In today’s blogpost, I will be sharing Part 2 of this video series on the topic of: 7 Steps to Nail Down Your Novel Before You Begin Writing.
Part 2 in this series, goes a little deeper on how to write and tie-in memories or themes from your life with story tropes that inspire you.
Just a little note: The ideas I share in this video series are brainstorming techniques that have helped me to write my own novels. But it’s important to remember that all writers are unique in their own way and what works for you … might not be what has worked for me. I want to encourage you to experiment with different methods for brainstorming your own story ideas — and come up with a way that works best for you.
But that being said, lets talk about tips on brainstorming and drafting memories and themes from your own life as you sketch out the beginnings of your novel.
Watch the Video or keep reading below to learn more…
Fiction, has the ability to touch the hearts of readers in a meaningful way.
Much inspiration for writing our stories, comes from important and powerful moments in a writer’s own life.
Each of us as human beings, has a laundry list of good or bad memories from simply living life.
Some examples of memories: Perhaps one fiction writer has memories of an elementary school teacher who was demeaning and made them feel small — while another writer has memories of an elementary school teacher who encouraged them and gave them confidence.
The result? Each of their stories would focus on a different angle if they were writing about childhood wounds.
More examples: Or perhaps in one writer’s memories of family— perhaps there are memories where with parents, step-parents or siblings — where they made you believe you could do anything you set your mind to… and in another writer’s memories — they were told they’d never be a good enough to be a writer.
Drawing from your own background and memories in your own life, write out a few of the powerful memories filled with emotion from your own life, break them down into vivid details.
These moments and descriptive settings and emotionally driven narrative will help you form key scenes in your novel.
Next, combine those descriptive emotions from your memories with themes or tropes from novels/movies that inspire you.
Similar to a good movie — in a good novel’s context is shown through images. Whether we’re watching or reading — that audience notices strong visual cues that gives them a strong sense of place, mood, texture and sometimes theme.
Example: In the space battle scene — the first scene in Star Wars. The audience can tell that the story will involve a battle in space. Or another example: the scene of Katniss out hunting for food in the forest at the start of the Hunger Games. The audience can see that this scene shows that the people in this community of nearly starving of hunger.
This is why it’s important to start your novel with an image that will quickly and powerfully show a sense of where the story takes place — tell readers as much as you can within that first couple paragraphs to get readers in the mood of the piece.
Create a Visual Metaphor — if possible — like they do in movies — that shows vividly its theme.
If you want more ideas on how to do that well, read the book for writers called: Making a Good Script Great by Linda Seger. I’ll add a link below this video of this book as well as any other helpful resources I mention.
As writers we want to combine memories — or emotional moments — from our own life which will help form key scenes in our novel.
We also need to dig deeper into main character’s flaws and wounds that possibly stem from her childhood. This will make your novel real to you readers and they will relate to your characters. A flawed character — whether in movies or novels — is infinitely more appealing to readers or moviegoers than is a character who is perfect.
And speaking of characters who have many flaws and wounds…
I mentioned in the Part 1 in this blogpost and video series, that recently I self-published a cowboy sweet romance under my pen name that was difficult to write.
Honestly, it was one of the toughest novels I’ve written so far.
The reason it was difficult?
The theme and the characters took an unexpected turn, forcing the story to really hit home for me. When I began writing, all I knew was the basic gist of the story. The hero who is a former FBI Agent, begins chasing down a kidnapper to bring him to justice while also trying to find the missing girl at the same time.
The Heroine, who helps in the search, comes face to face with her stepfather — who physically abused her after her mama died when she was just a little girl.
In that moment as I wrote that scene, I suddenly realized I was writing about a sad memory from my own childhood. This moment hit home for me very unexpectedly.
As writers when you find yourself shedding tears over a story you’re writing, it’s okay. Just let the story come out as it may. You might be surprised later (like I was) that the story came out as it was meant to with a lot of important themes — like forgiveness, redemption and love.
I’ve come to realize, this is what it’s like to be a storyteller. There will be bits and pieces of you in every book you write. And that’s a really good thing. It makes your writing stand out, because the story is told from your perspective and in your own voice.
John Truby, in his book The Anatomy of Story, says: If a story is that important to you, it may be that important to a lot of people in the audience. A story that’s not personal to the writer in any way, will never rise above the generic.
I’ve taken his advice to heart, as I’ve been writing this current middle-grade fiction adventure novel.
This story is quite personal for me, as it’s inspired by true events that happened in my childhood and with our large family of 13 people — as we pioneered land and helped build a farming community in Northern British Columbia, Canada.
This story will include a lot of sad memories of farm accidents and other painful moments… but it will also include many happy memories and lots of adventures of riding calves, chasing cows, riding horses and motorbike at a young age, swinging from a home-made swing in our large Quonset, walking on tall stilts, building tree forts and skating on the creek in winter and falling through the ice… and so many more adventures.
In this story I already see themes of forgiveness, facing fear, and learning to love and trust along with redemption thrown in together… that will hopefully bring deeper meaning to the story and to the characters themselves.
This is what we do as storytellers. Each of us adds our unique flavour and experiences to the books we write.
By allowing the bits and pieces of who you are as the writer to shine in the novel you’re writing, you will add that uniqueness that will make your story shine.
So I encourage your to combine your memories and emotionally charged moments from your background — and tie them with themes and tropes from novels or movies that inspire you.
Examples of Tropes: Afraid to Commit; Alpha Hero; Amnesia; Arranged Marriage; Athlete; Beauty and the Beast; Disguise; Dark Secret, etc.
Examples of Themes: Forgiveness; Love; Acceptance; Faith; Fear; Trust; Survival; Selflessness; Responsibility; Redemption, etc.
Maybe part of your personal story was that you never felt like you fit in — from childhood through your young adult years. Perhaps, because of that you feel drawn to write a story that will reflect on some defining moments of not fitting in from your own life. You might write a novel with the theme: Fish Out of Water. (Examples of movies with this theme: New in Town or The Proposal).
Try this action step today:
Brainstorm and write down powerful defining moments from your own life. Draw from these memories and break them down into vivid details using vivid descriptions.
Sketch out on a notepad examples of themes and tropes like we just mentioned — that really resonate with you.
Perhaps, beside each idea write a short paragraph of what it is about this idea that intrigues you or calls to you.
After you’ve done made that list, you will be ready for the next blogpost or video in this series. Part 3— is coming up next week. This is where you’ll get to write a short summary of the story idea that pops into your head and sparks your interest and passion. Then you will be ready to write a one-line book premise for your story idea.
Thanks for joining me today and I’m excited for you as begin your journey to write amazing stories.
Happy writing! 🙂
