As you sit down to write your manuscript, you picture the gold shining vision of the final manuscript you want to create. You just want to hurry up and get to that version, the version you’ve dreamt of, but every amazing manuscript has a messy first draft.

Do: Focus on structure

Every story should have a beginning, middle, and ending. The beginning of your story should include the ‘inciting incident’ or the event that spurs on the events of the story. The middle should consist of conflicts that challenge your protagonist and raise the story’s stakes. Finally, the ending should include the climax and whether or not your protagonist gets the object of their desire (IE what their goal is to achieve throughout the story).

Instead of focusing too much on every single plot point, focus on hitting these beats and getting the story from Point A (the beginning) to Point B (the ending). In order to help one achieve this, it can help to create a brief events list. This simply involves breaking the story into that three-act structure and writing down (in one to two sentences) what happens in each section. For example, in a fantasy story maybe the ‘beginning’ involves a character finding out they have been chosen for a quest, which they accept. Then, next to that statement, write the events that lead to that conclusion for your protagonist. Who tells them about this quest? How do they take it? What makes them accept the task?

Do: Get to know the tone and characters

Rather than mastering your tone and characters on your first attempt, your goal should be to get to know both of these elements over the course of the first draft. Think of your first draft as your opportunity to figure out the tone and characters in your story rather than for either of them to feel perfectly crafted on the first try. When it comes to tone, on your first draft it will likely change drastically from beginning to end or even just scene by scene. It’s not uncommon for a writer to go into a novel with a light funny tone only to discover that the story works much better with a sardonic darker tone. Use your first draft to play around with your narrator’s voice and POV. It may give you more editing work to do later, but it will also allow you to figure out what works best.

Additionally, in terms of your characters, writing up an informative character sheet won’t allow you to get to know your characters nearly as much as actual scene work. On your character sheet, your protagonist could come across as very dry but their actual voice (once you start writing them) could sound completely different than you pictured. Furthermore, a character could end up making completely different decisions than you had thought they would make. If this is the case, let your character take the lead and see where it goes. Sometimes this won’t work and other times it can lead to the best character writing.

Don’t: Focus on language and details

Your first draft is the time to experiment with your language and details, not to meticulously focus on them and make sure they’re super consistent. One of the quickest ways to encounter writer’s block on your first draft is to get too bogged down with your language and making sure everything sounds nice. Even your favorite author has first drafts that are horrendous and sloppy… that’s kind of the point of them. Don’t be afraid to skip over areas where you’re struggling and just add a note in letting future you know what needs to happen there. Or if you’re in the writing groove and then lose your rhythm, don’t force yourself to try to mimic what you had previously been doing. Focus mainly on the story structure and leave the details for second and third draft you to handle.

Don’t: Worry about character development and plot holes

Since you’re still getting to know your characters in this draft, try not to focus too much on character development outside of the basics. You theoretically know the arc you’d like each character to have, but this initial draft is there to see if the characters will fit what you were thinking. They may make decisions that contradict the arc you had originally planned for them so just get to know them, see the choices they make, and then reorganize them into an arc on a later draft.

Plotholes are going to be plentiful on your first draft, that is just the nature of the beast. Perhaps you reach a point in the story where your protagonist is cornered and you’re not sure how to write them out of the situation. But wait, you think of a device that you could add to the story to aid the characters at this moment, but that would leave the audience scratching their heads wondering how this device appeared out of nowhere. Don’t worry about this now, you can always go back and add the device in an earlier chapter to make the moment more satisfying. Focus instead on getting your characters where they need to be, you can fix plot holes and inconsistencies later.

The post Do’s and Don’t’s of Your First Draft appeared first on Dorrance Publishing Company.

1) What is a frame narrative?

A frame narrative, to put it briefly, is like a story within a story- story-inception! There are a few different versions of a frame narrative or frame story. First, it could involve a narrator or main character of a story relaying various smaller stories over the course of a book like in the novel The Book of the One Thousand and One Nights. On the other hand, it could be a specific character from a story selected to relay the events of the novel as opposed to simply telling the story objectively. In this second option, it may be a specific character that has a connection to another character or characters. An example of this would be Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, where the story is told from the perspective of Robert Walton as the information was relayed to him by Doctor Frankenstein. On the other hand, the framing could simply be that the story is told from the protagonist’s perspective, but after the events of the story have already taken place. Using this perspective allows the protagonist to relay information with insight as (s)he is an older and wiser version of him/herself.

