I was asked to write a book on the events that took place leading up to my son’s death and the events there after. I was scared and nervous but it was something that I wanted to do. I felt that everyone should know about the fine life that my son led and the person who ruined it. I did a lot of research and found out that your thoughts are the easy part and that putting the words down on paper, can be almost brutal. Through my research, I found a lot of useful information that would help someone who is writing a book on a personal experience in their life. This is a tutorial to help you to figure out the sequence of events and how to arrange them so that you can get the most out of writing and having it published.
Thesis:
This is the most important part of the book. If you cannot capture the imagination of the reader, you book will be lost and a big disappointment will arise on the readers face. The thesis should be a few paragraphs long and should tell what the book is about without it leading into to much detail. An example would be; if you are writing a book based on your life, you might say something like; the adventures of my life weren’t always fun but it was my life and I loved every moment of it. I fought through hard times and found myself fighting a battle that seemed as though I could not win. I led myself on a journey to find myself and learned that life is what you make of it. I struggled through the rough mountains in California and back to Oklahoma once again. My life’s journey could be your journey, they are one in the same only different at times. Our lives may be different because of the way that we were raised or by what we were taught but we are not talking about you, we are talking about my life and this is how my life played out through the troubled times and the heartache that I encountered…..
This example above shows that the character in the book is troubled and has went through a lot of pain and suffering. It gives just enough detail to tell about the character but not enough that you would be able to tell what is going to happen.
Theses are used for articles and nearly every other form of writing; their theses are a little bit different than they are in writing a book.
Fine Points:
It is easier to write a book if you know what you want it to be about. I studied with a writer who told me to write my book in chapters. I was clueless at first and then I realized that if you write down what each chapter will be about, it makes it easier to write them. Writing down the chapter and taking notes on what you want each chapter to be about can help you to not lose your thought for the moment and it will help you to not lead into the next chapter as much because you will be focusing on those fine points of the chapter.
Each chapter should be about a different event or drama that will lead into the final moment and chapter of your book. You want to keep the chapters interesting enough for the readers to move onto the next chapter without putting in so much detail that it ruins the finishing touch.
How to keep writing:
Don’t stop writing until you are done. This doesn’t mean for you to write all the time, but instead of stopping to edit your work wait you are finished with writing for that day. Do not stop to correct errors. If you continue to stop, you may not get you book finished or it may take you forever. This is why most companies that edit books ask that you finish the book before sending it in so that they can go over it and edit the book. Once the book is edited, it is up to you to correct the problems and you might find that the beginning of the book would work better at the end and vise versa, this tends to happen sometimes.
Write more and write often:
Even if you get blocked by something and are unable to write your book for a while, continue to write about something. I learned to keep a journal with me for notes and interesting things. There may be a moment when I am outside and see a child do something that reminds me of a part that would fit perfectly in my book, I jot that moment down and why I feel that it is important. Unless you have a photographic memory, jot the important things down and the things that you found interesting.
The ending of the book:
The beginning and the ending is always the hardest part of a book. I have learned that the ending should be like a summary of what happened in the book but not a lot into details. For an example; my life wasn’t always the way that I thought it would be but I came to realize that it wasn’t that bad either. Through all the times that I had been climbing over the metaphorical mountains of California, I was really still stuck in Oklahoma. I thought my life would change and it had for a moment but then it went back to the way that it was in the beginning, with me still climbing the mountains. Oklahoma is where my life is and I have learned to not forget that or the way that my life has turned out because of it……
The hardest part about writing a book is always going to be the starting point and the ending. Just remember that the thesis is always the beginning and the summary of events that you are about to tell, the chapters need to be played out piece by piece, and the ending is almost like the beginning only it sums everything up in a few paragraphs.
