Lecture One- Writing Your Book; What You'll Need

You should always know what ingredients you'll need before you should start on your recipe. In the same way, you'll need to know what ingredients are required to write your book before you start on it. So here's what we'll be talking about for much of the course:

Who- your characters. Who's in your story? What are they like? What's their favorite color? Vegetable preference?

What- what is your story about? What's your plot? Your theme?

When/Where- when or where does your story take place? Baltimore of 1814? A Nazi camp in 1943? The Pacific Islands? Hawaii? Fantasy Land? China?

How- writers differ when it comes to this one. Many outline and many don't. But it's probably a good idea to know a little bit about where you're going with the story before you actually leave on the journey of telling your tale.

Of course, there's a lot more to writing than just that, but those are the basics. Many writers find that their writing requires intensive research (you might be moaning by now, but I personally kind of like it).

You'll also need to know the genre of your book (is it a romance, sci-fi, historical fiction, fantasy, mainstream, etc.). This especially comes in handy when you're looking for publishers. Many publishers only accept certain genres, so it will be useful if you familiarize yourself with the one your book's in.

In addition to this course, you'll probably need to read some books on writing. One book that I'm finding extremely informative and helpful is Deborah Perlberg's The Complete Idiot's Guide to Writing for Young Adults. Even if you're not writing for adolescence, check this book out. Ms. Perlberg gives you excellent tips on writing dialogue, where many other books will tell you the same thing vaguely with no examples whatsoever.

Courses, workshops, and conferences are also terrific ways to learn about your craft. I am currently a student of the Christian Writers Guild (owned by Jerry Jenkins). This is a great circle of Christian writers who can hook you up with professional writers who will critique your assinments and provide one-on-one training (many writers are published during these courses, so they are very practical and helpful). They also teach you the knowledge you need to know and how to find great techniques in the writing of others (something that we will cover later).

So, good writing takes a lot of techniques and time to truly master it. Don't try to go it alone.

Next up? Plot lines! See you there!