Essay Online

Creative writing is considered to be one of the most perplexing forms of articulating thoughts and ideas on paper. It turns out to be a hard nut to crack because it requires the ability to think freely, giving thoughts a modicum of leeway, and express ideas and experienced feelings sincerely and openly.

That’s why putting wind in the sails with creative writing is not within every writer’s grasp. It means that a person, who succeeded in process writing approach that is all about planning, revising, re-arranging, and deleting text, re-reading, and producing multiple drafts before producing finished documents, will have the same good results in creative writing.

Surely, it doesn’t imply that creative writing process doesn’t need proper planning and preparation, it means that creative writing permits the author to deviate from the specific writing styles and not to be consistent with all the standards of this style. In a word, creative writing gives the author leeway in terms of presentation and development of a piece of writing.

Since creative writing is not simply a matter of sitting down, putting pen to paper, following smart instructions of emeritus pundits, commence at the beginning and write through to the end. Creative approach treats all writing as a creative act that requires time, positive feedback, and inspiration to be done well. People who engage in creative writing do not merely think freely; they view the world from free-thinking perspective.

Without a doubt, creative writing is not only about inspiration and gift of the writer, and it is far from coming easy to the writer, it also needs a lot of elbow grease in order to produce a piece of writing worth the attention of the readers.

The key to success in creative writing lies in the author’s ability to be frank with his readers and honest with himself. Don’t be afraid to step aside from the established standards of the particular writing style, and open the door of your brain to the new ideas that cross the threshold of your imagination and knock around your mind.

Remember that process and explorations are the keystones in creative writing, rather than the finished product. Let yourself release your inner genius and vent on paper the most bizarre ideas that amassed in your mind. The source of ideas for your creative writing can be various kinds of resources of creativity such as oral tradition, dreams, childhood memories, sense perceptions and intuition.

Katrina Crosbie, a tutor of creative writing in Edinburgh University’s Open Studies programme, asserts that getting in touch with subconscious mind is the key to original and creative writing. She also claims that every writer can harness three simple techniques to enhance his creative writing abilities, they are mental focusing techniques, harnessing the power of your dreams and journal writing. Harnessing these techniques takes hard work; so, if you are ready, roll up your sleeves and follow these simple strategies.

I. Mental focusing techniques

Mental focusing techniques involve focusing on the positive outcome. It implies that you should concentrate and regulate your mental activity in order to enter a quiet state of your mind. The key point in mental focusing is to get rid of all the stray thoughts and replace it with one thought; this process should gradually induce a calm sensation. The procedure is very simple, you make yourself comfortable in a cozy armchair, and in all possible ways try to awake creativity inside of you.

You should say something like “I’m getting in touch with my creativity source”, and imagine physically how the stream of creativity comes into your mind. Remember the sensation of clear, cool water on your face, or a stream of fresh breeze, which is blowing in your face. Then imagine yourself sitting at your word processor, typing fluently, and writing avidly. After several minutes open your eyes and commence writing.

II. Harness the power of your dreams

Dreams have tremendous power. The subconscious memory can be the direct cause of the certain dreams. “When the mind is centered on certain things, the sleeper goes over his life again and again in phantom fashion. He lives over the experiences of his daily life.”

Overall, your daydreams can be important, just write them down after waking up in the morning. Perhaps, later on, re-reading the notes of your dreams will prompt you some interesting ideas for your creative works.”These can be triggers for an especially imaginative piece of work. American writer Joyce Carol Oates has said that her novel Bellefleur was inspired by a dream of a walled garden which haunted her for years ’till she felt she had to write about it.”

III. Keep the writing journal

This technique of enhancing your creativity is very simple and at the same time highly productive. Buy yourself a notebook, so that you can always have it at hand and write some brief narratives in it on a daily basis.

