Savannah Gilbo
Congratulations on taking the first step toward one of the most rewarding challenges ever – writing a book! If you’re anything like the majority of the people I work with, you want to write a book but you don't know how to get started. Or maybe you have started, but now you don't know how to proceed with the development of your story. Maybe you’re feeling overwhelmed with the number of decisions to be made about your story. Or maybe you’ve spent YEARS working on the same novel, feeling an endless amount of doubt or frustration. Or maybe, worst of all, you’re about to give up on your writing altogether. If you can relate to any of that, don't worry – I've got you covered.
As a developmental editor and book coach, I’ve worked with many authors who feel frustrated and overwhelmed when it comes to their writing. Most of these feelings could be eliminated if there was an easy, step-by-step process to follow. That's exactly why I created this Novel Writing Starter Kit. My goal is to break down the complex process of writing a novel and to teach you how to do it in a less complicated way. I hope this workbook will help you get started with your writing, and allow you to feel confident, productive, and inspired when you sit down to write.
Let's get started. Getting Started with Your Writing To help kick-start your writing journey, there are three important steps you need to take before writing your first draft. The good news? Once you have all the details (which I’m going to give you in this workbook) they are pretty easy steps to take!
Step #1: Connect with the real reason you want to write this book.
Step #2: Determine what type of book you’re going to write.
Step #3: Test out your story idea to make sure it can carry a full-length novel.
Why do You Want to Write This Book? If you’re like most people, you want to write a book because you want to be heard. You have something to say about life or human nature, and you want others to see the world the same way you do. So, the first question I ask all my clients is – why do you want to write this book?
Your answers to this question can help you get a better sense of the kind of story you want to write. For example, your answers can help you:
➜ determine your story’s genre.
➜ uncover the theme of your book.
➜ start to see the shape of your story.
➜ figure out your character’s arc, and more...
Here’s an example from a client of mine named Camille. I asked Camille why she wanted to write this particular story at this particular time in her life, and she said – "I want to write this story because I want to show that getting close to someone doesn't always equal pain. Ever since my best friend passed away, I've been afraid to get close to people because I don't want to feel the pain of losing someone again. But by distancing myself from others, I've missed out on some (potentially) really great relationships. I guess I don’t want other people to make the same mistake I did when it comes to friendships and relationships. I also think writing this story will finally help me work through the loss of my friend.”
First of all, that’s a GREAT answer – and thank you so much, Camille, for letting me share your words in this workbook!
From Camille’s answer, I could imagine her protagonist transforming from someone who’s afraid of getting close to people to someone who lets love into his or her life. Or, perhaps Camille’s protagonist has to work with, and learn to trust, someone in order to accomplish his or her external story goal. The theme or message of Camille’s story might be something like – “Good things happen when people put aside their fears and work together.”
You can also start to get a sense of how Camille’s story could play out in the romance genre vs. the mystery genre vs. any other genre. Pretty neat, right? So, the first thing you need to do is understand why this story is so important to you. Why do you want to tell this particular story at this particular time in your life? The more specific you are, the more effective your writing efforts will be.
If you get stuck in the middle of a draft, you can look back on your answers for inspiration and motivation.
You can also look at your answers when it comes time to edit. It’s not always easy to delete things from your draft, but if you use your WHY as a guiding light, decisions become much easier.
Your turn to do the work: Set a timer for 10-15 minutes and answer the following questions:
➜ Why do you want to write this particular story at this time in your life?
➜ What beliefs or values fuel this story?
➜ What’s the point you’re trying to make?
➜ What are you trying to say about life, the world, or human nature?
➜ What are you trying to prove or disprove with your story? If you're having a hard time answering this question, or if you feel unsure about what’s coming up, don't worry and be patient. You know the answer even if it’s not immediately obvious. You can also try reading through this list of themes or universal lessons to see if anything resonates with you:
➔ Forgiveness (of self or others)
➔ Love (self-love, family love, romantic love)
➔ Acceptance (of self, of circumstances, of reality)
➔ Faith (in oneself, in others, in the world, in God)
➔ Fear (overcoming it, conquering it, finding courage)
➔ Trust (in oneself, in others, in the unknown)
➔ Survival (including the will to live)
➔ Selflessness (including selflessness, heroism, and overcoming greed)
➔ Responsibility (including duty, and accepting one's destiny)
➔ Redemption (including atonement, accepting blame, remorse, and salvation)
Write down your answers:
Coach’s Tip: Don't worry if your answers sound generic or cliché – that’s almost always the case in the beginning. This exercise is all about you getting clarity on your message so, don’t feel like you need to make your answer perfect. You’ll be able to refine or polish it up later. Don’t do a lot of research or self-reflection to figure this out.
