be followed. The mystery or crime will play out or be solved, and characters will grow, and there will be a new normal that reflects that growth.

TIP NUMBER 4: I WRITE THE BOOKS AS STAND-ALONE BOOKS

This tip is about writing the books in the series as ‘stand-alone books’. This allows me to market the books as a series, but also as stand-alone books. As stated above, each book has a full plot that completes but I put in enough background information in order to fill in stand-alone readers on what is going on with the characters in case they haven’t read the initial books.

I write in Scrivener and I set up a meta tag so I can keep track of what background information I need to drop into the story for those stand-alone readers. This makes marketing the books much easier.

MYSTERY NOVEL BRAINSTORMING WORKSHEET

This worksheet is geared for those who want to write a mystery or crime novel. Even those wanting to write literary fiction, you will need some level of mystery or suspense to keep readers hooked into your story. Literary fiction is about character studies and life studies than technical mysteries, but every book needs at least some level of suspense or surprise every so often to keep a reader’s interest. Even in a slice-of-life novel or a family saga, there needs to be something that is mysterious about the plotline.

THE PURPOSE OF THIS WORKSHEET:

When I first decided to write a novel, it took me one full year (I’m not kidding!) to even come up with a crime. Today, using these methods I’m about to reveal, it only takes me two to three days to think up three or four mystery scenarios.

My wish is that this worksheet will help those beginners who don’t know where to start and are still trying to think of a good crime.

THE LISTS | CHOOSE FROM COLUMN A AND COLUMN B:

Below I have lists of crimes and also mystery genres. This list is meant to jog your memory and get your creative juices flowing. All of the crimes can be swapped into any genre. The list at the bottom is of multiple genres, but this is not an exhaustive list by any means. Just look at the categories on Amazon to get a feel for how many book genres there are today.

START THE WORKSHEET BY CHOOSING A CRIME OR MYSTERY:

Why would this person want to commit this crime?
What could be going on in his/her life that would make him/her feel they needed to commit this crime?
How would he want to cover his tracks?
What specific knowledge would a character need to pull off a crime or swindle like this? In other words, is he/she an accountant and that makes it easier to commit a financial crime?
Then ask: Who would need to help him or give him/her cover? Add necessary characters and think about a connection. Is it a family connection? Is it a romantic connection?

THE NEXT SET OF QUESTIONS TO ASK:

Once you have a perpetrator and the cast of necessary characters, then it’s time to answer the following questions:

What could go wrong in the commission of this crime that would create tension or mystery? (He drops a glove or a drop of blood.)
How will these clues ultimately lead to his/her exposure? (How will this clue be found?)
How can this end in a way that would let justice prevail? (How and who will find the clue?)
How will the culprit ultimately be caught? (Is he cornered by an accuser? Is he arrested? Does he confess?)
What is one clue that can be minimized in the beginning of the story but will turn out to be the one who catches the bad guy?

NEXT SET OF QUESTIONS:

List the things that could go right for the perpetrator — like a second, more-likely suspect pops up and suddenly all eyes are not on the real culprit anymore?
Could there be other likely suspects that would also have motivation to commit the crime?
As the story grows, add whatever crucial characters are needed (witnesses, husbands, wives, bosses, helpers, etc.) who you will need to make the crime and solving of the story happen.
If you get this far, it means that you have a viable storyline.

THE SKELETON OF THE CRIME:

THE CHARACTERS BUILD THEMSELVES:

LIST OF MYSTERIES, CRIMES & GENRES

Mystery Suspense Writing Template – Birds Eye View

🕊️ BIRDS EYE STRUCTURE CHECKLIST FOR A MYSTERY NOVEL 🕊️

FOUR ACT NOVEL STRUCTURE - PART 1

THE HOOK

How can you immediately hook the reader’s interest?

INTRODUCTION

Introduction of the Main Character (MC)

INCITING INCIDENT

What happens to draw a reluctant MC into the story or plot?

FOUR ACT NOVEL STRUCTURE - PART 2

THE PLOT THICKENS

What happens early in part two that deepens the plot?

HOW DOES THE MC CHANGE?

What happens in the story that begins to change the MC?

MIDPOINT OF STORY

What Twist or Surprise will take place by the middle of the story?

FOUR ACT NOVEL STRUCTURE - PART 3

SURPRISES REVEALED Surprising Clues or Revelations of hidden truths or lies. This reveals ¾ of the truth of the plot.

FULL TRUTH REVEAL

What is the final clue that reveals the entire truth? How does this new info change the plotline or turn it in another direction?