2) Determine the purpose

When used well, a frame narrative creates an incredibly fascinating and multifaceted tale with many perspectives to delve into. If used incorrectly, however, this can create a confusing and continuity-impaired story. Therefore, a writer should employ this technique only if it will truly benefit the story to do so. Before you go any further, ask yourself honestly, how will a frame narrative better my story? The main benefit of a frame narrative is to tell a story (whether it be the entirety of the book or individual stories throughout) using the voice of a specific character who exists outside the confines of the story. Whether that’s a future version of your own protagonist or a side character who would give good insight to the story’s events, ask yourself, how would this structure strengthen the events or themes of my story?

3) Choose a narrator

As stated previously, the main purpose of the frame narrative is to use a specific character’s voice to convey the events of the story as opposed to using an impartial narrator or first person present perspective. Once you’ve decided to use the frame narrative structure, you must first choose who will be telling your story (or stories). Think about what your goal of using the technique is and who will be the best voice to accomplish that goal. Possibly the most popular version of this structure is using a future version of the protagonist to tell the story of what they’ve gone through. One of the major setbacks of employing this technique, however, is that it completely does away with a lot of the suspense created in a story. When your reader is hearing a story from someone years in the future, it lets them know right away that your protagonist survived the events of the story. However, remaining aloof about the protagonist’s present circumstances can allow a certain amount of suspense to remain.

If you choose a narrator who isn’t your protagonist, you must ask yourself what connection this character has to the events of the story. What unique perspective will they be able to provide that no other character can? For example, in William Goldman’s The Princess Bride, William uses himself as a frame narrator, but a fictionalized version of himself who is simply editing a pre-existing story that another author, S. Morgenstern, already wrote. This creates a unique reading experience because you’re reading this swashbuckling tale and suddenly you get a little note from Goldman telling you ‘this part was too long, so I cut it,’ or ‘this was always my favorite part.’ It creates a strange line between the editing and writing process but also allows you to feel like you’re reading the story along with its biggest fan.

4) Get organized

As we’re sure you can imagine, creating a story employing this technique can be extremely confusing. Since the story will be told using one person’s perspective as opposed to an omniscient narrator who can jump perspectives, you have to make sure each character’s arc is thoroughly plotted before you even begin the writing process. If done correctly, the stories will likely intercept with one another, so make sure you know where in each person’s timeline each interaction takes place.

Once you have all of this thoroughly organized, the next step is to make sure your narrator is believably privy to all of this information. He/she has to be the piece of the puzzle that fits all of this together. Is the story being told this because the narrator happened to be there to witness all of this as it unfolds? If it’s not believable for the character that you chose to be in every single scene you’ve mapped out (and it likely won’t be), how will they be getting this information in order to relay it to the reader? Did they receive a letter, text, or phone call from someone who relayed the information to them?

5) Allow your narrator to interject and have opinions 

One of the most important and advantageous aspects of writing from a frame narrative is the character’s voice. When using this technique, allow your narrator to interject on the events as they occur. Allow them to reflect on them, have opinions, and be angry or happy or annoyed. Use them to foreshadow the climax of the story or have them give their opinions on the nature of certain characters. This is where you create intrigue. Imagine you’re using a future version of your protagonist to tell the story. The future version shows a lot of animosity towards the current protagonist’s best friend, and this allows the reader to wonder, what did that character do? thus creating suspense that wouldn’t otherwise exist.

Another aspect that you may want to consider playing around with is the reliability of your narrator. Perhaps the narrator of your story clearly hates a certain character (maybe even the protagonist), but as the story unfolds, you start to see that the character is actually really kind and harmless. Or maybe the narrator is really down on him or herself, but as the story continues, the audience can see that they’re actually just being too hard on themselves. Or perhaps the narrator doesn’t remember how a certain event took place, and instead just gives the reader the gist of it. This creates another added layer to the story and allows the reader to form opinions and judgments of the narrator and their role in the story as a whole.