What Type of Book Are You Going to Write? When you hear the word “genre,” you might think of the shelves in a bookstore or the categories on Amazon. But, genre is more than just a way to sort and classify stories according to their shared elements.
Genre is all about understanding and delivering on the reader’s expectations
And it’s the key to writing a story that works. Readers pick up certain types of books because they want to:
➔ experience a certain kind of story
➔ feel a certain kind of way
➔ get help making sense of the changes in their lives
➔ be someone else for a few hours
When you understand why readers pick up books in certain genres, it makes the whole writing process that much easier. For example, if someone walked into a bookstore and picked up a murder mystery, they would have certain expectations about the content of that story. Perhaps they’d expect to see certain things like a scene where the dead body is found and a scene where the murderer’s identity is exposed. They’d probably expect to see a character who plays the role of a detective or cop. They’d probably expect to uncover a bunch of clues alongside that detective or cop and to learn new information throughout the whole story. The feeling they’re looking to experience is intrigue -- they want to figure out who-dun-nit? This might sound obvious, but it’s super important to understand. If you don't know what your genre is -- and what your genre is all about -- you’re not going to write a story that delivers on readers' expectations. ---- So, let’s take a look at the different genres as laid out by Shawn Coyne, the creator of The Story Grid and an editor with 25+ years of experience in the “Big 5” publishing houses. As you read through this next section, try to identify the genre that sounds like the type of story you want to write.
External and Internal Content Genres A story will either have an external genre, an internal genre, or both. Plot-driven stories make up the external genres and are primarily driven by personal conflict. For example, the antagonist might be a monster, a villain, a murderer, someone competing for the same job, or even a potential love interest. Character-driven stories make up the internal genres and are primarily driven by inner conflict. For example, the force of antagonism could be crippling self-doubt, an emotional wound, or some fear that stands in the character’s way.
The External Content Genres are –
➔ Action (like Star Wars or Harry Potter)
➔ Horror (like The Shining or Halloween)
➔ Mystery (like Murder on the Orient Express)
➔ Western (like Lonesome Dove or True Grit)
➔ War (like The Hurt Locker or Tides of War)
➔ Thriller (like Silence of the Lambs or Gone Girl)
➔ Society (like Animal Farm or Thelma and Louise)
➔ Love (like Pride and Prejudice or Twilight)
➔ Performance (like Million Dollar Baby or The Karate Kid)
The internal content genres are:
➔ Worldview (like The Perks of Being a Wallflower or Juno)
➔ Status (like Milk, Gladiator)
➔ Morality (Like Wall Street, Manchester by the Sea)
Stories can contain BOTH an external genre and an internal genre, but they don’t have to. For example, in Agatha Christie’s stories, we don’t really care if Hercule Poirot changes as a human being from beginning to end. What we want is to follow the master detective as he works on solving the mystery.
If you decide to include both an internal and external genre in your story, you must choose ONE to be the main genre. If you don’t, you won’t know what to focus on as you write. And even worse, when readers get a hold of your book, they’ll be confused. For example, if a reader picks up a book expecting a crime novel and is faced with a detective who spends more time mulling over his high school girlfriend than solving the crime, your reader will be disappointed.
Why aren’t fantasy and science fiction on the list of genres? Fantasy and science fiction are consumer-facing genre labels. These labels tell the reader that there will be fantastic, magical, scientific, or futuristic elements in a novel, but it doesn’t really tell the reader what the story will be about. For example -- consider Twilight (a love story) versus The Hunger Games (an action story). That means if you’re planning to write a science fiction or fantasy story, you still need to choose an external genre or an internal genre (or both) for your story.
You might be thinking -- okay, all that makes sense, but how does choosing the main genre for my story help me write a book? Well, if you can nail down your story's main genre, you'll automatically gain a sense of clarity and focus that will help you finish your draft and write a story that works.
