#Nanowrimo The Kernal Idea: The Alpha and Omega of Your Book

You have to start somewhere.

Have you ever listened to a writer who just recently started a new project? They are practically jumping out of their pants with excitement. Their eyes light up and oddly enough, they break out of that introverted shell and start babbling away about their latest novel.

This is at the core of the Kernel Idea. The spark of inspiration. That one thing that made you believe you could sit alone in a room and write 100,000 words. However, when the writer hits the 50k mark they often forget what excited them in the first place.  As you go through Nanowrimo, are you starting to sputter out?  The flame flickering low?

The kernel idea is the Alpha and the Omega of your book.  By that I mean it starts your creative process and it completes it.  It’s what you begin with and at the end of the manuscript, everything in the book points toward it.

The kernel idea is the foundation of your novel.  When I say idea, I don’t necessarily mean the theme, although it can be.  Or the most important incident, although it can be.  But it can also be a setting.  It can be a scene.  It can be a character.

It is simply the first idea you had that was the seed of your novel.  All else can change, but the idea can’t.  It might be a place; a person; an event; a moral; whatever.  But you did have it before you began writing and you must remember it as you write.  If you don’t, your story and style will suffer terribly.  You should be able to tell your idea in one sentence.  And repeat it to yourself every morning when you wake up and prior to writing.  Knowing it will keep you on track.

Every new book I begin, I write out this one sentence on a word document as the very first writing I do.  I print it out and put it where I can constantly see it.

A Test

Can you clearly state what your book is about in 25 words or less? This is a key, essential ingredient of writing a good book. This idea keeps you focused and on track. It is important to:

1. Write The Kernel Idea down.
2. Ask yourself what emotional reaction does it bring about.

Good writing and strong characters are the key to great writing and knowing what excited you to write the book in the first place will bleed onto the page. However, if you don’t write it down, you might forget and get lost along the way.

What Is Your Kernel Idea?

• Good news is you had one.
• Bad news is you probably forgot it.
• It is usually the first thought you had (the spark of inspiration)
• It is the foundation of your book, the seed.

KERNAL IDEA EXERCISE:

Write down the idea behind your current project.

If you can’t do it, then you need to backtrack through your thought process to find it, because you had it at one point. Everything starts from something. While idea is not story (something I will talk about later) idea is the only thing in your manuscript that won’t change. Your story can, but your idea won’t.

Available at Cool Gus!

In one of my early novels, the original idea was an action:  What if Special Forces soldiers had to destroy an enemy pipeline?  That’s it for Dragon Sim-13.  Not very elaborate, you say.  True.  Not exactly a great moral theme.  Right.  But with that original idea there was a lot I could do and eventually had to do.  I had to change the target country after the first draft.  But that was all right because I still had the idea.  I had to change characters, but that was fine too, because it didn’t change my idea.  I had to change the reason why they were attacking a pipeline, but again, the original idea was the same.

You will have plenty of latitude for story after you come up with your kernel idea; in fact, I sometimes find the finished manuscript turns out to be different from what I had originally envisioned, but one thing is always true: that kernel idea is still there at the end as the Omega.

For my first kernel idea, I made it as simple as possible to enable me to focus on the writing because when I was in the Special Forces my A-Team had run a similar mission on a pipeline.   Since I had a good idea what would happen in the story, I could concentrate on the actual writing of the novel.

I’ve sat in graduate literature classes and heard students say:  “The author had to have a moral point in mind when they wrote that book.”  I agree, but sometimes it is not at the forefront of the story.  Many authors write simply to tell a story started by that kernel idea, which indeed might be a moral point, but sometimes is a story that they wanted to tell and the theme developed subsequently.

A moral or theme (screenwriters call it intent) always does appear in a book by the time it’s done.   No matter what conscious expectations or thoughts an author has when they start writing, a lot more appears in the manuscript than they consciously anticipated.

After you have that kernel idea, you should spend a lot of time wrestling with it and consciously uncover your feelings and thoughts about it.  I try to look at my main characters and determine what will happen to them emotionally, physically and spiritually as they go through the story.  Who are they at the beginning of the story and who are they at the end?