The post How to Write a Frame Narrative appeared first on Dorrance Publishing Company.

1) Draw on personal experience

The subject matter that you choose for your self-help book should be one that you personally have experience with. So let’s say you’re choosing the topic ‘How to Overcome Depression’- it could be that you have a master’s degree in psychology or it could be that you personally have had–and eventually overcame–a struggle with depression. But don’t shy away from all of the personal, intimate, and uncomfortable details that come along with your experience. The whole point of a self-help book is, fairly obviously, to help. You have to approach the book knowing that the way you overcame a challenge may help others to overcome that same obstacle in their lives. The sacrifice you’re making by putting yourself fully on display could end up drastically changing a lot of lives for the better. So, in the initial stages, you need to overcome any reservations you still have within yourself.

2) Use research to back up your theories

If you’ve been inspired to write this book because of your own personal experiences, that’s a wonderful thing. But you shouldn’t be relying solely on your personal experience, either. If you want the book to really help people, you’ll need to do a ton of research on your subject material as well so you can back up your claims and figure out the best way to advise your audience. For example, perhaps you are writing a book about overcoming an abusive relationship. Give examples of your life experience, but also do some research about abusive relationships. Read other self-help books to learn more about your own motives in your experience. Find statistics on abusive relationships and the psychology behind why people stay with abusive partners. It may even be helpful to reach out to a psychology expert or two to get their insight on certain factors and their advice on overcoming them. You don’t want to write this book as an account of abuse, but rather as someone who overcame that, and, looking back, now has the wisdom to advise others.

3) Balance past knowledge with present understanding

One of the more important aspects of writing a self-help book that draws on your personal experience is finding a way to balance your past and present selves. You want to present your past experiences in a detailed way, rather than merely factual. You want people to feel the struggle and the emotion that accompanied the experiences you’ve overcome. To accomplish this, you’ll want to employ some fiction writing techniques, writing detailed scenes from your past self’s perspective.

However, don’t make the mistake of writing a memoir instead of a self-help book. What differentiates these primarily is that the main focus of the self-help book is displaying practical steps to help people overcome the struggles you went through, versus reading a detailed account of your experiences. Make sure that any flashbacks you detail from your experiences also have the presence of your much wiser present-day self. Pepper in observations that you’ve had about these moments since they’ve past or realizations on why these moments, in particular, have stayed with you. Have an aside in the narrative saying things like, “I’ve often wondered why I didn’t stop then” or “This moment has always stuck with me because…” These asides are good transitions to be able to give the reader the advice that they’re supposed to be getting from witnessing your experience.

4) Decide how you want to present your information

As previously stated, the main differentiator between self-help and a memoir is that the structure should prioritize the direct advice over the telling of a story. So, rather than go in chronological order detailing the events of your life, we recommend structuring your self-help book in sections based on specific things you learned from your experience. For example, let’s use the ‘overcoming abuse’ book example. One of your chapters could be ‘why people stay with their abusers.’ The beginning could detail psychological insights on the matter, perhaps even some quotes from a few of the experts you’ve interviewed. This leads into your own experience, presenting the reader with one or two specific flashbacks to your life that illustrates the points you’ve learned from your research (peppering in advice for avoiding your mistakes).

5) Create an Outline

When you’re writing something with so many different elements intertwining, it can be extremely difficult to stay organized. We highly recommend creating an outline for your book before you even begin writing. If you were inspired to write this through your own personal experience, that’s the best place to start. Make a list of all of the specific moments/memories from your life that you feel should be included in your book. Only pull memories that you feel had a valuable and clear lesson that a reader could learn from.

Next, group memories together that have a similar lesson or relating factor. Once you start to notice patterns in the lessons that the memories show, create chapter titles and write the specific memories that will be relayed in each section. Then, dive into your research about each of the topics that the chapters outline. After you finish your research and have all of the necessary tools and sources to write your book, create an order for the chapters that you feel will convey the information in the most effective way. For example, if you’re writing a book called ‘Lessons You Learn After Divorce’- it may be helpful to put the chapters (lessons) in the order that you learned them.

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