POSITIONING FOR THE CLIMAX

What is the final setup needed for the climax or big reveal to occur?

FOUR ACT NOVEL STRUCTURE - PART 4

CLIMAX SCENE

Full Truth or Revelation made. What emotions need to be displayed?

QUICK REVIEW

Review of the plot quickly and indicate how the MC solved the mystery

THE NEW NORMAL

How is the MC different going forward? What does the new normal look like?

THE HOOK: What can happen on the first page or two that will draw the reader immediately into the story? What questions will arise to make the reader want to keep reading to find out?

MAIN CHARACTER: The readers want to know who the story is about as well as who is telling the story. What will make the MC compelling enough that the readers will want to know more about them and keep reading?

INCITING INCIDENT: How or Why does the reluctant MC get involved in the story/journey? What clues can you introduce early on regarding why the MC chooses to get involved? (The clues in the beginning are aiming at a red herring or a first dead-end. Remember, early on, you are holding back a lot of truth about where you and the reader are actually going. 😜

THE PLOT THICKENS: How does the plot deepen in part two? What background information, clues, facts or lies are dropped to relay the story and add to the suspense or mystery of the story pathway going forward?

MAIN CHARACTER ARC: Think ahead of time where the MC will begin in his/her character arc. Then think of ways to show the full arc and how you will add these changes into the plot. How will this play out in action? How does he or she change as the result of what is going on in the plot? How will lies or surprises or shocks affect your MC?

FIRST TWIST OR SURPRISE: What surprise, turn or twist can take place at the end of part 2? This is where your story will proceed to the second arm of the cactus. How will this surprise change the pathway of the novel’s journey? What shifts with this turn?

SURPRISES REVEALED: What surprise will be revealed in this section? How will this change the direction of the plotline? What change or changes can happen in this section to set up the ultimate revelation of the plotline? In mystery suspense novels, only ¾ of the truth of the plot is revealed in the beginning of Part 3. You’re still in the second arm of the cactus.

FINAL TRUTH REVEALED: In mystery suspense, it’s good to have a final revelation or clue drop to give a final twist to the plotline. This will bring you and the reader onto the main plotline that will lead to the climax and the truth. What can this be?

POSITIONING FOR THE CLIMAX: Position the characters and make all revelations by the end of Part 3. The Climax should be set up by this time.

CLIMAX SCENE: How will the climax play out? What action will there be? What emotions will take place? How will the location of the scene help this?

QUICK REVIEW: Some readers are busy and may miss a clue or two. Other readers will be on your every word. How can you review the facts in a way that will fill in the gaps for the busy readers and not bore the seasoned mystery readers? You need a way to go over the plotline quickly without insulting the avid readers.

THE NEW NORMAL: This is the scene that allows the reader to breathe, lets them know all is well and life will go on. You want to give the reader a view of how the new normal will be, how the MC will be different going forward. How has the past drama or story changed the MC and how will he or she be different?

This can also be a scene where you are setting up the next book in a series. If you do, be aware, many readers don’t like cliffhangers, so be careful.

Click below to download the template:

Peek Behind the Novel – Layer 8

QUICK REFRESHER OF WHAT I DID IN LAYER 7:

Just as a refresher, in Layer 7, this was a long and tedious proofread. Using my list of troublesome words, I searched out all of them all throughout the manuscript and made corrections, deletions or additions.

This technique breaks up the proofread into different formats. By doing this, it prevents me from just "reading over" all of my mistakes, which is too easy to do as the author.

WHAT HAPPENS IN LAYER 8:

In Layer 8, I do a read-back. In Microsoft Word, I use the Read-Aloud feature that is contained on the Review Tab. By listening to the book read aloud by someone else, it doesn't skip over mistakes like I do as the author. By the time I'm finished with Layer 7, I've read and reread this book too many times to trust my eyes to spot every error.

The Readback:

I listen to every word during the readback. In this layer, I not only catch whatever misuse of words escaped my view in the last layers, but I also choose to change a sentence or two based on how it sounds. Many readers repeat every word in their heads, so if a sentence is back-to-back with one that makes it hard to say or understand, I rewrite it to correct that problem.

After Layer 7, I always feel that the book is picture perfect -- but I find at least several words or areas that I choose to change. I read-aloud the entire book.

CREATING THE TABLE OF CONTENTS

The last thing I do is create the Table of Contents which I will explain here, but you can see done live in the video below.