This is an example of being aware of what you are doing. Not all authors have a conscious theme when they write a novel, but experience has taught me that it is better to have your theme in your conscious mind before you start writing.  It might not be your original idea, but it will definitely affect your characters and story.

The reason it is important to have a theme in mind is because people want to care about what they read and the characters.  If there is some moral or emotional relevance to the story they read, they will become more involved in the story and enjoy it more.  Even if the reader doesn’t consciously see it either.

Writers balk at the Kernel or one-sentence idea. How can you be expected to write the entire essence of your epic novel in one sentence? You are told that every word, every sentence, every paragraph and every scene must have purpose, so how can any writer sum up their work in twenty-five words or less?

It’s simple. Your story started with an idea. The idea wasn’t much. If you write it down when you think of it, then summarizing your story in one-sentence is just that much easier.

One way to work on understanding the Kernel Idea is to take your favorite movie or book and try to figure out the Kernel Idea. This will help you narrow the focus and see how it is the foundation of everything in the story.

Do you know what your kernel idea is?

Can you say what your book is about in 25 words or less? The Write It Forward Workshop: Conflict and Idea, we’ll discuss ways to find and state your original idea so that you can stay on course while writing and revising your book. Conflict drives your story and must escalate throughout your entire novel. One of the techniques we will use in this workshop is the Conflict Box. The Conflict Box is a way of diagraming conflict and allows you to focus on the protagonist, antagonist, their goals and finding out if you have the necessary conflict. The course will begin on 1 February and is done on-line in a Yahoo Loop email delivery system so you can read and work on lessons when its convenient for you. The course runs for one month and costs $50.00. For more details and to sign up go to the Cool Gus Website.

(In the next post, I’ll give examples of Kernel Ideas)

WRITE IT FORWARD

#Nanowrimo Point of View and Voice

After many years of writing and teaching novel writing, I firmly believe that perspective or point of view is the number one style problem for most writers.  It is also one of the easiest problems to correct with a bit of awareness of both the problem and possible solutions.  For the sake of simplicity, in this chapter I will stick with the term point of view, although it is interchangeable with perspective.

When considering how to tell your story, the first thing you have to do is select a point of view.  This may be the most critical decision you have to make.  Often the type of story you are writing will clearly dictate the point of view, but a good understanding of the various modes of presentation is essential because this is one area where beginning novelists often have problems.  They may select the right point of view, but it is often used poorly because of a lack of understanding of the tool itself.

Regardless of which point of view (or points of view) you choose to use, there is one thing you must have: you as the author must have a good feeling about the point of view with which you are telling the story.  If you don’t have a warm and fuzzy about that, this confusion will most definitely be translated to the reader.  Remember, ultimately, point of view is your voice as a writer.

Some people write like an MTV music video:  point of view flying all over the place, giving glimpses into each character but never really keeping the reader oriented.  I say this because the best analogy I can give for point of view is to look at it as your camera.  You as author are the director:  you see and know everything in your story.  But the reader only sees and knows what the camera records:  the point of view you choose.  You must always keep that in mind.  You see the entire scene, but your lens only records the words you put on the page and you have to keep your lens tightly focused and firmly in hand.

The key term to know, like a director, is the word ‘cut’.  A cut in film terminology is when the camera is either a) stopped, then restarted later, or b) stopped and another camera is then used.  To a writer, a cut is a change in point of view.  In an MTV music video, you can go about three seconds before having to ‘cut’.  Robert Altman, in the beginning of The Player, uses an extremely long single camera sequence before the first cut– another reason to watch the film.

The most critical thing to remember about point of view is that you have to keep the reader oriented.  The reader has got to know from what point of view they are viewing the scene.  Lose that and you lose the reader.  Thus, as with everything else, there is no wrong point of view to write in, or even mixture of point of views to write in, but it is wrong to confuse the reader as to the point of view through which they are ‘seeing’ the story.

