Weeks 1-3: Where to Begin?

The Skinny

I've moved from the Planning phase to the Prewriting phase of the book. During Planning, I created writing schedule and a marketing plan in Bitrix24. Now I've begun shaping the history of my main character, Nasiliov.

Books, Books, Books

When I was younger, I learned how to play basketball by checking a book out of the library. My dad was 5'7" and had such an intense love for soccer that he had never really bothered with other sports. My mom had played, but all her time was taken up by my younger siblings. So when I needed to learn how to pivot and what a layup was, I read about it in a book.Naturally, in planning my efforts for this novel, I turned to books once more. Here are a few highlights of what I've read so far:

  • Story Genius by Lisa Cron - a handbook for writing a novel that focuses on shaping the main character's inner struggle.
  • The Art of Dramatic Writing by Lajos Egri - a guide to writing plays. Egri overstates a large number of his claims, but I've found no better guide to understanding the basic engine of drama.
  • Perfect Bound: How to Navigate the Book Publishing Process like a Proby Katherine Pickett - this handbook outlines practical considerations for getting published, like what to expect from your acquisitions editor and how to find an agent.
  • Brandon Sanderson's Lectures at BYU - this last item is a YouTube lecture series rather than a book. Brandon Sanderson is a bestselling author, and in the videos he shares his insight into the craft, art, and business of creating a novel.

Based on these resources (and several Russia-specific nonfiction titles - more on them later), I've spent the last three weeks creating a plan. I've divided the project into four stages: Planning, Prewriting, Writing, and Rewriting.

Practical Resources

I am not someone who finds organization easy or particularly rewarding. These tools have helped immensely in keeping myself honest:

  • Scrivener - since I am disorganized, I like to dump information into a single place and worry about it later. Scrivener is perfect for this. It is a desktop-based writing program that mimics the use of index cards, so all your notes are in a single place. Moreover, the user can upload PDFs, online articles, excel sheets - just about any file - and access it when writing that scene.
  • Bitrix24 - at my old job, we used Microsoft Project to keep track of timelines. Bitrix24 does everything that Project does (Gantt charts, Kanban boards) and more. Plus, it's free. It has proved especially useful at forcing me to meet deadlines on practical things like creating a marketing plan and researching my competitors, which I would not do without a nudge.

 

What to Expect

Going forward, I'll email twice a week, on Tuesdays and Sundays. I won't limit myself to these topics, but plan to include:

  •  Stories from my research on Russia in the 90s, one of the most dangerous settings in modern history (See the story below to learn about Sergei Magnitsky and the Russian sanctions)
  • Storytelling devices I’ve learned about
  • How to build an eBook and sell it yourself on Amazon
  • How I found (or didn’t find) an agent
  • How I negotiated with a publisher
  • How I approached bookstores (Barnes & Noble, online, and indie)
  • Sneak peeks of the story
  • The launch of a new website: spmurphyauthor.com
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