While the manuscript is open in Microsoft Word, click on the References Tab. Select Table of Contents. Choose Custom Table of Contents. (Picture on left above)

Once the next dialogue box opens (Picture on right above), uncheck both boxes under show page numbers. I reduce the headings number from the default of 3 to 1. This is because I only use Heading 1 for my Chapter Headings.

This is all you need to do before clicking OK, which will produce the Table of Contents for an eBook.

IF YOU NEED TO CHANGE OR MODIFY THE FONTS OR SPACING, ETC:

The picture above is where you change any or all of the settings. The dialogue box in the middle comes up when you click on modify in the first dialogue box. This is where you can change the font family and/or the font size.

This would be useful if you have a short TOC and want to fill the page; you can increase the font. Likewise, if you have only one or two lines of the TOC that spill over to the next page and you want to fit it onto one page, you can reduce the font size or change the spacing on the third dialogue box (that opens if you click on modify in the second dialogue box). You can alter the spaces before and after the paragraphs and this will help you add or subtract space.

IMPORTANT: Be aware, that once you click on the first modify choice in the first dialogue box (on the left), when you click out of this, Microsoft word will -- on its own -- recheck the boxes asking for page numbers. So if you modify anything, you will need to uncheck the page number boxes again! This can reek havoc with beginners! I'm talking from experience.

Once you "Okay" to close all of the dialogue boxes, the last okay will set off Word to create your Table of Contents.

THE EBOOK IS OFF TO THE EDITOR:

At this point, the eBook is now ready to go off to the line-editor. Because I have taken the time and made the effort to give my book a thorough proofreading, the editor won't be spending time on correcting silly mistakes I should have found on my own. She will be focused on my prose and how things look and sound. That's what I want her focused on.

If you take the attitude that "why bother with all the proofreading, it's going off to the editor?" -- you may wind up with a book that comes back merely proofread with very little line editing. At the end of the day, you are paying for an editor's time as well as their expertise. So my advice to beginners is to do all of the proofreading so you get more line-editing, which is what you want.

HERE'S A VIDEO ON THIS SAME MATERIAL:

10 Best Tips on Writing a Good First Draft

groomed for marriage ebook When I wrote my first novel, I worried about grammar, spelling, sentence structure in the first draft. I didn’t even know what a draft was. I sat down and started writing ‘a manuscript’.

I kept looking back and trying to fix things as I wrote. Big mistake! I learned the long and hard way that first drafts are their own animal. They are really more about getting the story down on paper.

Now that I’m writing my 12th novel, I offer some tips for other beginners:

Don’t be afraid to make mistakes. Your first draft is not supposed to be perfect. It’s only a rough draft. You’re only ‘blurting out the story’ on paper. Spelling, grammar, punctuation or sentence structure don’t count yet.
Just keep writing. Don’t stop to edit or revise in the first draft. It’s a complete waste of time. You will make changes all throughout the draft, so polishing up writing that may be tossed is fruitless. You can fix the draft after you know you have the story down on paper.
Don’t worry about deepening the plot or the depth of your characters. Just focus on getting your story down on paper. You can massage the plot in second drafts and add to your characters on your second go-round.
Write in a way that feels comfortable for you. Some people like to outline their stories before they start writing. Others like to just sit down and start writing without any planning. Find what works best for you and go with it.
Set aside some time each day to write. Even if it’s just for 30 minutes, make sure you set aside some time each day to write. This will help you to stay on track and to make progress on your story.
Leave Notes to Yourself. Make notes to yourself wherever you stop writing in a session that will help you ‘find your place’ the next time you sit down. Write down what you’re thinking and where your mind is at during this last writing session.
Find a quiet place to write. Unless you are one of these lucky people who can shut out all noise and action around you, you will need to find a place where you won’t be interrupted so that you can focus on your writing.
Take breaks. Don’t try to write for hours on end. Take breaks every 20-30 minutes to get up and move around, or to do something else that will help you to clear your head. It’s even good to do some stretching exercises as sitting for long stretches can make us stiff!
Don’t get discouraged. If your story is a good one, there is no such thing as a bad draft. You’re not the writer during the first draft. You are still the story crafter. So don’t get discouraged if nothing seems like a novel. Like I said earlier, you are just blurting out the story, recording it in broad strokes onto paper. As you begin to work with the first draft, that’s when it will come to life and shape up.
Have fun! Writing should be enjoyable. If you’re not having fun, it will show in your writing. So relax, have fun, and let your creativity flow.

I hope these tips help you to write a great first draft!

CHECK OUT MY PEEK BEHIND THE NOVEL VIDEO SERIES

A Peek Behind the Novel Series on YouTube