Take the camera point of view a bit further.  When directors do a scene, they immediately look into a viewfinder and watch the recording of the take.  They do this because, although they saw what happened, they have to know what the camera recorded.  As an author, you have to get out of your own point of view as the writer and be able to see what you write as the reader sees it.

• What is reality?  What someone perceives it to be.
• Thus there is no ONE reality.
• So your choice of point of view taints reality.
• In real life, POV is different perspectives on a situation.
• 3 people see an event, three different POVs.

In writing, POV is the author’s choice of the perspective through which the story is told.

• 3 people see an event, we only get the POV the author chooses to show it through.
• Or three different POVs that conflict.

Which is real?

What point of view do you think you’ve written your manuscript in?

What is Communication?

• The primary goal of communication is to evoke a response.
• Thus the receiver of the communication is more important than the sender.
• Thus, the sender needs to take the point of view of the person the message is intended for.
• We are transmitting both logic and emotion.
• We are transmitting on the conscious and subconscious levels.
• We are externalizing something internal.
• Receiving a message correctly is also key.
• Figuring out what someone is really trying to transmit is a critical skill.

Written Communication

• Writing makes things real.
• We speak differently than we write.
• Think like the reader.
• Less is better.
• Writing is the only art form that isn’t sensual.
• Signifies responsibility.
• It’s in the public domain.
• Gets it out of your head into the real world.
• Don’t qualify; say what you mean and say it simply.
• Organize research records.
• Information that can’t be accessed is useless.

Controlling the Camera

Who Is Telling The Story?

You are. But whose voice does the reader ‘hear’ when they read?

You are getting a story that is alive in your head, into the reader’s head, through the medium of the printed word.

The POV you choose is the format of that medium.

The Camera

• POV is the camera through which the story is recorded.
• All that counts is what is recorded.
• Get out of your head and focus on the camera and what the reader ‘sees’.
• A shift in POV is a shift in the camera=a cut.

A Cut

• You stop the camera, restart the same one in a new time and/or place.
• You stop the camera, go to a new camera.  Can be same place (head-hopping) or a new time and/or place (a new point of view character).
• Or you as the author control the camera and can go anywhere and any time you want (omniscient point of view).

Can you say what your book is about in 25 words or less? The Write It Forward Workshop: Conflict and Idea, we’ll discuss ways to find and state your original idea so that you can stay on course while writing and revising your book. Conflict drives your story and must escalate throughout your entire novel. One of the techniques we will use in this workshop is the Conflict Box. The Conflict Box is a way of diagraming conflict and allows you to focus on the protagonist, antagonist, their goals and finding out if you have the necessary conflict. The course will begin on 1 February and is done on-line in a Yahoo Loop email delivery system so you can read and work on lessons when its convenient for you. The course runs for one month and costs $50.00. For more details and to sign up go to the Cool Gus Website.

#Nanowrimo Outlining Your Story

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Area 51 Nightstalkers

by Bob Mayer

Giveaway ends November 24, 2012.

See the giveaway details
at Goodreads.

Enter to win

 Many theories, one concept

I have grown fonder of outlining the more I have written. A novel is very complex when viewed in its entirety, most particularly mainstream fiction. Working without an outline is sort of “winging” it. I say this after have done that for eight straight manuscripts. I think I have finally learned my lesson and have actually gotten to the point of outlining in some degree of detail (about a page per chapter) the entire proposed novel.

I’m updating the above paragraph after 45 manuscripts written and I believe even more strongly now in outlining. I think every hour spent outlining prior to starting a novel, saves you many hours in the actual writing process. It also helps to make a better novel as you will ‘tighten’ down the story in your outline before you write, rather than having to do it in rewrite.

To be honest, I only outlined my first complete novel when I had a contract that called for a complete outline to be submitted to the publisher prior to final approval for the project (and more importantly a portion of the advance was to be paid on acceptance of the outline.). You are going to have to “outline” sooner or later when writing. You can do it as you go along or you can do it before you write. Doing it as you go along often causes you to have to waste a lot of time writing material that either has to be thrown out or be extensively rewritten. It is prudent to do a lot of the thinking work ahead of time.

