WRITE YOUR NOVEL: Tips from a NYT Bestseller

Conclusion

    CONCLUSION

In this book I've tried to give you new and exciting ways to look at your work both to empower you as a writer and to enrich your readers' experiences.

Creating a world and the people who live in it is never easy. Nor is exposing yourself by taking your creation public, opening it up to criticism.

As I said in the beginning, I can't guarantee your success. There is no magic secret to becoming a bestseller.

But now you have the techniques outlined in this book to help you craft the most compelling novel possible.

And so we've come full circle. Back to those three secrets of Lesson One: Knowing why you write, knowing what you're writing, and having a plan to overcome the obstacles.

Vision, Passion, Commitment.

When you have all three (I mean really have them, not just pipe dreams or fantasies) you find it so much easier to ignore the naysayers, to find possibilities and solutions instead of setbacks and obstacles, to ignore the "rules" and write the book of your heart with confidence.

Part of this is learning what a real goal is versus a dream.

A dream is to become a bestseller—it's out of your control and wholly in the hands of the publisher, if you go the traditional publishing route, and the readers.

A goal is to finish the book and commit to revising and polishing it to be the best book possible. A goal is to submit that book to contests and agents and editors and critique partners. A goal is to educate yourself about your craft and the writing profession. A goal is to write the next book and make it even better.

All of those are in YOUR control.

We have no control over what happens in terms of selling that book or getting good reviews or gaining a wide audience … so we have to control what we can:

Our Vision, Passion, and Commitment to our stories.

And, as always, never forget to have fun and…No Rules, Just Write!

Thanks for reading,

CJ

GLOSSARY: Terms and Definitions

There are many terms and definitions used in teaching the craft of writing. Here are some of the most important used in this book.

TURNING POINTS: In the classic three-act structure, turning points are benchmark scenes where the main character makes a conscious choice and takes action, sending the plot in a new direction.

The first Turning Point is the OPENING. This is where we see the main character for the first time. Here they will choose to use their Default Action, thus revealing to us immediately what kind of person they are.

The next Turning Point occurs around 10% of the way into the story (or sooner—but usually not later than 10%) and is the CALL TO ACTION. This is where the problem that the rest of the story will be about is presented to the main character. He might choose not to respond and refuse the Call at first (only to be drawn into the story problem later) OR he might accept the Call, seeing it as a good way to use his Default Action, which at the beginning of the story he sees as his greatest strength.

The End of Act One is often referred to as TURNING POINT #1, despite the fact that it's actually the third major Turning Point scene! It comes around 25% of the way into the novel. Here, the main character's choice often involves trying something a little new and different instead of his normal Default. For instance, if his Default Action is "to go it alone" here he might decide to actually for once in his life ask someone else for help….BUT this straying from his Default will actually have huge repercussions that backfire tremendously as we enter Act Two, driving the main character back to his Default Action.