Don’t focus on the style, mistakes, and, in general, in the way you write. Just write down the first things that occur in your mind, even if you think that this is junk. The main idea is to keep your hand moving and to feel a growing sense of inspiration and confidence. In the course of time, you will become a practiced hand in writing. Surely, you’ll find your journal notes a rich source of inspiration and ideas.

If you really want to enhance you creative writing abilities, give a try to these simple techniques, and bring your craft as a writer into play!

The Lifewriting

As a newly self published author, I am amazed by how many people have told me that they have a novel or idea for a book that they always wanted to have published. I usually tell these aspiring writers that it can happen and, if they are willing to listen, I tell them my story about how I self published my book. I have always enjoyed writing, mostly for my own enjoyment, but knew I had a talent for creative writing. My first audience was my co-workers at a bank I worked for in Seattle, where everyday, I filled in for the receptionist while she when to lunch. During that hour, I wrote installments to a suspense thriller, set on the Oregon coast, which I shared with the other assistants on the floor who eagerly awaited my new chapters. Years later, I moved to Hawaii and sent regular email updates of my adventures to my friends, which I called “Memos from Maui.” Living in Hawaii is kind of like living in a foreign country and I had fun sharing my observations of life on a tropical island. “Memos from Maui” were well received and I knew then that I was hooked; I had to do something with my writing. Like the aspiring writers I mentioned earlier, I too was engaged in making a living as well as dealing with life’s other distractions. I have had a number of different careers, but none gave me the satisfaction I felt when I had people tell me that they liked my writing.

Returning to the mainland, I settled into a familiar routine of working for a living. One day, I picked up a Learning Annex catalog and came across a screenwriting class and decided to enroll. The instructor’s name was Lew Hunter, who for years taught his “Screenwriting 434” at the UCLA Film School. His method for writing a screenplay is a formula based on the three-act Greek play. His class taught specific methods of story and character development. It gave me an entirely different set of tools as a writer and I began to write my first screenplay. After 3 months of writing, I completed Dance of the Heart. The method of writing I learned from Lew made the process of writing much more structured and as a result, made writing easier. I sent my screenplay off to a couple of screenwriting competitions and readers, but like most screenplays that are written, it didn’t get noticed. My story sat in my files for about 5 years until I decided that I believed in my story and that I would rewrite it into a novel. I took me about a year, but I finally finished Dance of the Heart as a novel.

When I was ready to explore how to get published, I again picked up a Learning Annex catalog and found a daylong “Book Camp,” which was a workshop on how to publish a book. It was an informative day and I quickly realized that getting my book published by a traditional publisher was as likely as my screenplay being made into a movie. The good news was that the instructor, Penny Sansevieri, a self-published author of “From Book to Bookseller,” had representatives from companies at the workshop that offered self-publishing services to writers. They provided me the technical support and expertise that I lacked and made it possible for me to publish my novel. So with motivation and dedication, and a little help from the Learning Annex, I am now a published author and am quick to share with others that they too can realize their dream of seeing their words in print. It’s just a matter of being committed to your dream; believing in your work and not letting anyone say it can’t be done. I am proof that it can!

Stolen Boy is billed as a work of fiction, however it actually explores a real event, and that event is still unfolding in the Southern California court system. Jessie James Hollywood faces the potential of the trip to lethal injection for his actions. So real is Michael Mehas’ book that he actually was subpoenaed twice as a witness in the trial, and forced to hand over his notes and tapes of interviews he had conducted.

With a background of Los Angeles, Stolen boy is about drugs, booze, fast cars, and young people. With that combination you will immediately think gangs. But gangs are not involved, the individuals are mostly from regular middle class, though, highly dysfunctional families.

Mickey Youngblood and Rick LeBlanc are young people that have set out on money making careers in the drug business, both have carved out lucrative existences, but a deal between them that went wrong has soured their relationship. So much so, that a $2000 outstanding debt, creates a verbal war, that in turn becomes a physical war of property damage, and threats towards families.

