Get ready for a whirlwind of information for writing a novel. With the strategies in this single article, you could have a unique, best-selling plot in your hands in the next 72 hours. It’s one of the most painless ways of creating a surefire winning plot and this single strategy makes writing your book a complete pleasure.
Ready? Here’s what you should do first. Realize that creating a plot, any plot, is very difficult. Creating a plot that an agent or a publisher or the public will want is darn near impossible. Creating a best-selling plot? It’s really, really difficult. Just ask any author who tries it.
Think of the numbers. Millions of plot ideas are produced, but they’re not good enough to result in full-fledged novels. Tens of thousands of novels written, but only a handful will be accepted. And a still smaller percentage of novels that go on to become best sellers
We’re talking odds of many millions to one, against.
But there is a much better way. I’ll give you the step by step procedure in just a few seconds, but I want to remind you that all this and so much more of the book-writing bonanza can be found in my writing system at How Top Writing a Book.
Unabashed self-promotion over. Let’s get back to the strategy.
Get hold of a novel that is between five and 10 years old. On the front cover, it must say it’s a national best seller. I don’t want it to be written by a best selling author, that’s not its claim to fame. I want the book itself to be a best seller. Now I know that the plot of this book is a best-selling plot. No questions asked.
You can find any number of these books in a relatively small building near you. It’s called a ‘library.’ Let’s say it together, L-I-B-R-A-R-Y.
Time for a little unabashed, self promotion: If you haven’t asked for my Free CD, “How to Write a Book On Anything in 14 Days Guaranteed!” then you’re just plain nuts! It’s free, no charge, but you can bet this $100 CD will be carrying that price tag very shortly. How do you get it? Just email me at Free CD, Please, or CD_please@writeabooknow.com and make sure you include your name, your mailing address and your telephone number in the email. Now, back to the article…
Read the book as quickly as possible, but at a pleasurable speed. Remember, normal speed, but try to read it in a day.
Next day, do the same thing. Read the book, for the second time.
Third day, go through the book and for every page, write down one or two sentences (no more than two sentences) of what is happening in the story on that page.
This is your primary plot. It’s the plot you’re going to use. No, for the millionth time you’re not infringing on copyright. Copyright deals with the expression of an idea, not the idea itself. Plots are worth even less than a dime a dozen. In fact, they’re free. It’s the actual specific sequence of words that is copyrighted.
From this point, you can go in two different directions, but I’ll give you the easiest one.
Return the book to the library and never look at it again. If you bought the book from a used book store, throw it out. It has served its purpose. It has given you a best-selling plot and you don’t need it anymore
Got your plot outline with a sentence or two telling you what’s on every page? Great. Now re-write the book. I’m serious. Do it as quickly as you can. You don’t have to worry about what’s coming next in your story. You already know that. Writer’s block will never be an issue. Your only challenge will be in getting the words down fast enough.
Next job? Once you have your manuscript written, change every variable you can possible change. Start with the genders of the characters. That’s easy. Now change their names. Anything that applies to gender, like clothing or grooming, will have to be changed as well.
Change the time. If it originally happened in the past, place the new version in the future. If it was in middle America, put it on the coast, or Mars. Put a modern-day thriller into the old west, or in a caveman setting.
Taken to the extreme, every noun in a story can be changed to another noun and the whole story becomes something quite different.
Next, change the ‘event’ of the story. If you want an explanation of ‘event’ go to href="http://www.WriteABookNow.com/event.html"> Your Novel’s Most Important Moment.
You also noticed, as you were reading the original book, that the protagonist had to overcome several obstacles to achieve the sought-after result. Change each of the obstacles, change how each was overcome, change the result if you can.
Finally, in every novel your protagonist is seeking something. It’s the result of the quest, and the whole novel is the retelling of that very quest. Change that something. It might have started out as money, but turn it into precious stones, or a piece of art, or the release of a prisoner.
I hope you can see that with just a few minor changes, your old best-selling plot can easily be reworked into something very fresh, yet all of the elements that made it desirable to the publishing world.
While we're on the topic of strategies, and if you haven't already done so, feel free to
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Cheers,
Steve Manning
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