The major problem in working without a good outline is that you tend to get “stuck” about halfway through. When I first began writing this wasn’t a major problem. My stories were basic and relatively straightforward action/adventure and, while I didn’t have a detailed outline, I did have a good idea of where I wanted the story to go (as they were based somewhat on personal experiences) so I managed to blunder my way through. As I tried writing more complex stories, I found myself getting stuck more and more often and having to take days away from the keyboard to work out where the story was going and keep the subplots in line.

When you start your manuscript with your one sentence original idea, you have a relatively blank slate to work with. The further along you get, the less options you have. If you work without an outline, you may find yourself with no options at some point. Or at least no good options. This is, to slightly understate the predicament, not good.

If you combine many of the other chapters in this book such as narrative structure, the beginning, characters, etc. you get a good overview of the pieces you need to put together a novel. Outlining is putting those pieces into a framework. The basis of your framework is that one-sentence original idea that I beat into you early in this book. Then you decide your storyline and the characters who are going to live the story.

I cannot overemphasize (OK, I probably could) how important it is to have a feel for your characters before you begin writing. I consider getting that feel part of outlining—bringing your characters to life.

Outlining is also very critical in keeping your subplots tight to the main plot. You will restrict yourself from going off in tangents if you know at which point in your main story a subplot develops and where and how it will eventually come back and tie into the main story line.

Another advantage of outlining is that since the outline is tight to start with, as you write and add flesh to your outline, you can make the story even tighter.

One of my biggest obstacles to outlining was that I just wanted to get started writing and didn’t want to take a couple of weeks doing the outline. Now I realize how much time in the long run it saves me to stay away from the manuscript and do the outline first.

The degree of detail in your outline is personal. In fact, you may chose not to have one at all. But don’t treat it like the gospel once you do devise one. As you go along the characters will develop a life of their own as will the story. As you fill in details, occasionally these details will cause you to change parts of your story as opposed to what was outlined. None of my recent, more complex novels, turned out the way I thought they would way back in the beginning when all I had was the original idea and some research.

Also remember that outlining is an ongoing process just as the writing is. If you view a novel in the beginning as a large blank slate, then the original idea is a sentence you write at the top of the page. From there you start your outline, tracing characters and events along the timeline of your story. When you feel you have an adequate outline, you start writing. As the story progresses, you must go back every once in a while and redo the outline, tightening your story down.

I view this for me as writing in surges. I project out my story as much as I know at the time (nowadays to the very end.). Then I proceed to write. When I sense that I am losing track, I go back over my outline and fill in what I’ve already written, adding in all the details. With these new details, I redo the outline, tightening down what has yet to be written and making sure it is in congruence with what has already been written. Sometimes, I also have to go back and add a layer to the story, or take a layer away.

There are some critical questions that you must answer before you begin your manuscript. Answer these questions in writing, not in your head. To me, the bottom line on outlining is writing down everything I can possibly think of with regard to the story. You will find that the process of actually writing down those great thoughts you have might knock you up against the harsh rocks of reality. Sometimes it looks very different in black in white on paper, than in color in your brain.

Here are the questions:

1. What is my one sentence original idea?
2. Who are my main characters? What are their primary motivations? Do their primary motivations naturally lead them to assume the role they must, in this novel? How did they get these primary motivations? How do I show the reader the characters primary motivations?
3. Where and when is my setting?
4. What is the climax of my story?
5. How do I maintain suspense/reader interest throughout the novel?

Caveat. Be careful that your writing doesn’t appear to be just a blown up outline. When that happens, the writing appears to be stilted and a little forced. Also, just expanding an outline leaves little room for creativity and allowing the characters to react and “live”. You may have outlined certain events occurring, but when you actually sit down and write your characters experiencing those events, usually you will find that it turns out not exactly as outlined. Sort of like real life. Go with it. Allow your characters to be living beings involved in the story.