Mickey is to say the least a hot head, and when the windows of his house are smashed out in a late night raid, all rules of right and wrong exit through the empty frames. Revenge is a strong emotion and Mickey is hell bent on satisfying his hunger for it.

His first idea is to find Rick LeBlanc and have it out with him. $2000 after all is chump change in the drug world. In a sheer coincidence it is not Rick they see walking down the street, but his 15 year old younger brother Bobby. Once again though, Mickey lets his rage rule his brain, and persuades the kids with him to firstly beat the kid up “as a warning,” however second thoughts enter the sick and twisted mind, and instead they kidnap Bobby.

It is not the classic kidnap tale, in fact it is anything but classic. Bobby for the most part is free to leave at any time, but he prefers to ‘party’ with his captors, drugs and booze abound! Even stranger there is no attempt made to conceal the fact that Bobby is a hostage. In what has to have been the worst kept secret in the sieve that is the LA underbelly, the whole scheme starts to unravel as more and more people become involved.

Once again the demon Mickey makes poor choices, faced with the potential of exposure by Bobby he must now make a very hard decision. Does he believe Bobby when he says that there is no harm done, and that he will not talk to anyone about the kidnapping? Or is a different course of action needed?

This is a very powerful book, and one that deserves a spot on the coveted shelf space of your local bookstore. It has also cost author Michael Mehas a great deal to write this book, being so close to the factual case he finds himself in a ‘no win’ situation. The real Mickey faces the possibility of the death penalty. What Michael knows could spare him, or could seal his fate. In many ways, Michael has become Mickey, he holds the key to life or death. This is not a situation I would want to be in.

This is not your typical novel, even though the main characters are mere teenagers, they cover the entire gamut of today’s society, the good, the bad, and the very, very ugly!

Stolen Boy is available through Amazon, and Michael Mehas also has a very informative web site where you can learn more about this story that merges fact with fiction.

Hmmm, no ideas? So what? Ever thought of writing about….nothing? You know this is actually common nowadays. I don’t know how you feel but I am overwhelmed about the abundance of information that can be found everywhere.

Everyone is writing about everything. The same subjects are written and rewritten and rewritten and I look and them and wonder how the hell is this supposed to help the modern man become more efficient? The truth is that we are in a hurry, our whole lives are spent running from place to place, trying to keep up with the others around us. We sleep less trying to make more time for ourselves, but we end up wasting that time on useless things.

How about TV ? How useless is that? I really think that you are in the danger of becoming dumber if you spend too much time in front of it. There are people that spend half of the day, that becomes half of their life in front of the TV. You know what the worst part is ? Most shows on TV are for complete morons … instead of watching someone live a stupid life on TV maybe you should go outside and live your own life…maybe you’ll start liking it.

Internet….oh this is a big one. At first I thought wow, what a useful thing, and don’t get me wrong, if you know what you’re looking for and how to find it, you’ll probably find it on the internet. The sad thing is, that besides information, it is full to the teeth with crap. People selling made-up information, spammers, people trying to scam other people. How in gods name is it possible to search for something and the first 10 or so results you find are scams? Let me tell you why…because these guys know SEO, they will do anything to be listed first in search engines to make more money. Instead, the good old sites that offer information and recreation aren’t well placed in search engines because they don’t do SEO, they just rely on offering good content .

This is not good, I’m at paragraph 5 and I still have nothing to write about…this is turning out to be just another useless piece of article, made just to confuse the common man. Another article in the immensity of useless articles that just take up space and help no one. Hope you didn’t reach this point and I’m really sorry for wasting your time in this manner, you know the other day I read something I found really enlightening. It said something like this : “If you stay and do nothing, you don’t kill time, you commit suicide”.

At least let me give you an advice I hope you’ll take, because it’s for your own good. Stop wasting time and do something with your life. Never say I’ll do this tomorrow, if you have time, do it now, and live to the maximum !

Have a nice life !