For example, knowing your genre immediately gives you a sense of the:
➔ overall shape of your entire story
➔ primary change that will take place from the beginning of the story to the end
➔ things your protagonist wants and needs (their objects of desire)
➔ scenes and conventions that need to be present in your story
➔ theme or message of your story, and more...
For example, let’s say you’ve decided to write an action story set in a fantasy world. And let’s say you’ve gone one step further and you’ve decided that your protagonist will have an internal worldview arc. From those decisions, we can already get a sense of your protagonist’s objects of desire -- what she wants and needs. Her “want” is to stay alive and survive the upcoming conflict with the protagonist. That comes from the action genre. Her “need” might be something like maturing past irrational judgments of others. That comes from the worldview genre. The stakes of your story are life and death -- either your protagonist will mature and survive the upcoming conflict, or she won’t.
You can also start to build a framework for your story using your genre’s obligatory scenes. For example, in an action novel, the story kicks off after some kind of threat -- or attack from the antagonist. The climax is the final showdown between your protagonist and the antagonist. There are also certain conventions (settings, roles, etc.) you’ll need to include depending on your genre. For example, a mentor figure or an element of sacrifice on the protagonist’s part. For further study, check out this post -- What are Obligatory Scenes and Conventions?
Your turn to do the work: Set a timer for 5 minutes and answer the following questions:
➜ What’s the global genre of your story?
➜ Will you have both an external and an internal genre in your story?
My story’s global genre is: _____ Action _____ Society _____ Horror _____ Status (internal) _____ Performance _____ Thriller _____ Romance _____ War _____ Mystery _____ Western _____ Morality (internal) _____ Worldview (internal)
Notes: Coach’s Tip: If you’re having trouble figuring out where your story fits, or which genre it belongs to, don’t give up. Ask yourself -- what story am I really trying to tell here? Look at your answers from the previous exercise for guidance.
Notes: Coach’s Tip: Will Your Idea Support a Full-Length Novel? For most of us, there's nothing worse than the thought of wasting a bunch of time and energy on a story that's going nowhere. But the truth is that not every idea is ready to be developed into a full-length work of fiction. Luckily, there are two different exercises you can use to test out (and flesh out) your story idea before you start writing the first draft.
Let’s dive in. Exercise #1: Write your storyline. A storyline is a short summary that gives the gist of your book in 1-2 sentences. It tells the reader who the main character is, what the conflict is, and what the stakes are. It’s the WHO, WHERE, WHAT, and WHY of your story, but not the HOW.
Before you write your storyline, I want you to check out these examples by genre. Notice how they capture the big picture sweep of the story in just 1-2 sentences.
➔ Action // Star Wars: A New Hope - Luke Skywalker, a spirited farm boy, joins rebel forces to save Princess Leia from the evil Darth Vader, and the galaxy from the Empire’s planet-destroying Death Star.
➔ Horror // The Shining - A family heads to an isolated hotel for the winter where a sinister presence influences the father into violence, while his psychic son sees horrific forebodings from both past and future.
➔ Performance // Cool Runnings - When a Jamaican sprinter is disqualified from the Olympic Games, he enlists the help of a dishonored coach to start the first Jamaican Bobsled Team.
➔ Romance // Pride and Prejudice - Sparks fly when spirited Elizabeth Bennet meets single, rich, and proud Mr. Darcy. But Mr. Darcy reluctantly finds himself falling in love with a woman beneath his class. Can each overcome their own pride and prejudice?
➔ Morality // Manchester by the Sea - A depressed uncle is asked to take care of his teenage nephew after the boy's father dies.
➔ Mystery // Murder on the Orient Express - When a murder occurs on the train on which he's traveling, celebrated detective Hercule Poirot is recruited to solve the case.
➔ Society // Animal Farm - A successful farmyard revolution by the resident animals vs. the farmer goes horribly wrong as the victors create a new tyranny among themselves.
➔ Status // Gladiator - A former Roman General sets out to exact vengeance against the corrupt emperor who murdered his family and sent him into slavery.
➔ Thriller // Silence of the Lambs - A young F.B.I. cadet must confide in an incarcerated and manipulative killer to receive his help on catching another serial killer who skins his victims.
➔ War // Black Hawk Down - 160 elite U.S. soldiers drop into Somalia to capture two top lieutenants of a renegade warlord and find themselves in a desperate battle with a large force of heavily-armed Somalis.
