McMichael - Put Them Through the Maze: The Secrets of How to Write the Ultimate Novel

Put Them Through the Maze:

The Secrets of How to Write the Ultimate Novel

by T. D. McMichael

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Copyright 2013 T. D. McMichael

All rights reserved.

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Table of Contents

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Did you know that if you were in a Maze, the surest way outwould be to put your hand on the wall and just start walking? Dont take yourhand off the wall, and dont give up. Mazes are long, after all. In the end youwould come out of any Maze any at all hopefully with a book.

Try it out. Put your hand on the wall anywhere in this Maze,and start walking. Do it a few times. You will notice something interestinghappening. Depending on where you are in the Maze, its either easy or verydifficult.

Look at the people in the Maze their Story goal isthe cup to finish writing. But how do we get there?

Two are stymied. They dont know the secrets of the Mazeyet. Two have it figured out theyre just running to get there in full flight, compositionally-speaking trying to reach the end of theMaze.

One is just entering the Maze but look at him hes in full sprint-mode already.

Hes come into the Maze knowingwhat to do now its just a matter of getting there. Hes become a Story professional....

You have to choose which of these three types of writers youwant to become. Depending on your selection, you may know the secrets of theMaze, or may not.

Only when you crack the Maze can you reach your full potentialas a writer and reach the cup every time.

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I will teach you how to crack the Maze, how to become aStory professional! I will teach you how to create winding plots themore twisting the better. I will teach you how to finish, and help make youmaster of your Story universe. Together we will demystify the Maze and learnhow to put others through our ownMazes, by writing lots and lots of books!

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A book is divided into five sections. There is the idea, where you go, Ah-hah! I have anidea for a book! And then comes the hard part. Researching, outlining,composition, and the edit.

Several shorter chapters will be devoted to what comes afterediting, when you try to sell your work.

But first, the pep talk.

Congratulations! Youve decided to write a book. Its easierto go to the moon than it is to write a great novel. Going to the moon ismerely expensive. Writing something people want to read requires a mixture oftalent, good fortune, and experience. This book can give you the experiencepart by highlighting the mistakes which mar many first-time novelists.

The talent and good fortune bits will also be dealt with,but they will be stripped of their myths, and you will see that you, too, canwrite a novel.

If youve ever been caught waiting for inspiration tostrike if you believe in writers block then this is the book for you....

Through my unique system you will learn how to hone an ideaand take it from fact to fiction. You will learn how to find information,organize it, and how to be prepared, so that when you do sit down to actuallystart writing, you will not be scratching your head, thinking what do I do? You will know what to do!

Are you ready to begin? Good lets go!

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Every book starts as an idea. This idea comes before theblueprint (or outline) when its merely an image of something rattling aroundin your brain.

I will give you an example.

When I wrote screenplays, I always had an idea for a comedymovie about a scrawny non-Asian comedian (choose your favorite) going to Japanand becoming a sumo wrestler. I thought, Whats a great idea for a comedy moviewith sight gags and so forth?

Scrawny sumo wrestler. Japan.

But, not just any scrawny sumo wrestler. The most famousscrawny sumo wrestler in the world.

Hopefully, your mind is unspooling that like a piece offilm, and you can see some of the comedic-yet-serious scenes that a scrawnysumo wrestler picture would entail.

A good idea sells itself. A great idea writes itself. We will learn to find the great ideas.

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Which brings us to the first fact about writing:

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#1. Ideas are cheap.Be sure you love, love, love, your idea, before you commit to it, because ifyou dont, you can always just grab another one, no time lost. But if you hateit Youre working on something that YOU dont even believe in. Imagine howsomebody else will feel.

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You will begin to see, with practice, that a book is like atree, or a building. If its planted on a foundation thats unsound, problemswill occur. The Leaning Tower of Pisa is much beloved for its incompetence, butwould you really want to live there? An unsound book is like a tree on the sideof a cliff which has put down roots one good landslide away from dying.

The foundation (or in this case, idea) is everything; later on we will learn the importance ofstructure, but for now, idea is king.

One good way to help you generate an idea is to read book blurbs the descriptions onthe backs of dust jackets. Another good way to generate an idea people willlike, is to read reader reviews and/or book blurbs on Amazon.com, or someplaceelse. Readers have a way of telling you exactly what theyre looking for.Another good practice is to study the market. Which brings us to interestingfact Number Two:

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#2. Always give people what they want. Not what youwant.

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Its important, if youre to write more than one book, todestroy your ego. Many first-time novelists never become second-time novelistsbecause they use up their one idea. Or they write in an idiosyncraticfirst-person voice that can never be transplanted to another story. Theyrelimited.

Theyve never developed the other muscles needed to plot andstructure any story, regardless of their personal feelings about it.

In Hollywood, where projects are hired out to screenwriters,that screenwriter may have to be a superhero one month, and a mobster the next.The reason he or she is able to do both pictures is they have a system.

You will learn this system. Applying it to a story that you love may encourage others to love itas well; you will be giving them what they want, after all a properlystructured narrative, with a beginning, middle and end, and some kind ofemotional resonance, i.e. characters we care about.

Right now, the market really loves Paranormal Romance,Erotica, and Crime Fiction. A year from now, it may go in another direction.You can follow the market or you can trailblaze. The perfect product at theperfect time in the perfect market is what youre looking to produce. That wayyou get paid and you get to keep writing!

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Have you got your idea? Notyet

The great ideas are out there, just waiting for you to findthem. A girl falls in love with a boybefore realizing hes a vampire.... A Miami blood spatter analysts who moonlightsas a serial killer.... A boy who doesnt know hes a wizard goes to magicschool.... How successful you can ultimately be, for the most part, restson the foundation of the idea.

Notice how succinct those story sketches are. Twilight, Darkly Dreaming Dexter, HarryPotter and the Philosophers Stone. Each is a great idea eachspawned multiple sequels, film/television deals. Each can be summed up, orpitched, in a single sentence.