Submitting articles to an article directory is a decision more and more people are making everyday. With the great increase in blogging sites and personal websites promoting articles the need for new written material increases by the minute.

Article directories enable website owners’ easy access to hundreds and thousands of articles they can add to their website pages. With new articles comes new viewer interest and reader traffic. These owners are smart and are already using affiliate advertising programs to generate money.

So why should you submit an article to a directory? One might wonder why one would want to submit a writing piece for free; it is after all one’s hard work. But there are many different reasons and surprisingly the outcome can be quite lucrative!

Some of these reasons follow:

1.If you are trying to break into the writing world what better way to get exposure than to submit articles to a directory that is targeted for website owners’ who want traffic to their sites and will use your article as a means to do so. This means your writing will be read and seen by hundreds, maybe even thousands of people. This is one sure way to get your name at least out in the public eye.

2.Sending your articles to directories is also a good idea because you can always add a direct link to your blogging sites and other websites. The more exposure your article experiences, the more hits to your other sites. If you are using affiliate programs on those sites, the money making potential can increase exponentially!

3.Some people choose to submit articles for more personal reasons. For the person who has never felt listened to, this might be a great safe avenue to be “heard” in. This can boost one’s self-confidence especially if many websites decide to use your articles. This boost of confidence can then help lift you up to other possible writing pursuits.

4.Another reason to send your articles to an article directory is simply for the self-gratifying feeling of seeing your name in print. For some people this accomplishment alone is enough.

5.Writing articles can simply be a fun hobby for someone else and they do not need the recognition nor do they need any monetary compensation. They simply want to have something in the world that represents who they are, what they think, and what they believe without having to face the tough, discerning and sometimes rejecting scrutiny of publishers and editors.

6.And, for some it is a great way to practice one’s writing skills. Writing every single day is one of the most beneficial practices for any writer. It is like a basketball player who goes to the court everyday to shoot some hoops and run some court plays. Practice sharpens one’s skill level in any endeavor.

So, as you can see, there are many great reasons why one submitting articles to article directories can not only be a lucrative and self-validating tool, but it can also be a powerful outlet and way to increase one’s intrinsic writing skills!

Some speeches are so powerful and inspire so much passion that they plant the seeds for a revolution or a big change in society. Why are some speakers so good at connecting with their audience and some so bad at it? At the root, a speech is about conveying a message and making an impression. Good speakers know that to be heard, they have to be clear, inspirational, and … lead. Indeed, giving a speech is about leading people in the right direction with one’s vision of how things should be.

That’s why speeches are so important in politics. The leader of a political party has to be able to affirm himself as someone with direction and drive in order to inspire confidence in the electorate. But no matter how many attributes we associate to “good speeches,” it all comes down to one thing: “making a statement.”

A good speech is about “making a statement.”

Those that fail when they stand in front of a crowd are those that have no real clue of what they want to say, have no confidence in themselves, or couldn’t say it eloquently enough. All that translates into one thing: no conviction. A leader must have conviction in order to succeed.

The same holds true for resumes and cover letters. It’s about connecting with the recruiter and making a statement: “I am the best candidate for the job. Give me at least a chance at an interview.” Faced with a good application, a recruiter will always give that applicant the benefit of the doubt. No employer wants to let go of a potentially good recruit.

So when you are facing the difficult task of writing a resume or a cover letter, keep that in mind. When you are done writing, let it rest, come back on it later, and ask yourself this question: “Have I made it clear that I was the best candidate for the job?” If the answer is “no,” you know what you’ve got to do…

When it comes to convincing a reader to buy, sometimes there’s nothing more compelling than a good sales pitch. Yes, you can have excellent back copy, a stunning cover, but nothing makes a reader morph into a buyer quicker than a hefty pitch that pushes every single hot button (and even a few they didn’t know they had). Video as a means to promote a book is a great sales pitch, but only if it’s done right. What do I mean by “done right”?