➔ Western // True Grit - A drunken, hard-nosed U.S. Marshal and a Texas Ranger help a stubborn teenager track down her father's murderer in Indian territory.
➔ Worldview // Love, Simon - Simon Spier keeps a huge secret from his family, his friends and all of his classmates: he's gay. When that secret is threatened, Simon must face everyone and come to terms with his identity.
Your turn to do the work: Set a timer for no more than 15 minutes and write a 1-2 sentence storyline for your book. Don’t worry about getting it perfect! Just try to capture the main arc of your story - look to your genre for help if you need it.
➜ Write a 1-2 sentence storyline for your novel.
When you're done writing your storyline, ask yourself and others – does this story sound interesting to me? Is it something I’d want to read? If the answer is yes, move onto the next exercise. But if the answer is no, you either need to re-write your logline to focus on the most interesting parts of your story or pick a different idea to work with.
Coach’s Tip: Check out the descriptions of movies on imdb.com (the internet movie database). There are hundreds of examples that will show you how a 2-hour movie in your genre can be summarized in one or two sentences.
Write your story’s elevator pitch. An elevator pitch is a longer summary of your story that doesn’t give away the ending of the story but does cover the main conflict and stakes. Think of it like the summary you’d see on the back cover of a book or the description on Amazon. A pitch includes the same elements as your storyline -- the WHO, WHERE, WHAT, and WHY of your story, but not the HOW.
Before you write an elevator pitch for your story, take a look at some of these examples across a few different genres. As you read each example, try to take note of what each summary includes and, more importantly, what it excludes:
HARRY POTTER & THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS by J.K. Rowling (156 words) The Dursleys were so mean and hideous that summer that all Harry Potter wanted was to get back to the Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry. But just as he's packing his bags, Harry receives a warning from a strange, impish creature named Dobby who says that if Harry Potter returns to Hogwarts, disaster will strike. And strike it does. For in Harry's second year at Hogwarts, fresh torments and horrors arise, including an outrageously stuck-up new professor, Gilderoy Lockheart, a spirit named Moaning Myrtle who haunts the girls' bathroom, and the unwanted attentions of Ron Weasley's younger sister, Ginny. But each of these seem minor annoyances when the real trouble begins, and someone--or something--starts turning Hogwarts students to stone. Could it be Draco Malfoy, a more poisonous rival than ever? Could it possibly be Hagrid, whose mysterious past is finally told? Or could it be the one everyone at Hogwarts most suspects...Harry Potter himself?
SIMON VS. THE HOMO SAPIENS AGENDA by Becky Albertalli (74 words) Sixteen-year-old and not-so-openly gay Simon Spier prefers to save his drama for the school musical. But when an email falls into the wrong hands, his secret is at risk of being thrust into the spotlight. Now, change-averse Simon has to find a way to step out of his comfort zone before he's pushed out—without alienating his friends, compromising himself, or fumbling a shot at happiness with the most confusing, adorable guy he's never met.
PRIDE AND PREJUDICE by Jane Austen (87 words) When Elizabeth Bennet first meets eligible bachelor Fitzwilliam Darcy, she thinks him arrogant and conceited; he is indifferent to her good looks and lively mind. When she later discovers that Darcy has involved himself in the troubled relationship between his friend Bingley and her beloved sister Jane, she is determined to dislike him more than ever. In the sparkling comedy of manners that follows, Jane Austen shows us the folly of judging by first impressions and superbly evokes the friendships, gossip and snobberies of provincial middle-class life.
THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN by Paula Hawkins (142 words) EVERY DAY THE SAME. Rachel takes the same commuter train every morning and night. Every day she rattles down the track, flashes past a stretch of cozy suburban homes, and stops at the signal that allows her to daily watch the same couple breakfasting on their deck. She’s even started to feel like she knows them. Jess and Jason, she calls them. Their life—as she sees it—is perfect. Not unlike the life she recently lost. UNTIL TODAY. And then she sees something shocking. It’s only a minute until the train moves on, but it’s enough. Now everything’s changed. Unable to keep it to herself, Rachel goes to the police. But is she really as unreliable as they say? Soon she is deeply entangled not only in the investigation but in the lives of everyone involved. Has she done more harm than good?
