Novel Writing Blueprint: A storytellers guide to the craft

by Jill Harris

Let’s face it, writing a novel should be fun but many people think it’s hard .

What if there was a system that could help you enjoy your writing more??

Novel Writing Blueprint is just that book. It will help you to take the grunt work out of the equation, and learn to love the process without dampening your creative spirit or detracting from your voice.

This blueprint provides the framework your book needs. It will support and strengthen your writing process and will help you make your writing dreams come true. No matter if you’re working on your first book or you’ve been publishing for years, this book will help you navigate from writing the first line to writing ‘The End’.

Inside, you’ll learn everything you need to know - preparation and approachResearch - how much and how long?Story Goals - the difference between goals and hooksCharacter Development - personality types and how to work with themSettings - how to make them more interestingOutlining - a different method of outlining your book quick and easilyPremise - the core of your storyOutlining overview - the general shape of your bookInitial outline sketch - start simpleFour-Act Structure with the 3 main thresholds - Initiation, Decisions, Response, Realisation, Battle, Friend, SacrificeFocused freewriting - tackling your first draft, writing fast, writing smartEditing - 3 main sweeps and working with a professionalPublishing - brief notes on bringing out your bookAnd more!

If you’re ready to level up your novel writing process, try the blueprint for yourself.

Interview with the author. What is the main message you’d like your readers to take away from this book?

You must write to the end. You must finish your book. 

To do this,  

The story is the journey. You set out  prepared with a map, supplies, a sturdy rucksack, and an idea of what might it will be like. 

But somewhere along the way, you encounter obstacles. 

A landslide, an unexpected river, a bear… 

You may stumble, you may fall down a crevasse. Your hand may become trapped under a heavy rock. You are trapped. 

You cry out in anguish. “What can I do to make this work?”

This is how it is for all of us. Writers are weird. We love story, but making our own stories is an art. 

And art, like love, is painful at times.

Which means our work is always an internal as well as an external experience. 

We must step into the mind of a murderer, a warrior, a mother, a child. 

We must encounter dragons, office politics, Queens, and Dukes.

Genres: Writing, Nonfiction

198 pages, Kindle Edition

Published May 6, 2017

About the author

Jill grew up in Takapuna, North Shore, New Zealand, spending a lot of her childhood swimming, boating, fishing and reading. She worked as a teacher and a librarian including three years teaching English in central Java, retiring to write children's fiction, poetry and liturgies. Jill's books grow out of a commitment to the power of stories, music and the natural world. She thinks that a novel for children and young adults should be a rattling good yarn.

Reviews

[Omar Rodriguez · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book cover all the basis and now of novel writing. I've read many books on writing, and this one in particular helped me connect all the ideas and truly learn the concepts. It probably wouldn't have been that successful had I not have read all the topics before, but the way this book was written really resonated with me.

[Arcoma Gonzalez Lambert · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have a lot to learn from Jill

Excellent depth and breadth of information. This only highlights how much more I have to learn about my craft. Thanks, Jill. I look forward to reading your other book!

[Cal Bowen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well put together

This is another in a long line of how to plan and plot a novel. This is one that got it right. From beginning to end, this is a useful tool in the instruction of novel planning.

[Kim Megahee · Rating 4 out of 5]

It took a little while to get into this book, mostly because I was reading several craft books at the same time (which I no longer recommend). Once I really started paying more attention, I realized what a great little guide it really is. I hardly recommend it to new authors.

[L.A. Jacob · Rating 2 out of 5]

Tell me something I don't already know.