With all the talk today about using video to promote your book, it’s easy to get caught up in a YouTube-driven world. It’s a great idea certainly but there’s one catch: you’ve got to make your viewer feel something. An example of this is a recent video posted to Yahoo videos (it also landed on YouTube) about a contestant (Paul Potts) on Britain’s Got Talent. While not an author (yet) the video shows us clearly what we mean by emotion. Don’t believe me? Take a look for yourself.

.youtube.com/watch?v=exyJ2CSfrHo

The video became so popular (almost overnight) that within a few days it made it to the U.S. and into the hands of millions of viewers. Why? Well, let’s think about this. If you’ve ever watched an episode of American Idol or a version of the program you know that the most favored contestants are the underdogs, the ones who just show up and blow the judges away. That’s the biggest emotional hot button on any of these types of shows and that’s why the Paul Potts video made such an impact online. Of course he had talent, but talent in the absence of a true underdog factor wouldn’t have made this video as successful as it was.

In fact, not only that but every major media outlet is clamoring for an interview with Paul. He’s become a sensation. The video gave him exposure to people globally and it tapped into an emotion - but more than that, it tapped into the right emotion. That is key. If the Paul Potts video had been scary, or disturbing, or flat out boring, who would have cared? So if you’re considering doing a book video for your own tome, don’t sell yourself short by just “telling the story,” do it in such a way that grabs your reader, engages them and hits them right in their emotional hot buttons. Know the triggers your audience responds to and incorporate that into your video.

Check out this video that MonkeyCMedia did for a book we worked on: .redhotinternetpublicity.com/trailers/engaged.html

Here are some ways to make the most of your video:

1) Have you been YouTube’d? If you haven’t this is the #1 place to load your book video.

2) Put your video on your own website, don’t let a single visitor land on your site without getting the “touch and feel” of your book.

3) Send a sample of your book video to every media contact you pitch. Never let a press kit leave your office without a disc.

4) Got a social networking page? If you do (and you should) add the clip or a link to it on the page.

5) When you pitch the media, don’t forget to insert a link to the trailer in your email. Don’t send it as an attachment; chances are an overaggressive spam filter will have it for lunch.

6) Blog about it every chance you get. No, I’m not talking about repeating a blog over and over but blog on what success you’ve had thanks to your video. And oh, yes, add a link to the book video too.

7) Trying to get a signing but have been unsuccessful? Let your book speak for itself, literally. Drop off a copy of your book trailer to an as-yet-unconvinced bookstore person and I can almost bet you’ll get a signing in the store.

Ready for your close-up? There’s no quicker way to a potential producer’s heart than through his eyes and ears. Seeing a book come to life can sometimes be a great way to sell someone on the concept of turning your book into a movie.

9) If you’re doing a signing bring the book video to show while you’re signing books. I’ve known authors who’ve done this and they sold almost twice as many books. The video really pulls in readers!

10) Just like you can tell a book by its cover, you can often tell a book video by its packaging. Get your CD cover professionally printed, don’t skim on the first impression! In fact, why not have your video burned to a business card size cd that you can pop into the card slot of a presentation folder?

Here’s the question &ndash is it better to have a secondary plot or sub-plots? Here’s another question, which as a reader, and then as a writer do you prefer?

I think you have to have both.

Subplot = A subordinate plot in fiction or drama. In our terms (A relating plot) Basically a hidden plot that some readers miss and writers don’t know they have written, which helps bring the romance to the surface. Also known as twist and turns through out the romance.

A secondary plot is second story happening in the process of the romance. Such as a Mystery Romance, solving the murders.

As a reader I prefer and expect both. As a writer I love the secondary plot and fear the subplot. Not only do you have to worry about coming up with ways for the romance to move foreword and the secondary plot to come to an end but you have to add this hidden tale of the romance. Man what a pain in the ole writers wrist.