THE HUNGER GAMES by Suzanne Collins (134 words) In the ruins of a place once known as North America lies the nation of Panem, a shining Capitol surrounded by twelve outlying districts. The Capitol is harsh and cruel and keeps the districts in line by forcing them all to send one boy and one girl between the ages of twelve and eighteen to participate in the annual Hunger Games, a fight to the death on live TV. Sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen regards it as a death sentence when she steps forward to take her sister’s place in the Games. But Katniss has been close to dead before-and survival, for her, is second nature. Without really meaning to, she becomes a contender. But if she is to win, she will have to start making choices that weigh survival against humanity and life against love.
THE SHINING by Stephen King (81 words) Jack Torrance’s new job at the Overlook Hotel is the perfect chance for a fresh start. As the off-season caretaker at the atmospheric old hotel, he’ll have plenty of time to spend reconnecting with his family and working on his writing. But as the harsh winter weather sets in, the idyllic location feels ever more remote . . . and more sinister. And the only one to notice the strange and terrible forces gathering around the Overlook is Danny Torrance, a uniquely gifted five-year-old.
A GAME OF THRONES by George R.R. Martin (238 words) Winter is coming. Such is the stern motto of House Stark, the northernmost of the fiefdoms that owe allegiance to King Robert Baratheon in far-off King’s Landing. There Eddard Stark of Winterfell rules in Robert’s name. There his family dwells in peace and comfort: his proud wife, Catelyn; his sons Robb, Brandon, and Rickon; his daughters Sansa and Arya; and his bastard son, Jon Snow. Far to the north, behind the towering Wall, lie savage Wildings and worse—unnatural things relegated to myth during the centuries-long summer, but proving all too real and all too deadly in the turning of the season. Yet a more immediate threat lurks to the south, where Jon Arryn, the Hand of the King, has died under mysterious circumstances. Now Robert is riding north to Winterfell, bringing his queen, the lovely but cold Cersei, his son, the cruel, vainglorious Prince Joffrey, and the queen’s brothers Jaime and Tyrion of the powerful and wealthy House Lannister—the first a swordsman without equal, the second a dwarf whose stunted stature belies a brilliant mind. All are heading for Winterfell and a fateful encounter that will change the course of kingdoms. Meanwhile, across the Narrow Sea, Prince Viserys, heir of the fallen House Targaryen, which once ruled all of Westeros, schemes to reclaim the throne with an army of barbarian Dothraki—whose loyalty he will purchase in the only coin left to him: his beautiful yet innocent sister, Daenerys.
Your turn to do the work: Set a timer for 30 minutes and write a 250-word pitch for your summary. When writing your pitch, you’ll want to answer these questions:
➔ Who is your protagonist? What does she want at the beginning of the story?
➔ What’s the situation and the conflict? Who or what is standing in the way of your protagonist achieving her goals?
➔ Why does it matter? What happens if she doesn’t achieve her goals?
➔ Where does the story take place? there’s more room on the next page...)
When you're done, ask yourself and others – does this story sound interesting to me? Is it something I’d want to read? If the answer is yes, then you're probably ready to start writing the first draft!
But if the answer is no, you'll need to re-write your elevator pitch focusing on the most important parts of your story -- i.e. the storyline of your global genre. For example, the focal storyline in a romance is the romantic relationship.
Coach’s Tip: Browse through the descriptions of your favorite books on amazon.com. Once you've read through a dozen or so examples, you'll start to see patterns and understand how to apply those patterns to your own story summary Congratulations! + Your Next Steps You’ve just taken A HUGE step toward writing a book that works!
Let’s take a second to review what you’ve accomplished. You should now have:
➔ Clarity around the message you want readers to take away from your book -- which directly relates to the theme of your story.
➔ Confidence in your story idea now that you’ve done the work to validate it -- which will help you write forward with focus and purpose.
➔ Direction from your story’s genre -- which will help you see the shape of your story and the types of scenes, roles, and settings that you should include. That’s a BIG DEAL!
One of the biggest mistakes I see writers make is that they try to do too many things at the same time. Writing a book is like putting together a puzzle; when the pieces are spread out on the ground, the job seems completely impossible. But when you take it step by step -- and build the framework first -- the puzzle starts to take shape before your eyes. Hopefully, the exercises in this workbook have helped you start to see the shape of your story… Stick with me and I’ll show you how to take the complex task of writing a novel and break it down into smaller, more manageable parts.