How to Write a Brilliant Novel: The Easy Step-By-Step Method of Crafting a Powerful Story (Go! Write Something Brilliant) by Susan May Warren
Authors: Susan May Warren
Tags: Fiction, General Fiction, Reference, Writing, Writing; Research & Publishing Guides, Writing Skills
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essential for your heroine. She needs to be proactive, and fight for something she believes in. We want to get on board with her cause, and fight the fight with her. Making her proactive and strong makes her noble—and a winner in our book.
Confidence – Give her a sense of self that is confident, despite her flaws. It’s easy for a heroine to have flaws—mostly because we write about ourselves, and we all have flaws. So you need to work at putting confidence into your heroine, and giving her something she’s good at, that makes us applaud her.
Fear – Give her a fear, something realistic and based on something in her past. Don’t make it about “being single.” And make her fear deep, something the hero has to figure out, even pry out of her. Having a realistic fear is something that will create sympathy in your reader, and put her in the heroine’s shoes.
Flaw – Give her a flaw, one that she can start to overcome because of the hero. It doesn’t have to be a huge flaw. Maybe it’s a tendency to run away from her problems, or better, a tendency to push men out of her life. As she gets to know the hero, he can help her overcome these flaws and grow stronger.
Beauty – Give her a special kind of beauty, both inner and outer, that only the hero can see/love. Something special, that’s only hers. Maybe it’s her eyes, but also the way that she can look right through him and see what he needs. Or maybe it’s her patience. Maybe it’s her strength to see the good, or believe in the good.
These five elements will create a heroine worthy of the hero, who will fight for her heart!
Premise! What’s It All About?
So, you know what kind of story you’re going to write, and you know who it’s about. Generally, you know the Black Moment, and the Epiphany, and some of the bad “Trouble” that will happen along the way. Hopefully your story is starting to come alive, ideas poking you in the middle of the night, or scenes flashing before your eyes.
But you’re still discovering the story, so hold back, fellow writer . . . you’re nearly ready to write! The next two chapters work together to help you get to that first page, so you may need to go back and forth as you develop your story. But the first thing you need to know is: What is your story about?
Think back to when we were packing for our writing journey. What are you going to take? Kind of hard to know whether to pack a swimsuit or a ski outfit if you don’t know where you’re going. Are you hiking the Himalayas? Going on a beach vacation in Cancun? Skiing in Vermont? How about a canoe trip in Minnesota?
Before you take your first step, you need to know what your journey is going to look like. And that means knowing your premise.
A premise is a two to five sentence blurb of your story. It’s zeroing in on the most important elements of your book: the stakes, the fears, the dreams, the theme, the plot, and the main players.
You’ll use your premise to grab an editor’s attention in your query letter or to pitch your book at a conference. But for now, you’ll paste a copy of your premise above your computer. This will be a guidepost for your journey, so you want to make the premise compelling, exciting, and interesting.
The premise boils down to the most important aspects of your story, the biggest interest catcher—all in one short paragraph.
Here's a sample premise from my book Happily Ever After :
Mona Reynolds longs for two things:forgiveness, and Jonah, the hero from her favorite book. But getting either is about as likely as her father rising from the dead.
Tells you a lot, right? (I hope!) It tells you that Mona likes to read, that her father died, and that there's no way she's going to be forgiven. The theme of the book is forgiveness, and the story is about Mona getting her dream man. (That's a plug to read Happily Ever After , if you didn't recognize it!) The premise tells the editor just what the conflicts
Confidence – Give her a sense of self that is confident, despite her flaws. It’s easy for a heroine to have flaws—mostly because we write about ourselves, and we all have flaws. So you need to work at putting confidence into your heroine, and giving her something she’s good at, that makes us applaud her.
Fear – Give her a fear, something realistic and based on something in her past. Don’t make it about “being single.” And make her fear deep, something the hero has to figure out, even pry out of her. Having a realistic fear is something that will create sympathy in your reader, and put her in the heroine’s shoes.
Flaw – Give her a flaw, one that she can start to overcome because of the hero. It doesn’t have to be a huge flaw. Maybe it’s a tendency to run away from her problems, or better, a tendency to push men out of her life. As she gets to know the hero, he can help her overcome these flaws and grow stronger.
Beauty – Give her a special kind of beauty, both inner and outer, that only the hero can see/love. Something special, that’s only hers. Maybe it’s her eyes, but also the way that she can look right through him and see what he needs. Or maybe it’s her patience. Maybe it’s her strength to see the good, or believe in the good.
These five elements will create a heroine worthy of the hero, who will fight for her heart!
Premise! What’s It All About?
So, you know what kind of story you’re going to write, and you know who it’s about. Generally, you know the Black Moment, and the Epiphany, and some of the bad “Trouble” that will happen along the way. Hopefully your story is starting to come alive, ideas poking you in the middle of the night, or scenes flashing before your eyes.
But you’re still discovering the story, so hold back, fellow writer . . . you’re nearly ready to write! The next two chapters work together to help you get to that first page, so you may need to go back and forth as you develop your story. But the first thing you need to know is: What is your story about?
Think back to when we were packing for our writing journey. What are you going to take? Kind of hard to know whether to pack a swimsuit or a ski outfit if you don’t know where you’re going. Are you hiking the Himalayas? Going on a beach vacation in Cancun? Skiing in Vermont? How about a canoe trip in Minnesota?
Before you take your first step, you need to know what your journey is going to look like. And that means knowing your premise.
A premise is a two to five sentence blurb of your story. It’s zeroing in on the most important elements of your book: the stakes, the fears, the dreams, the theme, the plot, and the main players.
You’ll use your premise to grab an editor’s attention in your query letter or to pitch your book at a conference. But for now, you’ll paste a copy of your premise above your computer. This will be a guidepost for your journey, so you want to make the premise compelling, exciting, and interesting.
The premise boils down to the most important aspects of your story, the biggest interest catcher—all in one short paragraph.
Here's a sample premise from my book Happily Ever After :
Mona Reynolds longs for two things:forgiveness, and Jonah, the hero from her favorite book. But getting either is about as likely as her father rising from the dead.
Tells you a lot, right? (I hope!) It tells you that Mona likes to read, that her father died, and that there's no way she's going to be forgiven. The theme of the book is forgiveness, and the story is about Mona getting her dream man. (That's a plug to read Happily Ever After , if you didn't recognize it!) The premise tells the editor just what the conflicts
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