In past posts, we’ve looked at how important planning, scheduling, mindset, and commitment, as well as, workspace and ritual are to creating and maintaining a consistent and productive writing practice, one that will allow for the completion of projects of any length, but especially books.

After we’ve established this firm foundation for ourselves, we can start to move our attention to the creation of the book itself. And as I always tell my clients and those who attend my workshops, the first step toward writing a book is to get to know your people.

People drive the creation of your book, and they deepen your own understanding of your writing project. So, who do I mean when I say “people?” I mean characters. I use the terms “people” and “characters” interchangeably, whether you’re writing fiction, memoir, or a non-fiction how-to self-help type book.

FICTION

For fiction, obviously, the people are your characters—your protagonist and the antagonists and supporting characters that appear in the story to create the conflict essential for the unfolding of the story and who provide support and guidance to help your heroine to her ultimate desire.

MEMOIR

The same is true for memoir with you as the protagonist and the people in your story—your real-life antagonists and supporting characters—who also create conflict and provide support and guidance.

NON-FICTION

In the case of the non-fiction how-to self-help book, the people/characters are, first, your Ideal Reader and second, you, the author. The Ideal Reader persona drives the bulk of the decisions you will make about your book’s content and structure—more so than with fiction and memoir, in my opinion. Oftentimes, with this type of book, the author’s own story is woven in, so another important character to consider in this case is you, the author.

A SEVEN-STEP PROCESS

I recommend a seven-step process to help my clients begin to think more deeply about their people—their characters. In this seven-step process, you complete a series of “I” statements about each relevant character—write as much as you can, as least a page or two. The steps are as follows:

I AM _____________________________________________________.

I FEEL ____________________________________________________.

I ACT/I DO ________________________________________________.

I LOVE ____________________________________________________.

I SPEAK/I SAY ______________________________________________.

I SEE _____________________________________________________.

I KNOW ___________________________________________________.

When we apply these steps to understanding the people our books are about and for, we’re taking an important step toward making the vision of our book a reality.

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Give this process a try and leave a comment below about what you learned about your protagonist, your Ideal Reader, or yourself.

Sending you mad writing mojo…

Happy writing!

Johnnie
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Want a more in-depth look at the process I take my clients through? Check out the Conjuring Clarity course right here.