What makes a good secondary plot? And what makes a good sub-plot?

Can you give an example? And tell us how you would use those tools to your benefit?

A good Secondary plot has to be strong enough to hold up to the tension of the romance plot, without taking away from it. Basically in my book La Roe’s Finding the murderer and bringing him to justice is the secondary plot.

The subplot was Max teaching Emerald how to love and trust again. This had to happen for Emerald and the real hero Stephan to end up together.

By weaving a good subplot and secondary plot you end up with a gripping romance even if it’s a comedy since all parts play off the main plot, ROMANCE.

Are you a writer with big ideas? Are you always imagining epics, sweeping stories, great tales of human struggle and sacrifice, interlaced with personal stories of love, sadness and triumph? If so, you ought to consider turning your book or story idea into a trilogy.

Why a trilogy? Believe it or not, there are deep psychological reasons that we do things in threes. The holy trinity is the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, and the Triple Goddess is Maiden, Mother, Crone, detailing the feminine journey through life. How many times have you heard the phrase “third time lucky”, or given someone “three guesses” or “three chances”? And of course in baseball it’s “three strikes and you’re out!”

You will have no doubt heard of the traditional “three act play”. Almost all big Hollywood screenplays are based on this structure and it’s certainly a tried and true form of storytelling that captures viewers and keeps them going back to the cinema in droves. And the world of fantasy writing is packed with trilogies: The Lord of the Rings, The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant (that’s two trilogies in fact), and any story by Sara Douglass, Robin Hobb, Trudi Canavan or pretty much any fantasy writer in the world today is told across at least one, if not more, trilogies.

Add to that the success of such popular movie franchises as Star Wars, Pirates Of The Carribean and the Bourne movies, and you will see that a well planned and executed trilogy is a one way ticket to success.

So how do you do it? Do you just take an idea and spin it out over three stories? Or do you just come up with a great character and three great premises and you’re home and hosed?

Neither actually!

The success of the trilogy is based on the traditional three act play, where book or movie one is act one, book or movie two is act two, and book or movie three is act three. The only ingredients you need are one great big story running behind three stories compelling enough to carry a movie or book on their own, and you’ve got the basic ingredients you need to succeed.

So if you are the type of writer who thinks big, if your scope is broad and your plots complex and intertwined, and your characters are people on a life’s journey, then trying to squash that all into one book may be too many chocolate chips in the cookie. Giving yourself the room to think, plan and write a larger journey over three books will make each one a better book in its own right, and if you do get it right, you’ve got a guaranteed audience for books two and three. And publishers love that!

The most important element to grasp as you embark on the trilogy adventure is that you are dealing with a multilayered project. Unlike the acts of a play, the individual stories in a trilogy need to stand up on their own, in addition to playing a part in a larger drama.

So let’s take a look at how you can go about turning your dreams of epic tales into the reality of a trilogy.

How To Build Your Trilogy

1. Decide on your over-arcing or larger story.

This is definitely the most important first step by far. Without it you don’t have any story, let alone a trilogy.

Some examples of great larger stories are:

a) a leper passes out on the floor of his lounge room and wakes to find himself in a strange land. There, instead of being treated as an outcast, he is considered a savior and the question is asked, will Thomas Covenant accept his destiny and save The Land? The larger story: will Lord Foul prevail or will Covenant save The Land?

b) a farm boy dreams of becoming a fighter pilot. He meets a Jedi Knight and trains in the ancient art. The question is asked, will Luke Skywalker become a Jedi, save the Rebels and bring freedom to the Galaxy, or will he turn to the Dark Side like his father? The larger story: who will prevail, light or dark, good or evil, The Rebels or The Empire?

c) a man is found floating off the coast of Marseilles. He has no idea who he is. As he attempts to find out, will he learn his true identity, or will Jason Bourne wish he’d never asked? The larger story: it is one man against the world, as Jason Bourne challenges the might of the CIA, and who will prevail?

