How to write a book: Beginning

Having completed three manuscripts and traversed the publishing process, I cannot call myself an expert on the industry by any means—however, I have learned a thing or two about how to write a book.

The first thing that I believe people should know if they want to become an author is that writing is a skill, not a talent. Writing is not something you are either born with or not, it is something that is learned. While it may come more naturally to some than others, no one starts out as an expert, and anyone can become an expert with hard work, education, and practice. Anyone can write a book.

The first hurdle many people experience is not knowing where to start. The feeling of opening up a fresh Word document or sitting down in front of a blank page is an intimidating one—but keep in mind that every masterpiece of literature ever created began at the very point where you are at now.

So, how do you start writing? The short answer is: however you want. If you have a particular scene in your head that you have a clear picture of, start there. If you have a good idea for a compelling lead character, try writing their biography. J.R.R. Tolkien started his famed fantasy universe by creating languages that would go on to become different forms of Elvish and Dwarvish. There is no wrong way to start writing.

However, if you have no idea where to begin or how to start coalescing your various ideas and concepts into a narrative, I would suggest the first step being constructing your elevator pitch. What is an elevator pitch? If you found yourself in an elevator with someone you wanted to pitch your story to, you would only have a few seconds to do so. You wouldn’t have the time to go into details, describe your themes, discuss your influences, and so forth. It is the bare bones of your story. I suggest starting here because the first person you need to provide with a clear understanding of your story is yourself. Once you establish to yourself what the book is in its most fundamental form, you can begin elaborating upon it and expanding those ideas outward.

What is in an elevator pitch? You may find many different answers to this question, but I think there are four primary elements it should include: who your protagonist or protagonists are, what their status quo is, the inciting incident that interrupts the status quo, and the challenge this creates that the protagonist or protagonists must overcome.

Let’s break this down.

• Who is your protagonist: Your protagonist is whoever’s point of view the story is told from. This can also be multiple people if you want your story told from different points of view. Ask yourself who this person is and why this particular story should be told from their perspective.

• What is their status quo: What is the starting point for this character? What is their life before the story begins? Is their status quo something they are trying to preserve or something they want to escape from?

• What is the inciting incident: If the status quo is your protagonist’s life before the story starts, the inciting incident is what changes or threatens to change that status quo. This is what sets the story in motion. It is an interruption of the familiar that forces the protagonist or protagonists to take action.

• What is the challenge the protagonist must overcome: Every story is about trying to overcome an obstacle or conclude a conflict. Your story can be about attempting to overthrow an evil galactic empire or it can be about a husband and wife trying to move on after the death of their child. Either way, you have a character or characters trying to get something done. This fourth step is essentially telling the listener what the bulk of the story will be about.

This may sound like a lot to fit into a sentence or two that could be described in the length of an elevator trip, but the trick is condensing it down into its most fundamental elements. Let’s return to Tolkien for a moment. The Lord of the Rings is a monumental three book epic with dozens of named characters, multiple character arcs, numerous sub-plots, and rich themes. Yet, its elevator pitch might sound something like this:

In the magical world of Middle Earth, Frodo Baggins led a quiet life among the peaceful Hobbit folk with his eccentric uncle in the idyllic Shire. However, he learns from the mysterious wizard, Gandalf, that the magic ring inherited from his uncle was created by the Dark Lord Sauron and he must travel to the heart of Sauron’s realm in order to destroy it and save all of Middle Earth.

Here, we see the structure of the story in the simplest terms. We learn who the protagonist is (Frodo Baggins). We see his status quo (Frodo exists in a fantasy setting and lives with his eccentric uncle in the idyllic Shire). There is the inciting incident (inheriting the ring and learning the truth of it from the wizard, Gandalf). Finally, there is the challenge (the ring must be destroyed within Sauron’s realm in order to save the world).

Obviously, this leaves a great deal out—but that is the point. While an elevator pitch can be very useful to describing the story to someone else, getting it in your head from the start of the story can be extremely helpful to a writer if you are having difficulty imagining what your story will look like by forming a solid foundation upon which to build. You, the author, now have decided where and when your story is, who it will focus on, what they are trying to accomplish and why. Don’t worry about getting all the details sorted out from the beginning. Build the foundation and then build on top of it, adding details, sub-plots, and other facets.

 If there is an addendum to these four questions, try asking these four additional questions to get a more complete view of your story. The four questions all essentially mirror the initial questions in your elevator pitch.

• How does your protagonist or protagonists try to fulfil the challenge from your elevator pitch: Once the challenge has been established, how do your characters try to meet it? This may be the toughest part to summarize as this is what the bulk of your story consists of—the trials and tribulations of the characters as they try achieving the story’s primary goal.

• Do they accomplish their challenge: Are your characters’ efforts successful? Perhaps they are and there is victory, celebration, and a happy ending. However, some stories are tragedies, and they are not successful. The story does not have to be about how the goal is accomplished, but instead about why it cannot be accomplished or learning something is more important than the initial goal.

• Is the status quo restored: Do the characters get to return the world as they knew it, or was that world forever changed as a result of the story? This ties in with the fourth point, which is …

• How does the main character change: A strong rule for creating any protagonist is that they cannot be entirely the same at the end of the story as they were at the beginning. A story is a journey and goes from point A to point B (albeit with numerous stops and diversions in between) and your protagonist lies at the heart of your story. While there are exceptions to this rule (perhaps the character has obstinance as a flaw and refuses to change despite needing to), this can be dangerous as this generally means they are a very flat, boring, unengaging character that most readers will not connect with or want to follow. This change can come in a number of ways; perhaps they become braver, maybe they fall in love, maybe their outlook on the world is forever altered, maybe they even die. This is the “character arc,” the path a character takes from where they enter the story to where they leave it. It establishes how you want your character to progress throughout the story. Establishing this early on can give you an idea where the character has to go and what they have to do throughout the story. For instance, if they gain courage by the end of the story, you know they must face trials and tribulations in which their courage is tested.

To return to the Lord of the Rings, adding these second four questions to the elevator pitch might look something like this:

Frodo and Gandalf form a fellowship of mighty heroes to escort him and the ring to Sauron’s realm of Mordor so he may destroy it. Although some of his companions die throughout the long journey and they are separated, Frodo makes it to Mordor while some of his companions unite the peoples of Middle Earth and fight against Sauron’s armies.

The ring is destroyed, Sauron is defeated upon its destruction, and Frodo returns to the Shire. Middle Earth begins to rebuild despite a great and terrible war. However, the trauma of his adventures leaves Frodo scarred and diminished. Bidding goodbye to his beloved friends, Frodo sails with Gandalf into the storied west so that he might finally know peace yet again.

By combing these eight questions together, you also have what is called a “summary.” This is a brief run-down of the whole story that professionals such as editors and agents may want to see in the latter stages of the publishing process. This makes it a good thing to keep around throughout the writing process, both as a guiding star and as a useful tool so you can explain your story to others.

 … But the convenient thing is that you don’t have to keep it the same either. Some writers, upon getting halfway through with a project, may find they want to fundamentally change what it is, by altering where they want the story to go, what they want to say through their writing, or how they want the readers to perceive the story. Do not feel bound by an elevator pitch or summary. Rather, use them as the spine of what you want to write—or as I said earlier, a foundation. You can change an elevator pitch or summary but always ensure you have a new one if you do. That way, you always have a solid, central idea of what you want the story to be.