Find the degree of outlining that you are comfortable with, but at least consider doing some sort of outline, even if only in your own head. There are some very successful authors who can break a novel down by sections and structure and crank out certain genre novels according to a “script” they have for that type of book. And, although many don’t like hearing it, there is a formula to some type of novels. Although we all want to be original (or maybe we don’t?), realize that if you are writing a romance and you produce something totally unlike any other romance on the bookshelves you’ve done two things: you haven’t written a romance in the first place, and secondly, when you try to market it, it won’t be viewed as a romance. You may be the trailblazer like those I mentioned in an earlier chapter and start a new field, but the odds aren’t good. If you feel strongly about your writing, don’t let that dissuade you, just be aware of the reality of the situation.

I definitely feel that updating your outline is important every day when you sit down and try to write chapters. Pick a start point and an end point for every chapter. Then ask yourself how do I get from one to the other? What is the purpose of this chapter? Also look at the chapter in terms of the overall story. Where does it fit? Is this the right time for this to happen? If you don’t have a definite end point, your chapter will meander.

Some ideas for outlining:

1. List the date at the top, putting it in time sequence for the story.
2. List the characters who will be in the chapter (which makes me cross-reference to my one page character summaries.)
3. List the events in sequence, giving the major action and where it occurs.
4. Make notes on key material that must be dealt with later, in other chapters, or already has been dealt with. This is very important to insure continuity of story.
5. Have a definite start point at the beginning of the event sequence and a definite end-point. I have listed all important events that I need to occur in between.
6. Perhaps most importantly, give the purpose of the chapter. Where does it fit in the overall story? How does it relate to the original idea? This will prevent having extraneous material.

This is not to say that once I start writing the chapter things won’t change. But it is a heck of a lot easier to write with all the information thought out beforehand rather than making it up as I go. Basically what I’m saying here is that the outline allows you to concentrate on the writing since you know what you are going to put down. I find my writing is better when I have a good outline.

An outline can grow out of your original idea when you start doing your research. For me, research is one of the “fun” parts of my job. Going to the library and looking through the stacks, checking magazines, videos, the computer, etc. all are interesting. Keep your eyes open. Just because you are looking for a book filed under U410.L1 E38, doesn’t mean you ignore the books to the left and right of it. I usually scan all the books that are shelved together and have often come up with goldmines of information sitting three books over from what I thought I needed.

A last word on the Catch-22 of outlining. Not to contradict what I’ve written above, but there is a problem with trying to sit down and outline your very first manuscript. The problem is that since you’ve never written a manuscript, you are trying to outline something you’ve never done.

I opened this post by saying that I have grown more fond of outlining the more I have written, but that is also a natural outgrowth of gaining more experience in novel structure and style. I have learned enough in knocking out manuscripts that I am able to outline now. I don’t think I would have done anywhere as good a job on outlining my first manuscript. This is also why I emphasize starting out writing about something you know quite a bit about and keeping the story as simple as possible.

Can you say what your book is about in 25 words or less? The Write It Forward Workshop: Conflict and Idea, we’ll discuss ways to find and state your original idea so that you can stay on course while writing and revising your book. Conflict drives your story and must escalate throughout your entire novel. One of the techniques we will use in this workshop is the Conflict Box. The Conflict Box is a way of diagraming conflict and allows you to focus on the protagonist, antagonist, their goals and finding out if you have the necessary conflict. The course will begin on 1 February and is done on-line in a Yahoo Loop email delivery system so you can read and work on lessons when its convenient for you. The course runs for one month and costs $50.00. For more details and to sign up go to the Cool Gus Website.

My recommendation on outlining is simple: write down everything you think you know about your book.

#NANOWRIMO What to Write and a Book Giveaway

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Area 51 Nightstalkers

by Bob Mayer

Giveaway ends November 24, 2012.

See the giveaway details
at Goodreads.

Enter to win

Most writing is not a special gift or talent. Writing is a skill that can be taught. It can be likened to bricklaying; you can learn it one brick at a time, and you get better the more bricks you lay.

The key is to always be willing to learn, grow and develop these skills. A writer, in order to master their craft, must be willing to change.

