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Second Eyes Editorial

The Author's Journey

a framework

The Hero’s Journey and the more contemporary Writer’s Journey are templates. They provide a pattern for a particular genre of novel.

The Author’s Journey is a framework, not a set pattern. It is adaptable to memoirs and other nonfiction as well.

No one has to travel alone. Guides and Second Eyes are available for every step.
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Second Eyes

Choose your path

Maybe you’ve had a dream. Maybe you’ve witnessed an event or met a person that inspired the novel or memoir you’re writing.

The steps of an Authors Journey are taken in any order. Some may be revisited, and others skipped altogether.

You decide which steps will lead to a better book.

PREMISE

A premise describes a situation.

When the premise is known before page one is written, it can be a blueprint for the work. Drawn up later, it points the narrative toward a compelling conclusion.

A well-crafted premise attracts agents and publishers, ultimately becoming a dust jacket blurb that will attract potential readers.

Who can help?

PLOT THEME

A plot theme describes a series of events. The way you, as author, sequence those events is a plot. A central idea or message is a theme.

A long work of fiction may interweave character arcs, resulting in multiple plot themes. While one character finds adventure, another seeks romance, and another suffers betrayal.

That’s three of several dozen familiar adventures, emotional arcs, and dramatic struggles. Each is a plot theme.

Who can help?

CHARACTER STORIES

Character stories are the threads you weave into the tapestry of your novel.

Those stories are sometimes described as an arc. An arc can curve widely as plot events transform the character.

Other characters will be heroic on page one and remain heroic through the end. Their story arc will be flat, but you must supply them with urgent needs and terrible obstacles to make them compelling characters.

Who can help?

BACKSTORY

A novel or memoir begins at a time and place. While staring at that blank page, the author documents an event to capture the reader’s interest. Once ensnared by that skillful writing, the reader turns the page.

Events and dialogue keep the pages turning, but the reader will lose interest if too much seems out of place. Before that happens, the author must strategically season that narrative with backstory details. Those recapture the reader’s interest.

Who can help?

HIGH-LEVEL OUTLINE

The author who outlines is like the painter who draws a pencil sketch on a bare canvas. It’s a common practice.

An outline can be your roadmap. It only takes a page or two to place a starting point, a destination, and several local events or attractions.

Some authors let their muse or characters steer the plot, but if you choose to navigate, a roadmap keeps you from the wilderness of writer’s block.

Who can help?

DETAILED OUTLINE

Are you weaving a tangled tale? Consider outlining your novel’s pivotal events, plot twists, crises, challenges, and conflicts.

Caution! Deep detail is not a prerequisite to your first draft. Once you know your current chapter’s significant events and outcome, it’s time to return to that work in progress.

If your plot or characters wander as the word count grows, check your outline and update it as needed.

Who can help?

FIRST DRAFT

When it’s time to confront that first blank page, choose a Point of View (POV) character — or several of them — or stand back and be the omniscient narrator. A POV can reflect on events or bring the reader along moment by moment.

Unleash your characters every day then let their stories flow until things look murky ahead. That means it’s time to check the roadmap, your outline.

Who can help?

REVISIONS

Let your computer do the first revisions — spell-checking and finding repeated words.

When you’re ready to fine-tune the plot, characterizations, and dialog, print out a hard copy. Enjoy a fresh perspective on your novel from a comfortable chair away from the computer.

Who can help?

QUERY LETTER

Your query letter will be a single-spaced, sweat-stained page that took you too long to write but can be modified for reuse.

Share your novel’s premise within the first paragraph or two, then work the plot theme, including a character introduction. That should leave about a half page for self-introduction and — if you’ve made this journey before — unrestrained bragging about your earlier works.

Who can help?

SYNOPSIS

A synopsis distills the plot and characters into paragraphs just long enough to capture the agent or publisher’s interest.

Ideally, the synopsis begins with an intriguing premise followed by an equally-intriguing plot theme that can sustain many events and elicit strong emotions.

Distinctive main characters plus significant obstacles will raise emotions. Those make salable books. The synopsis you provide them is not a teaser, so there’s no value in leaving an agent or publisher uncertain of how a key conflict is resolved.

Who can help?

ELEVATOR PITCH

The “pitch” is a conversation. A scripted speech would chase opportunity out of the elevator.

A face-to-face encounter nught also occur at a conference when coffee and pastries have been set out as catalysts. While the agent or publisher sips coffee, you can share key points of your novel’s premise, plot theme, memorable characters, and challenges they face.

Who can help?

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