These are just a few examples of the initial questions asked, the initial journeys laid out before the heroes and the ultimate possibilities open to the creator of a great trilogy. Nail your larger story, and backdrop it against anything from war to a love story and you’ll have a great basis to work from.

2. Each book in the trilogy is roughly the equivalent to an act in a screenplay.

In the three act play, Act One is “The Set Up” or “Decision To Act”, Act Two is “The Confrontation” or “The Action” and Act Three is “The Resolution” or “The Result Of The Action”.

When you are planning out your larger story (which you will do first) this breakdown will help you form the basis of each of the books in your trilogy. In Book One, you will cover the elements of the larger story that take that story through the set up phase and onto the threshold of another world, or some different action. Book Two will follow with the result of what was decided in Book One, as the story moves forward through the crisis/ordeal/midpoint and traditionally ends on a dark note. This leaves Book Three open to rescue the heroes from the jaws of defeat as the larger story reaches its climax and all the initial questions are answered. Planning this out in the earliest stages will give you very strong guidelines as to where to go with each individual book’s plot, structure and characters.

3. Each book must stand alone as a complete story in itself.

This is where you need to be very aware of the layered aspect of this process. You have a larger story you are telling in the style of the three act play. Now you need to plan, structure and write three stores within that structure that fulfill all the criteria of successful books in their own right. So take “The Set Up” phase and construct a story showing how you would set up your larger story. It’s very common here to have a reluctant hero, who hears the call to adventure and refuses. Thomas Covenant is a good example of this. Thus the entire first book can be the process of the hero trying to escape the call. In a different scenario, you may have a willing hero, like Luke Skywalker or Frodo for instance and the first book may be a complete hero’s journey in itself, showing how the hero is embracing the quest or task, but still leaves the greater part of the task to be completed.

Possibly the most important thing to remember is to hold information or events back as long as you can. It’s tempting when you’re writing a trilogy to put too much in up front, but doing that is a mistake. Give your readers some credit for intelligence and imagination, and don’t tell them everything up front. Trilogies are a great tool for holding back secrets and springing surprises on your readers to keep them guessing. Good examples of this are Darth Vader revealing he is Luke’s father at the end of the second episode in that trilogy, the interesting faux “love story” between Elizabeth and Captain Jack Sparrow in the Pirates of the Carribean and the scene at the end of the second Bourne film which is repeated right near the climax of the third film. You are in a great position to lead your readers wherever you want them to go so use it!

4. Your characters must have “legs”.

There is nothing worse than flat, lifeless characters and there is definitely nothing worse than trying to hold our attention with these flat and lifeless characters for three whole books. Make sure you do your homework on your characters just as you would with any other book you write. Put their flaws and universal needs right there up front for us to see, you still need to grab your reader’s attention from page 1. Don’t fall into the trap of thinking that because you have three books you have more time and space to develop your story and characters. Wrong! If anything you are under more pressure to hook us straight away, because we’re not going to keep reading if we’re not interested, as we know that the story doesn’t actually finish until the end of the third book.

5. Your “golden thread” must run throughout all the three books.

This is where the intricate weaving of story on story and the skill of balancing the separate elements becomes critical. Your golden thread could be a war, a family saga over generations, a love story or a ring quest, but regardless of what it is, remember that THIS IS THE STORY YOU ARE ULTIMATELY TELLING. Star Wars is ultimately about the battle between the Rebels and the Empire, the Bourne movies are the story of one man against the CIA, the Chronicles of Thomas Covenant are about a leper who becomes a savior in a different world, and The Lord Of The Rings is the war of Middle-Earth. While there are countless subplots, character journeys, love stories and red herrings in all these tales, they all still have their own individual “golden threads” and ultimately the telling of the story is to serve this golden thread.

If you are prone to larger ideas, give this system a go. It may be just the breakthrough you need to get yourself on the publisher’s lists.