If you talk to those who work in hospices, they’ll tell you what lessons their dying patients bestow upon them.  One word keeps coming up again and again:  regret.

When faced with death, people look back over their lives.  All the missed opportunities, the misplaced priorities, the things that weren’t done.  Only a handful of people focus on what they did do and are content.  These people have negotiated the five emotional steps of change, which are Elizabeth Kubler-Ross’s stages of Death & Dying.  The last stage is acceptance.  Kubler-Ross found that only 5% of those who were told they had a terminal illness were able to negotiate those five stages.

That number strikes a chord.  Because in my Write It Forward book and program, I refer to the 5% rule for internally motivated change.  I’ve taught writing for decades and have always been shocked at how few writers actually changed anything in their writing.  I am no longer shocked.  I have acceptance that I cannot change anyone but me.  I can assist others if they desire it.  This is based on my experiences and, more importantly, what I’ve learned from other writers, books, shows, and life.

78% of Americans believe they can write a book.  I’d be willing to bet 77% of them will die regretting they never did.  It’s not about getting published.  It’s about creating and acting instead of reacting, often, too late.

You have only one thing stopping you from writing the best book you are capable of.  You.

Available at Cool Gus!

I call my book on the craft of writing a Toolkit because no tool is wrong.  If I need to fasten two pieces of wood together and instead of picking up a hammer and nail, but rather pick up a saw, it is not the tool’s fault.  It is mine.

In subsequent blogs, I am going to lay out numerous writing tools that will help you develop your craft as a writer. However, becoming an artist is up to you.

Point of view is the most critical style element in writing.  It is also important in following the way I teach writing.  I’ve been making a living writing for well over two decades and with each year and every new manuscript come new lessons learned.  Over that time period I’ve taught writing novels and getting published at various workshops and for numerous organizations.  I’ve attended many workshops and listened to other authors present.  I’ve read many books and watched many movies and shows, constantly analyzing the writing, to learn new ways of creating.  I’ve seen numerous ideas, stories and manuscripts in the course of teaching, helping other writers, and judging contests.  I’ve been published by six different American publishers, many foreign publishers, worked with over a two-dozen editors, and have had four primary agents.  I’ve been traditionally published by the Big Six in New York, and non-traditionally published through my own imprint.  I’ve had hardcover, trade paperback, mass-market paperback, print on demand, and eBooks across the range of possible platforms published.

Too many people lament the state of publishing and the “crap” that fills the shelves in the local bookstore.  My goal is not to complain but to explain; to tell you about the craft and art of writing so you can accomplish your goals.

The world of writing is a very diverse one and there is a place in it for just about everything and everyone.  Things are changing rapidly, faster than ever, and I think it’s an exciting time to be an author, with more opportunities than ever before.

The bottom line is I write because I enjoy it.  That doesn’t mean it’s easy.  The one commonality I have seen in every successful writer I’ve met is that they work very, very hard.  There is a large degree of craftsmanship required to write a novel.  It’s not magic; it’s hard work combined with the ability to constantly accept being critiqued and to critique one’s self.

Lately, I’ve focused on what it takes to be a successful author, not just in terms of the writing, but in terms of not only surviving, but thriving in the world of publishing.

The bottom line is the book.  I love books.  I love reading them and I love writing them.

Can you say what your book is about in 25 words or less? The Write It Forward Workshop: Conflict and Idea, we’ll discuss ways to find and state your original idea so that you can stay on course while writing and revising your book. Conflict drives your story and must escalate throughout your entire novel. One of the techniques we will use in this workshop is the Conflict Box. The Conflict Box is a way of diagraming conflict and allows you to focus on the protagonist, antagonist, their goals and finding out if you have the necessary conflict. The course will begin on 1 February and is done on-line in a Yahoo Loop email delivery system so you can read and work on lessons when its convenient for you. The course runs for one month and costs $50.00. For more details and to sign up go to the Cool Gus Website.

“I am always doing that which I cannot do in order to learn how to do it.”  Pablo Picasso.

So why do you write?